has anyone compared Nordost Frey ICs vs Valkyrja

Mjordans,

Since you mentioned that Heimdall has its own character and Frey is different, would you please comment on how Frey interconnects differ from the Heimdall. Currently I own a Heimdall between a Krell 400xi integrated amp and an Audio Aero Prima CD player, and was considering to swap the IC from Heimadall to Frey. I also have the same feeling as you about Heimdall and thought Frey could be just a step-up with almost same taste.

Thanks in advance.

Marcossy,

Heimdalls surely have nordost "house" sound, but are different. Whats was most impressing I mentioned above: midrange bloom, 3D full bodied, rounded sound, very vell everything separated in the soundstage. Highs are enough detailed and at the same time sweet and not aggressive - you can listen more "agressive" CDs you have not listened before - this balance just hooked me up completely.

Freys. I think I have about 100 hours on Frey IC and the good thing they are burned-in enough not to think too much about heimdalls (straight from the box they were awful.. heimdalls were awful as well, but since they were dealer demos settle-in, or burn-in time was short - next evening they sounded good - infact after the first few songs with heimdalls (and awfully harsh and dried-up sound) I jumped to double-check if these really were Heimdalll not Baldurs). Frey are very fine cables, and hour after hour they show more and more of their character. Less bloom compared to heimdalls, but more crisp details, which are still very rich in tone and thats amazing thing. Now rarely but sometimes those details appears bright, but if this dissapears with additional hours of burn in, I really going to love freys even more. 3D soundstage, instrument separation is another huge step forward. I would add - more focus - compared to heimdalls.

Heres some facts:

Burn-in takes (this is so physics-stupid, but so audiophile-true) a loooong time, better buy burn in service at local dealer, or burn in at home using lets say FM tuner. I am using tube amp with some rare and NOS tubes, so just can not afford leaving amp on with radio playing all day long...

I use 1 m length interconnects. Different lenghts WILL sound different.

The sound is synergy of all components + speaker placement and room acoustics.

If you demo Freys against Heimdalls in your system please come back and write down your experience.

mjordanas

Mjordans, thank you for the prompt and so complete comments on my question.
It is interesting to know that Frey might present, sometimes, details that sound bright. I thought Frey was more full bodied and rounded sound than Heimdall.

I am anxious to try Frey IC in my system but since I live in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the price of Nordost products at authorized dealer is prohibitive. So, I've been shopping several cables at Agon but the latest one (a Shunyata Python Alpha Helix power cable) I purchased more than a week ago is still hold at the customs and I am afraid I will have to pay some import duty. Anyway a friend of mine has Frey IC and I will borrow it and compare with my Heimdall soon and will post my impressions here.

Marcossy,

My comments on these cables would be more accurate if I was able to compare them A-B directly...

You are right, no, Freys are not warmer and more rounded than heimdalls.

mjordanas

I just upgraded to a pair of Frey IC from Hemidall. The Fry are XLR, the Hemidall are not.

From what I can tell, the Frey retains the charecteristics of the Heimdall while dropping the noise floor, adding a deeper bass range (maybe not as lound in the midbass, which is fine with me), open the mids to extend beyond my speakers, and place the back of the sound stage about 1/3 more behind my speakers.

Very happy thus far.

That said, the Heimdall are awesome and I am still running one pair from my cd player to my pre and a pair of bi-wired Hemidall speaker cables..that the cables can convey the new Frey's is very imperssive to me.