Kind of duplicating the whole process that we took with the UN-broken in Odin, 1st one interconnect, then the speakers cable, then as a digital cable, for a 100% ODIN solution.

Immediate impressions similar to the first time:

Louder
Bigger
More dynamic
More balanced
More resolution

New things I noticed:

Really engrossing. After checking the imaging and soundstaging out [It is awesomely clear and stable. Apparently, the better the cables, the less awkward the positioning is, positioning being just being a way to use a room to compensate for problematic system components and cables. Goes against established truths, I know, but…] I got bored and just listened and spaced out – but was drawn back to the performance.

The gestalt was very much that this was a ‘Performance… For… Me’. Or perhaps a ‘Creation’ for me [being that Radiohead KidA was one of the CDs, that being much more of a creation than a performance, and Neli having lost my *2nd* copy of Radiohead Amnesiac. Well, if I can’t find it, it is by definition LOST. :-)].

Even on classical music, the variations on a theme were almost playful, the clarity of purpose of the composer revealed in a way that did not require intellectual participation – or less so anyway. Just like our systems bring us to greater depths of enjoyment and appreciation compared to a decent car stereo, so do these cables.

OK, trying to stay away from the generalizations here. My text is and should always be too terse to be classified as hyperbole, hopefully, but as a hifi system’s clarity [separation, correct note formation blah blah blah] brings us more enjoyment than a system, like my car stereo, that has good tone, modest separation, and is enjoyable [as one can indeed determine and enjoy the melody is that is playing], so a system with really quality components, properly cabled, can give us an equally improved experience compared to that system with more modest cables.

It is THAT big of a difference.

It is THAT addicting.

I, personally, have only felt this way a few times before. Well, only once, when I met the Audio Note U.K. Kegons for the first time [the Coltrane Supremes speakers made us hallucinate, kind of scary, and anyway, hallucinogenics aren’t addicting 🙂 – and the Triolons were kind of just much better Campaniles – and the original Cogent horns… well, that is too close to call but they certainly had their problems].

The Coltrane Supremes are like food and water. Not much choice if we want to have competent sound reproduction as part of our lives. But, when it comes to the choices we get to make….

I will NOT live without my Kegons (or Ongaku. or Gaku On. But you get what I mean).

And I will NOT live without my [sorry Neli, OUR 🙂 ] Odin cables.

You know, it might be a good thing that most high-end audio dealers suck. Otherwise, in Central Park, people’d get mugged by people wanting money not to buy drugs, but buy $16K interconnects. And $57K amps. And 3-box line-stages….

The Vidar has little lights, four of them, that light up after each stage has been completed, from left to right. Three are lit up at the present time, as seen in the photos.. Each pass takes about a day to complete.

There are another set of LEDs for the speaker cable section. Here we see them without a flash and in full, albeit somewhat blurry, color.

I’m glad we spent a few days listening to the ODIN cables before we put them on the burner. Otherwise, I’d never have the patience to sit through these last eight days.

Interesting to see how much difference their is to the sound of the cables.

Every time I hear the systems without them, I think about how it would sound with them. Especially when we have people up here who really emphasize soundstaging.

We don’t, ourselves, and we have been moving things around and testing various amps / preamps, digital on the Coltrane Supremes and Kharmas, etc. And, of course, different equipment is going to want the speakers to be in different positions (optimally).

But we have been focusing on overall musicality and not precise soundstaging and imaging. This is where people have it a lot easier in their own homes, where they do not change out equipment every day or so. Then again, they never get to optimize the sound of their system like this either – just their soundstaging.

Anyway, Nordost Odin DOES soundstaging unlike anything else – and this would be a great way for us, as a dealer, to get darn good soundstaging without having to spend the time to reposition the speakers after every little change to a system. [And, truth to tell, this changing equipment around, seeing what different combos sound like gets old after awhile. Not just because equipment is HEAVY, but they all treat ground differently *hummmmmmm*, with different gains and different power cording requirements… its a lot of work].

One more day… what to do…. maybe we should put the Audio Note Kegons on in place of the Edge upstairs on the Supremes….? 🙂

The Nordost Vidar cable burner arrived back yesterday from its repair after the lighting strike.

So just some photos. We got about 8 days of burning in to do.

We did manage to get the two sets of interconnects and the one pair of bi-wire speaker cables on at one time.

The lights go blinky blinky as the Vidar works.

Are they done yet? Are they done yet?

… if 4 days of burning in equals one century of playing, then 3.75 hours of burn-in equals…. well they must be burned in pretty good already, right? Right???