Nordost vs NBS

NBS Statement: body, fullness; slightly rounded attack with few edge or bite harmonics; a choral, singing "open" quality; warm, powerful, punchy bass without a loss of definition; clear, defined strings and cymbals; slightly highlighted, intelligible voices that do not fatigue; reduced noise floor with a corresponding increase in detailed sonic material without the detail becoming un-musical; distant surrounding room reverberations on recordings reproduced in full dimensions, sometimes with a sense of over-extension and giganticism. These features of the NBS Statement were apparent whether the amplification was SS (Ayre) or SET (Vaic), and whether the speakers were floor-standing (Avalon) or monitor (Arcus Cello, Dynaudio), supporting the theory of an NBS "house brand" sound.
--Nordost Valhalla: less contoured, shallower, but more focused bass; a colder, more metallic midrange; sharp attack with noticeable edge and bite harmonics; despite what appeared to be detailed sonic material, there was a stopped or covered sound (not a veil or distance, but a closedness, a compactness) that led some to say that the Nordost cables were "harmonically substractive" even though this sound contributed to their "muscularity."

Sorry kelly, it is late at night, maybe "asa" can help me out, since he was the previous owner of one of the NBS Statements in my system, and he has always found better words to describe their sound. I mean by "over-extension" something like "spatial over-extension": the NBS Statement gives the illusion that it is overexaggerating the reproducion of space, making venues and applied reverb, even individual instruments and voices expand to a size bigger than they should be perhaps (an effect, by the way, that can be enhanced through the addition of NBS Statement power cables for a while). "Giganticism" just reinforces this remark: the cable, especially when first installed, gives rise to a gigantic, very "up-front" sound image without much depth until it breaks in and lays back a little. A story: there was an audiogoner from Hong Kong, I think, who recently bought a pair of the new, top-of-the-line NBS Omega power cables and immediately was trying to sell one of them on audiogon because (his explanation) two were "too powerful" for his system. This is an effect that I can easily imagine as an owner of 7 NBS Statement power cables.

Help has arrived! "Asa," thank you! If the excellence of a component is the capacity to define it, then your comments on the NBS Statement just made it even more excellent. The image of the "diffuse halos around images, particularly voice" is wonderful. Please, it is already another day, more of your thoughts about "space interpenetrating objects at infinite angles."