Most people here know I completely rewired my system with Neardost mostly Odin 2 IC/PCs, BUT, after wards I saw the Gold and had to try it to compare. I placed it on my Audiolab 6000 CD transport and the Odin 2 on my LSA Voyager GaN 350 amp. I have been curious to find out how much (if any difference) swapping them would make. Last night I finally did, and it was a WOW moment. Today I am ordering another Gold to replace the Odin 2 powering the transport
Counterfeit Chinese Cables
I thought that I would write this for those who are curious about one of the many counterfeit Chinese interconnect cables that are available these days. I know that there have been threads about the subject before, and I was always curious because they seem to be such a bargain. I don't really recall much about what any members actually said about the performance of these counterfeit cables, and I didn't look back and do any research, but a couple of months ago there was a thread that came around to discussing the quality of Chinese made components, and oldhvymec said something that made sense to me.
He said that people that say that what they are making is junk should consider that much of what is in our gear, and a lot of our American brands are actually manufactured there. I decided shortly after that that I would take the chance on a set of interconnects, because I suspected that the interconnects going from my pre to my amp were the weak link and needed upgrading. The interconnects going from my DAC to my pre were Kimber Select which are very good, but the other set were LAT International (now defunct) which had cost $500.00 when new, but I had reason to believe they were lacking because I have one of their digital cables that turned out to be very poor sounding in comparison to others I own.
I decided on a one meter pair of counterfeit Nordost Odin interconnects for a total of $104.00 from Aliexpress. I received them a couple of weeks later. They appeared to be well made, and the locking fake WBT rca's were very impressive and are very tight.
First impressions after installing them were light, thin sound, lacking bass. Each couple of days brought improvements, but from the beginning I noticed that they were quieter. Now, weeks later, I can say that they are drastically better that the LAT's in every way. Detail and ambience are much better, but it's the focus and separation of instruments that is most noticeable.
I have no way of knowing if they are really a copy of the Nordost design, but I am impressed enough that I am going to try a counterfeit Nordost digital cable.
Obviously, this isn't a comparison that is useful to most, because there probably isn't anyone here using the LAT's, and everything is system dependent. I just wanted to relay my positive experience.
- ...
- 920 posts total
Ok. I got my set of fake Odin 2 XLR interconnects today. While not broken in, I do generally remember what my Transparent Ultra XLR (current generation… $3,150) sounded like when I put them in. I put the new Odin2 between my DAC and preamp Audio Research REF CD9se DAC and Audio Research REF6se preamp. Incidentally, the same position I once had real Odin2. The new Odin sound compressed, harsh, trebly, lacking bass definition… not quiet or smooth. While the Transparent sounded better with time, they never sounded anywhere this bad. I really could not listen to them for more than a couple minutes… they were actually uncomfortable to listen to. Reminding me of inexpensive silver… are they really made of silver? I figures they were colored silver on top of copper. I have listened to the real Nordost Odin 2 in my system…. There is absolutely no similarity. Not that one could reasonably expect it. This certainly reminded me how much of a difference a single set of interconnects can make. I was thinking that since all my other sets of interconnections were very high quality, maybe one set would not matter that much. Wow, that’s not right. So, I need to break them in. I’ll have to pull out my break in system. All my systems are tube, so I have a separate system with only a couple small tubes for breaking in stuff. I’ll have to put a few weeks on them to see how much the calm down. |
I have absolutely zero problems with Chinese branded genuine, honest audio cables brands. I am sure they are great value for the money. My issue is with the outright violation of IP rights and use of brand names. True story: I have bought a bunch of stuff from Ghent. Awesome guy to deal with, great products, no lies, no violations of anything. Ethical: https://www.ghentaudio.com
|
- 920 posts total