Out of the Ordinary

CES 2009

By Jason Victor Serinus • Posted: Jan 10, 2009

After years of attending shows where Nordost cabling was successfully paired with Raidho Acoustics speakers, I was surprised to learn that the Raidho Acoustics Ayra C-2 ($24,000) speakers are internally wired with Nordost Valhalla. No wonder the combination is so synergistic. Frankly, even a boom box would sound like a breakthrough product if it were wired with the Nordost Odin I heard in this room. Odin ain't cheap—Odin power cables cost $11,000 for a decent length, interconnects $16,000 for 1m, and speaker wire starts at $20,000 for 1m, with the best sound said to come from 4 meter lengths of speaker cable and an investment of $38,000—but the sound is as full, complete, neutral, and satisfying as anything I've yet heard. My own experience confirms that single Odin power cable can transform the sound of a system.

How Nordost and Raidho are able to produce such large, well-detailed, timbrally compelling images from such relatively small drivers I shall leave to others to explain. All I know is that, on an absurd rendition of Pachelbel's Canon that featured a host of incongruous instruments that included everything from the tinkly to the gonad-shaking, this system was a marvel.

Comments

Submitted by LP on January 10, 2009 - 4:14pm.

Frankly, for the prices quoted, this stuff should sound absolutely nothing short of bloody marvelous. I think that any half-baked audio designer should be able to make something sound good when the sky is the limit for the final pricepoint.I wonder how most of these character, would make out with something with a final pricepoint of $1000??? Would they where to spend their time and money...Thank God, for companies like Energy, PSB, AV123...thank God

Submitted by Aitch on January 11, 2009 - 12:02am.

A single Odin power cord transforming the sound of an entire system. What a steaming load of....

Submitted by Jason Victor Serinus on January 11, 2009 - 12:09am.

...truth.

Submitted by Nikos on January 11, 2009 - 2:04am.

"How Nordost and Raidho are able to produce such large, well-detailed, timbrally compelling images from such relatively small drivers I shall leave to others to explain."I will explain...It's because of the ypsilonelectronics transport dac and amp I can see in that picture...

Submitted by Jason Victor Serinus on January 11, 2009 - 8:42am.

Thanks for your addition to my report, Nikos. Everyone was occupied when I was in the room, so I didn't have the opportunity to get a complete list of the electronics.In my reference system, I've found that one of the many differences between Odin and Valhalla is that Odin greatly enlarged the size of images by fleshing out the midrange and bass. Proportions of images became far more lifelike. In a system where components and cables mesh synergistically, as they clearly do in this system, I expect the effect is even more profound.BTW, when I added Odin to my system, I started with a single power cable (the only one I had to experiment with) on my power source. The sound completely transformed when I added that one cord. I'm hoping to try the experiment with cables from other companies, to see if I experience something similar.Miles more blogs to write before I sleep. Thanks for your comment.jason

Submitted by suitz_me on January 11, 2009 - 10:02pm.

I have heard - or thought I heard - clear differences in a non blind switching of one set of interconnects for another on up the Nordost line, which used to be their pre Odin-standard show demo for their cables. My issue is more about diminishing returns and science-mashup-marketing claims which make me chortle, not so much whether or not wacky things sometimes appear to make a difference.

Submitted by tom collins on January 12, 2009 - 7:22am.

man, this is the most hostile group of responders i have ever seen to show reports. c'mon dudes, go get laid or something. it is vegas after all where even a bunch of geeky pms stereo dudes should be able to score.