Kimber Hero vs Nordost Blue Heaven vs VDH mk iii

I had two half-meter runs of the Kimber Hero and loved them. I agree with everyone here that they're somewhat lean-sounding. But if you like a detailed, very "hi-fi" sound, these are the cables for you. I used them between my Rotel CD player and Rotel preamp/amp. I've bought and sold a lot of cables, and I don't miss any except for these. They were detailed but non-fatiguing. One other thing: the quality of the WBT hardware and the braided cloth jacket are hard to beat for the price. Great value.

I use Blue Heavens (balanced) throughout my system, with Blue Heaven bi-wire speaker cables. IMO, the Blue Heavens lean towards a slightly brighter sound; transients seem to be faster and the overall presentation is pacy and lively. Although bass comes across tight and fast, it does sound a little leaner to my ears. May not suit brighter sounding systems. I have no experience with Kimber Heros, but I did have an older range of multi-strand vdH speaker cables before, and I do prefer the Blue Heavens for clarity and timing.

The cables you enumerated have their distinct sonic signature, it may either complement the type of sound to your liking. Some may call it system compatibility, but I believe it is a matter of priority or taste.

As an avid cable-freak, i have had numerous experience with the very cables listed.

These are the notes I have compiled.

Arguably the Kimber plumbs the depths of bottoms of the bass, next is VDH then Nordost Blue.

The warmer of the 3 is indeed VDH, then Kimber.
The highs in the VDH is kind of rolled off or say "soft" , The Kimber has a slight grit with complex music and the Nordost is cleaner.

If then your system tilts towards the leaner side of things wanting some warmth...the vdh and kImber is likely the candidate. NOte the kimber has tauter bass than the vdh.

If you are happy with your lows but need some cleaning up in the highs and overall would categorize it as leaning much on the warm side of things. The Nordost fills in the requirement.

So it is much to your liking and priorities now.

thank you again everyone. i decided on kimber hero.

çoço

Hey Guys, I know its entirely out of the league to compare the above with XLO. I bought the cheapo XLO ER-5 recently. Without any experience with them prior I compared it to my current set up with VDH 102mk3, XLO blows the 3 times more expensive VDH out of the water. Bass, details, soundstaging. I never want to buy VDH for their muddy LF.
I can imagine myself getting higher series of XLO very soon.