The spotlight continued to shine on our Blue Heaven range last month, thanks to a new StereoNET review on the Blue Heaven Tonearm Cable +. In his article, Jay Garrett used our entry-level tonearm cable between the VPI Prime and YBA PH1 phono stage, working his way through the different grounding options possible with this versatile cable. Once he found the optimal grounding solution for his system, Jay found a BIG payoff and was able to get much “more than usual when playing LPs…”
“Right from the off, this Blue Heaven tonearm cable proved an improvement over the original. It produced an even more musical, engaging and detailed soundscape, no doubt in part due to the lower noise floor, which encourages you to turn the music up, as well as making listening at lower volumes much more rewarding.” – Jay Garrett, StereoNET
We have a new review for you this month, and this time it’s all about the Blue Heaven Interconnect! StereoNET reviewer, Neville Roberts, got a chance to see what so many of our customers already know about one of our best-selling cables. Roberts had nothing but good things to say about the cable and what it did for his system’s performance. He found it both balanced and dynamic, was taken by the resulting changes in sound staging it was responsible for, and was completely impressed with its impact on vocals. In fact, he was so impressed that the Blue Heaven Interconnect received the StereoNET Applause Award!
“The Blue Heaven certainly lives up to its manufacturer’s claims of offering accurate signal transfer…with especially impressive detail and sound staging. Value-wise it punches well above its weight…” – Neville Roberts.
You can read StereoNET’s Blue Heaven Interconnect review in its entirety HERE. And, as always, you can find more great reviews on the Reviews Page of the Nordost website.
We are happy to share a new Ethernet cable review! This Valhalla 2 Ethernet Cable review, written by Andrew Harrison, was published in the September issue of Hi-Fi+. Not only does this in-depth review explore the construction of our Reference Ethernet cable, it speaks to the audible differences that cable lengths make!
For Harrison, the V2 Ethernet Cable transformed his system, allowing him to experience tighter, more controlled bass, improved top-end detail, lower noise floor, and a more natural performance from his listening sessions. In the conclusion of his article, Harrison states, “…this is a network cable that’s not just a bit sonically different, it’s a palpable triumph in digital audio sound reproduction.”
You can read Hi-Fi+’s Valhalla 2 Ethernet Cable review in its entirety, along with many other fantastic write-ups on the Reviews page of the Nordost website.
We are thrilled to share a fabulous review which was published this month on Audiophilia.com. Anthony Kershaw evaluated our Valhalla 2 range, and was so impressed with our reference cables that he dubbed the range one of Audiophilia’s Star Components! Here’s a taste of what Anthony had to say:
“The cables allowed laser-like focus of the multi layers to play exactly as the engineers and performers envisioned. So, every effect the young Stravinsky brought to his orchestration…is heard clearly, but, most of all, musically. As such, the timing, transparency and resolution of the cables are astounding. So, while everything in the orchestra is laid clearly before you, the sheen and tactile effects from the V2’s design, construction and materials make every musical choice a delicious event. This is playback way beyond technique.” – Audiophilia
This glowing Valhalla 2 review is now available, in its entirety, on the Reviews page of the Nordost website.
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
We are very happy to announce that our Norse 2 Bi-Wire Jumpers have joined the ranks of “Hi-Fi Choice Recommended” products! Neville Roberts was very pleased with Nordost’s solution for bi-wireable loudspeakers, both for hifi-lovers with a bi-wire/bi-amp set-up who don’t want to invest in two separate sets of loudspeaker cables, as well as for system-owners who are using bi-wire loudspeakers along with single-output amplifiers. This efficient, practical, and effective solution yields massive sonic improvements by replacing the standard, metal plates and generic wires supplied with most bi-wire loudspeakers.
“The Norse 2 [Bi-Wire Jumper]…matches its task very well, offering all the refinement you would expect from a set of high-end cables and so is a sensible upgrade to the metal links fitted to so many speakers.” — Neville Roberts, Hi-Fi Choice
To decide if you should be using our Norse 2 Bi-Wire Jumpers in your own system, and for tips on how to configure jumpers with your loudspeakers, download our Bi-Wire Jumpers guide, today!
Our Ground Units keep getting more and more praise! We wrapped up 2020 with a new review of our QKORE products. When Marc Phillips from Part-Time Audiophile auditioned our QKOREs, he was so impressed by how quiet they made his system, he even attributed them in helping him diagnose some tinnitus! But our QKOREs did more than just make his system quiet:
“When the time came for me to remove the Nordost QKORE grounding units from the system, I noticed the difference immediately… I felt my system lost just a bit of its edge and clarity.” – Marc Phillips, Part-Time Audiophile
We are extremely excited to start the New Year off right by sharing a 5 Star review with you! Hi-Fi Choice’s Neville Roberts was so “immediately aware” of the improvements that our Blue Heaven Power Cord made to his system that we were awarded the honor of being among the ranks of Hi-Fi Choice’s Recommended Products. While the Blue Heaven Power Cord may be in Nordost’s entry-level series of products, it is anything but a minor upgrade.
“The overall performance is clear and refined with a very low noise floor. The Blue Heaven is certainly a very good value-for-money, high-quality power cable option.” – Neville Roberts
Since their release at High End Munich in 2019, Nordost’s QPOINT Resonance Synchronizer and QSOURCE Linear Power Supply have been generating constant buzz within the hifi industry. Just recently, The Absolute Sound featured this revolutionary combination of products in a review to further explore the unbelievable impact that they have on two-channel systems, which, as author Jacob Heilbrunn even describes in the title of his article, is “Strange but True”. In the end, both separately and as a pair, Jacob concluded that there is no question about it, the QPOINT and QSOURCE provide “valuable sonic benefits in a high-end system”. Here is a glimpse of what he had to say about both products:
QPOINT: “With the introduction of the QPOINTS, the orchestra really snapped into place. It was like a photo that went from blurry to sharp in the blink of an eye. It was a sheer pleasure to hear the interplay between the harpsichord and orchestra…What a revelation!”
QSOURCE: “The QSOURCE [powering the Roon]…offered a substantial improvement in image density, resolution, and hall ambience.”
As this hectic year starts to wind down, it’s a good time to reflect on the high points that we have enjoyed. Luckily, Nordost has had SEVERAL this year: 13 to be exact! That’s the number of awards that Nordost has won for our outstanding products in 2020 alone!
As a company, Nordost strives to provide hifi enthusiasts with the means to bring life into an audio system in order to truly enjoy music as it was intended. We take a lot of pride in the audio cables, power products, and audio enhancers that we produce, so we are always honored to be recognized by reviewers, industry leaders, and prominent publications for our work. We thought that you might like to celebrate with us!
“The Frey 2’s performance and general neutral and happy nature never disappointed. And they were wonderful in all sorts of repertoire from grandiloquent to introspective.” – Anthony Kershaw, Audiophilia
“Odin 2 takes your system to new levels of performance you might not have thought possible: in this respect, it’s like listening to great old recordings played back on top-notch new equipment – you end up asking yourself, “did they know how good this is when they made it?” Odin 2 does that to both music and the equipment upon which that music is played.” – Alan Sircom, Hi-Fi+
“The V2+ tonearm cable follows the house V2 sound of exceptional transparency and stunning transient playback, without ever falling to the temptation of over-sharing the treble content. The midband and top are deliciously open and see- through, seamless and nearly organic in naturalness, while bass is disarmingly honest and musical in its flow. This is a staggeringly insightful wiring upgrade to hear what’s hiding in the groove.” – Andrew Harrison, Hi-Fi+
“The instrument focus and clarity are both excellent and the soundstage is expansive…the bass is powerful and punchy and the drums and hi-hats are crisp, tight and engaging. The great energy is splendidly conveyed and the instrument focus of the hi-hats is particularly well defined.” – Neville Roberts, Hi-Fi Choice
“The overall performance is clear and refined with a very low noise floor. The Blue Heaven is certainly a very good value-for-money, high-quality power cable option.” – Neville Roberts, Hi-Fi Choice
“…connecting all elements in our system to the artificial ground is equivalent to replacing any of its elements with a superior one. But – and here it starts to be interesting – we get more of everything that we already have in the system, not something completely new.” – Wojciech Pacula, High Fidelity
“In advance of installing the QKORE Ground Units, I had imagined what such a product might accomplish. Those daydreams were prophetic—the only surprise was how significant it turned out to be…it did more to improve my sound than any alternative I can think of at that price.” – Marshall Nack, Positive Feedback
“…Purple Flare really shines in the midband with a slightly forward, driving energy that imparts a dynamic liveliness to all genres of music.” – Neil Gader, The Absolute Sound
2020 The Absolute Sound Editors’ Choice Awards: Heimdall 2 USB 2.0
“I experienced, in my own system, what others have been pointing out: USB cable can greatly impact sonic performance. The Blue Heaven USB cable was quite good, but I was impressed by how much more detail, texture, body, and spatial information came through with the Heimdall 2 USB cable in place. It all added up to a more life-like and enjoyable musical experience all around.” – Kirk Midtskog, The Absolute Sound
“Frey 2… has rebalanced the scales, taking the transient and micro-dynamic elements of the past and integrating them with richer mids and a brawnier, meatier bottom end that gives orchestral music more discernible, atmosphere and weight. In a word, there’s more fidelity to the live event.” – Neil Gader, The Absolute Sound
“…the outcome of using the Valhalla 2 is truly prodigious. Everything instantly improved as a result of using this dynamically unconstrained cable. It was easy to detect that the Valhalla lowered the noise floor, and that the bass notes became more defined and stygian…the bennies were evident across the sonic spectrum, in ways both large and small.” – Jacob Heilbrunn, The Absolute Sound
“With the Odin 2, the notes seem to leap out of the loudspeakers with the tiniest, low-level details excavated with remarkable fidelity…the Odin 2 played a vital role in bringing their magnificent performance to life.” – Jacob Heilbrunn, The Absolute Sound
“…the elegance, the poignancy, the fragility of a musical line is what conveys the emotion at the heart of music. This is what the Nordost QKORE does so well. I can’t help thinking that to achieve the most from any high-end stereo Nordost QKORE is an essential product to consider” – Jacob Heilbrunn, The Absolute Sound
