Nordost?

[everettT]

 

[TLS Guy]

Can we see a review of Nordost White Lightning interconnect and how it compares to a Blue Jeans cable?
I'd like to see the comparison.....

I'll tell you how they compare. Nordost cables are poorly constructed cheap junk sold at an outrageous price and fall apart.

On the other hand Blue Jeans cables are well constructed, the price is reasonable and they don't fall apart.

I can tell you they fall apart as I have had to reterminate lousy Nordost cables sold by an Audiophool dealer to a friend of mine.

I have news for you, that wire is wire. All that matters is they they do not fall apart, are properly insulated and have a resistance compatible with the impedance of the load driven. That is all that matters.

You might as well know we have zero tolerance for audiophools on this forum and if you keep up this nonsense you are in for a good and justified licking.

 

[TLS Guy]

Life of Brian.

 

[markw]

 

[markw]

Been there done that...
I've been in the game for a while.
If you want the sound. cables do make a difference.
if you want AV sound, so be it. I want 2 channel sound.
soundstage, clarity and depth. got it..........

No, no snobbery here, is there?

...betcha many of us here have been in the game longer than you realize. After a point you recognize poop and learn to not step in it, much less spread it.

 

[TLS Guy]

I bet this chap is a Nordost shill. If so he has not done them any favors.

 

[gene]

That's right.......
I demo'ed the cables before I bought.
cables do make a difference! I'ts how you match.

For me , great system match...........

Then there is no point in an objective review since you're already made up your mind based on your subjective experience. Enjoy your cables.

We focus our resources on things that truly make an objective difference in audio, not snake oil and witchcraft.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I want to see the review.
Is it snake oil?

What is there to compare?
What experimental data will you accept as fact? Will anything change your mind?
From your posts, you are already convinced, what more do you need?
As to crushing, is that cable so heavy that it crushes other cables?

 

[mtrycrafts]

On the same system......
swapping the cables in and out........
how else would you do it?

Have you heard of bias controls in testing?
I don't think you know how to test at all for facts.

 

[KenM10759]

I recently sat down at an audio shop with my homemade speaker cables to test against Audioquest and Nordost. The staff member hooked up mine first, played a couple minutes of Melody Gardot "Quiet Fire" three times. Then he replaced with the Nordost Purple Flare and played the same song at the same level.

He looked at me and asked "Well?", to which I replied "I'm shocked." His smile turned to dismay when I followed with "For a $500 pair of speaker cables to sound exactly the same as mine that cost me $27,50 to make is what's shocking."

Of course he was so miffed that he started in on "it's the pace and timing of the better cables more than sound quality." He went on about richer, faster bass and more open highs. I suggested we now test the Audioquest. He put those on and we listened. Then back to mine. Now he knew how I was going to react so he offered that mine are "almost as good" as the $350 Audioquest. We left it at that.

I agreed to be nice and consider that maybe his ears are far more experienced and trained than mine. He's been in the business all his adult life (he's 40-ish) so I concede that he can hear things I can't. Maybe that's the case with the OP here.

Or maybe it's all smoke and mirrors. All I know for absolute certain is that I can't justify those cost differentials in cables and will now engage in the amplifier battle. I have actually heard differences there, so I'm starting to drink one flavor of the KoolAid.

 

[Speedskater]

Now he knew how I was going to react so he offered that mine are "almost as good" as the $350 Audioquest. We left it at that.

That's damning with faint praise.
(as my father-in-law would say)

 

[lovinthehd]

I recently sat down at an audio shop with my homemade speaker cables to test against Audioquest and Nordost. The staff member hooked up mine first, played a couple minutes of Melody Gardot "Quiet Fire" three times. Then he replaced with the Nordost Purple Flare and played the same song at the same level.

He looked at me and asked "Well?", to which I replied "I'm shocked." His smile turned to dismay when I followed with "For a $500 pair of speaker cables to sound exactly the same as mine that cost me $27,50 to make is what's shocking."

Of course he was so miffed that he started in on "it's the pace and timing of the better cables more than sound quality." He went on about richer, faster bass and more open highs. I suggested we now test the Audioquest. He put those on and we listened. Then back to mine. Now he knew how I was going to react so he offered that mine are "almost as good" as the $350 Audioquest. We left it at that.

I agreed to be nice and consider that maybe his ears are far more experienced and trained than mine. He's been in the business all his adult life (he's 40-ish) so I concede that he can hear things I can't. Maybe that's the case with the OP here.

Or maybe it's all smoke and mirrors. All I know for absolute certain is that I can't justify those cost differentials in cables and will now engage in the amplifier battle. I have actually heard differences there, so I'm starting to drink one flavor of the KoolAid.

Just sounds like another clueless salesman to me. As soon as I hear anything to do with PRAT its time to leave.

 

[ski2xblack]

All I know for absolute certain is that I can't justify those cost differentials in cables and will now engage in the amplifier battle. I have actually heard differences there, so I'm starting to drink one flavor of the KoolAid.

Don't drink the koolaid. That suggests some sort of blind faith approach, one which could potentially separate you from large amounts of your hard earned ducats in the same manner as the Nordost cables scam.

Regarding differences between amps, a lot of the claimed differences are psychological in nature. Amps with flat response, low distortion, low output impedance, and operated within their limits tend to be indistinguishable. The power of suggestion and sighted evaluations obscure that reality, but even a simple single blind, level matched comparison is enough to convince an honest listener. In the case of amplifiers that actually do exhibit audible differences, those differences always and invariably boil down to some specific reducible cause (violation of the above mentioned restrictions, something that I suspect occurs far more often in real life than it should; amount and type of distortion; clipping characteristics; output impedance mediated frequency response aberrations; etc).

 

[KenM10759]

There are some differences in amplifiers or I believe we'd all still be listening to circuitry from a 1960's Scott tube amplifier or 1970's Hafler (the latter of which is actually still highly regarded by many.)

 

[mtrycrafts]

I recently sat down at an audio shop with my homemade speaker cables to test against Audioquest and Nordost. The staff member hooked up mine first, played a couple minutes of Melody Gardot "Quiet Fire" three times. Then he replaced with the Nordost Purple Flare and played the same song at the same level.

....

You should have or the next time if there is one, have him listen to the cables but don't tell him which cable he is listening to. See if he can guess correctly. Make sure he cannot see the cables. You don't even have to swap cables at all, just use yours and pretend to swap. See if he can tell.

 

[mtrycrafts]

...or I believe we'd all still be listening to circuitry from a 1960's Scott tube amplifier or 1970's Hafler (the latter of which is actually still highly regarded by many.)

Not necessarily.

 

[bigus]

I recently sat down at an audio shop with my homemade speaker cables to test against Audioquest and Nordost. The staff member hooked up mine first, played a couple minutes of Melody Gardot "Quiet Fire" three times. Then he replaced with the Nordost Purple Flare and played the same song at the same level.

He looked at me and asked "Well?", to which I replied "I'm shocked." His smile turned to dismay when I followed with "For a $500 pair of speaker cables to sound exactly the same as mine that cost me $27,50 to make is what's shocking."

Of course he was so miffed that he started in on "it's the pace and timing of the better cables more than sound quality." He went on about richer, faster bass and more open highs. I suggested we now test the Audioquest. He put those on and we listened. Then back to mine. Now he knew how I was going to react so he offered that mine are "almost as good" as the $350 Audioquest. We left it at that.

I agreed to be nice and consider that maybe his ears are far more experienced and trained than mine. He's been in the business all his adult life (he's 40-ish) so I concede that he can hear things I can't. Maybe that's the case with the OP here.

Or maybe it's all smoke and mirrors. All I know for absolute certain is that I can't justify those cost differentials in cables and will now engage in the amplifier battle. I have actually heard differences there, so I'm starting to drink one flavor of the KoolAid.

I think the whole idea is to test the cables in your system.
It's difficult to judge on a system your not used to.
Any decent audio dealer should have demo cables you can take home and demo.
If it doesn't make a difference, your not out any money.
Timing and quicker tighter bass was definitely one thing I noticed when I put my cables in.
It made a more noticeable difference for me between the preamp and my amplifier.


Don't get me started on tube swapping...

I didn't intend to start a war and apologize if the beer took hold this weekend.
Enjoy the music no matter what you use.....


Oh ya and believe it or not, my nic from the Age of Empire gaming days was Bigus_Dikus.....

 

[Chu Gai]

Bigus from AVS?

 

[mtrycrafts]

I think the whole idea is to test the cables in your system.
It's difficult to judge on a system your not used to.
...

Why? An audible difference is an audible difference in another system and speaker.
You don't use a double blind listening test, do you? Or, even a single blind?
As it seems, sighted evaluation, is unreliable and useless determining real audible differences.

 

[rojo]

I think the whole idea is to test the cables in your system.
It's difficult to judge on a system your not used to.
Any decent audio dealer should have demo cables you can take home and demo.
If it doesn't make a difference, your not out any money.
Timing and quicker tighter bass was definitely one thing I noticed when I put my cables in.
It made a more noticeable difference for me between the preamp and my amplifier.


Don't get me started on tube swapping...

I didn't intend to start a war and apologize if the beer took hold this weekend.
Enjoy the music no matter what you use.....


Oh ya and believe it or not, my nic from the Age of Empire gaming days was Bigus_Dikus.....

Just curious. Did the salesman who sold you the Nordost cables tell you what to expect, or did you hear these differences without any preconceptions? I reckon what you're hearing is placebo.

FWIW, Nordost was recently observed employing some sketchy A-B demo methods at AXPONA. If their cables really were what they're claimed to be, then there would be no need for parlor tricks and subterfuge.

But if you believe they make your system sound better, then you're getting your money's worth I suppose. Just don't look here for validation.

Sometimes a product is made more valuable by the decadent exclusivity behind it. If not, then there'd be no market for Louis Vuitton or Dooney & Bourke. Value is also increased with mystical pseudo-science, from marketing just technical enough to be ostensible (a la homeopathic remedies). Pick whichever metaphor makes you more comfortable with your purchase.