Transparent or Nordost?

No Money - I like Nordost and own the Frey's. There is only 1 dealer near me that has Transparent and MIT and I did not care for them at all. Both seemed to lack dynamics. But that's my opinion.

That being said I had a Nordost demo case (when I bought the Frey's) and to me the red dawns were bright (not harsh) in my system and lacked bass. Nothing terrible but the Heimdall on up is soooo much better. Also Nordost just announced the new series 2 for the Norse line. Baldurs have been dropped but they added Tyr's. My Nordost dealer should be getting his demo case soon so I can try the series 2 in my system.

I would love to try the Transparent Ref stuff. I know each level gets better, I started years ago with "the link"... Unfortunately though, upgrading the Ulra mm2 balanced link alone is a few grand...

Just re-read the post and I was comparing the original Red Dawns not the Leif Series.

The Red Dawn LS does not lack bass and I would say comes close to the Frey. I have a combination of TYR and Frey and have been using some Red Dawn LS and think they are great. The old RD was thin.

anyone heard the new Frey 2 or TYR 2? Might be more of a fair fight?

The Red Dawn Leif do make it more "lively" but just don't have the layering and control with a black background that I am hearing with the Tranparent. The Nordost is SE though vs the balanced Transparent. I have been swapping them out between the pre and the amp to try and get a feel for the differences.