Nordost power cables

Anyone else read the review in this month's (issue 28) HiFi+ of the new Nordost power cables by Roy Gregory?

They are:

Shiva @ £220 for 2m (£50 for each extra metre)
Vishnu @ £450 for 2m (£80 for each extra metre) and finally:
Valhalla @ £1750 for 2m (£300 for each extra metre).

IME RG is not one given to hype and exaggeration in his reviews but he ends this one with "Listen and you will buy!".

He started with a system comprising Gamut CD1, Cyrus 8 integrated and PSX psu and Living Voice OBX-R speakers. He got used to the system on some "standard, albeit good quality" mains leads. Then he stuck the Nordost Shiva on the RA powerblock he was using and on the electronics....and I quote:

"From the first note of the first track the yawning chasm of its superiority almost swallowed my credulity. Louise? She almost fell off the sofa!"

Impressive stuff. He then goes on to say that the more expensive ones are even better but the real gain is with the cheapest lead. But, another almost unbelievable comment comes later (and it won't make Cyrus or Cyrus owners happy!):

"Do you get a better result using the PSX or the Shiva on the Cyrus 8? No brainer: it's the mains lead every time (I know because I tried it). Putting Shiva on the CD1 and the Cyrus 8 transforms the system way beyond the cost of doing so. There's no way that spending that money (£440 for 2 Shivas) on a better CD player, a PSX, rack, interconnects or any other upgrade is going to come close to what these leads can do"

At the very least I'm going to have to borrow one of those leads from a dealer to check it out. After all, beyond the £40-50 Eupen level £220 isn't much for a power lead - a lot cheaper than even s/h Shunyatas and the like.

I'm a believer in mains leads (I have Eupens all round) but that a simple 2m lead could transform a Cyrus 8 amp more than adding a dedicated external PSU? I must say I find it hard to credit. If it's true though it will give Cyrus some serious food for thought given that a PSX is significantly more expensive! If the same holds true for Naim gear then there will be some major headscratching in Salisbury :devil: £220 for a mains lead or 10 times that amount for a PSU...

I've looked on the Nordost site and they don't yet have any details on the new leads (which incidentally destroy their existing and much more expensive "El Dorado" power cable according to RG) so there's no info on how they're supposed to be doing their thing but hey, if they work, then who really cares!

If my local dealer has then in stock then I'll be trying one ASAP and let you know how it fares in my system...

Michael.

PS: I wish Nordost would get their religious/mythical references correct. Shiva and Vishnu, sure, but then Valhalla?? Surely Nirvana would have been more appropriate?

 

All this from a guy who reckons Valhalla is the best cable known to man, followed by the Valkyra (or whatever). He also rates the Chord Signature/Anthem very highly. Two words missing from dear Roy's vocabulary - system dependency.

I reckon I'll pass.......

 

Mike, One being cynical here, and devoting 9 whole pages to power cables, sort of smacks 'over commerialisum' maybe wonder what speaker cable Mr G, runs ?
Now I have the Valhalla Power chord, and for about month or so to (us import), yes it's very good, state side used about $1300-1500 even allowing for 22% import & vat it's cheaper by a fair margin than the £1750 here, it is worth it, if you have the system, then most proberbly, all I will say, I haven't changed any of power chords for said item, it does do a lot things very well, but then so do a lot of others, Merlin has a Shunyata King cobra 2, this is the only power chord I would consider for the wadia, I wonder if Merlin would be up for a test. Tone

 

No Problem Tone, bring the 850 up here some time and we'll do the comparison. The Shunyata does something I have yet to hear from any other cable/component, it just suits my personal preferences I guess.

I have the El Dorado, which ain't bad, but sure isn't worth £600 or anything like it. If the new ones really are better, and cost £200, then they would represent good value in the right system I suspect.

I'm looking to try out some military stuff that's remarkably similar to Eupen, at about £3 per meter.............

 

Hi,
No experience of these mains cables, but have any of you 'done the mains' yet i.e. seperate spurs etc?

You could get that done for the price of a couple of these cables and transform all your system components...

 

Andy,

I'm moving soon and the electrician will be in in no time!

Having said that, seperate spurs etc are IMHO, just another part of the chain. I presume you isolate each component from each other, to prevent RF travelling between them?

Two objectives for me. Stop cr*p getting into the equipment from the mains supply, and stop cr*p getting back into the mains from the equipent itself.


Certain cables, by no means all I hasten to add, seem to do a very good job of the latter, by acting as an RF Sink of sorts. So for me it's a two pronged attack, but I agree that treating the mains spur is a very inexpensive way of improving a systems performance.

 

Andy, some of us have done a roy K', plus the isolation stuff too, I understand the price thing, it's cheap, fairly easy to do, but think on this, yes you are isolating your hifi from, the internal interfence from fridges/freezers/cooker/heaters/showers etc, which does work well, however your still using the same 'shite' stuff coming into the house, the mains spur is a good start for sure, but by no means the be all and end all.
Alex 's had seperate spurs, when I visited, I took along some isolation stuff and power cables (one of which he all ready had purchased, and demostrated 3 types, you'll have to ask him his view, however he has just had Roy K do the whole system and hard wire isolation transformers inseries, plus a few more power leads, and with earthy stuff too.
I agree that £1750 is plain stupid for a power cable, however if the said person listening too likes what it does, then hey, it's there money, I have one of said power cables/ yes it pretty good, but there are equals and betters, and for a lot less in my view, but again, it's down to the indivdual.
But in essence, a good place to start is seperate consumer box and feeds Tone

 

mr g seems to have an inordinate amount of nordost gear in his hi-fi and he always seems to review it well. either he is putting his money where his mouth is or he's getting nordost cable for a lot less than the average punter does.

merlin,
there are numerous schools of thought on how to arrange spurs. 1 per item to reduce interference between kit. 1 socket and a hydra to preserve a common earth. roy k riches does seem to have done a lot of research into this and he'll send you a monster amount of info that's worth reading if you ask him - i think he has a web site somewhere too.

personally i've never heard any improvements from changing a mains cable - the differences i've heard were either worse or just different. however as kit definately sounds different at different times of the day i'm willing to believe that either cables or more likely something like a den duncan purifier can make a difference.
cheers


julian

 

ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY POUNDS on a power cable!!!!
A Cyrus amp is £800. Would you spend that on a power cable? or buy a different amp at £2550 pounds sterling.


When you look at most of the mags, they not only review but enthuse about the products that are the most heavily advertised... Hmmmm

 

oh hell!
Im in agreement with stebbo now

 

I'd buy whatever gave me the greatest pleasure from my music collection actually Stebbo

 

In my case that would be neither.

-- Ian

 

Julian, have you considered these differences might be down to either your ears (the response of which varies according to environmental conditions), or the quality of the mains (the RMS voltage of which varies considerably throughout the day), rather than the cables?

 

Sorry but I will stand by what I have always said, the electric arriving at my house has traveled many hundreds of miles through crap wire, I fail to see how the last foot can make any difference.

Hook, line and sinker springs to mind on this bull shit.

 

Actually its probably travelled no more than a mile to get to your house, but thats another matter

 

Trust you to take it out of context Stebbo He started with the Cyrus setup and was primarily interested in the serious gains to be had from the cheapest £220 cable. If he is to be believed you're better off spending £220 on the cable as an upgrade than £500 (or whatever it costs) on a Cyrus PSX external PSU.

He also tested all the stuff on his much more expensive setup (can't be bothered to look it up now) where £1750 might well be justified if it made such a big difference.

He at no point suggests that buying a £1750 cable for the Cyrus 8 would be either a good idea or value for money.

garyi - you need to try it before dissing it. The fact you fail to see how it could make a difference doesn't mean it doesn't make a difference.

Michael.

 

I think that is three times in a row now Penance.

 

I just don't get some people's attitude on cables, seems strange that people don't buy their components based on technical specs, but refuse to try so called "snake oil" branded product's because there is no technical back up

It's OK to drop £2,700 on an off board power supply, but ridiculous to spend £400 on a mains cable. Equally it's accepted that you can spend £1000 on a support for your kit, but £5 on the stuff to hook it up.

I would go along with the Valhalla being overpriced, but then it's Nordost so we shouldn't expect any different. But I can say that the Shunyata King Cobra's affect on anything from an £800 DVD player to a £5K CD player or plasma screen is very noticeable, and at s/h prices does represent a far more cost effective upgrade than the only alternative to offer that level of improvement, namely a box swap.

As for Gary's stance, I think Michael is spot on

Seeing is unimportant Gary, hearing is everything.

 

Just my own opinion on the reviews of Roy Gregory.

I feel he DOES over-exagerate the improvements that are to be had from the equipment he reviews.

I believe he DOES make products sound as if they will make universal improvements in all systems.

I give no credit to his reviews at all. I read his columns in the ''hifi candy'' advertorium with amusement.

If you've read his writing in the 'hifi candy'' magazine as I have, then do you agree that he has lost his journalistic integrity by the style and content of his contribution?

Paul Messenger writes in the same advertising magazine, but his contribution does not fancify and fawn over the products they sell, just comment on a facet of the industry. To my mind that seperates the two journalists tremendously.

Over to you guys

Chris

 

Hi, re the various comments re the mains.
Roy K explained it and sold me on the subject very well when he said sometning like 'you are just trying to get the best out of what is available. You start at 100% when the mains comes in from the electricity company, and it then gets degraded/altered by what else is plugged in'.

So if your 100% is shite there ain't alot you can do about it - although there are some folk who have rang their supplier and got things altered!

Personally I now feel I've done things arse about face in that I've altered mains leads from the plug to the kit, when I should have sorted the actual supply out first.

The improvements with my kit for the outlay of £370.00 is simply the biggest VFM upgrade I've done.

I am posting a week by week update on the Naim forum for anyone who is interested (My spurs have been installed for two weeks now), and my new spurs are conforming to the regs, in that I've not altered any case fuses etc...

regards,

andy c!