Break in is for both the cable itself and for you to adjust the listening volume and the new tonality of your gear....
Nordost Power Cables - my latest experience
Years ago I had a bunch of Nordost Vishnu power cables for all components, and a Brahma for the wall-to-distributor cable. In 2012 I then came across a new company called Cabledyne, and thought their power cable (a design which is no longer sold by them) was better than all of the Nordost cables.
But those Nordost models were an old product from 2003. Recently I have auditioned and then upgraded to the new Heimdall 2 power cables.
My experience was inconsistent and I thought to share it here.
Initially I got a Heimdall 2 for the source, an Oppo that is LPM and clock modified, and is just used as a pure digital transport with the audio card stripped out. On this component the Heimdall 2 was really good, far better than the Cabledyne.
I then upgraded power cable feeding the NAS to a Heimdall 2, this was again far better than the Cabledyne.
At this point my system was sounding the best it ever had in years, magical. I got a bit excited knowing I only needed to buy 2 more Heimdall 2's to complete the chain, one for the power amplifier and the other my Pre/DAC.
But when putting another one on my TeddyDAC (a DAC with analog volume stage inside) things went slightly backwards. Then when putting the last Nodost on the power amplifier, things went slightly backwards again.
Overall things are better than before, but this ending was disappointing to say the least.
I went back and looked at all the old comments here regarding Nordost power cables, for example the original Valhalla, and saw some users saying it was great for their CD player, or their source, but did not work well on the amps. That seems to be my experience. Maybe there is something inherent to the mono filament design which works especially well with digital devices, but not so much with analog? I don't know, I'm just hoping with more break-in it will even things out on the analog side.
I don't like to mix and match power cables brands, so it kind of sucks.
But those Nordost models were an old product from 2003. Recently I have auditioned and then upgraded to the new Heimdall 2 power cables.
My experience was inconsistent and I thought to share it here.
Initially I got a Heimdall 2 for the source, an Oppo that is LPM and clock modified, and is just used as a pure digital transport with the audio card stripped out. On this component the Heimdall 2 was really good, far better than the Cabledyne.
I then upgraded power cable feeding the NAS to a Heimdall 2, this was again far better than the Cabledyne.
At this point my system was sounding the best it ever had in years, magical. I got a bit excited knowing I only needed to buy 2 more Heimdall 2's to complete the chain, one for the power amplifier and the other my Pre/DAC.
But when putting another one on my TeddyDAC (a DAC with analog volume stage inside) things went slightly backwards. Then when putting the last Nodost on the power amplifier, things went slightly backwards again.
Overall things are better than before, but this ending was disappointing to say the least.
I went back and looked at all the old comments here regarding Nordost power cables, for example the original Valhalla, and saw some users saying it was great for their CD player, or their source, but did not work well on the amps. That seems to be my experience. Maybe there is something inherent to the mono filament design which works especially well with digital devices, but not so much with analog? I don't know, I'm just hoping with more break-in it will even things out on the analog side.
I don't like to mix and match power cables brands, so it kind of sucks.
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- 25 posts total
- 25 posts total