Prices rising doesn't necessarily mean industry is "growing." Clearly there are different ways to make money on goods. One is to treat them as luxury made to order items understanding that the market will be relatively small, the cost of "raw" materials higher than if purchasing in mass quantities and the margin required on each sale much higher due to lower volumes. I believe this is jbomber's point. Of course, as long as a goods company is profitably in business it indicates a marketplace somewhere. But that does not mean the marketplace is expanding. It may, in fact, be contracting. Value is usually measured by two separate markets--the initial marketplace--what are new buyers willing to pay--and the secondary market--what are used buyers willing to pay. In the US, Porsche has robust initial and secondary markets. Maserati does not. Porsche sells more units in the US than Maserati--by a lot. Maserati's are cool but you are going to have a hard time unloading one on the secondary US market. Porsche's are cool too--and have great relative US resale value. I don't know whether Nordost is more like Porsche or Maserati. It seems used Nordost trade thin on Audiogon, but I don't follow them closely. This much is true--the more you charge for your good, the smaller the potential market. But higher prices increase brand eliteness and that is clearly where many hifi companies are aiming their products. Are they doing it because the overall marketplace cannot support a sufficiently large production business model? That I don't know.
Nordost Odin or Valhalla 2
Folks,
Do you feel Nordost cables are worth it's asking price? What's the proportionate amount one should spent on cables?
After hearing them at RMAF 2015 and few other brands of cables, I decided to look into the upgrade cost. I own a decent HT setup and invested over $125K in my pursuit of audio nirvana.
So I contacted a Nordost dealer to get an estimate on my setup. The dealer came back with an estimate of $110K on Valhalla 2. Needless to say, I didn't even bothered to ask the cost of Odin in my setup.
No offense to the dealers, but I started to wonder the profit markups on high end cables. I do hear stories about some unscrupulous dealers who sell high end products to get spiffs from big manufacturers in shape of exotic vacations, free products and so forth if they sell more widgets. Isn't this corporate hi-fi that only seeks to show returns for shareholders. To me its pure business, where is the passion for audio?If they are only focusing on providing expensive audio jewelry and targeting individuals with deep pockets then I say, mission accomplished.
I have much better experience with smaller companies who are dedicated and committed to providing 'magical' listening experience without taking a second mortgage on your home. I thought the whole idea of audio art is to create aural magic.
IMO most cables regardless of price point, will get you 80% of the performance of super expensive cables. So is it really worth spending thousands of dollars more to achieve that 20% or 10% of performance?
I would like to hear from folks who owns Odin or Valhalla 2 or other comparable brand of cables, what was decided factor in their choice, what other cables did you compare before settling with Odin or Valhalla 2.
I don't have any hidden agenda or personal vendetta against high priced cables or dealers engaged in selling high end products. The idea here is to gauge performance vs. cost of super expensive cables.
Happy Listening!!!
Do you feel Nordost cables are worth it's asking price? What's the proportionate amount one should spent on cables?
After hearing them at RMAF 2015 and few other brands of cables, I decided to look into the upgrade cost. I own a decent HT setup and invested over $125K in my pursuit of audio nirvana.
So I contacted a Nordost dealer to get an estimate on my setup. The dealer came back with an estimate of $110K on Valhalla 2. Needless to say, I didn't even bothered to ask the cost of Odin in my setup.
No offense to the dealers, but I started to wonder the profit markups on high end cables. I do hear stories about some unscrupulous dealers who sell high end products to get spiffs from big manufacturers in shape of exotic vacations, free products and so forth if they sell more widgets. Isn't this corporate hi-fi that only seeks to show returns for shareholders. To me its pure business, where is the passion for audio?If they are only focusing on providing expensive audio jewelry and targeting individuals with deep pockets then I say, mission accomplished.
I have much better experience with smaller companies who are dedicated and committed to providing 'magical' listening experience without taking a second mortgage on your home. I thought the whole idea of audio art is to create aural magic.
IMO most cables regardless of price point, will get you 80% of the performance of super expensive cables. So is it really worth spending thousands of dollars more to achieve that 20% or 10% of performance?
I would like to hear from folks who owns Odin or Valhalla 2 or other comparable brand of cables, what was decided factor in their choice, what other cables did you compare before settling with Odin or Valhalla 2.
I don't have any hidden agenda or personal vendetta against high priced cables or dealers engaged in selling high end products. The idea here is to gauge performance vs. cost of super expensive cables.
Happy Listening!!!