Kimber Hero vs Nordost Blue Heaven vs VDH mk iii

Hey Guys, I know its entirely out of the league to compare the above with XLO. I bought the cheapo XLO ER-5 recently. Without any experience with them prior I compared it to my current set up with VDH 102mk3, XLO blows the 3 times more expensive VDH out of the water. Bass, details, soundstaging. I never want to buy VDH for their muddy LF.
I can imagine myself getting higher series of XLO very soon.

thank you again everyone. i decided on kimber hero.

çoço

The cables you enumerated have their distinct sonic signature, it may either complement the type of sound to your liking. Some may call it system compatibility, but I believe it is a matter of priority or taste.

As an avid cable-freak, i have had numerous experience with the very cables listed.

These are the notes I have compiled.

Arguably the Kimber plumbs the depths of bottoms of the bass, next is VDH then Nordost Blue.

The warmer of the 3 is indeed VDH, then Kimber.
The highs in the VDH is kind of rolled off or say "soft" , The Kimber has a slight grit with complex music and the Nordost is cleaner.

If then your system tilts towards the leaner side of things wanting some warmth...the vdh and kImber is likely the candidate. NOte the kimber has tauter bass than the vdh.

If you are happy with your lows but need some cleaning up in the highs and overall would categorize it as leaning much on the warm side of things. The Nordost fills in the requirement.

So it is much to your liking and priorities now.

I use Blue Heavens (balanced) throughout my system, with Blue Heaven bi-wire speaker cables. IMO, the Blue Heavens lean towards a slightly brighter sound; transients seem to be faster and the overall presentation is pacy and lively. Although bass comes across tight and fast, it does sound a little leaner to my ears. May not suit brighter sounding systems. I have no experience with Kimber Heros, but I did have an older range of multi-strand vdH speaker cables before, and I do prefer the Blue Heavens for clarity and timing.

I had two half-meter runs of the Kimber Hero and loved them. I agree with everyone here that they're somewhat lean-sounding. But if you like a detailed, very "hi-fi" sound, these are the cables for you. I used them between my Rotel CD player and Rotel preamp/amp. I've bought and sold a lot of cables, and I don't miss any except for these. They were detailed but non-fatiguing. One other thing: the quality of the WBT hardware and the braided cloth jacket are hard to beat for the price. Great value.

Thank you for sharing your experiences. So as a result all responses valued nordost more than kimber.

I live in a country where you cant take cables at home for a trial period so i am going to buy the interconnects without trying on my system.

My audio refinement complete amp has a very tube-like sound so from what i get from your responses Nordost will be a better choice for me.

I would like to hear more ideas if possible, and thank you again.

I had an pair of Heros and Nordost Solar Winds. I thought the Heros may have had a sliver of better bass, but I thought the Solar Winds clearly played with with a bit more life and pace. I could more clearly hear detail with the Nordost.

I have a Linn System (Genki, Wakonda, LK85) with Blue Heaven IC and Solar Wind speaker cable. I tried the Kimber PBJ and Hero in my system vs the Blue Heaven. The Blue Heaven showed much better synergy in this system, mainly because all the advantages of my Solar Wind speaker cable (detail, speed) are now kept throughout the system. The Heros in comparison sounded almost hollow in the midrange. With the Blue Heavens I noticed a slight brightening of the sound with extended highs, however not as much as when changing speaker cables from the Kimber 4VS to the Solar Wind. The main improvement as with all Nordost cables were in speed, timing and pace. Needless to say I kept the Blue Heavens throughout the system.

If your interested in a detailed transparent cable, and on top appreciate fast transients and speed, I would give the Blue Heavens a try, but be careful trying new cables, they did take more than 80 hours to be broken in.

Good luck,

Rene

Haven't had the opportunity to hear the Nordust Blue Heaven, but have owned the others. The Kimber's, IMO, are leaner than the VDH's. So it would depend on what your goals are. Being than the dollar is so weak @ the moment, it will cost you more to buy the VDH's.(Unless you found a used pr.)I quickly sold my Kimber's and have kept the VDH's. (Haven't compared directly, but the Wireworld Oasis III is one-heck of a good cable for the $. (used $20-30) Also, AQ Quartz are excellent cables, but for the $ I believe I'd buy the Wireworld. Also, consider the DMN Reson IC's. Haven't heard a pr., but they intrigue my imagination. You need to audition in your system, if possible, to see which one works in your situation. Good Luck, Bill.