Nordost’s 4K UHD cables are the first in the industry that allow customers to experience the high frame rates and Deep Color promised from their 4K compatible components.

The design philosophy of Nordost’s 4K UHD Cables, as well as the materials used in their construction, maximize high speed digital signaling, while eliminating incessant and damaging factors such as jitter, timing errors and crosstalk. Both the Valhalla 2 and Heimdall 2 4K use Nordost’s proprietary Micro Mono-Filament technology, increasing the velocity of propagation by 20%, allowing the current to travel along the conductor’s surface with virtually no impedance. Nordost’s 4K UHD cables are arranged in a twin-axial, shielded pair design. This design topology allows for shorter and more accurate wire lengths, which in turn reduces errors, while shielding overcomes any crosstalk issues. The Valhalla 2 4K cable even increases its gauge size, which allows it to surpass flow standards and carry Transition Minimized Differential Signaling (TMDS) beyond the critical speeds necessary to achieve excellent data transfer.

Thanks to new, groundbreaking proprietary electronics, Nordost is able to guarantee the same excellent results at longer cable lengths.  The Valhalla 2 4K cable can reach up to a staggering 15 meters. All active circuitry implemented into our cabling is individually programmed and tested to ensure that 4K bandwidth requirements surpass the highest standards as defined by DPL Labs.

All Valhalla 2 and Heimdall 2 4K UHD Cables are handmade in Nordost’s Massachusetts-based factory. Nordost is the only cable manufacturer with the ability to design each function of the UHD interface, assemble, and test the performance of every 4K UHD cable produced. By keeping the production of this cable in the USA, Nordost can ensure premium quality and an adherence to specification standards that is impossible for companies that outsource their manufacturing.

Learn More:

Heimdall 2 4K

Valhalla 2 4K

Yesterday, Nordost launched its newest Supreme Reference Series Odin 2 at High End 2015. The highly anticipated Odin 2 Range is truly the most exceptional hifi audio cable range in the consumer electronics market. After years of extensive research and development, the new Odin 2 Cables integrate all of the advancements in cable technology and procedures that Nordost has learned since the introduction of the first iteration of Odin nearly a decade ago. The new Odin 2 Range consists of analog, digital, and tonearm interconnects, as well as loudspeaker, bi-wire jumper and power cables. Each cable type uses Nordost’s patented Dual Mono-Filament process, revolutionary Total Signal Control technology, and innovative, proprietary HOLO:PLUG® connectors in order to ensure a transformative effect on hifi sound systems.

The Odin 2 Power Cord is constructed with seven silver-plated, close tolerance, 14 AWG 99.999999% oxygen free copper conductors. Nordost’s patented Dual Mono-Filament technology creates a virtual air dielectric between the extruded FEP insulation and each individual conductor. Nordost’s TSC technology is then carried throughout the cable and into its purpose-built, 100% shielded, HOLO:PLUG® connector. Odin 2 Power Cords are available with HOLO:PLUG® US (Nema), EU (Schuko), AUS or UK to Odin 2 HOLO:PLUG® IEC-C15 or IEC-C19 terminations.

Odin 2 Analog Interconnects consist of ten silver-plated, 23 AWG 99.999999% OFC conductors, each utilizing proprietary Dual Mono-Filament technology and precise FEP extrusion. Odin 2 phono and balanced interconnects are also constructed using purpose built low mass, dual ring HOLO:PLUG® RCA or XLR connectors which reduce vibrations and eddy currents when mated to components.

For turntable users, Nordost has introduced a dedicated tonearm cable consisting of four silver-plated, solid core conductors wrapped in a patented Dual Mono-Filament suspension and protected by Nordost’s Total Signal Control technology. These four TSC tubes are precisely arranged around a dedicated ground wire. Odin 2 Tonearm Cables are terminated with customized, extremely low mass HOLO:PLUG® connectors, weighing less than half the mass of conventional Din connectors, including straight or 90º Din, XLR and RCA.

Odin 2 Digital Cables ensure the impedance matching necessary for S/PDIF and AES/EBU leads. The 75 Ohm cable consists of a single, co-axial, silver-plated, solid core conductor. The 110 Ohm cable is constructed with two silver-plated conductors placed in a twin-axial design. Both Odin 2 Digital Interconnects use Nordost’s patented Dual Mono-Filament and TSC technologies and are terminated with Nordost’s purpose-built XLR and BNC HOLO:PLUG® connectors, elevating these cables to a level never before achieved by digital leads. (The 75 Ohm S/PDIF digital cable is supplied with a gold plated BNC/RCA adapter)

Odin 2 Loudspeaker Cables use 26 silver-plated, solid core conductors. Each conductor takes advantage of Nordost’s Dual Mono-Filament technology and is encased in a high purity class 1.003 FEP extrusion. The conductors are carefully arranged and precisely spaced on either side of a hollow inner core in order to provide a perfect mechanical interface along the length of the cable. The Odin 2 Bi-Wire Jumper has an identical construction, making it the perfect extension to accommodate bi-wire speakers while maintaining a consistent sonic signature throughout an entire sound system.  Both Odin 2 Loudspeaker and Bi-Wire Jumper Cables are terminated with Nordost’s gold-plated HOLO:PLUG® spade and Z-plug banana connectors to ensure maximum surface contact and signal transfer.

Joe Reynolds, President of Nordost, announces, “We are very excited about the launch of Odin 2, which is a major improvement over our flagship Odin cables. The introduction of our patented HOLO:PLUG® technology lifts this cable to a new pinnacle of performance. We have applied all of the knowledge we have acquired over many years of research and development to offer the most state-of-the-art cable solution possible.The response from our beta testers has been overwhelmingly positive, and we can’t wait to finally introduce Odin 2 into the market.”

Nordost’s newest addition to their Supreme Reference Series will unleash every facet of a live performance and allow listeners to fully immerse themselves in a complete and pure musical experience. Odin 2 doesn’t just set the standard; it blows the standards away.

When looking for the perfect installation cable to use in setting up a home sound system, three areas must be addressed: durability, discrete placement, and performance. Nordost Leifstyle installation cables are purpose-built with all three criteria in mind.

Nordost’s newest addition to the Leifstyle line, the 14-2 Speaker Cable, uses two 14 AWG, 99.9999% OFC stranded conductors, which have been extruded with premium PVC. This heavy gauged speaker cable is specifically constructed for in-wall installation. As such, Nordost’s 14-2 Speaker Cable is RoHS Compliant and has a UL rating of CL3, which is rated for up to 300 volts. The 14-2 Speaker Cable’s durability and flexibility make it the perfect solution for snaking your speaker cables through walls, giving your listening room a sleek look without compromising the sound and integrity of your sound system.

The new Leifstyle 14-2 Speaker Cable is available in an extremely wide variety of lengths in order to accommodate any job. But while your 14-2 Leifstyle cable may not be seen once installed, it will certainly be heard with clarity! The performance level of your audio system will receive a noticeable lift, increasing musical flow, dynamics and expressive range—gains that can only be achieved with the precision and detail that is put into every Nordost product. Leifstyle installation cables follow Nordost’s unique and simplistic cable philosophy: cables are connections, not filters, so that you are left with an impression of the music, not of the cabling.

• Insulation: Extruded Premium PVC
• Conductors: 41 strand 2×14 AWG
• Material: 99.9999% OFC
• Capacitance: 11.0pF/ft
• Inductance: 0.19uH/ft
• Velocity of propagation: 85% Speed of light
• Termination: Gold-plated Spade or Z-plug Banana
• Approvals: RoHS Compliant, UL: CL3

The consumer electronics market is constantly evolving thanks to the development of new technologies as well as the shifting whims of customers. In the past five years the push towards personal audio has been overwhelming. What started out as an offshoot based on convenience, has morphed into an industry that has become a preference for many people. Audiophiles have launched into headfi with a great deal of fervor. These enthusiasts take the same care in customizing their personal audio set-up as they do their listening rooms. As music enthusiasts begin to amass personal audio gear, it is important to remember that whether sound is distributed by speaker or headphone, the fundamentals remain the same—foundation is paramount.

The Heimdall 2 Headphone Cable consists of 32 AWG 7/40 conductors which have been individually insulated and twisted using Litz construction. Litz construction increases the pliability, as well as eliminates triboelectric noise within the cable and improves upon mechanical damping. In order to accommodate the added durability demanded from headphone cables, Nordost has included an Aramid fiber strength member to the construction of this cable. Integrating Aramid fibers into the cable design not only ensures its mechanical integrity, transferring the strain away from the cable’s conductors and to the fibers themselves, but the resonating properties of aramid fibers also enhance sound quality.

To take things to the next level, the Heimdall 2 Headphone Cable employs Nordost’s proprietary Micro Mono-Filament technology with extruded FEP insulation around the conductors, as well as mechanically tuned lengths, which reduce internal microphony and high-frequency impedance resonance. As a result, the Heimdall 2 Headphone Cable acts as the ideal conduit to transfer an amazingly realistic reproduction of sound from your system to your hifi headphones.

The Heimdall 2 Headphone Cable is available with a variety of termination options that are compatible with all major players in the headphone market.  (Click HERE for a list of available terminations and their corresponding headphones.) Each cable is 2M and is terminated with a 4 pin balanced XLR male connector on the source end and also includes two adapters which are comprised of identical construction and technology as the headphone cable itself, and have also been cut to specific, mechanically tuned lengths. Both adaptors are terminated with a 4 pin balanced XLR female connector on one end and either a 3.5mm stereo mini or a 1/4in stereo phono on the opposite end.

Personal audio has revolutionized the world of hifi and allowed audiophiles to appreciate music in a whole new way. The advances made by leading headphone manufacturers as well manufacturers of amps, DACs and music players have made it possible to make hifi portable—so why disparage those gains with substandard headphone cables? Nordost’s Heimdall 2 Headphone Cable now enables you to enjoy the hi-fidelity sound quality that you have been craving from the personal audio market.

In today’s society it is of the utmost importance that our technology be completely mobile. Along with the rest of the tech industry, music has also been “mobilized”. However, many audiophiles are unwilling to sacrifice quality for the convenience that portable audio provides. But with the launch of Nordost’s new iKables, there are no more concessions—the LS Blue Heaven and Heimdall 2 iKables finally make it possible to enjoy hifi quality sound from all of your portable audio devices.

At their core, both the LS Blue Heaven and Heimdall 2 iKables are constructed from 4 silver plated solid-core 24 AWG OFC conductors and employ Nordost’s innovative precision FEP extrusion technology. This process greatly reduces the dielectric properties in the cables in order to increase signal speed and accuracy in signal transfer. This on its own makes a significant improvement upon the standard interconnects used with portable audio devices.

However, the Heimdall 2 version takes it a step forward. The Heimdall 2 iKable uses Nordost’s proprietary Dual Mono-Filament technology, suspending the conductors in a virtual air-dielectric which decreases the resistance and signal loss even further than what is possible with the Blue Heaven. Additionally, the Heimdall 2 iKable utilizes mechanically tuned lengths which are proven to reduce internal microphony and high frequency impedance resonance.

Nordost iKables are the perfect solution for today’s modern hifi enthusiast. They are made specifically for auxiliary inputs in aftermarket radios, car and home audio stereos, and are compatible with all portable audio devices. With the LS Blue Heaven and Heimdall 2 iKables you will never have to suffer through substandard sound again, regardless of your location.

LS Blue Heaven iKable     Heimdall 2 iKable

Nordost has always maintained that the single most important cable in a hifi system is the one coming out of the wall. The power cord is responsible for the AC current that is running your whole system. In other words, without your power cord, you are without sound. Likewise, with a poor quality power cord, you have equally poor quality sound.

Last week, at the High End Show 2014 in Munich, Nordost released the newest addition to our AC mains, the Tyr 2 Power Cord. Though still a part of the Norse 2 family, the Tyr 2 Power Cord benefits from the extensive research made in creating Valhalla 2, which also made its debut in Munich (in 2013). As with V2, the Tyr 2 Power Cord uses a combination of Nordost’s proprietary Dual Mono-Filament technology with a precise method of FEP extrusion over the conductors. This guarantees the most efficient transfer of power in the industry, putting this cable a step above its Norse 2 brothers and bounds ahead of the competition.

The Tyr 2 Power Cord is constructed with 7 silver plated, solid-core 16 AWG OFC conductors, giving it complete material consistency with Norse 2 interconnects and speaker cables. Additionally, the Tyr 2 Power Cord implements mechanically tuned lengths, reducing internal microphony and high frequency impedance resonance.

The result is a high performance, low loss cable, capable of the dynamics, color and texture required to not only produce sound, but recreate true, lifelike performances.

Nordost Tyr 2 Power Cord

Nordost is reintroducing the System Set-Up & Tuning Disc.  This test CD contains everything that you need to get a system sounding its best – and keep it that way. An extensive range of proven diagnostic tracks (plus a few innovative and extremely useful ones) helps with speaker placement and sub-woofer integration, performance checks and assessment, problem location and system conditioning.

The disc comes with its own instruction book, which clearly lays out the purpose and benefits of each track.  In addition to basic channel and phase checks, there are discrete left and right channel pink and white noise tracks, as well as alternating ones, which are ideal for checking that speakers are working properly and voicing them in-room. The computer generated LEDR tests provide a repeatable method for mapping and adjusting sound-staging and toe-in while uncompressed drum tracks test dynamic range and rhythmic integration. As well as conventional sweeps, there is a timed low-frequency sweep that will allow you to identify principal room modes. Used in conjunction with the discrete low-frequency tones this is a huge help in diagnosing problem environments, placing speakers and integrating and optimizing sub-woofers. Throw in system burn-in and degauss tracks and you can see why we consider this an invaluable part of our audio arsenal.

The System Set-Up & Tuning Disc will get you on the right path to having your system sound its best.  For more tweaks and helpful hints:

The QKOIL is a load resonating coil (LRC) which generates a passive electronic field that provides a vital solution to the issues of AC quality in audio/video performance. The QK1 uses Nordost’s proprietary Micro Mono-Filament technology in a loading application to prevent time delay and distortion of the transmitted signal, making the AC current as close as possible to the desired “distortionless condition”. In addtion to improving the overtones and pacing of music, the QKOIL opens up midrange frequencies and improves the attack of transient details in the music. Visually, the QK1 increases clarity of imaging by adding depth and focus.

The QK1 is housed in a mechanically tuned carbon-fiber body and equipped with either a US (NEMA) or EU (Schuko) connector. It is compatible with voltages from 110V to 240V, and can be used with an AUS or UK adaptor if required. The QKOIL is now available at select Nordost dealers, worldwide. To find the Nordost dealer nearest you, visit the “Where to Buy” page on www.nordost.com.

Like all QRT products, the benefits are cumulative and the QK1s are even more impressive when applied collectively. It can be used as a “stand alone” product or to complement a full QRT system with a QBASE, QX2, QX4 and especially the QV2. Plug the QKOIL into any spare socket on your system’s AC line and experience first-hand the surprising yet indisputable effect it will have on your A/V components.

QKOIL: QK1

As the use of music servers, hard-drive stored music and high-resolution audio downloading grows increasingly popular, and in some cases becomes the standard choice, it is critical to use a high quality USB cable that can meet the demands of music fidelity. Improving upon Nordost’s Blue Heaven USB 2.0, the new Heimdall 2 USB 2.0 is the high-end digital cable that will deliver ones and zeroes with the efficiency and diligence necessary to maintain the correct impedance to dramatically lift your hifi system to a whole new level of performance.

Thanks to the experience acquired in the fabrication of successful products such as the Blue Heaven HDMI and USB 2.0 cables, Nordost can now further refine digital leads through its most current, proprietary technology. The Heimdall 2 USB 2.0 is constructed from 4×20 AWG stranded, silver-plated 99.99999% OFC conductors, arranged in a precise, twisted double helix in order to ensure character impedance, reduce noise and minimize cross-talk contamination. In order to increase dielectric, the conductors are suspended in Nordost’s proprietary FEP Dual Mono-Filament, which is newly optimized to increase flexibility and mechanical dampening.  Add a dual layer silver foil jacket and silver braided shield and the Heimdall 2’s extreme data transmission speeds surpass the USB 2.0 standards.

To further up the ante, the new Heimdall 2 USB 2.0 is now implementing mechanically tuned lengths. This technique, used in Nordost’s Odin, Norse 2 and Valhalla 2 ranges, reduces internal microphonics and high-frequency impedance resonance, which ultimately allows you to enjoy the dynamics, coherence and balance of live music played in the comfort of your own listening room.