NORDOST Odin

Benny Carter´s I´m Coming Virginia (Benny Carter, Jazz Giant, Contemporary Records) was another excellent recording; one that managed to shed a full light to all the aforementioned observations and let us make final conclusions. First, let the Odin speak:

The track begins with a trumpet. The sound is razor-sharp, clearly defined and with a lot of air and space around it. Despite its spot-light definition the sharpness is surprisingly comfortable – the illusion of a trumpet is so perfect that it invites you to reach out your hand and touch the brass of the instrument. A double-bass possesses a dynamite-like quality with its omnipresent penetrating voice and induces feeling of a system supported by a precise and fast subwoofer. By the time a saxophone entered the stage we already had been in a state of pure indulgence – but when you experience a player taking his breath (4´15) and letting it flow through the sax across the room right to your shirt, it is nothing short of awe. It was so beautiful.

Through the Valhalla the track was rendered flatter. When I look back and read what I reported about the Valhalla a month ago it may seem to you that I´m going mad, however, I swear it is exactly what we heard. With the impression of being flatter there is also a feeling of less effortless spatial organisation and less natural flow of musical notes. The sax is more ´audiophile´through the Valhalla and perhaps more sonically appealing but when you listen carefully the textural magic of the Odin is what a listener would miss in the end. Also the 4´15 breathing-in is more artificial and one-dimensional, at least in my ears. And what others say?

ER: Trumpet is squeaky and its harmonic tonality is absolutely incomparable to the Odin. To me the sound is less brassy, less alive. With the Odin there is a bit more of light and shade in the music, more microdynamical contrast that pulls you in. Isn´t it possible that we have connected something incorrectly? I would say the difference is that of a very good SACD disc and a standard CD.

BCh: The Valhalla a tad more ´careful´. I hear a fatal difference in a way the Odin handles emotions – it is all about goose-bumps, liquid cleanliness and a near-reality experience – for instance the sax materialized in our listening room before and that´s what I miss with the Valhalla. It puzzles me...

JN: A new trouble has arrived with the Odin: the improvements are so essential that it becomes next to impossible to downgrade to anything else without the feeling that you miss something. When I use another wires I always have a niggling that there is something wrong with an audio system.