Nordost
Contents
| Cable | Nordost White Lightning, Red Dawn and Frey2 |
| Balance low, mid and high | White Lightning: A lot of air. But not a lot of body.
Red Dawn: Airy and open with body. Midrange has some emphasis. Transparency in the notes. Lots of detail. Frey2: Treble is ‘lighter’ than the mid/bass. Lots of warmth in the mids and bass. |
| Sound color vocals and instruments | White Lightning: very nice layering. Lots of nuance.
Red Dawn: Nice balance in the piano. Saxophone gets a lot of air. Tabla is nicely open and fast. Frey2: Rich sounds in piano. But not necessarily in the cymbals. Lots of detail and texture audible. |
| Stereo image | White Lightning: Open and airy. Great image, tight placement.
Red Dawn: Nice layering in the stereo image. Some left to right though. It stands a bit higher than we are used to. Frey2: Great stereo image. Almost feels like headphones! |
| Rhythm | White Lightning: calm and smooth. Seems a bit “unbalanced” in rhythm in treble and midrange.
Red Dawn: Long reverb. Tight transients. Fast! Frey2: Fast leads. Nice transients. Good dynamics. |
| Overall | White Lightning: nice cable with a “light” character. May get a little more body. Black background is nice.
Red Dawn: Fast, transparent cable. Sufficient weight in the low end. Stereo image is mostly wide. Not very deep. Frey2: Fast, detail-rich cable that can present with a lot of “drama”. |
| Material and construction | White Lightning: Silver plated 7N copper. 10 x 26 AWG
Red Dawn: Silver plated 7N copper, 20 x 26 AWG (0.13mm2) Frey2: Silver plated 7N copper, 22 x 22 AWG (0.32mm2). |
| Price | White Lightning: 655 Euro, Red Dawn: 2040 Euro, Frey2: 5430 Euro |
Measurements Nordost
LCR measurements
Propagation variation
White Lightning
Red Dawn
Frey2
Response measurements
Noise measurements
Hi team,
This is quite an amazing project that you have done.
I am trying to use this information to help my selection decision making on some new cables. My conclusion is that the Audiomica ones which you tested seem to be the best value in terms of price vs your feedback about their sound. And from the qualitative feedback it seems like those cables would play well with most systems. Is this a correct conclusion to draw from the testing?
I understand that I would probably want to try the cables out on my system to make sure that they fit with the sound that I like.
I am relatively new to hi-fi so I apologise if this is a question that is a philosophically wrong way to think about things.
Hi Leon,
It is corrent that the Audiomica hits a sweetspot. They deliver very decent quality for a decent price. They are not cheap, but they are very good sounding. And yes: we estimate that they will work in most system.
It is always wise to first try a couple of cables and – if you found your match – buy them. We never advice to buy anything ‘blind’. Always try before you buy!
Thank you for the response and thank you again for putting together this review!
Welcome!
I wonder, if the impedance of the cables would not provide a more significant perspective instead of individual values of R, C and L ?
Well. We measured impedance. So check it out.
Here (impedance vs phase):
https://www.alpha-audio.net/review/megatest-speaker-cables-32-cables-listened-to-and-measured/attachment/audioquest-impedance-2/
is one cable data incomplete!
I see. Slp 14/4 phase. It was accidentally measured in rad. That’s why i left it out.
Hey Jaap, that is a really nice test with lots of information, thanks for that! Would it be possible to have it all into one table for a good overview, instead having to scroll through the individual pages? May be too much to ask 🙂
Keep up the awesome work!
Standard cable of 2.5mm2… I am using 16mm2 “standard wire”, 3m long. Very low resistance. That ticks one box. I guess I can theoretically calculate the inductance and capacitance. Wonder if these are of significant consequence at 20kHz. Maybe I can twist the cable to reduce the inductance if it has some impact.
Let me know how it turns out… ;-).
This is beyond – need to study it – not just read, to understand.
Thanks for including the “peasant” installation cable AudioQuest 14/4 – I use the more expensive version XTRM 14/4. My question is – how did you terminate the cable and in what configuration? I have it terminated with nakamichi bananas and connected in a star-quad configuration.
Martin
It is terminated with spades.
And, just like that, Alpha-Audio shoots to the top of the audio reviewer heap! The GOAT of tests and shoot-outs. Well done kind sirs, that was an impressive and Herculean effort!
Thanks,
Eric
Thank you Eric.