nordost

There's a few people that have tried these cables, and opinion seems very sharply divided. Personally, I've tried their interconnects, speaker cables and mains cables - hated them all.

David

Opinion is divided as DHM says..
Personally, I liked the 'detail' that Nordost Red Dawn provided, well it shocked me actually!, but the Naim grey style has a very good 'natural flow', which is a little more relaxing and persuades you to listen to the music rather than the details, if you see what I mean.

I also heard the Audioquest expensive cables a few years ago and found them a bit more 'earthy' (AQ Emerald I think)..but could only use them with a milty adaptor, as they couldn't be wired into 5pd plug.

It's well worth investigating, but you may find yourself sticking with the originals!!!
Cheers
Goose

I appreciate the input, does anyone feel that the red dawn offers anything over the blue heaven? What about other models, ie spm, quatrafil? david

Not too long ago I replaced my standard 52 to CDS2 Naim interconnect with Quattro Fil. I would liked to have tried Valhalla, but Nordost can’t fit it into DIN connectors. Quattro Fil is a similar technology, and tho the change from Naim cable was not dramatic, it was subtly delightful in every way. It was as if a musical screen or filter got cleaned. Musical detail and flow were simply improved. No drawback that I can tell, other than the high price... Tom.

I sold my nordost interconnect.

I thought that it sounded exactly the same as my stock naim one, good job I got it cheap then.

garyi, I can imagine that some would prefer the nordost or the naim, but, I feel strongly that they are two very different sounds. I am surprised that you didn`t notice a difference. Perhaps it is related to the different cd player or preamp. HOwever, I used to use a cdx and 102/hi and I still heard the difference. Just my experience. By the way Tom, I notice that you use a cds2/552/500- wow, that system must be awesome. I take it you still use the quattro fil? david

Non-standard Naim i/cs such as those by Nordost or Chord Co can make a big difference outside of an all-Naim sistem, but the freebie patches supplied with Naim gear are the best if all your electronics are Naim.

Regards,

Steve.

As you can tell from my previous blank reply, I am truly a “Junior Member.” It reminds me of being a student pilot learning to fly. When you’ve truly embarrassed yourself on the airwaves, you simply declare being a student pilot, and all is forgiven. Well, kind of. I have not yet figured out how to use all the forum features. Anyway, this reply started out, and will continue here as a response to Davidf.

Hi David. Yes, I still do use QF and have no intention of changing it. In the near future I’ll be receiving some extended length NACA5 speaker cable from NANA, in white instead of black, and terminated with banana plugs instead of bare wire. After a reasonable break-in period, I’ll post my impressions. My system is indeed awesome and I feel most fortunate and thankful. Tom.

David,

"In reply to my own thread - and as feedback for those of you who may be interested:

My newly acquired Nordost Red Dawn interconnect (Special order for DIN-DIN) from CDS2 to my 82 is beyond question a good choice. (I briefly used the standard NAIM cable, which I previously replaced with a Van de Hul and now the Red Dawn)

A better defined and more natural sound stage, better bass extension and the absence of that last little bit of sharpness in the treble are the “factual” parts.
Difficult to describe is that emotional side, the “it’s just sounding right” feeling. When I put on the sampler CD that came with the “Gramophone Awards 2002" issue, Cecilia Bartoli was virtually standing there in front of me in my living room.
I've seen & heard this great artist both on stage and in concert and what I felt was "an extremely close approximation to reality"

These impressions reflect the “out-of-the box” state; as Nordost advises a 80 hrs burn-in time, I’m looking forward to progress from Dawn to sun light

For all of you, who want to squeeze the last out of your gear, do give this interconnect a try!"

Urs

PS. After a few weeks of use, I wouldn't notice any further commentable changes.

Hi,

I use SPM in my main system (non Naim) and it is significantly better than anything I've yet tried. I also have a Nait 2-based second system, and have tried the SPM interconnect and speaker cable with it, and whilst it's possible to hear a lot more, it's so revealing that the flaws in the Nait (and in turn the cheaper record deck that that system uses) are highlighted.

I think of Nordost cables like a very clean, pure and balanced light being shone into the music. If the system isn't up to scratch, or if the system has been 'voiced' around a certain cable (such as is Naim) then the results will be unpredictable. To illustrate this, I've heard Valhalla with a cheapish system (total value of all bits £15K - i.e. £12K cables, £3K system) and though Nordost would want us to believe otherwise, it wasn't in the same league as my own system (which doesn't use the expensive cables, but in which the boxes cost more).

The bottom line is that Naim voice their systems around the cheap and cheerful NAC-A5. In any other system I've yet heard (including my own) A5 sounds a little bloated, imprecise and slow. In a Naim system it sounds... right! Purely because Naim went to the effort to voice their system around it. Had they done the same thing with Valhalla... well... woo-ee! That would be something to hear, but it's not a practical prospect for me or nigh on anyone else.

SPM is the point at which Nordost cables start to get 'silly expensive' though any criticism of the cables is usually indicative of some other problem elsewhere in the system - mains, setup, room issues, crap boxes, whatever - rather than any flaw of the supremely fast, uncoloured and almost invisible cables. A bit like the difference between a clean window (SPM) and dirty glass (A5)...

TC '..'
"Girl, you thought he was a man, but he was a Muffin..."

TC

Naim systems have been around a lot longer than NACA5. To claim they are voiced around a connecting cable is really grasping at thin air.

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio

Thought this (I worite a few weeks back) might interest some of you)

Had a play with the CDX2/202/200/IntroII's recently. Wanted to figure out how the rec mute circuit worked... and then ended up sorting out
cable select out on the CDX2, and cable select in on the 202. The Rec mute engages by default, and must be released for use.

Just for comparison's sake (after sorting out how it all worked) I grabbed an RCA-RCA Nordost interconnect off of the shelf and connected it up [yes I felt a disturbance in the Flat Earth Force while jamming in the RCA jacks]. The new kit has suspended boards at the connection points - pretty impressive.

The CDX2 can output either/or, or both outputs. I didn't get too carried away and figure out if leaving them both on made a difference to each cable, respectively - after all, devil cables are devil cables! The 202 is one input or the other. So I left the CDX2 configured for both, and just switched between cables via the CDX.

Yes, it felt a bit weird. I only played a couple of tracks from what was on the player - an Amazing Rythmn Aces CD (happened to be HDCD also)... the short form is that some of the Nordsnot cables effects were "nice" and
"comfortable"... things were a bit wider (to the rounds end of things), and a little more open. The Naim cable flowed and grooved better. Nidsnit was not "brighter" but everything was a little sharper in terms of tonal balance... more etched, and thinner in the mids (we're talking small differences). The big thing, however, is how the Noshit completely robbed the life out of strings! With the standard Naim Cable the steel-string accoustic tugged at my heartstrings... the Norfmost robbed that instrument of life
completely, left it back in the mix a little further, and largely ignored its importance in the peice. Give me the stock Naim interconnect any day, thanks very much.

Something just occured to me though - I noticed no major difference in timing between the two cables - which might speak volumes for the Nordost.

If this brief listen/comparo is indicative of the character of Norodst cables, I can see what it is that people dig about their cables. Although
the focus of such listeners is likely to be much more of the HiFi end of the scale than the Musical Groove and of the scale.

The Round end of flat, I guess. And yes of course it was not an exhaustive test, nor particularly scientific... but then I wasn't thinking of buying Normoist for my system
anyway! Another thing - the norhost certainly didn't make me wonder "oh my god, has the CDX2 been magically transformed into a CDS2???".

I guess the only way to move nismorf cable is to give it away.

If you must screw around with cables, how about Chord as the sensible choice?

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio

after living with my nordost blue heaven between my cds2 and my 52, I have come to the conclusion that I made a mistake. Initially taken in by the hi fi aspects that the nordost did better than the stock naim cable, I have now realized that i missed the organic nature of music through the naim cable. With the nordost, some of the life was taken out of the music. I do wish that the naim cable did the bass and treble thing as well as the nordost, but I have to groove, so to speak, with the music and the nordost cable was not doing this. Back to all naim cabling throughout my system. I wish there was a cable that did "both." I wonder if naim will come out with a super upgrade for their interconnects. Can you imagine a Superinterconnect that you would use between cd player and preamp selling for $500! I bet that they would sell big if they were the real deal. How bout it naim, I cant afford a 252 or cds3 but what about a real upgrade to the interconnects?! david.

1)I notice in the thread that some people are using Red Dawn with a DIN to RCA interface... has Red Dawn changed recently? I was ready to buy Red Dawn but when I called Nordost to confirm, they told me Red Dawn could not be squeezed into the 1 DIN plug that my CD5 uses.

They told me the only Nordost cables that can be squeezed into 1 DIN are: Solar Wind, Blue Heaven and Quattro Fil.

2)My Blue Circle preamp has the left and right inputs at opposite ends of the chassis. If I buy the Blue Heaven 1DIN-to-2RCA, are the left and right channels connected together right up to the RCA jacks? Or do they come out seperately from the 1 DIN connector so that I can still use them on my preamp? Hope that wasn't too confusing!

3) Does Naim make their own DIN-to-RCA interconnect? I've only ever heard my CD5 with a specially made Blue Circle interconnect. Always sounded fine until I recently hooked up a vintage Marantz tuner and it had more solid bass than the CD5!! I was dumbfounded! How can that be? Only logical explanation to me is that the interconnect is to blame. So that's why I'm considering the Blue Heaven.

Thanks for any feedback!

Alex, the heat in Phoenix is natures giant people metering device. It keeps the whole world from moving here. Even with the meter running full bore, we're still the second fastest growth spot in the country. Actually, I'll take Arizona's summer 110/15 anyday to most everyone elses 85/85. By the way, August is a great time to visit here. The snowbirds are gone and the A/C feels particularly good!

Tom.

evansm, would you mind telling me which Chord interconnect you're using?

Thanks

Hi has anyone tried out the ECO 3, Nordost's antistatic spray? i have and can't live without it (if you havn't you must!)
My first reply to the forum so don't be to cruel.)
Brad

I'm in the process of borrowing a Red cable from Nordost as interconnect. I'll rope in Seagull and maybe Mike for a comparison ands will post here. I wonder if it will be Fraim / Mana again

Doh! We'll have to dream up a good reason for it, Mrs S won't buy the "Oh we want to compare cables" line - she'll think we've completely lost it.

I don't think I can top the Match of the Day post...

Brad.

You are a silly billy.

The spray is little more than a mild detergant and is available from a company called Premiere Products.

Its available in 2x5l litre tubs and is used on carpets to remove static.

the two tubs cost £5.50.

Don't believe the hype.

BTW I have a bottle of that nordost stuff for sale, along with two sets of nordost points, if any ones interested.

yonk

i'll might be a silly billy but isn't it simple physics that the static energy is built up in the cd, you have a point that the Woodo factor is high but are you trying to tell me that you didn't notice any diffrenc?e after cleaning the lableside of the cd before playing it?
brad

Brad, I havn't tried.

Although I did try a peice of plastic once with nice cut outs and painted bits you were supposed to put on the CD in the machine.

yea right.

garyi I understand your scepticism! But to doubt is to belive.. And its not far of from the fact that your naim equipment needs a substantial time plugged in to perform at its best. Brad