what is your hi-fi? (pics prefered)

Yes, £800 new, but it's american so it's about 40% more expensive in France. Needless to say that it completely changes the sound, as important as changing elements...

The best power cable, Nordost "valhalla" costed until 2000£ in France...extreme performance, extreme neutrality, extreme musicality...for extreme systems with i.e two tube mono blocks in the highs and two solid-state mono blocks in the low, drive/converter CD set-up and of course a preamp, that makes a lot of cables, plus filters etc...


For a result better than any studio! (even if the best studios use these kind of power cables, they don't have the same electronics!)

Nordost Valhalla



Close view





http://www.nordost.com/Why%20Nordost/science-not-voodoo.htm


"All Nordost cables share a common design theme.
That design is solid core conductors. Depending on the application, either flat rectangular solid oxygen free copper conductors, or fine micro-litz round conductors, strand interaction is eliminated. This significantly reduces the well documented audible distortions caused by skin effect and magnetic field interactions. This is done by using an extremely precise extrusion of FEP and a very precise conductor spacing which keeps capacitance and inductance extremely low. In addition, the use of our proprietary Micro Mono-Filament technology increases signal bandwidth in our video cable and reference cable range. This in turn results in cables which typically transmit signals at over 90% the speed of light. This is 20 to 25% faster than conventional cables resulting in a tremendous improvement in musical accuracy and clarity.

Sound and Emotion

       Nordost Flatline Cables' technical specifications and speed are very impressive, but what really matters is how they sound. Each speaker cable and interconnect in the Nordost range is designed to let the music and emotion shine through. If you want to really hear your system for the first time, the addition of Nordost into your system will do that for you. Unlike our competitors, whose product offerings are not sonically consistent from model to model, there is a discernable difference and enhanced level of performance as one progresses through our line. Clarity, detail, and emotional involvement are taken to new levels with each improved model. Music is about enjoyment, pleasure, and emotion."






Edited by oliverstoned - April 12 2007 at 16:25

Nordost is the best in the high-end but maybe not in the entry level product. I just know that the Nordost Valhalla beats the big Shunyata and is less demonstrative and more natural; which model did you tried?

Yes, Marantz is coloured, warmth but musical. Yes, Roksan is thin, a Rotel or a Nad would work better in the same price range IMO.

BTW, i gave a listening session to a brother's friend yesterday, he has been very impressed by my system, i played him "Parallel world" by Far east family band, he was so upset that he could just say "it's so limpid..."...

The top cable may also reveal the system's problems. That's why one shouldn't put a too good cable on an average-working system.

No, Nordost is neutral and reveals even more how bright and thin his system is.

Prima Luna - Prologue two



Castle - Durham 3



Cambridge Audio - Azur 640c

Hoping to upgrade to the Naim CD5, unfortunately don't have a job at the moment so it might be sometime. I prefer it over the Rega 'planet' and Creek 'CD53' I tested.



Cayin - HA-1A headphone amp



HD600's



Rega p3

Also Oliver, my Blue Heaven's are on there way. Have ordered them in, just waiting for their arrival.

I don't think my Hi Fi would be popular, a Pure mini system with a  £50 Bush turntable. 

NilsTentacles wrote: oliverstoned wrote: The top cable may also reveal the system's problems. That's why one shouldn't put a too good cable on an average-working system.   ahem... is it not more likely that Nordost is introducing a problem alread y existing in Arcers system... therefor exposing it even more? like, if he has a bright system, he adds a bright cable like Nordost and it makes it sound bad.

Ummm, it's not my system that unnaturally bright!

My own system is, I think, quite warm sounding, especially with my LP12 through a Musical Fidelity XLPS and into Myryad pre and powers and with the bass heavy transmission line speakers I have. That's pretty warm if you ask me. If anything I need to lean it out a little via new speakers (which will definitely cause me to ditch the Roksan).

All I'm saying is that I, personally, find Nordost cables (certainly, as Ollie says, the low to mid price of their range) to be too bright. I don't think they are neutral at all. I think they overemphasise reverbs and top end and sound brittle and glassy. And that's not with low end system (where they might, as you correctly say) bring out existing system deficiencies. I've heard Nordost stuff on low to high end systems (Krells with B&W 800 series) and I hated the sound of them. Truly headache inducing.

I do think that there is a point where so-called "transparency" becomes a warped quest to drag out every last detail, with the result that nothing sounds musical anymore.
I have an acquaintance whose (very) high end system (Clearaudio reference, 800 series blah blah blah) just makes my head hurt, especially when all he wants to do is play demonstration discs of noise to show it's response levels. This isn't about music, it's about what I like to call "upgrade-itis".

Some of the most musical and compelling systems I've heard come in at solid midrange level. Some of the worst I've heard are in the high end.

For me hi-fi is about pleasing your ears, with whatever criteria you use. Maybe you like the pain of razor-sharp cymbals being squeezed out of tweeters made of razor blades. Me, I simply like my music to involve me, to feel emotional and enveloping. Nordost, in this regard, just doesn't do it for me - I find them cold, emotionless and harsh.

Having said all that about price not being an issue - I do think it is pretty impossible to get good reproduction from fundamentally basic equipment. There is a threshold you need to hit before you reach that stage of musicality and emotional involvement (less so with rock music but certainly with acoustic or small ensemble music like jazz). For me that threshold seems to exist somewhere between the £1000-£2000 per component mark.

The whole system (amp, cd, speakers, turntable, phono stage, cabling) will clock in at around £7,000 to £8000 (around euro11000-12,000). Beyond that I honestly believe that you've hit the buffers of the law of diminishing returns. The improvements (if they exist at all) are so miniscule and so inconsequential to the overall experience that the cost is unjustifiable. To me it is simply an extreme case of "upgrade-itis" thereafter.



Edited by arcer - April 17 2007 at 08:17

Here you go, my system!



Myrad Mp100 and MA240 Pre and Power amps


Roksan Kandy MKIII CD player


Linn Sondek LP12 Turntable


Musical Fidelity X-LPS Phono Stage


Onkyo DSA2 i-Pod Dock


(very old) TDL RTL3 Speakers


Merlin Chopin Interconnects


QED Silver Anniversary XT Speaker Cable


Edited by arcer - April 17 2007 at 09:15

I'm expecting him to go into meltdown (especially over the hateful dock!) 

Edited by arcer - April 17 2007 at 09:24

Amps no good? Why? Actually, I am genuinely interested in your thoughts on these