New Nordost Heindall 2 USB

[Lappy27]

The first outlet I tried was sent by a friend who lives in Quebec. He got it locally from BIS Audio. It was a Hubbel, I believe, but the metal contacts were gold plated. So I think BIS may have modified it. HUGE upgrade. I think these cost around $40. They refer to this as the BIS Duplex.

 

I subsequently went to a Wattgate 381, which I purchased from BIS for around $150. This was an upgrade, but the step change wasn't as large as going from the original outlet to the BIS Duplex.

 

Scroll down to the bottom here for more info on the outlets they sell.

 

The BIS Duplex may be the most cost effective upgrade I have tried. Other friends tried them and all reported being just as impressed. I can think of no upgrade under $350 that will improve the sound as much as this $40 outlet (except for the Supreme fuses - more below). It's likely that other audiophile outlets at this price point will deliver equal benefits.

 

Some day I may try that highly-regarded Furutech outlet.

 

 

 

All the fuses I replaced were accessible from the back of components. I skimmed the manual for your Berkeley and saw no mention of fuses. So maybe it doesn't have one.

 

Check the manual for your Levinson amp to see if it has a user-replaceable fuses (amps usually have a pair). If so, try the proper HiFi Tuning Supreme fuses.

 

These fuses belong in the same category as the audiophile outlets. Huge bang for the buck. The biggest improvement came from the preamp fuse, followed by the amp and then the sources.

 

What you will hear from the outlets and fuses is improved clarity. Veils will be stripped away. My amp also ended up sounding as if was more powerful. Bass was better controlled and it went deeper.

 

I bought a Furutech GTX-D gold wall outlet about 6 months ago, replacing a disapointing hospital grade Hubbel wall outlet. What an upgrade! It's hard to convince yourself to shell about 200$ in a wall outlet but definitly worth it. Then a few moths later I started to wondered what if I try the wall plate and carbon fiber too. I just can't justify it but an audiophile friend with very expensive stuff told me he had the chance to listen to the Furutech kit and was really impressed. So I decided to go for it. Wow! If it's placebo, it's a very, very effective one let me tell you. Everything became absolutly tight and focused with a blackness never experienced before. That is linked to a Statement power distribution box from Audiosensibility with Furutech GTX-D gold and rodhium receptacles with the the third one beeing an American Danki (for non critical components) along with Furutech Alpha 3 power cords with Furutech plugs. Truly fantastic electric distribution setup. I most definitly recommand the Furutech GTX-D receptacles. After some experimentations I came to the conclusion that the best performance is achieved by powering my dac from the rhodium and my headphone amp by the gold. Best of both worlds. Extremely detailed sound with lots of weight and impact.

 

My next move is the Supreme fuses. Hard to believe I can reach better resolution but sure will try.

 

Finally, about the Lightspeed. Is anybody ever compared the LS to the Transparent Premium? I know it's not the most popular cable but all the people who ever tried the Premium are saying it's the best cable they ever tried. That include myself. I experimented with about 8 USB cables since last year. The best were Silnote Poseidon, Oyaide Continental 5S and Audioquest Diamond BUT the Transparent Premium easily bested all cables, the Diamond beeing the best of the contenders but still far behind the Premium. I stop looking for USB cables since the Premium got home. But this Lightspeed really is intriguing.

[kennyb123]

I bought a Furutech GTX-D gold wall outlet about 6 months ago, replacing a disapointing hospital grade Hubbel wall outlet. What an upgrade! It's hard to convince yourself to shell about 200$ in a wall outlet but definitly worth it.

 

It really is amazing the difference these audiophile AC outlets can make - especially the outlets in the wall feeding our systems. The quality of the connection there matters greatly.

 

Then a few moths later I started to wondered what if I try the wall plate and carbon fiber too. I just can't justify it but an audiophile friend with very expensive stuff told me he had the chance to listen to the Furutech kit and was really impressed. So I decided to go for it. Wow! If it's placebo, it's a very, very effective one let me tell you. Everything became absolutly tight and focused with a blackness never experienced before.

 

I wish you wouldn't have said this. I will have to try this.

 

My next move is the Supreme fuses. Hard to believe I can reach better resolution but sure will try.

 

This is going to be another surprise just like the AC outlet. Very similar benefit to the AC outlets.

 

Finally, about the Lightspeed. Is anybody ever compared the LS to the Transparent Premium? I know it's not the most popular cable but all the people who ever tried the Premium are saying it's the best cable they ever tried. That include myself.

 

That Heimdall that I borrowed went to a few other friends after leaving me. One of them was using a Transparent Premium. He's now thinking about buying the Heimdall. He mentioned being very impressed with the Heimdall, and was surprised that the LS could be that much better. So it sounds like there's a good chance that the LS might beat the Transparent Premium.

[kennyb123]

Finally, about the Lightspeed. Is anybody ever compared the LS to the Transparent Premium?

 

I just received a newsletter from The Cable Company. They are offering free auditions of the LS. They will "pay the freight both ways and waive the usual 5% deposit/account credit".

 

This is a smart move. They are going to sell a lot of these.

[Lappy27]

That Heimdall that I borrowed went to a few other friends after leaving me. One of them was using a Transparent Premium. He's now thinking about buying the Heimdall. He mentioned being very impressed with the Heimdall, and was surprised that the LS could be that much better. So it sounds like there's a good chance that the LS might beat the Transparent Premium.

 

This is really big for me as I considered the Transparent Premium as a faultless USB cable. I mean I simply can't put my finger on any lack in his musical reproduction. Tons of resolution, huge soundstage with fantastic instruments separation, super natural timbre and midrange, total blackness and impactfull and tight and accurate low end. All others cables I heard had a least one shortcoming somewhere. Not the premium. It's simply sounds BIGGER.

 

Well since I'm in Canada, I will look at the return conditions with The Cable Company.

 

Thanks for your input and if possible, let me know in which area your friend is finding that the Heimdall is superior to the Premium.

[kennyb123]

This is really big for me as I considered the Transparent Premium as a faultless USB cable. I mean I simply can't put my finger on any lack in his musical reproduction. Tons of resolution, huge soundstage with fantastic instruments separation, super natural timbre and midrange, total blackness and impactfull and tight and accurate low end.

 

This was my impression of the WWPS at one point too. Its problems weren't made evident until I heard other cables that lacked these problems. I can't say this will be the same situation with the Transparent Premium, as I've not heard it myself.

 

My LS now has over a week of time on it - and I do think it has improved. It's now even more transparent. I'm still simply amazed by how more enjoyable the music has been made.

 

Thanks for your input and if possible, let me know in which area your friend is finding that the Heimdall is superior to the Premium.

 

I've asked my friend to respond here.

[jwr]

This was my impression of the WWPS at one point too. Its problems weren't made evident until I heard other cables that lacked these problems. I can't say this will be the same situation with the Transparent Premium, as I've not heard it myself.

 

My LS now has over a week of time on it - and I do think it has improved. It's now even more transparent. I'm still simply amazed by how more enjoyable the music has been made.

 

 

 

I've asked my friend to respond here.

 

I'm kennyb123's friend with the Transparent Premium USB.

 

Let me start by saying that I think the Premium is an excellent cable. I agree with pretty much the whole of Lappy27's description of its virtues. Had I not heard the Heimdall, I would have lived happily with the Premium for a very long time. It's only by comparison that I find any fault with the Premium.

 

Putting the Heimdall into my system was revelatory. The soundstage got wider and taller. Not by a lot, but it was noticeable. More importantly to me, the soundstage depth increased a good bit. There was a much better sense of a three dimensional performance space, especially but not exclusively for live recordings. Microdetail improved. I can't remember what I was listening to, maybe some Queen, but all of the sudden I realized that a guitar line was being doubled with xylophone low in the mix! Lots of little things like that which I hadn't heard before came out as I listened to a variety of styles of music. Things struck me as livelier, too--more energetic, even with slower tempo material material. It's like everything grooved a little better, no matter what sort of groove it was. And there was a marked increase in immediacy. This was most obvious on female vocals and acoustic string instruments, but it applied to everything. It was like the aural lights got a bit brighter (if that makes any sense).

 

One area in which the Premium might be said to better the Heimdall is in fullness. A couple of times with the Heimdall, I found myself wondering if bass extension was as good as the Premium. So I played some bass heavy material (e.g., the title cut from Donald Fagen's Morph the Cat). If anything the bass extension of the Heimdall was superior to the Premium. I eventually decided that on some material that greater resolution I was hearing from the Heimdall could give the impression of a slight thinness compared to the Premium. But it was worth the tradeoff to me. Others might feel differently.

 

I could live happily with the Premium. I'm enjoying it right now (a lot actually--3rd set of the Bar Kohkba Sextet from John Zorn's 50th birthday celebration sounds fantastic). But I was on my way to buying a Heimdall because I preferred what I was hearing from it. As these things go, though, kennyb123 has been raving about the LS. He swears it beats the Heimdall fairly handily. Since I'm insane, I've ordered an LS. But the Heimdall is one helluva cable, especially for the price.

 

Hope this was helpful. Good listening to everyone.

[wdw]

 

...Putting the Heimdall into my system was revelatory. The soundstage got wider and taller. Not by a lot, but it was noticeable. More importantly to me, the soundstage depth increased a good bit. There was a much better sense of a three dimensional performance space, especially but not exclusively for live recordings. Microdetail improved.

..Things struck me as livelier, too--more energetic, even with slower tempo material material. It's like everything grooved a little better, no matter what sort of groove it was. And there was a marked increase in immediacy.....

 

Agree completely with jwr's assessment and description of this cable as it parallels my experience.

 

I'm left with two further thoughts:

 

...the LS must be a truly exceptional cable to exceed the performance of the Heimdall 2 and what would a Valhalla 2 do in comparison?

 

Happy listening to all!

WDW

[Lappy27]

I'm kennyb123's friend with the Transparent Premium USB.

 

Let me start by saying that I think the Premium is an excellent cable. I agree with pretty much the whole of Lappy27's description of its virtues. Had I not heard the Heimdall, I would have lived happily with the Premium for a very long time. It's only by comparison that I find any fault with the Premium.

 

Putting the Heimdall into my system was revelatory. The soundstage got wider and taller. Not by a lot, but it was noticeable. More importantly to me, the soundstage depth increased a good bit. There was a much better sense of a three dimensional performance space, especially but not exclusively for live recordings. Microdetail improved. I can't remember what I was listening to, maybe some Queen, but all of the sudden I realized that a guitar line was being doubled with xylophone low in the mix! Lots of little things like that which I hadn't heard before came out as I listened to a variety of styles of music. Things struck me as livelier, too--more energetic, even with slower tempo material material. It's like everything grooved a little better, no matter what sort of groove it was. And there was a marked increase in immediacy. This was most obvious on female vocals and acoustic string instruments, but it applied to everything. It was like the aural lights got a bit brighter (if that makes any sense).

 

One area in which the Premium might be said to better the Heimdall is in fullness. A couple of times with the Heimdall, I found myself wondering if bass extension was as good as the Premium. So I played some bass heavy material (e.g., the title cut from Donald Fagen's Morph the Cat). If anything the bass extension of the Heimdall was superior to the Premium. I eventually decided that on some material that greater resolution I was hearing from the Heimdall could give the impression of a slight thinness compared to the Premium. But it was worth the tradeoff to me. Others might feel differently.

 

I could live happily with the Premium. I'm enjoying it right now (a lot actually--3rd set of the Bar Kohkba Sextet from John Zorn's 50th birthday celebration sounds fantastic). But I was on my way to buying a Heimdall because I preferred what I was hearing from it. As these things go, though, kennyb123 has been raving about the LS. He swears it beats the Heimdall fairly handily. Since I'm insane, I've ordered an LS. But the Heimdall is one helluva cable, especially for the price.

 

Hope this was helpful. Good listening to everyone.

 

That was really helpfull and thanks for the lengthy and full of informations answer jwr.

 

I will wait for your comparison of the Premium with the Lightspeed before deciding if I will go all in on this one. A thousand dollars on a cable is a lot of cash but if it put my system in another level of performance, I will probably go for it.

 

Thanks to post your impressions here when the cable is fully broken in.

 

Regards.

 

Steve

[Starre]

Got this Nordost cable today after some agony. Now playing it as much as possible to make sure I get the right impression. I noticed at once though that it sounds promising, prior to this cable I was using a Supra usb cable which is much cheaper but good value.

More to come when I have listened enough to be confident to give a review.

[Starre]

A bit early for a review, but it is for sure clearly better than the Supra cable, but how much better? It will be interesting to see what more playing can do. I will for sure keep it!

[kennyb123]

A bit early for a review, but it is for sure clearly better than the Supra cable, but how much better? It will be interesting to see what more playing can do. I will for sure keep it!

 

Give it at least a full week with a signal flowing through it the entire time. It will really open up after 10 days.

[Starre]

I will play it as much as possible, thanks. I got confused today because I got some strange "pops" when playing a new DSD recording, I suspected the usb-cable, but when playing known DSD it didn´t happened so it must be something wrong with that other DSD file, it happens at the same place in music every time (tried changing buffering time and it was the same). I will contact the store I bought it from and complain.

[Starre]

Strange, downloaded again and now it is working. So clearly it was something wrong with those files.

The Heimdall has now played for about 3 days and sounds promising. Yesterday evening I had great dynamics playing Rachmaninov, very lively but controlled. Still I could ask for a little bigger soundstage but it is possibly not 100% broken in yet as kennyb123 suggested above.

[bdiament]

Strange, downloaded again and now it is working. So clearly it was something wrong with those files.

The Heimdall has now played for about 3 days and sounds promising. Yesterday evening I had great dynamics playing Rachmaninov, very lively but controlled. Still I could ask for a little bigger soundstage but it is possibly not 100% broken in yet as kennyb123 suggested above.

 

Hi Starre,

 

I would say most *definitely* not burned-in yet. While things are well along the way after about a week's worth of music played through them, my experience has been more like three to four weeks for these cables to settle in. Everything, including soundstage rendering, is just a lot more relaxed, solid and much better focused.

 

As said elsewhere, I don't believe these cables make things sound better. What they do is reveal how other cables interfere with the sonics. These, to my ears, are *very* good at simply getting out of the way.

 

Best regards,

Barry

Soundkeeper Recordings

The Soundkeeper | Audio, Music, Recording, Playback

Barry Diament Audio

[Starre]

Hi bdiament, I am playing, playing. playing......sigh.

[bdiament]

Hi bdiament, I am playing, playing. playing......sigh.

 

Hi Starre,

 

In my experience, patience will be rewarded.

The "promising" sound at the start to which you referred, just gets better.

 

If you hear it anything like the way I hear it, you will be doing a lot of smiling.

You'll get there. Meanwhile, enjoy the ride. ;-}

 

Best regards,

Barry

Soundkeeper Recordings

The Soundkeeper | Audio, Music, Recording, Playback

Barry Diament Audio

[Starre]

I think I am soon there, for a while it sounded rather dull and uninspiring, but now something happened. It sounds VERY good! I am using the shortest 1 m. cable. My Meitner dac sounds very nice!

[johndoe21ro]

Anybody with a comparison between AQ Diamond and the Nordost Heimdall USB? Or better, between the Heimdall and the Light Harmonic Lightspeed...

[Starre]

If you read the entire thread, it seems like the LS is somewhat better than Heimdall (but the LS was 0.8 m and Heimdall 2 m which is a small disadvantage). In my country though, the LS is hard to get hold of and cost 2 times more than the Heimdall so I bought the Nordost cable.

[kennyb123]

If you read the entire thread, it seems like the LS is somewhat better than Heimdall

 

I should point out that I only had the Heimdall for only 2 weeks when I compared it to the LS and posted my findings earlier in this thread. The Heimdall was brand new when I received it probably needed another 2 weeks of burn in.

 

But given the above, the LS wasn't just "somewhat better". It was A LOT better and well worth every penny IMHO.

 

jwr, who posted above, now has both the Heimdall and an LS in his possession. The Heimdall now has at least 3 weeks on it, and the LS at least 2 weeks. He's giving them both some more time before doing serious listening. I'll encourage him to post here once he has something to report.

 

(but the LS was 0.8 m and Heimdall 2 m which is a small disadvantage)

 

The LS had a disadvantage too in that I compared the non-spit version to the Heimdall, as this as was a loaner. I purchased the split leg version and keep the power leg disconnected. After spending two weeks with that 2m Heimdall, inserting the fresh-out-of the box split-leg LS delivered a HUGE upgrade.

[Starre]

It must be a spectacular cable since I am very pleased with the Heimdall, a huge upgrade from the Supra. It sounds better the more I play it, sound stage getting bigger and bigger with more and more detail and almost live. If it gets even better with time I will not work anymore, just sitting and listening, hehe. It is so confusing that a USB cable can make such a difference, and I understand why people do not believe it until they try themselves. Maybe I can get hold of a LS and try it some day to compare.

The only negative I have seen about the LS was a review online which said it could sound a little "thin" in some cases, but that´s it. Congrats kennyb123, wish I could get one/afford one.

[kennyb123]

It must be a spectacular cable since I am very pleased with the Heimdall, a huge upgrade from the Supra. It sounds better the more I play it, sound stage getting bigger and bigger with more and more detail and almost live.

 

I felt the same way. Had I never heard the LS, I would have been absolutely pleased with the Heimdall.

 

The only negative I have seen about the LS was a review online which said it could sound a little "thin" in some cases, but that´s it.

 

I've not once felt that what I was hearing through the LS was "thin". The sound is consistently big and bold. It's all relative though and maybe others have found USB cables that made the LS seem thin in comparison.

[Starre]

Well it is maybe different taste more than a fact, it can even be that it is so correct that it reveals weakness in equipment used with it. I have a dealer close to me who has got one LS cable he uses in store but no new ones for sale, I perhaps can persuade him to let me borrow it.

[kennyb123]

it can even be that it is so correct that it reveals weakness in equipment used with it.

 

I cannot agree with this as my humble Mytek DAC sounds better than ever. With the LS it is performing at a level higher than it has any right to. It's strengths are what's being revealed - strengths that were not evident with other USB cables including the Heimdall. What's been remarkable is the lack of weaknesses. Before the LS, I thought my next move had to be to upgrade my DAC to get to the next level. To my surprise, the LS took me to the next level, and put my DAC upgrade plans on hold.

 

I have a dealer close to me who has got one LS cable he uses in store but no new ones for sale, I perhaps can persuade him to let me borrow it.

 

You really do need to hear the LS yourself because some of the things you have heard about it don't ring true in my experience. And I wouldn't take my word for it either as system synergy matters a lot.

 

Given that you and I were both impressed with the Heimdall, there's a good chance you could be similarly impressed with the LS. The LS is what I envision Nordost coming out with at the next level above the Heimdall. The LS just turns up the dial to crank out more of the same good stuff the Heimdall delivers.

[TechHiFi]

If anyone with a Nordost Heimdall 2 that decides to go with the Light Harmonics LS, I would like to buy your Heimdall 2.