This is one of those situations that seems so counter-intuitive, so contrary to popular dogma, that it’s hard to accept, easier to dismiss. Do so and you won’t be doing yourself any favours. This is something that you are going to need to hear for yourself. But once heard, it’s hard to forget. It strikes right to the heart of musical performance and what a hi-fi system is supposed to do. Nor is it that hard to hear. Nordost have always been the loudest proponents of the approach, so it’s no surprise that I chose their cables to investigate the issue, or that they proved the hypothesis so emphatically. But Nordost are not the only company offering coherently designed cable ranges: The Chord Company, SternKlang, Crystal Cable, Argento and Kimber all qualify, to name but a few. The descriptions and benefits described here are specific, but the approach and lessons are general. Conducting your own listening just requires a bit of preparation and begging, borrowing or stealing a set of genuinely coherent cables: you need to go WAY deeper than just a single brand, if you are going to really hear what the approach delivers. Getting a few interested parties involved (especially if one of them is a dealer) spreads the learning and the workload. It’s a whole lot easier and more effective if you have several pairs of hands and a relatively simple system, without too many boxes, set up so that its socketry is accessible. And if that isn’t your system, never fear: the benefits that are so apparent in even a fairly simple system, increase exponentially with box count. Like it said in the introduction – if you are still mixing and matching cables, it’s time to get serious. You owe it to the monies you’ve already invested!
