but i should add that I am neurotic about noise. To me its like a cancer to the music. Maybe I go to far, but the results are outstanding. I can now hear the damper pedal when the pianist is playing and them breathing. That is now my noise. That is a quiet system, and it’s so damn satisfying.
Nordost Valhalla 2 - Susceptible to Noise?
I was over the moon with the improvements my Valhalla 2 speaker wire brought to my system, until the next day things didn’t sound so great. I thought maybe my first impressions were overblown, until I tried again after midnight and that glorious holographic soundstage re-emerged.
It seems that the Nordost cables are so resolving that I blatantly hear differences in power quality, and I’ve since gone down the path of investigating power conditioners.
But that’s another story. What I’m wondering is whether the Valhalla 2 cables themselves could be more susceptible to RF/EMF noise, given their unique ribbon design? And, if so, is their any way to deal with this issue?
I’ve seen some folks using Alan Maher’s Circuit Breaker Filters which you can simply tie to pretty much anything, but they don’t seem to be on his site anymore.
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@steakster , @dancarlson10 , interesting discussion around Nordost. I too am rapidly developing a neurosis around noise, as my system taunts me after midnight when everything is fantastic. I know precisely what you are talking about @steakster when you can hear the air and subtleties around the instruments and not just the instruments themselves. Once you hear it it is impossible to go back, at least in my case! @dancarlson10 it sounded as if you had some other grounding device besides the QB8, "All you need is a qb8 good grounding device after that", but probably just my misinterpretation. I don’t quite get the QB8 "primary ground" thing, and how this is any different from the ground on the other outlets. Also - if I don’t require the added "conditioning" to be rid of AC noise after switching to dedicated 20A lines, I really, really like the Nordost approach of not adding or subtracting anything from the tonal balance. That said people say the same about Torus too, I think. Wonder how my fancy Audioquest Dragon HC cables would work with Nordost QB8 though. I did try the Valhalla 2 power cord and unfortunately found that bass was lacking vs other cords, with my Diablo 300 (my dealer said other Gryphon owners reported similar complaints with the V2 cord). My V2 speaker wires are second to none though. Except Odin of course! |
the person who has helped me build and done all the speaker set up for my system has written extensive articles on noise and electrical interference and how it impacts the system. I don’t bother ever questioning him. He told me the pre amp is meant to go into Primary earth, and only the pre amp. I asked why and he said he will explain another time as it was a lengthy explanation. Again, I don’t question him. |
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