Xindak Cable Question

Brent: Judging from what you wrote above, it would appear that you find the "lack of decay", "lack of harmonic structure", "lack of body & warmth" and the "TOO fast" sound of Nordost to rub you the wrong way. Would this be a logical deduction or am i reading too much into this? Sean
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Brent: Thanks for the response and clarification. I can see how Nordost's might be of value in a multi-channel music and / or HT system. They definitely sound very sharp, precise and focused, which would aid in better localization and a reduction in congestion / blending of imagery. After all, with 5+ speakers throwing sound at you from every which way, a simplified presentation will increase intelligibility.

Having said that, i found Nordost's to strip away the harmonic structure aka "density of layered sounds" that acoustic instruments produce. With less harmonic information presented, you can now concentrate on the primary notes, which now stand out and sound incredibly pronounced from one another. There is a tremendous sense of speed and detail, but it is achieved at the cost of natural musicality, warmth, body and air. To me, the Nordost is not "a bit more accurate in its determination of musical note decay", it is much poorer in this regard.

If i might read a bit into your post here, i think that you thought the same thing, but chose poor wording to convey your experiences. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to say "but the Xindak gold was so obviously superior in creating air around musical notes , lingering into the back of the soundstage , that I found its presentation more realistic and was subsuquently sucked into a suspension of disbelief that the Nordost simply did not give me". After all, if the Nordost was more accurate in harmonic structure and note decay, it would have sounded "more realistic" and "believable" as you noted with the other cable. I hope that you don't take that as criticism of what you wrote, as in a great sense, i'm agreeing with what i think you were trying to say* : )

In my experience, Nordost is a cable that helps achieve "hi-fi" type sonics / increased intelligiblity, which is great if that is what one is looking for. To me, the guys at TAS are all about "hi-fi fluff", hence their love affair with this type of presentation. To me, it is not a natural sounding cable even though it sounds very impressive when you first hear it. The fact that you chose a cable that offers greater "air" ( harmonic structure ) and density of spatial information for a 2 channel based system tells me that we are hearing similar things and desire similar sonic traits from our systems. The fact that you chose Nordost to help "reduce clutter" and "increase intelligibility" in a multi-channel presentation tells me that you've really got a good ear and sense of what goes where. Keep up the good work. Your hands-on experience seems to be paying off quite well : ) Sean
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* If i was wrong in how i interpreted your above comments, please plant your boot firmly and spare no mercy. I don't want to put words in anybody's mouth or lead to further misinterpretation of someone else's comments.

Brent: I'm glad that you're having good luck with and enjoying your SACD 1000. My unit went down after about 11 months worth of daily use. I sent it into the local Philips facility for repair and there it sat. They did not have the parts needed to repair it and told me it would be a month or two before they were in. After two months of down-time, i called them up to see what the deal was. They offered to refund my money, give me a 963 as a replacement or i could wait for the parts. I told them that i would have to think about the refund and would get back to them. I didn't want the 963 and i already had a 763 in another system. I figured that i would ride it out and let them sit on the unit, but never called them back up one way or the other.

After two more months went by ( four months now ), i called to see what the deal was. They told me that the parts for my unit had come in, but because they weren't sure if i was going to take the refund or not, they had used them on another unit instead. Needless to say, i was "slightly upset" and blew up. Wanting to be done with them, i took the refund and they did whatever it is they did with the defective units.

I ended up replacing it with a Denon DVD-2900, which has performed flawlessly now for several months. Then again, my SACD 1000 never gave me any problems until it decided to go belly-up, so i hope the Denon is more reliable. Judging from past experience, my guess is that it is a more durable product. I'll shut-up now so that those interested in Xindak cabling can read what they came here for : ) Sean
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