Nordost Valhalla XLR Interlink – Quick Impression
Heaven?
A friend was kind enough to loan it to me for a short while, but after having heard this cable in my system I must admit to not understanding why this Nordost range has an almost mythical status. To me, this Valhalla XLR cable sample sounds much like the Valkyrja XLR, and perhaps in Nordost terms, it is less thin/threadbare than most other Nordost cables, but still, the Valhalla is typical Nordost in character. And it is a character that you either like or don’t like. In any event, even this Valhalla sounds quite thin compared to Cardas Clear and Transparent Ultra XL and especially Reference XL.
The Valhalla does have several things going for it such as superb resolution, refined, airy, and fluid treble, and a finely focused, very precise sound, importantly lacking any sharpness or aggression. But, somehow, when listening to this cable I keep having the feeling of listening to a technical rendition of music, not the performance itself. This is mainly due to the way that it seems to divide the sound into two frequency extremes with an overly (c)lean midrange in-between.
(note: the green sleeves indicate that this is a demo pair)
Above: the destination end of the cable: terminated the same as the production model
Above: the source end of the cable: labeled as demo cable
I can personally confirm your impressions of this Valhalla xlr cables. Once my dealer got a used pair of them for sale and as I heard about the „magic“ of it I asked for trying it in my own chain….and then big disappointment. Impressions were just like you described above. Strange how some cables get a top reputation – probably from the press who profits from Nordost advertisements, I don‘t know…The cable went back to the dealer a few days later.