Nordost Leif Blue Heaven LS Power Cable

[GrnCdn]

Okay, so there were 4 winners of the Nordost power cable a few weeks back. I'm surprised that no one has yet posted about their winnings as of yet.

I was one of the winners, myself... but to be honest, work has been killer and I haven't really had a chance to do much of a listening test between stock and Nordost cables. I did switch it in and out several times over 15 minutes or so, but I don't think it would be fair for me to comment so pre-maturely. I was wondering if anyone else (winners or otherwise) have formed any opinions about the Nordost Leif Blue Heaven LS power cables.

I was very happy to receive one of the contest cables... and surprised to find out it was a 2 metre long cable to boot! It was a giveaway... they could have easily opted to give away the cheaper 1 metre cords instead, but they didn't - I thought that was extra nice of them.

I've got to be honest though... with regards money invested in audio equipement vs. audible performance improvement, I received this pricey power cable with a healthy share of value-oriented scepticism. My findings are... yet to be determined.

Anyone else wish to chime in for the time being?

[Suave]

Thanks for signing up on the forum GrnCdn!

3 of the 4 winners of this giveaway were not members of this forum - this included you until now One of the winner did make a quick post after receiving the cable, although he mentioned that at this time he doesn't have any components in his system with removable power cords.

2 of the 4 winners never replied to the winner notification message that I sent them on Facebook... but your post served as a reminder to remind them - so thank you! If they fail to respond to the second email... we'll select a couple of other Facebookers would 'like' the CANADA HiFi page.

When Nordost sent us these power cables for the giveaway, they also sent me a couple to use in my system. I haven't made any posts on this just yet because the cables require a fairly extensive burn-in (somewhere in the region of 200-300 hours I believe) and I've been pretty busy working on several other upcoming reviews. That being said, I have done some tests with the cables in place and observed that they increased the size of the soundstage and provided a slightly improved bass in my system, compared to OEM power cables. I believe that the recommended burn-in period these qualities should be even more audible.

About a week ago, I did actually put about 200 hours on the cables (by running the IsoTek Burn-In CD). I will do some more comparisons with the cables in my system in the next couple of weeks... and post my findings.

In the meantime, I'd be very happy if you introduced yourself in the New Member thread here
http://canadahifi.com/forum/forumdis...ideo-interests

[GrnCdn]

Just curious... but a power cable would experience burn-in time by simply having the device it's attached to turned on, wouldn't it? Unlike speaker cables and interconnects which signals pass through only when there's an audio signal... no? Hmmmm...

Hard to believe 2 people haven't bothered to claim their cables, after taking the time to enter the compitition. I'm wondering if they created FaceBook profiles solely for that purpose and are so not accustomed to logging back into FaceBook. Hmmm...

$300-$1,000 does seem like a helluva lot for a few quality strands of copper, doesn't it? I mean, you can get a pair of decent bookshelf speakers in that range, and I'd wager there's quite a bit more material and technology that goes into that product than a straight forward (but solid) power cord (or other cables for that matter). I'm really thankful for my luck of winning one of these fine power cords... and I honestly haven't yet done a serious listening test to see what difference it might make... but the logic I use makes it difficult to believe such things are fairly priced in comparision to other audio components. Hmmm...?

[Suave]

Just curious... but a power cable would experience burn-in time by simply having the device it's attached to turned on, wouldn't it? Unlike speaker cables and interconnects which signals pass through only when there's an audio signal... no?

I believe that for a power cord to be properly burnt in (just like any other cable or component for that matter) the cable needs to be actively used, meaning that music should be playing. This is because the current flow (or demand) is can be quite different when the component is just or turned on, or actually playing music.

Yes it's true that many cables cost just as much as audio components... but everything needs to be put into a perspective. For example, no one should think that buying a $500 power cord for a $1000 is a good idea, as the $1000 simply shouldn't be capable of achieving the same kind of performance as the $500 cable. I usually recommend spending between 10 and 15 percent of the total system price on cables - this should give you the best balance.