I replaced my Dh Labs silver sonic speaker cables with the Chinese Odin 2 silver cables then with the Chinese Valhalla cables. The Valhallas are the best by far and here to stay. What great speaker cables for the money. Have not tried the Valhalla 2’s and really don’t feel the need.
Counterfeit Chinese Cables
I thought that I would write this for those who are curious about one of the many counterfeit Chinese interconnect cables that are available these days. I know that there have been threads about the subject before, and I was always curious because they seem to be such a bargain. I don't really recall much about what any members actually said about the performance of these counterfeit cables, and I didn't look back and do any research, but a couple of months ago there was a thread that came around to discussing the quality of Chinese made components, and oldhvymec said something that made sense to me.
He said that people that say that what they are making is junk should consider that much of what is in our gear, and a lot of our American brands are actually manufactured there. I decided shortly after that that I would take the chance on a set of interconnects, because I suspected that the interconnects going from my pre to my amp were the weak link and needed upgrading. The interconnects going from my DAC to my pre were Kimber Select which are very good, but the other set were LAT International (now defunct) which had cost $500.00 when new, but I had reason to believe they were lacking because I have one of their digital cables that turned out to be very poor sounding in comparison to others I own.
I decided on a one meter pair of counterfeit Nordost Odin interconnects for a total of $104.00 from Aliexpress. I received them a couple of weeks later. They appeared to be well made, and the locking fake WBT rca's were very impressive and are very tight.
First impressions after installing them were light, thin sound, lacking bass. Each couple of days brought improvements, but from the beginning I noticed that they were quieter. Now, weeks later, I can say that they are drastically better that the LAT's in every way. Detail and ambience are much better, but it's the focus and separation of instruments that is most noticeable.
I have no way of knowing if they are really a copy of the Nordost design, but I am impressed enough that I am going to try a counterfeit Nordost digital cable.
Obviously, this isn't a comparison that is useful to most, because there probably isn't anyone here using the LAT's, and everything is system dependent. I just wanted to relay my positive experience.
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@tksteingraber which Ali store did you buy the Valhalla speaker cables from? There seems to be many different cables at different prices, all using the Valhalla name. Thanks. |
@bigtwin I don’t think these cables will compete with your DIY VH Audio cables you built. I don’t think it matters which store you buy from its all the same wire they use. Connectors vary and I would pick the ones you like best. I bought mine from Sound Labs and they used bananas to spades under the brand Audiocrast which I preferred. I don’t like them using brand names. They sound great on my system but I am unable to justify buying big $ cables. Also, I bought 30mm black flex cable sleeve to cover the wide flat cable. |
MY ALI-E POST FROM 10/22: Even though as soon as I hit play my Neardost Odin 2 speaker cables trounced the well known/reviewed and expensive cables that I had for about 2 years; last night (about a week since inserting) I played Dianna Krall ALL FOR YOU (Impulse), I haven’t listened to any of her discs since in quite a while (too many CDs, so little time), The sound was complete and intimate, I felt as though I had been transported to the venue.
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@tksteingraber @tweak1 Thanks. The likelihood of the ALI cables sounding better than my VH is pretty slim. The Ali cable is using 7 stands of wire per side. The CHeLA OCC speaker cable is made of 48 individually insulated 24 AWG SOLID OCC (Ohno Continuous Cast) copper conductors that are insulated with VH Audio's AirLok� dielectric. VH Audio's AirLok� dielectric is a proprietary form of foamed/cellular Fluoropolymer that has a dielectric constant of LESS than 1.5 and an extremely low dielectric absorption. The 48 OCC copper conductors are braided into VH Audio's Counter Helical Litz Array TM geometry (C.He.L.A.) around a core containing strands of unbleached cotton. This special self-shielding speaker cable geometry results in very low inductance (.011 uH*), reasonable capacitance (230 pF*), and low DCR (1.35 milliohms per foot*). Additionally, the CHeLA geometry results in more symmetrical field interaction between strands vs. conventional braided designs. Aggregate AWG for each grouping of 24 conductors is 11 AWG, and approximate cable diameter is 3/4" (cut and pasted from VH site) I keep coming back to the number of people on this thread who claim these inexpensive replicas are the best sounding cables they have heard. Not sure why this thread continues to fascinate. The idea that a $200 Ali cable is going to bring a big improvement in sound is silly? And yet we in the hobby continue to chase the dream regardless of what common sense tells us. Tweak1 Can I ask what "well known/reviewed and expensive cables " you were referring to? Thanks. |
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