Category: Pictures

AXPONA 2026 proved once again why it remains one of the most anticipated events in hifi! 

We built a system that prioritized transparency, speed, and musical realism, and it looks like our efforts have paid off. As Jonathan Valin of The Absolute Sound noted, “…the bass was extremely good, and resolution, such as the reverberant decay coming off the piano’s sounding board, was outstanding. The system exhibited tremendous dynamic speed and power…”. We’re still waiting for all the show coverage to come in but based on the feedback and responses from attendees as they left Schaumburg F, AXPONA 2026 was a confirmed success! 

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the collaboration and expertise of our incredible partners, VTL and Stenheim. Their spectacular components combined with the setup expertise of Stirling Trayle’s Audio System Optimized are a winning combination. AXPONA is always a team effort, and we’re grateful to work alongside such passionate and knowledgeable people.

A highlight of the show was our full schedule of in-room events. Special thanks to Igor Fiorini (VDM High End Records) for his deep dive into the recording process, David Solomon (Qobuz) for an energetic Flash DJ Session, and Abey Fonn (Impex Records) for an engaging listening and storytelling experience.

We also want to thank all of the attendees who visited our room and joined our events, especially our 50th anniversary listening session of David Bowie’s Station to Station, where listeners experienced new depth and detail in this iconic recording.

Beyond the sound and events in Schaumburg F, we’d like to recognize our local and longtime local retailer, Holm Audio. On the 7^th floor, Holm Audio featured Nordost in three rooms, including the Nordost demo room (716), expertly run by Jacob Goldwax and Seth Snyder.

And thank you to our friends at Morel, Wattson Audio, Lumin, and Sonner Audio for showcasing their impressive components in systems wired with Nordost!

Morel:

Wattson Audio:

Lumin:

Sonner Audio:

As the curtain closed on the final High End show in Munich, Nordost was proud to make its mark once again, with a memorable display of innovation and performance. In our main room (Atrium 4, E112), we showcased a full loom of Leif 3 Red Dawn 3 cables, introduced our brand-new Blue Heaven 3 Digital Interconnect, Ethernet, and USB cables, and offered a first look at the White Lightning 3 Tonearm Cable and our highly anticipated, cutting-edge QNET7 network switch. These new and upcoming products continue Nordost’s mission of bringing out the clarity, detail, and musicality that make listening so rewarding.

Beyond the gear, the event was filled with the energy and sense of community that Munich has brought to the hifi industry for over 20 years. We hosted packed demonstrations and listening sessions and had the pleasure of connecting with our valued distributors, trusted partners, and fellow manufacturers. A special thank you to the manufacturers, and to our fabulous German distributor, Audio Reference, who featured Nordost products in their own rooms, using our cables and components to help deliver the best possible performance from their extraordinary systems. Your support and collaboration make all the difference, and we’re grateful to have shared this show together over the years.

Here are some of our favorite images from systems wired with Nordost around the show.

Until next time, High End. See you next year in Vienna!

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Nordost’s Room – Featuring Red Dawn 3 and special looks at new Blue Heaven 3 cables and the QNET7 Network Switch being released later this year

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Audio Reference’s Concert Hall System

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Nordost on Display in the Audio Reference Room

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Audio Reference’s Room – Multiple Systems, All Wired with Nordost

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dCS’s Room – Wired with Nordost Valhalla 2

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VTL’s Room – Wired with Nordost Odin 2

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Raidho’s Room – Wired with Nordost Valhalla 2

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Scansonic’s Room – Wired with Nordost Norse 2

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MOON by Simaudio’s Room – Wired with Nordost

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Hegel’s Booth – Wired with Nordost

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Nordost’s Annual Cocktail Party

We had an incredible time at the Montréal Audiofest! As always, it was a pleasure to connect with the music lovers and customers who come to see us year after year. The demonstrations in the Nordost room, featuring our new Leif 3 audio cables were a highlight for showgoers who were impressed by the dramatic improvements our products make in an audio system.

Thank you to all our fellow manufacturers and retailers who proudly featured Nordost products in their rooms. We are always happy to see our cables in use, making systems perform at the highest level and revealing the full potential of their great components.

If you weren’t able to make it up to Montréal, you can have a look at some photos from the show below!

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Nordost Room

MOON by SIMAUDIO Room

HIFIPRO Room

Last week, Nordost made its way to Washington, DC, to participate in this year’s Capital Audiofest! The Nordost room was full of attendees excited to hear a series of ear-opening demonstrations, highlighting the audible differences that technological advances make as you work your way through Nordost’s offerings, starting with our new, Leif 3 cables and ending with our reference Valhalla 2 range. These demos were powered by an exceptional system, featuring Raidho X2.6 loudspeakers, paired with the Moon 330A amplifier and the 390 player/preamplifier—creating a truly immersive audio experience.

In addition to the Nordost room, we were represented in two other high-performance systems: one in The Library with local DC audiophiles, supported by our Nordost dealer, JS Audio, and another in The Jefferson Room, where a stunning display of Red, White, and Blue VPI Avenger Statements—wired entirely with our Odin 2 cables—captured everyone’s attention.

VPI

JS Audio

A special thank you to all of our partners for choosing Nordost to complete their extraordinary systems, and to everyone who visited to share some great music with us! For those who couldn’t attend, we’ve included some of our favorite images from the event below. We hope to see you next year!

Last week’s Toronto Audiofest was a blast! For people interested in Nordost products, TAF was the place to be. As one attendee put it, “Nordost was everywhere you looked!”  

From our new, introductory Leif 3 line, to our Supreme Reference audio cables, there was a Nordost-wired system for every level of audiophile imaginable. Show-goers who made it to Nordost’s official room, 437, were treated with live cable and QRT demonstrations from Nordost expert, Michael Taylor. 

If you didn’t have the opportunity to attend the Toronto Audiofest, we have some of our favorite Nordost-centric pictures of the event here! 

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Nordost

In the Nordost room, we showcased both our new Leif 3 cables and our high performance Norse 2 line.

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Executive Stereo

The Executive Stero room featured Nordost’s Norse 2 cables including Tyr 2 Interconnects and Speaker Cables and Frey 2 Power Cords.

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Audio By Mark Jones

Audio By Mark Jones complemented their Magico and CH Precision system with Nordost reference Valhalla 2 cables.

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Sonic Artistry

Sonic Artistry featured Nordost’s Supreme Reference Odin 2 cables with the QBASE Reference AC Distribution Unit and other QRT devices for top tier sound.

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Audio Eden

Audio Eden’s stellar system was also connected with Nordost’s Supreme Reference Odin 2 cables.

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Corby’s Audio

Reference Valhalla 2 cables completed the system in the Corby’s Audio room.

A month out from High End in Munich, and we are still beaming from the results of the show! This year Nordost surprised show-goers with the exciting introduction of our Leif 3 series – the next evolution of our entry-level product lines. Consumers were thrilled to see a refresh of our White Lightning, Purple Flare, Blue Heaven, and Red Dawn power cords, analog interconnects, and speaker cables, which have been a benchmark in the hifi industry for over 3 decades! 

Nordost was ever-present as always, this year at High End. Our cables were featured in over a dozen amazing systems, with partners such as Raidho, VTL, dCS, Hegel, Moon by Simaudio, Stenheim, and our incredible German distributor, Audio Reference. And, as always, we were included in some of the rooms deemed ‘best-of show’ by well-respected industry reviewers. It’s always an honor to be selected to exhibit alongside these giants of the hifi industry, who have their pick of cable brands, and we are thrilled to have made fantastic sound with them all, once again. 

For those of you who were unable to visit High End this year, we have put together some of our favorite pictures for you to enjoy, right here! 

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Nordost Room

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Audio Reference Room

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dCS Room

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VTL Room

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Raidho Room

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Scansonic Room

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Moon Room

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Hegel Booth

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Stenheim Room

After last year’s showing at Axpona 2023, we knew it would be nearly impossible to outdo ourselves in 2024. However, the results from the press and showgoers alike are in, and we are ecstatic with the results. With three Best in Show: Best Sound commendations from The Absolute Sound alone (Robert Harley, Andre Jennings, and Jonathan Valin), a Best of Axpona 2024 Blue Note Award from enjoythemusic.com, as well as fantastic write-ups from Stereophile, hifi+, and several more publications, we have made the impossible happen and surpassed even our own expectations!

The Nordost room in Schaumburg F boasted a world class, reference-level system featuring Stenheim loudspeakers, components from VTL, dCS, and VPI, and, of course, audio cables, power components, and audio enhancers by Nordost. As the editor of the hi-fi+, Alan Sircom put it, this system was nothing short of “beguiling”.

Beyond the dream-worthy system waiting for them in Schaumburg F, visitors of the Nordost room were met with unique auditory experiences. On Saturday night, we hosted an after-hours listening session of Pink Flyod’s The Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here, in honor of ‘Dark Side’s 50^th Anniversary. Then, on Sunday, we hosted three noteworthy events: a special listening of a test lacquer for an upcoming piano recording and talk-back with VDM Sound Group, a live saxophone performance with Jerome Sabbagh accompanied by his own recording, and a curated listening session with Qobuz!

And that’s only what happened in Schaumburg F! Nordost was also featured in over seven more, amazing systems, including our own demonstration room, Vinnie Rossi (with two more Best-of-Shows to its name!), Morel, Sonner Audio, Lumin, Holm Audio’s rooms, Antal Audio, and Music Direct!  

Here are some of our favorite snapshots from AXPONA 2024!

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Setup:

In Our Award Winning Room:

Nordost Throughout the Show

This year’s High End Munich was an overwhelming success. With the release of three, new and exciting products in the QSINE, QWAVE, and QBASE Mark III, as well as a sneak peek at a groundbreaking new power solution, the QBASE Reference, there was a lot to see and hear in the Nordost room. It was great to experience the undeniable enthusiasm from attendees for the projects we have been working so hard on developing. 

Nordost was a ubiquitous presence at High End this year.  Our cables were featured in over a dozen rooms, including some of the best-sounding rooms of the show, like… CH Precision, VTL, Raidho, MOON, Grandinote, and dCS, as well as being extremely well-represented by our German distributor, Audio Reference. These highly respected companies have their pick of cable brands to highlight their products, and it is always an honor to be chosen by them. 

We know that not everyone was able to make the trip to Munich this year, so we took a nice sampling of pictures from the many Nordost-wired systems throughout the show for you to enjoy here! 

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Nordost’s room featured our Valhalla 2 cables and QRT products, alongside products from Wilson, dCS, and Dan D’Agostino:

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Audio Reference’s room used Nordost cables in several systems featuring Wilson, Krell, Dan D’Agostino and more:

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The dCS room featured Nordost Valhalla 2 cables:

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VTL’s room featured our Odin 2 Supreme Reference cables

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The Grandinote room was wired with our Reference series Valhalla 2 cables:

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CH Precision’s system was wired with Odin 2:

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Raidho Acoustics’ room was wired with Valhalla 2:

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The Scansonic system used Nordost Frey 2:

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The MOON by SIMAUDIO room used our Heimdall 2 Ethernet Cable alongside Tyr 2 cables.