Acoustic Zen vs. Nordost

Teajay, thanks for clarifying that you did indeed try the Valhallas. You state:

We both know all our opinions revolve around personal taste and system synergy...

Bravo! This is one of the simplest yet least understood tenant in obtaining audio nirvana!

So, what do you mean by the term "in your face"?

Why were the Valhallas the least favorite that you and your friends auditioned? Is your negative experience due to the actual sonics, or could your opinion of overpricing possibly have biased your results [this is NOT a put-down of your audio experience or expertise, it's simply human nature! That's why "double-blind" testing is so important for achieving objective results!]

Which AZ model did you chose? What other cables did you think beat the Valhallas? I might try doing a shootout on my own system.

Fatparrot, the reason I used the term "in your face", is twofold: 1) The soundstage in my system moved forward and lost depth at the same time. 2) I found the Valhallas to be very detailed but lacked natural sounding timbres and were somewhat bright in my system. That's one of the main reasons that individuals with somewhat layed back tubey sounding systems found them so appealing in my opinion. I recently upgraded from AZ Silver reference II/ Matrix referenceII and Satori speaker wire to Mr. Lee's new reference called the Absolute and have nothing but sonic pleasure from having them in my system. I posted a review here on the GON if you your interested in more details. Thanks for the fun and friendly discourse on this topic.

Jec...I have compared the Hologram II with the Satori (mono), and in my setup, I find the Hologram II to be more open, offering greater depth in the soundstage, and just sounding a little more engaging. I have not tried comparing the shotgun bi-wire versions.

Note: I am an AZ dealer

Call the folks at www.fatwyre.com and get yourself introduced to the Cable Lending Library.

I've compared Valkyrja, Valhalla, AZ Absolute, and Stealth Indra in a system I'm very familiar with (not my own, but I've spent many, many hours listening to it) and 2 other systems I've listened to quite a bit. From what I've heard, the AZ Absolute is roughly equal in quality to the Nordost Valkyrja, though depending on the system, either could be a better match. Looking at Teajay's system, I'd guess the AZ would be the better match, based on what I've heard. However, I preferred the Nordost to the Acoustic Zen in all 3 systems. I've only heard the Indra in one system, but in this case it was an order of magnitude better than any other cable I've experienced.

The Acoustic Zen Absolute did some things very well... it's more dynamic than the Valhalla, though I'm not sure I felt the added dynamics sounded entirely natural to my ear. They do some instruments very well, especially acoustic guitar. However, they added an annoying edge to vocals that I didnt like. That edge on the vocals alone would be enough for me personally to rule them out, but I felt the Valhallas were better in almost every other category.

When it comes to cables, I don't think there's ever going to be an absolute best. System synergy and listener taste are far more important than anything else. Even in a hypothetical system with no weaknesses, some listeners are going to prefer colorations of the sound, and some no coloration at all. My preference is Stealth Indra, followed by Nordost Valhalla. I feel these cables let the music through with no detremintal effects (Indra) or very few (Valhalla). I am not aware of anything I can recommend more highly, but if your tastes differ from mine it's entirely possible that you may hate both.