Nordost Power Cables - my latest experience

I use a Vishnu on my digital frontend and I am very happy with it. On my player I find it is very fast and open and not at all lean or sterile. So far between my group of Kimber and Wywires PC’s I own, on my CD player it is the favorite where it resides. The other cables do a great job but I find the Vishnu gets out of the way better and I think less of what it’s doing compared to the others.

The Vishnu is a very fast and revealing PC so I could see how it wouldn’t work for many. Also I find it’s a great on digital but would be too light gauge of a cable for a large amp or maybe even a preamp.

Not to keep plugging Wywires but there’s a reason I do and it’s because of two main reasons. The first is Alex prefers to do a consultation which he called me to get the list of my components, what I like in a system as far to get an understanding of how I hear things and the types of music I listen to. He probably has a lot more knowledge and experience building cables than I do so better to trust a pro. From there he researches your components then builds the cable based on your needs. Secondly they just sound wonderful or actually don’t sound as of all the cables I have tried they just get out of the way. The email you may make and the call you’ll get from Alex will cost you nothing but your time so maybe that’s the best advice I can give.

Agree. I don’t buy into one has to use the same cable manufacturer throughout. Even if every component in your rack is made by the same manufacture it doesn’t make a difference. For one thing, room acoustics will have a play in the sound more than most people realize; some rooms just flat out suck... so we go down the rabbit hole chasing new components without ever addressing the problem that is the room. I know I’ve preached it and I think others have as well that cables are tone controls because most our gear has no means to correct a poor sounding room or the quality of the recording. Cables are tone controls and I don’t care if you have the most expensive wire out there. So I say mix cables as needed just like we mix the manufactures of or equipment. I’ve had great luck mixing WyWires, Kimber, Nordost and Clear Day together. I’ve had great success with each line as a full system and I suppose that’s why I have a mix... actually never had a full Nordost set but I like their cables on my digital gear.

I just added a Bluesound Node II and I’m loving it. I built my own PC and purchased an Ethernet cable and using the DAC in my CD player and it sounds great. Last night I felt as things are settling in the presentation was a little too crisp but not bright or fatiguing but just not right. I know my cables very well so I switched my Clear Day balance cable between my DAC and preamp with the balanced WyWires between preamp and amp and that did it... sounds wonderful. It was a subtle change but it was needed and I wasn’t surprised by the results. 

My point is (again) cables are tone controls and just like equipment manufactures, cable manufactures have a house sound so it doesn’t mean one cable company fits all. If one buys into you have to stick with one cable manufacture then I would think one would stick with one equipment manufacture as well which I bet most of us don’t follow. Cables are tone controls; no cable is perfect and the best of cables do one thing better than so so cables and that is get out of the way and let the gear do its job. If ones gear sounds like you know what, a great cable is going to sound like you know what?

Totally agree with Elizabeth. Mix a way.