Nordost Red Dawn interconnects (0.6 m)

[magiccarpetride]

My local dealer is moving, and have loads of accessories on special. One thing that caught my eye is they're offering Nordost Red Dawn interconnects (0.6 meters) for $99.00. Would it be worth getting these at that price?

[Effem]

If you enjoy an overly bright sound, thin midrange and SFA bass, then they are the PERFECT cable for you :D

[magiccarpetride]

If you enjoy an overly bright sound, thin midrange and SFA bass, then they are the PERFECT cable for you :D

Never heard them before, thanks for the warning!

What about their cheaper Blue Heaven (also discounted today)?

[Effem]

The blue heaven is worse still. It isn't until you reach the upper echelons of the Nordost range that you shake off the typical "Nordost sound" which is thin sounding and very bass light. Some people love it that way of course.

Save your money Alex ;)

[magiccarpetride]

The blue heaven is worse still. It isn't until you reach the upper echelons of the Nordost range that you shake off the typical "Nordost sound" which is thin sounding and very bass light. Some people love it that way of course.

Save your money Alex ;)

Thanks. I'm still looking for a pair of interconnects to go from my pre amp to the power amp (I'm using your Belkin PureAV from the DAC to the pre amp). My other package from Belkin got lost in the mail, so they've issued a refund to me cc yesterday. I'm now reluctant to order them again, seeing how unreliable the delivery is. At this point, I'm at a loss as to how to get me a decent pair of interconnects:(

[DSJR]

You know, the inexpensive interconnects using Van Damme "Tour Grade" screened cables or similar and terminated in the basic neutrik "Rean" phono plugs are pretty darned good, any slight "tenseness" in the sonics when first used clearing up within a very short time I thought (not sure if it's placebo, as all the ones I've made up have done this, as well as the ones I've bought).

Other than that, the Mark Grant HD series are fantastic performers I think and look posher too, especially with Neutrik or WBT plugs on. Far more predictable than rf prone Nordosts I think, which are wonderful at picking up local Taxi and fire service broadcasts - saves money on a tuner I suppose ;)

[Ali Tait]

Find another supplier Alex, they are very good and I've certainly not heard better for the money.

[magiccarpetride]

Find another supplier Alex, they are very good and I've certainly not heard better for the money.

An interesting thing happened to me over the weekend. One of my audiophile friends, upon hearing about my enquiry regarding the interconnects, was kind enough to lend me his high-end, hand made interconnects. These are very esoteric, and cost him a lot of money.

I went home, unplugged my old interconnects, plugged the new esoteric ones in, and was absolutely BLOWN AWAY! I wasn't able to hear ANY DIFFERENCE between my stock interconnects and these fancy boutique ones.

I ended up swapping the interconnects back-and-forth, doing some blind tests etc., but to no avail. The music sounded exactly the same, same loudness, same character, absolutely no difference.

I know some of you accuse me of being the master of hyperbole, but in all honesty, this is how it is.

Which leads me to think: is it really true that all interconnects are made equal?

[Ali Tait]

Pretty much I think, unless they affect the frequency response in some way, in which case they will sound different. Dielectric makes a difference from what I've heard.

[DSJR]

if the impedance matching between the bits is ok and the cable doesn't deliberately have strange characteristics, then I doubt there'd be much if any difference i suspect. A lot of it comes down to the quality of the conductors, the connectors, some of which can be capacitive I discovered once, and of course the soldering. I'm sure the dialectric makes a measurable as well as audible difference too, but the better cheapo cables often use decent insulation, so don't have to cost the earth IMO.

[John]

Recently there was a lot of people using different RCA connectors on the Mark Grant cables and a lot of people reported a difference
I just changed to the belkin and been pleasently suprised they add a tiny bit more warmth compared to my silver cables but thats about it