Not every breakthrough product available through cable manufacturer Nordost costs an arm and a leg. The new Quantum Resonant Technology products distributed worldwide by Nordost Corporation are a prime example. While the QX-2 costs $1700, and the larger QX-4 costs $2500, their amazing effects on sound suggest a product I'd expect to cost far more.
In Nordost's demo system, the first Quantum QX-4 device was placed between the wall outlet and the Nordost Thor power conditioner ($3300). Three additional Quantum devices (one QX-2 and two QX-4s) were placed between the Thor and various Burmeister components. The effects of the Quantums are cumulative; the more, the merrier (both you and Nordost).
What did I hear? On a Yolanda Adams recording, the sound of a single triangle in space continues to haunt me hours later. I have heard many systems reproduce the triangle's sound, but never has any approached the experience of sitting in a prime orchestra seat in San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall and hearing it resound and decay in space. Nordost's system, however, got the closest to reality I've heard so far. Equally astounding were the purity of Elly Ameling's voice on Brahms, and the total immersion in Mahler's music I experienced when listening to Ivan Fischer's "Record to Die For" recording of Mahler's Symphony 2. Few systems with speakers less than 6' tall and weighing less than 400 lbs can match the image size that Nordost achieved with the Quantum.
Overall I felt which I felt created breathtakingly three-dimensional, all-involving images that transcend the categories of "analog" and "digital." The QX2 made sounds more real.
Of course, it didn't hurt that the rest of the system consisted a Burmester 061 CD player ($13.995) and 032 integrated amp ($22,495), Raidho C-3 speakers ($36,000/pair), eight Nordost Odin 1.25-meter power cords ($11,000 each), two Nordost Odin 1-meter interconnects ($16,000 each), and a set of Nordost Odin 4-meter speaker cables ($38,000). In comparison, the Quantum seems like a bargain.
Nordost's Lars Kristensen performed a most interesting experiment; demonstrating the difference that a single Nordost Odin power cord can make on an entire system. Simply switching the cord from the wall receptacle between Valhalla ($2500) and Odin completely transformed the sound of the entire system.
According to Lars, introducing a single Odin power cord into a system makes a far significant difference than the change of interconnects. Lars claims that even a system equipped with Nordost's far more modestly priced Blue Heaven can sound better than a system entirely wired with Valhalla when you change the initial power cable to Odin. $11,000 is not exactly a minor investment, but if a single Odin power cable can make that much of a difference, I certainly think it worth checking out. I certainly hope to do so sometime before I head to the great Blue Heaven.
