Nordost fans
I am a NORDOST fan. Here are my experiences: (1) LEIF SERIES: NORDOST PURPLE FLARE its a very good cable doing yeoman duty, but it is comparatively expensive to its peers. I tested it extensively in A-B shootouts in my $5000 “B” system. Again,because everything is system dependent, it was a yeoman product that did not excel sufficiently to warrant its $$ price point , so I sold it off and replaced it with another brand ( bonus - cheaper ) that was every bit the equal. (2) NORSE SERIES : NORDOST HEIMDALL and FREY I had had an all-HEIMDALL ARRAY that was fine, until a favourable all -FREY array (XLR interconnects, shotgunned speaker cables, shotgunned jumpers) presented itself as an upgrade. Why the upgrade? The FREYS bested the contenders and pretenders after extensive A_B shoutouts in my $40,000 “A” system. I would have continued up the model lineup to a VALHALLA but , alas, budgets always prevail. in short, it bested all comers in MY system at its price point. The contenders and pretenders included CARDAS, FURUTECH, KIMBER, ATLAS, ECOSSE, CHORD, DH LABS, VAN DEN HUL, and a bevy of others. Have I personally used the ODINS and actually personally swapped them in and out? ...NO .... I capped out at all-FREYs in my own system (ka-ching already!) NOTE: The FREY was better than the HEIMDALL and significantly better than the PURPLE FLARE above (..... not even close.);That is not surprising to me in that it follows the experience I witnessed at an audio expo in Toronto, the write up in an audio publication is reproduced as follows. here is the CANADA HI-FI reporter’s take from the NORDOST cables bake-off exhibit actually performed live at TAVES.They stopped at the improving model bakeoff summit at the Valhallas (one below the Odins) with the inference that a move up the model trendline in improvement keeps going further to the ODINs http://canadahifi.com/taves-consumer-el ... rge-de-sa/ ".....I had a chance to sit in on a couple demonstrations in the Nordost room, giving my feet a well deserved break. I’m very familiar with the benefits of high quality cables and use a full Nordost Heimdall 2 loom with my reference two-channel setup. That being said, I always find the Nordost demonstrations to be an “ear-opening” experience. Michael Taylor from Nordost demonstrated the significant sonic benefits of replacing an OEM cable with a Nordost model – in particular 1) a swap of a single USB cable, from OEM to Nordost Blue Heaven ($250/2m), to Heimdall 2 ($500/2m) and; 2) a swap of a single RCA interconnect, from OEM, to Blue Heaven, to Heimdall 2, to Tyr 2 and finally Valhalla 2. Along with convincing the audience in the room that cables DO matter, I’ve now got the bug to upgrade...." TAKEAWAY 1) +1 on the observation that the higher you go in their product line, the better they get. As stated, I currently have the FREYs (ICs and speaker) after prior personal experiences with the PURPLE FLARE and Heimdalls that supports this observation. (2) there is a good reason why many mag reviewers personally use VALHALLAS in their reference systems. (3) Having attended numerous audio expos, go see how many electronics makers and dealers use higher end model NORDOST as their cable of preference at these shows. (4) my fantasy Trip down the Yellow Brick Road to Audio OZ is a potential upgrade to VALHALLAS (currently on my wish list going forward ......) |
Nordost Heimdall is the level to start with. Like every other cable, it's subjective and argued to death on value/price. I use Heimdall II throughout. $20K Odin power cords have been in my system. It was something more appropriate for a $100K+ system, but an experience to just plug in a couple of power cords that retail TWICE the cost of my system! Cable madness is a topic that EVERYONE is right and wrong. |
I didn’t start with Sartori —found a good deal on the Holograms and jumped in. I did try some Acoustic Zen interconnects—the matrix reference I believe—but they were so stiff they just didn’t work from a physical sense. My equipment is in a salamander cabinet. Sounded fine, but never really gave them a chance. |
