Author Archives: Nordost

Nordost Introduces New Supreme Reference Cable Range – ODIN GOLD

Posted on by
Reply

Nordost is excited to introduce its innovative, new Supreme Reference range, Odin Gold. Odin Gold achieves the unthinkable, eclipsing Odin 2. While Odin 2 will continue to remain available, as a beacon of audio prowess throughout the industry, Odin Gold is now taking its place at the apex of Nordost offerings, as the new flagship line. 

Odin Gold advances the revolutionary technology generated throughout the development of the Odin 2 range, and improves upon its elemental composition. With this new preeminent cable range comes the introduction of a new material to Nordost’s award-winning design philosophy. One whose stability, conductivity, and tolerance yields transformative, never before experienced enhancements to performance. That material is gold. 

The Odin Gold range of audio cables includes the most prestigious array of power cords, analog interconnects, tonearm cables, and loudspeaker cables available in the high end consumer audio industry. Each of these state-of-the-art products boasts the highest quality materials on the market, alongside the full breadth of Nordost’s technological advances, innovative manufacturing techniques, and revolutionary, proprietary materials. 

Audiophiles familiar with Nordost will recognize these design features from their highly celebrated predecessor, Odin 2 – features such as Dual Mono-Filament technology, mechanically tuned lengths, Total Signal Control, and Holo:Plug® connectors. However, the influence of these design elements, in concert with the audible effects of gold-plated conductors, shielding, and connectors, provides a hyper-realistic audio experience that has to be heard to be truly appreciated. 

Nordost’s Odin Gold audio cables are a revelation to the highest echelon of two-channel systems available in the audio world, producing a realism in playback that erases any confounds of an audio system, leaving you, for the first time, enveloped by the music itself. 

Attendees of The Hong Kong High End Audio Visual Show were the first to preview Odin Gold. The show served as the start of a year-long rollout period, during which this exceptional product will be introduced to audiophiles around the world. To experience your reference audio system as it has never been heard before, elite customers will soon be invited to schedule personalized Odin Gold auditions led by Nordost’s most exclusive Supreme Reference dealers.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ODIN GOLD

Nordost Playlist – August 2021

Posted on by
Reply

Nordost products are designed to allow you to enjoy your favorite performances as they were intended to be heard. All of us here are passionate about great music, and want to share our passion with you. Each one of us has our own style… We listen to a wide variety of artists and genres but, in a way, we appreciate them all. We thought that we would share a few of the songs on our own personal playlists with you each month. Some may be classics, some may be brand new, some may not even be to your tastes, but we hope that there is something here for everyone.

Here are some of the songs that we will have on rotation this August.

You can now listen to our monthly playlist here:  TIDAL  | SPOTIFY  |  QOBUZ

  1. Crimson and Clover—The Shacks—Crimson and Clover
  2. Black Grease—The Black Angels—Passover
  3. Floated By—Peter Cat Recording Co.—Bismillah
  4. The River—Michael Farneti—Good Morning Kisses 
  5. I Get A Kick Out Of You—Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga—I Get A Kick Out Of You
  6. Surf’s Up – A Cappella—The Beach Boys—Feel Flows The Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions 
  7. Be Aware—Barbra Streisand—Release Me 2
  8. World That’s Not Real—Gloria Ann Taylor—Deep Inside you 
  9. Angel – Work Tape—Aretha Franklin—ARETHA 
  10. Turnaround (Cocaine Song)—Tōth—You and Me and Everything

Nordost Customer Testimonial

Posted on by
Reply

Nordost is always thrilled to receive and share glowing reviews from journalists and experts in the industry. However, when we get testimonials from our devoted and satisfied customers, it means that much more!

Thank you to Rocco from Italy for giving us a glimpse into his reference system, and sharing how Nordost has been such an integral factor in reaching “musical heaven”.

“I’ve tried many other brands of cables and audio accessories before (all top range products), but Nordost’s products perfectly match the neutrality, resolution, and tonality of my Burmester gear. The Burmester Reference Line system, set in my custom-built, concert hall-inspired, acoustic hall, delivers natural and substantial sound with a perfect tonal balance, sense of timing, and deeply impressive dynamics. It is articulate, polite, and large-scale, with refined delicacy, authority, great composure, and an alluring sense of refinement, coupled with just a hint of richness, that makes it easy to enjoy. In a few words, it is the essence of musicality. It processes with immaculate agility and subtlety to deliver low-key music with an exceptional transparency and smoothness. Even at very high volumes, the system never sounds rushed or stressed. Rather, it has a superb sense of fluidity, musical warmth, and an incredible wealth of details—the detail resolution is sky high.

In using Nordost cabling, my Reference System has reached “musical heaven” in terms of sound, and I’m very happy with the results achieved. There’s a natural side effect to this kind of insight that it makes music sound simpler (in a good way), allowing the listener to follow individual musical strands with ease. The sound stage is wide and deep, and populated by immaculately focused instruments. There’s a superb sense of sonic stability in the system that remains untroubled, even as the music explodes with adrenaline-filled dynamic shifts. The position, solidity, and intelligibility of instruments have a perfect precision in their virtual space and aren’t affected one bit. The Burmester Reference Line system manages to convey the warmth and feeling in the lead vocals with mesmerizing realism. To my ears, this kind of composure is rare to find, even at this high-end level; it clearly speaks to the heart as well as the mind, which is a rare thing. I consider the Nordost brand to be the absolute best of the best. They produce the highest quality cables with no compromise. With them in my system, I achieve reference-level sonic performance as I have never, in my humble experience, heard before. Cheers.“

Rocco’s system uses Valhalla, QRT, and Sort Systems.

Visit our Customer Testimonials page to see what more users like Rocco have to say!

What’s your Nordost story?

How does cable design affect the audio performance of digital cables?

Posted on by
Reply

When you’re looking for a digital interface, cable design is of the utmost importance, but what aspects of cable design matter, and how do they affect the performance of your digital cable? There are several electrical characteristics to consider, the top four being: characteristic impedance, capacitance, shielding and transmission speed. 

Characteristic Impedance: 

When speaking about the impedance characteristic of a digital signal, it is important to note that, while you may want to focus on the cable alone, the transmission line of a digital signal starts where the RF signal is generated inside the digital source and ends where the signal is decoded inside the digital receiver. However, for the cable alone, the impedance characteristic is defined as the ratio of voltage to current at the input to an infinite transmission line. The stability of the impedance characteristic depends on several design aspects of the cable, including conductor size and geometry, insulation material and the thickness of that insulation, and connector quality and type (75 Ω for S/PDIF, 110 Ω for AES/EBU, 90 Ω for USB, and 100 Ω for UTP Ethernet cables).

Capacitance: 

In digital cables, high capacitance of a cable will slow down voltage transitions, causing an unevenness to the flat portions of a square wave. When this happens, the D/A receiver on the other end of the signal will have a harder time identifying the data transmission. Many aspects of cable design that help to minimize capacitance are the same aspects that affect the impedance: decreasing the conductor diameter, changing the conductor geometry, and using insulation with a low dielectric constant. The art of designing a high-quality digital cable is finding the balance between what needs to be done to keep capacitance low and avoiding negative impact on the characteristic impedance of the cable. 

To keep capacitance low, Nordost implements their proprietary Mono-Filament technology in their digital cable design. By intricately and uniformly wrapping single or twisted pairs of FEP Mono-Filament around each conductor before encasing them in an extruded layer of high-quality FEP, each conductor is surrounded by its own air dielectric. In decreasing the interaction of the conductor to the insulation, the signal is no longer hampered like it is in more traditional digital cable designs.

Shielding:

Whereas in analog interconnects shielding is used only to keep foreign elements away from the signal, in digital transmission, shielding both keeps external radio frequencies and electromagnetic interference away as well as keeping RF signals inside of the cable itself. When designing a digital cable, one important thing to keep in mind is the compatibility of the specialized connectors with the shielding material, as that will determine how manufacturers implement the shielding into the design. 

Transmission Speeds: 

While fast transmission speeds are always sought after in cable design, for some digital cables it is absolutely essential. USB cables, for example, must perform a digital handshake (where the signal travels from source to destination and then back in 26 nanoseconds) to work. When using a conventional design, that handshake is only possible at short lengths. Nordost USB cables, on the other hand, employ Mono-Filament technology, enhancing signal speeds so much that we are able to build cables twice the length of a standard USB cable or longer, and still achieve a reliable handshake.

For more information like this, to better understand the technical challenges of digital audio data transmission, and to know what to listen for when auditioning digital audio cables read our download, Digital Audio Cables: How Can They Make a Difference?, now!  

Dealer Spotlight: Audio Connection, Sydney

Posted on by
Reply

By Bjorn Bengtsson

Audio Connection was founded by Josef Riediger in 1987, born out of his passion for high-end music reproduction. When he first started, Josef had a tiny shop in a the Sydney suburb, Bankstown, and sold only a handful of products (like the legendary Gryphon, to mention one brand). After seven very successful years, he had amassed enough funds and experience to move into a much larger facility in Leichhardt, where he continued to build on his earlier success. There, Josef expanded deeper and deeper into high-end HiFi and Home Cinema. Along the way, he met some amazing people from all walks of life, and built a solid reputation throughout the industry and among customers as a real stalwart of the Australian HiFi community. 

Nordost’s journey with Audio Connection started in the early 2000’s, when then-distributor Warren Stolmack brought in some earlier Nordost products for Josef to audition. Josef was so intrigued by the results he heard with Nordost in his system that he instantly signed on as a dealer and continued to spread the word about Nordost’s performance for many years to come. 

Not long after Mr. Stolmack introduced Nordost to Audio Connection, ‘yours truly’ had the opportunity to meet with the charismatic Josef, or Joe Riediger as most people referred to him. In that meeting I remember that Joe said, in his unmistakable accent, “I don’t need to hear them again, Warren already showed me. Valhalla is the best.”  This is a statement he never would have to amend.

From then on, there have been several Nordost demonstrations made in the Leichardt facility. I have had the privilege of spending several enjoyable and memorable evenings with the ever-present customer base of engaged Australian HiFi enthusiasts. One example of such a night to remember at Audio Connection you can even read about here, thanks to Soundstage Australia’s reporting.

Sadly, Josef passed away in September 2020, one week shy of his 71st birthday. His passion for hifi is upheld by the team he left behind, comprised of Janson, Jojo, Michael, Phil, Ken, and lead by his nephew, Nigel. Between this team, there’s almost 200 years of hifi experience, most of which was spent by Josef’s side, and all sharing his passion for audio. Audio Connection has recently gone through an extensive ‘face lift’ with new, superb sounding demo rooms, filled with a full range of some of the world’s most highly regarded high-end brands, as always. Including, of course, Nordost’s entire collection, all the way up to Odin 2.

Audio Connection

Address:137 Victoria Road
Drummoyne NSW
New south Wales
NSW 2025
Phone:02 9561 0788
Fax:02 97199630
Email:sales@audioconnection.com.au
Web:www.audioconnection.com.au

Nordost Playlist – July 2021

Posted on by
Reply

Nordost products are designed to allow you to enjoy your favorite performances as they were intended to be heard. All of us here are passionate about great music, and want to share our passion with you. Each one of us has our own style… We listen to a wide variety of artists and genres but, in a way, we appreciate them all. We thought that we would share a few of the songs on our own personal playlists with you each month. Some may be classics, some may be brand new, some may not even be to your tastes, but we hope that there is something here for everyone.

Here are some of the songs that we will have on rotation this July.

You can now listen to our monthly playlist here:  TIDAL  | SPOTIFY  |  QOBUZ

  1. We Cannot Resist—LUMP, Laura Marling, Mike Lindsay 
  2. Bed Head—Manchester Orchestra—Bed Head 
  3. Lowdown—Boz Scaggs—Silk Degrees 
  4. Slow Mover—Angie McMahon—Salt 
  5. You & Me—Dave Matthews Band—Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King (Expanded Edition)
  6. Comerte Entera—C. Tangana, Toquinho—Comerte Entera
  7. Somebody Help Me—Otis Brown—Southside Chicago
  8. Tip Toe—SAULT—7
  9. Dreams—Fleetwood Mac—Rumours
  10. Against The Wind—Victory—The Broken Instrument

Hi-Fi Choice Reviews the Heimdall 2 Power Cord ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Posted on by
Reply

We have another 5 Star review in the books! This month our Heimdall 2 Power Cord was recognized for its excellence in Hi-Fi Choice. Reviewer, Neville Roberts, was immediately taken by the unmistakable improvements our mains cable had on his system, calling it an “excellent choice” for any high-end system.

“With the Heimdall 2 in my valve preamp power supply, [the music] is spectacularly reproduced with the crisp and sharp drum-taps and hand-claps in perfect sync with the baseline and piano.” – Neville Roberts, Hi-Fi Choice

You can now read Hi-Fi Choice’s review here: Nordost Heimdall 2 Power Cord

You can find this review and more great Nordost reviews on our Reviews Page.

Pictures from Nordost Nation! June 2021

Posted on by
Reply

Nordost is lucky to have such incredibly loyal and enthusiastic customers! One great way that our fans let us know that they are happy with the work that we do is by posting pictures of their Nordost products in action. Here are a few photos that have been shared with us recently. Feel free to send us pictures of Nordost in your system, via Facebook, info@nordost.com, or #nordostcables on Instagram, so that we can continue to share them with the whole Nordost family!

We’re a few seasons late to seeing this gorgeous shot from @yegor.malinovskii – “Fall colors just a few days ago were on fire. Winter is coming ❄️”
A beautiful piano alongside Raidho and Nordost by @hifilausanne
@getexcitedbrand – “Loving this new set up that @3maaudio put together for me.”
@soundings_hifi shared this picture with our Heimdall 2 Speaker Cables supported by Nordost Sort Lifts
@vinylnoob “Decided to switch it up this weekend and do a little streaming with Roon->PS Audio DirectStream DAC with Bridge II. #psaudio”
Red Dawn from @williamduarte.hi.fi.sound
@2010_stromling‘s Norse 2 cables are shedding light onto his music
@hifonix.co.uk “Busy morning demonstration.” with Heimdall 2. Coffee and Hi-Fi 👌
@andrea151275‘s system is in for a treat with this new QKORE6 Grount Unit!
@jimmy_hifi – “End of year post. My last system project of 2020. McIntosh, Focal, JL Audio, Nordost, Salamander Synergy, BlueSound, Sony, Roon, Qobuz.”
@emre.elver “Nordost heimdall 2 💯”
@finna_no has his vinyl system sounding immaculate with Norse 2
@andrew_audiophile “Some sound improving components has been added to the system. Nordost QCore, QRT and Sort Fut devices make very positive influence on the sound.”
@cultoffonza spinning some Tom Petty with Heimdall 2 and QRT
@claud1e777 – “…Tube-Time to finish off a busy week” Love the lights!
A great shot of Valhalla 2 Speaker Cables from @audio_klub

Nordost Customer Testimonial

Posted on by
Reply

Nordost is always thrilled to receive and share glowing reviews from journalists and experts in the industry. However, when we get testimonials from our devoted and satisfied customers, it means that much more!

Thank you to Shawn from Fort Mill SC or sharing his stellar system, which was recently souped up with Nordost products purchased from his dealer, Liquid Hi-Fi.

“This may sound cliché, but I’ll never forget the first time I heard an audio system fully optimized with Nordost products. It was my first visit to Liquid Hifi. I was auditioning a few integrated amplifiers and the owner, Ron, queued up the first track of the recent Mark Knopfler release, Tracker. Music poured out of the speakers from complete silence. The space between notes stood out and added to the timing of the music. The bass was more powerful and controlled than I was expecting. Mark’s vocal was natural and saturated. I was intrigued.

Ron explained to me that the Nordost cables and accessories were a major contributor to what I was hearing. Shortly after, Ron came to my house and let me hear what Nordost products could do for my system. I was pretty blown away and purchased a full Nordost Frey 2 loom with power and grounding products. Now every time I listen to music in my own home I get that same quiet background and natural sound that caught me off guard in Ron’s showroom. That’s what pulls me into my stereo room to enjoy music every day. To me, Nordost made THE difference.”

Shawn’s system is wired with Frey 2 , QRT, and Sort Kones.

Visit our Customer Testimonials page to see what more users like Rob have to say!

What’s your Nordost story?

How to Make the Most Out of Your Bi-Wired Loudspeakers

Posted on by
7

Do your loudspeakers have multiple sets of terminals on their rear panels? If they do, they have been configured with a bi-wire (or possibly tri-wire) crossover. This generally means that they were designed so that one pair of terminals are designated for the high frequencies and the other pair for the low frequencies. Great news—bi-wirable crossovers could mean wonderful audible enhancements for your system! But you have to make sure you’re using this design feature to your advantage, or risk tanking your system’s performance.

When using Bi-Wired Loudspeakers, there are three main cabling options for your set-up: supported shotgun, bi-wire, and bi-wire jumpers. This blog will take you through each option and let you know how they can help (or hinder) your system’s performance level.

“Supported” Shotgun:

Typically, you would use a cable configured in a “shotgun” termination with standard loudspeakers which don’t require bi-wiring. You may ask, “With a bi-wired loudspeaker, how could you possibly support both the tweeters (which support the high frequencies), and the woofer (which supports the low frequencies) with a single run of loudspeaker cables? The answer: you can’t. That’s where the word “supported” comes in.

Many bi-wired loudspeakers are supplied with metal links, which connect the tweeters with the woofer (or vice-versa depending on which pair of terminals you have connected to your amps via your loudspeaker cable). To be clear, at Nordost we do NOT recommend this method. By using these standard, metal links, you are effectively throwing away all the good you’ve done (not to mention the investment you’ve made) with your carefully integrated high-quality audio cables in the last inch of cabling. Naturally, your second question would be, “If metal links are detrimental to the sound, why would a loudspeaker manufacturer provide them with their product?”. Unfortunately, that is a cost issue. In many cases those manufacturers don’t want their design to be prohibitive, so to allow you to use their loudspeakers as soon as they’re purchased, they may include these plates (much like is done with the cheap power cords that are often supplied with electrical components). However, when asked, loudspeaker manufacturers would rarely suggest those plates be used as a permanent solution.

Bi-Wire Cables:

A bi-wire cable is a single run of loudspeaker cable that is terminated with four connectors on the loudspeaker-end instead of two (as is done with shotgun speaker cables). This solution allows you to connect all terminals of a bi-wired loudspeaker without having to buy two pairs of loudspeaker cables, or using standard metal links. In theory, this seems like a good solution, and at Nordost we believe it is a better option than a “supported” shotgun configuration. However, when you bi-wire a loudspeaker cable, you are effectively splitting the cable in fourths in order to serve all terminals. As a result, each terminal makes do with fewer conductors, increasing resistance, and compromising the performance of the loudspeakers.

Alternatively, you could also use two pairs of loudspeaker cables running from your amp to the tweeters and woofer of each loudspeaker, respectively. While this may be the ideal solution, it can become costly, which is where the third option comes in…

Bi-Wire Jumpers:

Bi-Wire Jumpers allow you to use one run of loudspeaker cables to connect your amplifier with your loudspeaker without hindering the performance-level of your system, like you do with standard metal links. At Nordost, our Bi-Wire Jumpers are made using the same technology as our loudspeaker cables, essentially offering an extension of the speaker cable itself. This ensures that an identical sonic signature can be used throughout your entire system, without interruption. Bi-Wire Jumpers are a great way to affordably and immediately integrate bi-wire loudspeakers into your system. This can be either a great long-term solution, or a means to tide you over while you save up for that second pair of quality loudspeaker cables.

For more Do’s and Don’ts about Bi-Wiring and to learn how to best configure your Bi-Wire Jumpers, download our guide today!