Yes, I was surprised that I didn’t “max out” the performance of my speakers. Before my cable testing I thought that I may not hear that much of a difference between high end cables if my speakers (and source for that matter) were limiting performance rendering differences in cables irrelevant. But that appears to not be the way it works, as the differences were very, very noticeable between all cables I tested.
There seems to be a problem with my Innuos order; the company does not seem able to ship their new streamers anymore. Also, online they stopped selling them. Seems they are having major issues with production of their new models. Dealer said they have quality issues on the faceplates (they are catching the issues in production QA before being released).
Because of this, it may free up some funds to put towards my cable purchase. My back-ordered Innuos is the same dealer as Nordost which makes things easier. I know traditional theory says it makes sense to upgrade the source before cables... But you guys didn’t hear the difference the Valhalla 2’s made. I know upgrading from my Mac Mini will make a difference too, but I’ve not seen anyone reporting a difference on the scale I’m seeing with the Valhalla’s when they move to a dedicated streamer.
Part of the reason I’m so stuck on this upgrade now is that it is not just an increase in performance. The overall sonic presentation just matches what I specifically am looking for. Perfect mid bass and mid range slam with great rhythm, warmth and presence, with very crisp detailed and open highs with high energy vocal presentation. With sibilants you get a pleasant “ssss” instead of a harsh “shhhh”.
Just found out the power cord costs more than I thought! Not good. I may choose to go with the Nordost Reference jumpers instead of the expensive Valhalla 2 jumpers to save some cash. I will test the difference tonight as my dealer confirmed I can keep the demos one more day.
There seems to be a problem with my Innuos order; the company does not seem able to ship their new streamers anymore. Also, online they stopped selling them. Seems they are having major issues with production of their new models. Dealer said they have quality issues on the faceplates (they are catching the issues in production QA before being released).
Because of this, it may free up some funds to put towards my cable purchase. My back-ordered Innuos is the same dealer as Nordost which makes things easier. I know traditional theory says it makes sense to upgrade the source before cables... But you guys didn’t hear the difference the Valhalla 2’s made. I know upgrading from my Mac Mini will make a difference too, but I’ve not seen anyone reporting a difference on the scale I’m seeing with the Valhalla’s when they move to a dedicated streamer.
Part of the reason I’m so stuck on this upgrade now is that it is not just an increase in performance. The overall sonic presentation just matches what I specifically am looking for. Perfect mid bass and mid range slam with great rhythm, warmth and presence, with very crisp detailed and open highs with high energy vocal presentation. With sibilants you get a pleasant “ssss” instead of a harsh “shhhh”.
Just found out the power cord costs more than I thought! Not good. I may choose to go with the Nordost Reference jumpers instead of the expensive Valhalla 2 jumpers to save some cash. I will test the difference tonight as my dealer confirmed I can keep the demos one more day.