Heya Bryan and Jim,
I have not tried Vallhalla. I am only repeating oppinions that I have heard from several folks I have talked to that have tried them. Acuujim was one of those folks. I use Nordost Quattro Fil and Siltech 80B in my system. Quattro Fil is the most neutral IC I have yet heard. Siltech is a close 2nd (still being broken in).
Now looking at your system Ejlif... I see you are running a Wadia 860x straight into some Bat150se amps. I have a lot of experience running digital sources directly into amps... This setup is not the best thing to do. I would highly advise getting an amazing tube preamp for your system. The mechanisms that most digital sources (like the Wadia) use for regulating volume are not that great (especially at low to mid volume levels). It is effectively a form of passive preamplification (using metal filimants) that is ok but still does not compare with high class seperate preamplification.
Anyway, back on the subject. The AZ cable is dimensional. However, it seems to create some false air around instruments/voices. It seems to enhance the midrange of a system. The AZ might take some of the digital edge off of your source. I still think you should try a great tube preamp (it will take the digital edge off as well).I do thing the AZ competes with the Nordost; however, the Nordost does not seem to emphasize anything. It seems very neutral and amazingly accurate.
Comparing the AZ to the Vallhalla is... well... in the end a little pointless. Vahalla is about two tiers of price higher than the AZ (the Quattro Fil actually ebing in the price tier inbetween the two). If it is in the same league with the AZ something is very wrong. I am sure some systems (lower end) the AZ would sound better than the Vallhalla. However when one moves up to reference level electronics, the differences become very evident. The Vallhalla has to be superior, else those folks buying it are totally insane... (maybe not far off from the truth... heh heh...) I find those moving into the Vallhalla have tried nearly every high end IC on the market. They seem to all conclude that the Vallhalla is best. I am sure it hurts to admit this because of it's extreme price... Personally, I would not be using the Vallhalla unless I had a system of total retail value of around $60k+ (spending about 10% of total system price on cables). AZ makes sense with systemps of around $10-$20k retail.
Anyway, this and $2 will get you a $2 of coffee at Starbucks.
Peace.
Keith
