Nordost Frey 1m RCA Interconnects - Ultra High End RCAs

Here we have in hand a special pair of interconnects (patch cords before we got all fancy), from Nordost, a company whose products may actually be the standard against which other high-end cables are assessed... deservedly or not. Nordost did not start the cable craze, but it did hit the market in the early '90s with nearly universal critical praise at all levels of its offerings and has continued to do so year after year. Expensive cables are often assessed against Nordost’s Valhalla (now superseded by Odin), for example.

Nordost has put in some extensive engineering R&D and manufacturing capability over the years. It manufactures all of its cables including extruding its own wire in a plant in Ashland, Massachusetts, hence the Nordost name, which means "northeast" in the Nordic languages. Frey falls at the top the Norse line, with the Flatline and Reference lines coming in below and above. All make use of flat conductors, six 26-gauge oxygen-free-copper (OFC) conductors with an extruded silver surface for these exceptional interconnects. The interconnect's conductors are wrapped in a FEP Teflon thread wound in a helix. An FEP tube goes over this. They are terminated with WBT NextGen gold-plated-copper connectors. With a dielectric constant of 1.12, Frey speaker cables are said to "transfer signals more efficiently and at extremely high speeds."

So here at the shop we listened to these Nordost Frey interconnects in our house reference system. We did some close listening to the interconnects and proofed them against some other "better" cables we have around the shop. Now there are skeptics that challenge the validity of whether or not simple connects, be it RCA or balanced, can truly alter or raise the sonic performance of ones equipment. In a lot of cases that idea has some merit but not here. These Frey cables are super high resolution and there became sounds and voices present during playback that had not presented themselves with lesser cables. Really quite eye-opening. Now look, we have had some truly extraordinary cables and cords and have our favorites and thoughts on the entire cable industry but know this, these cables are about the most resolving we have heard. In most systems, the upgrade will be immediate & quantitive. Just gotta hear these to believe it and sure, they should be great as this 1m pair were $1,000.00 new! Cables are in as-new condition like they just came out of the package - just a super way to improve your kit. Use these from Pre to Power for an instant improvement in clarity and weight.

(1) Pair of Nordost Frey Series I RCA Interconnects, 1m Length: $489.00