Art Dudley Listening - Stereophile Dec '09 Nordost

Gherrera1, a must read issue for you... Hifi+ Roy Gregory reviews an entire loom of Odin vs. a full loom of Valhalla in his system and comments on his "power first cable logic" that he has been establishing in issue 62 before leaving Hifi+ as editor to join Nordost as VP of marketing. If you can't find the issue e-mail me.

Happy (reading) Listening!

Thought I'd add my 2 pennies. I spend oodles of time and money until I found Nordost heaven. I love them. I found the biggest difference was their power cables in accordance with Roy Gregory. I have all Valhalla power cables, and with each addition the sound steadily improved, though the least difference was from the wall plug to my Furman IT-Reference 15i. I tried Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, then Valhalla power cables. Shiva were terrible, very thin and reedy compared to much less expensive Grant Fidelity PC's. Vishnu was nice, but Brahma gets you the good stuff, and the Valhalla, ahhhhh.

For IC's, I tried Baldur, Frey, and Tyr. Baldur were terrible. Glorious highs and no bass. It was a very unbalanced sound. Frey was where the good stuff starts. Tyr is better, but not a huge difference, though it's there. For my money, Frey and Brahma would be the best price/performance balance, though Frey/Vishnu would be good too. Source IC's were the most important. Speaker cables the least.

My system: Martin Logan Summits, Simaudio SuperNova CDP, Sonic Frontiers line stage preamp, Ayre V5-XE amp, Thorens TD166 Mk II, Blue Circle phono stage.

My all Nordost system sounded faster, with fabulous airy highs. I can see it being too much if you like a warmer, more rolled off sound. All Nordost with Krell/Bryston might be too much. YMMV.

I can see their reasoning in using low end power cables because in my system, they made the least difference.

So, this is a problem around power cords. Most if the entry level power cords are nothing but basic electrical wire with a nice jacket hence you do not hear anything significant. But once you cross a certain level, power cords take over. Seriously, they become the most significant cable, more than the IC or the SC. They change things at the very fundamental level. They affect the way the equipment generates the signal. But you hear all this only when you go to the next level of power cords. Something like a Tel Wire, Lessloss, Shunyata Python, Transparent Reference, Purist Aqueous etc.

I would go with PC -> IC -> SC.

Ditto^ It all starts with the PC and proper AC grounding and distribution. None of your componets will work without power. It starts the whole process of exciting electrons. Spend your money on PC and distribution, the fewer filters the better. You are looking for bandwidth not contouring the sound via filter networks and other gimmicks.(no boxes, add-ons, vudoo etc.) then the IC from source to pre amp or integrated. Buy the speakers you "LOVE" There is no need to buy a SC that ads landscaping, tone, color etc... to your speakers sound. You bought them because you like the way they sound why would you want to change there inherit sound?? Find a good quality neutral cable and get off of the merry go round.

Tom - Your comments relative to AC power and proper grounding being the very necessary foundation for a "good" system are very similar to those expressed by a Nordost rep at a presentation I attended just a few days ago in Dallas. After establishing that foundation, his opinion was that the most important cable in any system was the PC from the wall outlet to a good power distributor, followed then by source PC's, IC, and then SC's, in that order.

My big question is "What is the best way to establish a good ground?