Home Demo Faceoff: Nordost / Audioquest / Transparent

I have just received home demos of 4 popular sets of high-end cables: Nordost Valhalla 2 and Frey / Audioquest Firebird Zero and Bass / Transparent Reference.  I'll be determining what to pair with my existing gear:
-B&W 803 D2-Gryphon Diablo 300, with internal DAC module and Phono Board-Mac Mini (soon to be replaced by an Innuos Zenith Mk III)-Audioquest Diamond USB cable-Van Den Hul D-352 speaker cables (while great for the price, these are why I am upgrading)

First up: Audioquest Firebird Zero Single Wire with Jupiter Jumpers and Audioquest Hurricane High Current
Definitely far more high end sizzle and an improvement over my cheap "reference" Van Den Hul cables.  Far, far more high frequencies come through but not at all harsh or shrill.  Everything at the top end has opened way up.  Sound is immersive with instruments fully formed in 3 dimensions.  Bass is incredible - lots of low end growl and detail as well.  Would describe the sound as "lush".  While everything sounds good as you can tell, overall nothing wowed me.  It was simply a few degrees better than my current cheap cables.  There was one negative aspect:  vocals did not sound quite as solid or natural as with my cheap cables.  Vocals were not "focused".  Also, there is an overall smidgen of a sense of the sound being mechanical - not organic.  It is more of a sense than something I can hear and pinpoint, but it is not 100% natural sounding.  Would still take these over my current cables, but they are not perfect.  Thought it may have been rooted in my speakers or Mac Mini, but then I heard the Nordost cables and realized my gear was not causing the slight off-ness I was detecting.  But before getting to the Nordosts, I tested the Audioquest Firebird Zero + Firebird Bass in biwire configuration.  Guess what?  More natural sounding, slightly, with overall more confident and solid tones, including vocals but apparent across all frequencies.  Bass is tighter and punchier.  Overall no change in transparency or detail, or dynamics.  While bass was more solid and punchier, as were all tones, there was not actually any more bass than the single wire version.  Overall control seemed tighter.  Is it worth the cost to biwire the Firebird?  Hell no.  The difference is incredibly subtle, and I would not suggest that people pay the money (although things could be different on your gear vs mine).  But the difference is one that I notice and it mostly solves the one weakness I sensed in the single-wire Firebird.  My wife also described that she noticed all the same differences I heard between the single-wire and bi-wire Firebirds, and she didn't know which configuration she was hearing (it was "blind").

Next up:  Nordost Valhalla 2 with Valhalla 2 Jumpers and power cord
Holy crap.  Now these wowed me.  First and foremost - I get very focused (and stressed) with testing gear and questioning and testing the validity of my own thoughts on what I hear.  Because of this I never get out of "testing mode" when I am testing.  These cables made me forget I was testing.  I just got into the music and wanted to try more and more songs that were not even in my test queue.  How do they sound?  Shockingly full of high frequency detail and treble openess, with a warm full, inviting mid and low end.  AND:  shockingly fast sound.  There is just so much high end detail coming through - and it is cool and crisp, not sharp and harsh.  The overall sound is just so natural - this combined with the fastness of the pace made it seem like the beat was faster than I recalled for each track.  Listening to these all of a sudden made me realize how artificial and awkward my system sounds with the Audioquest gear.  With the Nordost's, it is just so free flowing and natural - analogue-like.  Vocals are way better centered, and it gives a better impression that the vocalist is actually in front of you.  Sibilants in vocals are so much more pronounced, as are all upper frequencies, however there is absolutely nothing harsh about them and they are in fact very satisfying to listen to.  They are balanced by a warm and inviting midrange, with good bass.  It took some time to get used to all that upper end transparency, and actually "trust" that the sound would not become grating or harsh.  But it NEVER did, and I quickly learned to appreciate the high end detail rather than cringe and be afraid that suddenly things might get shrill sounding, which again they never did!  I just can't get over how different these sound.  Because of the fastness and high end detail, vocals have so much more life and energy.  Completely energized, as if the vocalists are actually more into the performance!  The one slight quibble is that the Nordosts don't have as much bass as the Audioquests.  Next I thought of pairing the Audioquest Hurricane power cord with the Nordost Valhalla 2 speaker wire to see if I could claw some of that Audioquest bass back while keeping the benefits of the Valhalla 2's.  The bass came back!  It was absolutely stronger and more present with the Hurricane power cord.  However.  A slight bit of the unnaturalness I mentioned also came back when using the Hurricane.  While the bass was great, overall I much prefer the natural sound when using the Nordost Valhalla 2 power cable. It is just overall easier to listen to and more satisfying.  So far the Nordost Valhalla 2's are leading the race by a longshot.  Not to mention, the Nordost's are far easier to install and are way more forgiving than the super stiff and unweildy Audioquest Firebird cables.

I have not yet tested the Nordost Frey's or the Transparent Reference cables.  I will shortly and will post my findings in the next few days.  But now I'd be shocked if the Valhalla 2's can be topped.  One final thing I would say:  the base gear in my system is quite rich and full sounding (Diablo 300 and D2 version of B&W 803's), so it is possible the Nordost's are the perfect balance for my system.  I could also see it being possible for the Nordost cables to become too much of a good thing in a different system to mine, in particular a system that already emphasizes high frequencies.  But on my system these cables sound fabulous.