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Nordost vs Shunyata speaker cables- and the winner is . .

I purchased a pair of Nordost Heimdall 2 speaker cables for a different system but this weekend compared them back to back in my ref system cables - Shunyata Alpha V2. 

System is Wilson Watt Puppy 50th Anniversary spkrs , McIntosh amp/preamp, Jay’s Audio CDT2 MkIII transport and Revox B77 rtr.

Switching back and forth between the 2 the Nordost bested the Alphas in several key areas but mainly overall resolution with no tradeoff losses (aside from the substantial cost difference).

It wasn’t day and night,  but to my ears it is a noticeable incremental gain in transparency.  I’d be happy with either cable but the Nordost are staying with the WWPs. 

Perhaps I’ll try the same comparison with the other system (KEF Blade 2s, Burmester, Revox, Jay’s). 

So it seems spkr cables do make a difference afterall- who knew.

(I’d like to post a pic of the 2 cables - how do I do that?) 

ritter06
mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
1,128 posts
 

Both of these design choices push/prioritize high frequency and tilt the sonic balance towards lean. There is no reduction in bass or mids. It’s just the highs that are more prevalent. 

Is that like, if you stub your toe and it hurts, to make the pain go away smack your head harder on the counter? 

moto_man
460 posts
 

In my system (ARC REF6, Pass 250.8, MSB Discrete DAC, Wilson Sabrina X spkrs, Everest conditioner) I found that the Shunyata Alpha v1 sounded better that the Nordstrom Red Dawns that I had on hand.  Much better.  Then I went to the Sigma v1 speaker cables and that was a real sweet spot in my system and a nice improvement over the already good alpha v1’s.  I have a full loom of Shunyata Sigma v1’s now.  Very happy with Shunyata.

squared80's avatar
squared80
333 posts
 

And the winner is... a standard coat hanger. Because in blinding testing you would not hear a single difference. 

brianlucey's avatar
brianlucey
203 posts
 

@ritter06 

 

just as a point of clarification, the alpha in any capacity, meaning speaker cables, or power cables etc , is not the most balanced sound made by Shunyata.
 

It has a particular darker fatter color,

it would never be something I would recommend as a starting point with shunyata  

sigma or gamma are both exceptional and clearly different to e o 

but much more likely to work for more people   You might try both of those. I bet you would pick one over what you chose.

 

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