So, I would like to weigh in on this conundrum. 1st off I was tired of reading reviews knowing that people who knew nothing of this, like me gladly weighed in with their opinion knowing nothing of what they speak, they just proved how stupid they were and muddied the truth to all of this. I however, recently had a unique opportunity to demo in my home, on my system, with my music, the entire Nordost Supreme line, Vahalla 2 – Odin 1 – Odin 2, power cords, interconnects, and speaker cables, and yes even had the opportunity to listen to Odin Golds the entire Gold line. Full disclosure I was one of those that believed cables made zero difference and was a total waste of money.
I purchased an entire new system everything amps, pre-amps, speakers, cables, conditioners, blah blah blah. I then entered the whole conundrum myself, not wanting to have a weak link to my system, I was talked into Nordost Red Dawn cables, again power cables, interconnects, and speaker cables, along with a Nordost q- base iii, this Red Dawn investment was approximately $12,000.00. In the end other than knowing I had much superior cables from the original OEM, I gained nothing out of these cables in terms of sound improvement. The dealer and manufacture gladly took my $12K, and in return I gained nothing.
I recently had a unique opportunity to demo the entire Nordost Supreme line from Vahalla 2 to Odin 1 to Odin 2 both power - interconnects, speaker cables. Once I started this laborious process, switching to Vahalla 2 power cords made an eye-opening experience I would say a 30%-40% overall sound improvement at every level possible, switching again from Vahalla 2 to Odin 1, 10% gain noticeable but not near as large of a gain, switching again from Odin 1 to Odin 2 again maybe a 5% - 10% gain over the Odin 1cables.
So, what did I learn from it, power cables, is the ($$$) they can and will make a largest difference, of course all of this depends on the manufacture and their cables… interconnect cables- noticeable but very minimal 5%-10% at most.
Here is the rub, I only had demo cables from Nordost Vahalla 2 - Odin 1 - Odin 2. I too wonder with all these other manufactures claiming the claims you hear, or read in the adds or reviews, would I experience the same results, more than likely the truthful answer is (I Don’t Know). The only way to know for sure is to demo them yourself on your system, in your home, with your music source you are familiar with. Many dealers have these programs. Doing so in an audio store is a loser guarantee the amps – pre-amps – digital source, or vinyl, all of what you may have in your home the equipment will be different, the speakers different, the room is totally designed for reflections and refractions, it will sound no-where near what most of us have at home.
So, in the end my power cables were $12,500 per and Interconnect were $16,700 per, I have 4 power cables and 2 sets of interconnects. In the end is it worth $83,000 the truth is NO; it does not justify what these cable companies charge us for premium Supreme cables. I ended up not using any of the Supreme line speaker cables, which start at $29,999.00 and go up, it just filtered too much of what my ears liked. Can you depending on what you use, gain a sound you will never be able to acquire without cables, the answer is yes. It was worth it to me to make this investment, as the tonality gain at ever level was amazing, was it worth $83K the long and short answer is the gain does not justify the value…….the Odin 1 cables purchased were the 3rd least expensive of their supreme line and the prices to Odin 2 or Odin Golds, you will need a very large bank account with a lot of 00000 at the end of it.
I hope this helps, I know there are many of you like my friends and I who just want the truth, regardless of its outcome…. I wish people who do not know would just shut up with their opinions, but that will never happen. For those of you out there who want to tell me how stupid I am for spending $83,000 save your comments, I don’t care what you think.
