Nordost Frey vs Audience Au24e interconnect

Yes...I'd been away from my system, travelling, for about a month...I came back, sat down, and things just didn't sound rich, engaging or "right." I cranked up the volume and (I was using Pandor), thought the file compression (Adobe?) must be at fault. About 2 days later, I looked in back and saw that I had the Audience connected. So, I put the Nordost back in. POW. That did it. The harmonics came back, the soundstage was fleshed out, etc. Now, mind you, I run the AU24's and they are the BEST speaker cable I have had in my system. For whatever reason the AU24 XLR's just don't do it for me. Right now. I'm not going to sell them, though, because, in a different configuration, I can see them working...If I had PBS speakers or Vandersteens especially...I'd want the AU24's in (I think, this is hypothetical).

One more note...Althought the Audience might be percieved as having a lower noise floor and blacker background, I felt they had a tendency to push certain frequencies (instruments) to the front...this was cool is some ways, but it happened at the expense of the balance of the recording.

The Nordost gave me a more complete picture. Dynamics about the same with both.

I've had the frey interconnects as well as the AU24 interconnect between my modded PS audio DAC (cullen stage IV mods) and my Modwright LS100. My amp is the Modwright KWA100SE and I have Vienna acoustic Haydn Grand speaker on Dynaudio stands. This is NOT a bright system. Very balanced with a nice tube edge coming from the LS100.

AU24 is more balanced, with better defined and deeper low end as well as sweeter highs. Vocals, piano, were closer to the "real" thing. The AU24 also gives a better sense of the acoustics of the room where the recording was made. Better soundstage depth and layering. Very rich sound while keeping excellent PRAT (very hard not to tap your feet with these wires in the system).

Overall, I'm VERY impressed with the AU24. I can listen to them for hours on end at all sound volumes (including the "elicit extreme anger from neighbor" volume).

The Frey's are good, no doubt about that. But at higher volumes and for extend listening sessions, I definetly got listener fatigue (and more "turn down the volume from the wife"). Also, they make you think and analyze the music and your audio system instead simply letting you forget everything but the music. They are lean in the sound they produce.

I'm now going to sell my Frey's w/o a moments hesitations.

Your cables cost more than you speakers. Might want to re-prioritize try each cable again. Glad it works with the Vienna.

I can see how the au24 might work with the Vienna and tubes....it's all about pairing. I didn't sell my AU24 ICs, I've got them handy for when I wind up with something with a silk dome tweeter, some PSBs, etc...but with my Piegas and SS electronics, it's just not the right fit. Bear in mind I *DO* run the AU24 speaker cable and love 'em.