I run 'em both. Frey XLR IC's DAC/Pre and Pre/Amp; AU24 Speaker cable from the amp...Let me know what you discover if you make the change. I've wondered what would happen, myself. I heave been fearing a loss of body and precision...odd as that seems. The AU24 speaker cables do an AWESOME job. They replaced Heimdall (my amp/speakers hated 'em) and a pair of Cardas Neutral Reference (more low end, but muddy mids). |
Oops, I see you are running AU24 cable also. Hmm..I wonder if we're both on to something ?!!? |
Ok, first impressions:
The AU24 zeros in on instruments and voices, dropping the backround "noise" and pushing some things to the front. In some cases this works brilliantly, in others, it seems ovewrly analystical.
The Frey is warmer. Hard to belive, but it's just the case in my setup. Feels more organic, less synthetic.
My girlfriend says the Frey is more "ambient." She likes it better in our room (acoutstics suck).
My feelings are split. Like the both. The frey has more space, front to back and side to side, but the AU24 does some really cool stuff with echos, reverb, etc.
I can see either being useful in certain conditions. The interesting thing is that they are both very similar in many ways. I don't notice any difference in bass amount or quality with either. The Frey may have a little more midbass pronunciation. The AU24 offers a little clearer image seperation (shockingly). |
You bet. I'll pop the Frey back in, tomorrow, and circle back. I'll try to use 2 songs as a reference point. |
Interesting, I'll be interested to read how this shakes out. |
On the Frey, I beg to differ on this "brightness" thing. What I notice, after break-in, is a lot of slam, dynamics, low end, and smooth highs. I run the Frey XLR's. All that definition that Bjesien mentioned is in there. Maybe people who were listening to SPM or the first version of Red Dawn, back in the early 90s, came up with this "bright" stuff, but it has not been then case in the Norse series to me, with this ONE ecxeption: speaker cable/amp matching is crutial with Nordost speaker cables. If you have an amp thst puts out a great mid, and is not considered "boom boom" (think PASS, Mcinstosh, Bryston), then you are goning to think it's the Nordost's fault for not driving your speaker's woofer's when you are playing Tool or Slipknot, etc. Or Diana Krall or whatever it is you want your neighbors to feel. |
Let us know how it shakes out. I'm psyched to hear your thoughts...! Maybe I'll try too.
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I just bought some AU24s to compare...will circle back in a few wks. |
Bjesien, I got the au24s. Thanks for the analysis, you too Pep21. |
Agree on Nordost SC's, Coxhaus. My ribbon tweeters seem to mitigate brightness (dispursion?), so the impression I'm left with of the frey is definately NOT that it's bright at all. It's snappy, got drive, and great coherence. |
I just popped in the Au24s. Breaking in over the next few days... |
Ok, my final verdict (played some Ulrich Schnauss, Judas Priest, Sword, Orb, Bela Fleck, Ocean Blue)....
If i listened at lower volumes, I slightly prefered the Audience, but at higher volumes, I overwhenlmingly preferred the Norsodt. Anything north of "25" on my Ayre preamp sounded so forward on my system.
About the same level of deep bass from both, the Nordost has more mid bass, the Audience has a snappy and clean mid range, the Nordosts highs are more evenly balanced among instruments and didn't tend to highlight some things like the Audience. The audiece was more fun with some recordings that have a lot of "bleepy" sounds that are panning the soundstage (orb).
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Yes...I'd been away from my system, travelling, for about a month...I came back, sat down, and things just didn't sound rich, engaging or "right." I cranked up the volume and (I was using Pandor), thought the file compression (Adobe?) must be at fault. About 2 days later, I looked in back and saw that I had the Audience connected. So, I put the Nordost back in. POW. That did it. The harmonics came back, the soundstage was fleshed out, etc. Now, mind you, I run the AU24's and they are the BEST speaker cable I have had in my system. For whatever reason the AU24 XLR's just don't do it for me. Right now. I'm not going to sell them, though, because, in a different configuration, I can see them working...If I had PBS speakers or Vandersteens especially...I'd want the AU24's in (I think, this is hypothetical). |
One more note...Althought the Audience might be percieved as having a lower noise floor and blacker background, I felt they had a tendency to push certain frequencies (instruments) to the front...this was cool is some ways, but it happened at the expense of the balance of the recording.
The Nordost gave me a more complete picture. Dynamics about the same with both. |
I can see how the au24 might work with the Vienna and tubes....it's all about pairing. I didn't sell my AU24 ICs, I've got them handy for when I wind up with something with a silk dome tweeter, some PSBs, etc...but with my Piegas and SS electronics, it's just not the right fit. Bear in mind I *DO* run the AU24 speaker cable and love 'em. |
