You might have noticed that I continue to review grounding devices on a regular basis, and the biggest reason why is that I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t want to evaluate high-end audio gear unless there’s been a concerted effort to control noise. Nordost grounding devices were the first I truly explored for PTA, and as I told Nordost’s Meredith Gabor, “I wasn’t sure what I was doing with them back then, but I feel like I’ve learned a thing or two since.” That, of course, was a hint that I would like to take another crack at them–especially since the Nordost grounding device line has grown considerably in the last few years.
Words and Photos by Marc Phillips
Nordost has a brilliant way of showing off their grounding products at high-end audio shows such as Munich 2024. First they assemble a killer system–in this case the Wilson Audio Sabrina X (14,200 euros), dCS Bartok DAC/streamer (22,500 euros), Dan D’Agostino Progression integrated amplifier (29,900 euros) and more. You’d expect that system alone to provide plenty of musical thrills, but that’s when Nordost grounding devices come in–and the result is one of the quietest systems I’ve heard at a very crowded and busy hi-fi show.
Second, Nordost grounding devices are always placed where you can see them–on the top shelf of the rack that’s usually reserved for some kind of source, on the floor next to the rack–very little is hidden because, as a whole, Nordost grounding devices are very attractive and well-made. This particular system employed everything from the QNET (3,810 euros), QSOURCE (3,270 euros), and the QKORE system I reviewed a few years ago ($3,570), not to mention all the BC Sort Cones, TC Sort Cones, Sort Lifts and much more.
An interesting addition to the Nordost grounding devices was a full complement of Nordost cables. Instead of using the top of the line cables such as the Odin 2, which were everywhere at the show, they included a loom consisting of Red Dawn 3 power cords (560 euros each), Red Dawn 3 speaker cables (1,129 euros/pr) and the new Blue Heaven 3 interconnects (price TBA). Despite the affordable prices of the main cables, this was still a very, very quiet system. And yes, I’ll have some more Nordost grounding devices to play with in the coming months.
Got something for this?