Having become a "cable believer" when I first heard a QED Qnekt 3 (forerunner of the current one) compared to the freebie in the box one, I moved up, firstly through that brand, and then across to Chord, owning in my time the Silver Siren, Chameleon Silver Plus, ands then Anthems in both rca and xlr, believing i was going in the right direction, hey, if it cost more it should be better right? (The answer to this comes later.

In between this time, I also owned a £600 Black Rhodium Oratorio, which, when it was sold on, left me without a decent cable, so I had to use some I picked up for £2, reduced from £4 at a local shop

Thinking they would be sh*t, I was amazed at their quality, how could this be? A £2/4 ic that didnt disgrace itself following on from £600 worth of wire.

Telling people in hifi shops prompted replies of me being deaf and similar, so I took them to a local respected franchised chain.

A blind test against Chord Signatures at £525......and guess what........mine were preferred over them!

Anyway, ive only mentioned all that to lead up to the next bit, proving you dont need to spend hundreds on cables to achieve a quality sound.    Having swopped my xlr cdp for an rca only one, i did a deal for a set of the NVA Sound Cords, which at the moment are sold on e bay through the manufacturers shop for the princely sum of £9.99 for 0.7m.

I believe for what is the price of 3 coffees at Starbucks, they are amazing ic's, standing toe to toe against very much costlier wires, if you dont believe me, try some,  they offer a money back guarantee so you cant lose.

Have recently had a pair of the Cords more expensive big brothers, the Sound Pipes, in the system, and, due to them being too short, possibly a knock on effect too that theyre of a solid construction,  I decided to sell them on and get a longer pair,  except when I re instaled the cheaper Sound Cords, to my ears they just sounded a better cable.

Now, maybe synergy is responsible for this, but the effect of sticking them back in was wanting to listen to more music, which I must admit I didnt do with the Pipes.

Im pleased to say the guy who bought the Pipes from me is as pleased with them as I am with the Cords, a good result all round!

Of course now my curiosity is making me wonder if the Super sound Pipes would be any better.........?

Having spoken to NVA owner Richard Dunn, he was surprised that the Sp's didnt sound as good, and suggested they might be faulty, iI passed on this info to their new owner, who is now in the throws of sending them nack for checking.

Stay tuned for the conclusion, which will probably put me back on the "find a better cable" merry go round!

Ok, I should have posted this a while back........the conclusion then...................in my system, which wasnt cheap, the Sound Cords at less than a tenner get pride of place!

Try a pair I believe you will be pleasantly surprised

Sorry its been a while for a reply to the post 2 above.

Firstly, I received via pm on another forum, a "bollocking" message from the owner of the firm that makes the ic's ive been singing the praises of.

He said he was pissed off at me (poetic licence perhaps here by me cos I cant remember the exact words used) that I keep "dissing" his more expensive Sound Pipes, and saying I thought the cheaper Sound Cords were superior.

My response back was to ask why he hadnt thanked me for all the praise I had heaped upon the Sound Cords, and yet he sees fit to bollock me for stating what I consider to be an absolute truth, in that I find the cheaper ic's to be better than his dearer ones.

He also mentions that the pair of Sound Pipes that I had, and sold on to a guy on another forum, "must" have been faulty.

It turns out that the guy had indeed returned them, and the owner had found them to be broken, and repaired them...except, according to their new owner, he could not detect any improvement over when they "were faulty"

I also find interesting, that in the makers blurb for his cheapest ic, the Sound Cord, on E bay, he states, "Beats any other ic, or your money back"

And yet he waits until you click for more info before he states, "beats any other non NVA ic, or your money back"

All I ask is, why does he send me a "bollocking " pm, yet he states in black and white, what ive been saying, that the Sound Cord beats other ic's, in this case the sound pipe, in my estimation?

Hi Icehockeyboy,

I know this is a change in topic - I see you did a recent review of the chord interconnect and in the past nordost blue heaven interconnect. Which do you prefer soundwise - and why?

Thanks,

Steve.

Hi Stephen, you asked me this question before...dont you remember?

For me the Chord does it over the Blues, its far less "lean" but, when you consider that the NVA is a fraction of the cost of either of them, and the fact it has impressed me over even my old £600 Black Rhodiums, and £330 Chord Anthems, id say it actually is the winner of the day.

Ive been suggesting you try a pair for ages, if you dont like them, you can send them back for a refund.

Hi icehockboy,

Sorry - yes I remember now. It is just I recently read your reviews the NBH you gave 100 % and the chord 80% (its cheaper) I had the impression the NBH was better from your reviews.

Thanks,

Steve.

Hi Stephen, when I replied to your question about the Nordost versus Chord, I was commenting on the Anthems, and not the Chameleons! You are right about (at the time) me preferring the Blues over the Chord but also consider my comment about needing three, and that was a factor I had to consider, and it was the Chorus I was comparing the Nordost to, not the Chameleon.   but, as time goes by, kit gets changed, and some ic's gel better with it, over what was a previous favourite. You only have to look at what I keep going on about now!

Plus, hindsight is a wonderful thing!

So, if you asked me which ic id say is (to my ears) the "better" of the two between the Nordost Blue and The Chord Chameleon, I would still say the Chord, its one of those fit and forget cables.

But, at the end of the day, its up to you to decide which one floats your boat, and my preferrences should only be taken as a guide, like many people say when talking about cables......"Better.....or different?"

Hi icehockeyboy,

Thanks for the clarification.

I noticed to the NBH are a little on the lean and bright side but they sound so tight, detailed and fast and I could imagine on the wrong equipment they could sound a little to lean and bright and perhaps clinical.

Thanks again.

Steve. 

I lived with a pair of Nordost Blue Heavens for 2 days. They have fantastic pin point accuracy but are soul less. I changed to a pair of Chord Chorus MK 1. They are much more easily listened to. A nice enjoyable sound. The Blue Heavens cut of the bass. The blue heavens could easily give you a headach if your system is capable of the high treble.

 As I have just purchased an Arcam A22 and 2 x P25 power amps I am going to need some pre to power amp connectors. I will be buying the NVA sound cords as I have no extra money for intercnnects at the moment.

I do intend to do a comparison between the chord chorus mk1 and the sound cords.

I currenly have an Arcam DV27 into a Denon AVC10SE and Ruark Prologue speakers.

The A22 and power amps should be a nice upgrade.

Shaun, thats more or less the way I got my first pair, I swopped out some xlr's and took the NVA's in, thinking they'd just be ok, and, as ive stated many times, was amazed by them, especially athe the price.

What I find stunning about them is that despite the rest of my system being what I consider to be relatively high end ish, they are not out of place or out classed at all, which is more than can be said for a lot of inexpensive wire.