Nordost Frey vs Audience Au24e interconnect


Hi, I'm considering replacing my Nordost Frey XLR IC's with the AU24e. I'm looking for a natural and detailed sound. Unfortunately I cannot audition the Au24e but could take a chance as my speaker cables are AU24e and like the sound a lot.

My equipment:
Mcintosh MA7000 integrated
Olive 4HD music server
PS Audio DAC LINK III (Cullen Stage IV)
B&W 804D speakers
AU24e speaker cable
Iluminati D-60 digital SPDIF

Thanks.
gustavog
You bet. I'll pop the Frey back in, tomorrow, and circle back. I'll try to use 2 songs as a reference point.
Ok, my final verdict (played some Ulrich Schnauss, Judas Priest, Sword, Orb, Bela Fleck, Ocean Blue)....

If i listened at lower volumes, I slightly prefered the Audience, but at higher volumes, I overwhenlmingly preferred the Norsodt. Anything north of "25" on my Ayre preamp sounded so forward on my system.

About the same level of deep bass from both, the Nordost has more mid bass, the Audience has a snappy and clean mid range, the Nordosts highs are more evenly balanced among instruments and didn't tend to highlight some things like the Audience. The audiece was more fun with some recordings that have a lot of "bleepy" sounds that are panning the soundstage (orb).

Did you decide which one of these, Audience or Nordost, you prefer for long time listening versus just casual listening? Which do you prefer for listening the majority of the time? I am split down the middle on getting some cables from my phono pre to the preamp.

Right now I am using Audioquest Sky and highly modded Neotech pure silver cables with silver WBT's, alternating every once in a while. The idea of trying one of these cables in my system is appealing.
Thanks.

Ciao,
Audioquest4life
Yes...I'd been away from my system, travelling, for about a month...I came back, sat down, and things just didn't sound rich, engaging or "right." I cranked up the volume and (I was using Pandor), thought the file compression (Adobe?) must be at fault. About 2 days later, I looked in back and saw that I had the Audience connected. So, I put the Nordost back in. POW. That did it. The harmonics came back, the soundstage was fleshed out, etc. Now, mind you, I run the AU24's and they are the BEST speaker cable I have had in my system. For whatever reason the AU24 XLR's just don't do it for me. Right now. I'm not going to sell them, though, because, in a different configuration, I can see them working...If I had PBS speakers or Vandersteens especially...I'd want the AU24's in (I think, this is hypothetical).
One more note...Althought the Audience might be percieved as having a lower noise floor and blacker background, I felt they had a tendency to push certain frequencies (instruments) to the front...this was cool is some ways, but it happened at the expense of the balance of the recording.

The Nordost gave me a more complete picture. Dynamics about the same with both.