Nordost braucht Streisand

Es ist mal wieder Zeit für den Streisand-Effekt. Da könnt auch Ihr mithelfen, zum Beispiel wenn Ihr in ein paar Tagen auf die High-End nach München geht. Weitere Details später, jetzt muß ich erst einmal erklären worum's geht.

Vor kurzem fand in den USA, in Illinois, die AXPONA trade show statt. Auf dieser Messe gab es auch Vorführungen von Kabeln der Firma Nordost, und um diese Vorführungen hat sich ein Streit entzündet, der inzwischen juristische Dimensionen angenommen hat.

Ins Rollen gebracht hat die Auseinandersetzung Mark Waldrep mit seiner Webseite, der selber auf der Messe ausgestellt hat, der aber nichts mit dem Kabelgeschäft zu tun hat (so weit ich weiß). Es geht also nicht darum, daß sich hier zwei Konkurrenten gegenseitig bekriegen. Die beiden Artikel, die er zu diesem Thema geschrieben hat, sind inzwischen wieder entfernt, was die Firma Nordost per "Cease and Desist Letter" erzwungen hat. Also eine Abmahnung bzw. Unterlassungerklärung.

Es fing offenbar damit an, daß ein Besucher der Messe ("Patrick") einer Vorführung von Nordost beigewohnt hat, bei der der Vorführer angeblich die Lautstärke etwas höher gedreht hat, als die teureren Kabel vorgeführt wurden. Das scheint ein gern benutzter Trick von Kabelverkäufern zu sein, Der gleiche Mark Waldrep berichtete schon im Januar davon, wie dieser recht billige Trick in einem Demovideo von HDMI-Kabeln der Firma AudioQuest benutzt wurde.

Der inzwischen entfernte Text der ersten Beitrags von Waldrep lautete wie folgt:

In case you missed the comment from Patrick regarding the Nordost power cord demo at the recent AXPONA Show, I’ve copied it below. Patrick was the young man that informed me during the show that he had some serious doubts about the legitimacy of the Nordost power cord demo. He wrote:

“I witnessed the power cord demo. Here’s what took place. The Nordost representative only swapped the power cable on the CD player – he did not swap any cables in the preamp. Here was the procedure.
He would turn off the CD player, unplug the power cable and plug in a seemingly better quality cable. As the cables got progressively more expensive, I was sitting in the front row and personally witnessed the representative increase the volume on the preamp from 58 to 61 (the preamp had a digital volume display that was easy to read when you’re sitting 5 feet away). This increase took place when the representative got into the $1000 and up power cords.
There was also another curiosity. The representative would play the same tracks generally for an AB comparison – but he continually seemed to be stumbling through the same CD to find the right track. In the beginning, he was playing Track 1 (again sitting 5 feet away gives you a clear line of sight to the display). Around the same time that he increased the volume on the preamp ever so slightly, I also noticed that the CD player was now on Track 7 – but it was the same exact song.
I can assure you that I did not go into the demo looking for any kind of tricks. This was my first audio show and I was genuinely curious if I could detect a difference. Needless to say, the volume increase was disheartening and I certainly won’t be buying any expensive power cables. I’m glad I learned that lesson early on in life."

If true, Patrick’s indictment of the Nordost demo would be more fuel to the fire that the high-end cable companies are literally scamming customers by faking their demos. In the interest of getting to the bottom of this issue, I spent over 30 minutes in the Nordost room (Westin Room 450) getting the same demo. In fact, the first demo that the Nordost representative played involved the differences between an expensive power strip when placed on the floor vs. the same power strip elevated by “Sort Kones”, the conical isolation accessories that “enhance” the fidelity of a system by minimizing the vibrations that “create timing errors that smear and distort the music”. The sound of the playback system with the cones was noticeably louder than without. Even the explanation on the Nordost website doesn’t claim that using Sort Kones will increase the amplitude of your system. But when the power strip was elevated, the volume was louder. What was the presenter doing to make it change?

To be continued tomorrow…

 Der zweite Artikel, den Waldrep ebenfalls zurückgezogen hat, lautete wie folgt:

This post is a continuation from yesterday. You can read the first part by clicking here.

Then I sat through the power cord swap out demo. I sat in the front row of their demo room. The presenter swapped out the power cord to the disc player…and only the disc player. He started with a simple IEC power cord, which probably cost about $1.50. He played about 30-45 seconds of a track from the CD. He stopped the player and turned off the power to the unit. He connected a $200 power cord from the Nordost product line. He powered up the CD player, stood in front of the player, and played the same piece of music once again. The sound coming from the speakers was noticeably louder…by about 1-2 dB. The Nordost guy stood to the side and expressed his satisfaction that the change was immediately obvious and repeatable. The volume setting on the front of the amplifier was the same in each case (unlike the change reported by Patrick…I think the presenter knew me and wasn’t going to risk moving the volume knob). This was proof positive that a “better” power cord results in “better” sound.
Nordost doesn’t build its power cords to meet certain price points. He explained that the company delineates their products by performance levels. He passed around the transparent power cords so that attendees could see the construction of the cables, the careful windings, the wires that keep the insulation from touching the power leads, and the heft of the $6000 Valhalla 2 cable (don’t you ever wonder about the AC cabling that is inside the walls? Wouldn’t that limit the sound?). The demo continued with successively more expensive cords connecting the CD player to the power strip. And each time the music amplitude associated with the more expensive cable was higher. It was not subtle, however the volume on the preamplifier remained the same (unlike the experience reported by Patrick above). The presenter stated that the expensive power cord “acts like a power conditioner” in removing the artifacts and sonic degradation coming from the wall. Was he saying you don’t need a power conditioner…just a $6000 6-foot power cord?
It was like a magician’s trick. Somehow the presenter was making a change to the system without turning up the volume. There was more output coming from the speakers after the swap. At first I couldn’t figure it out…until Patrick commented on his experience during an earlier demo. The volume on the amplifier didn’t change but the track played on the CD was never repeated more than once. I found that curious. The Nordost presenter would play some music and then swap the cable and replay the same piece of music. But instead of swapping out a new power cord and playing the same track for the third time, he always migrated to another track. This truck me as strange. Why wouldn’t he simply repeat the track a third or fourth time? At one point in the process, he turned to me as he was selecting the track number on the CD player and said, “I’m not sure which track number I played last?”
The disc that he was playing was not a commercial replicated CD. It was custom made for their demo. I believe the disc contained two copies of each track. One that was mastered slightly louder than the other. How else could I account for the difference in volume AND the fact that he didn’t go back and play the same track a third time. There were only two copies of each tune on the disc…not three or four.
I think that explains the increased volume that the audience experienced throughout the demo. The presenter played the same music from a different track…one that was 1-2 dB louder. It wouldn’t be hard to pull this off. In fact, as a former mastering engineer, I could create a custom CD-R that would retain the same track number so no one would be the wiser. I regret not recording the whole session or keeping track of the track number being played. I thought about it before heading upstairs but my wife was using my iPhone to run credit cards at our sales table.
Like the AudioQuest/Home Entertainment YouTube video earlier in the year, the Nordost demo was simply not believable. Small isolation cones and expensive power cords do not cause an audio system to get louder…if they do anything at all. The companies behind these audiophile products don’t even make that claim. There’s nothing more compelling or noticeable during an audio demo than comparing two music tracks with one louder than the other. If a power cord resulted in an increase in the volume of the output signal then using a Valhalla 2 power cord to connect a lamp to a wall socket would cause it to glow more brightly…and that doesn’t happen!
As I wrote this article, I went online and read a number of very positive reviews about Nordost cables…including a number that praised the Valhalla 2 power cords. One of them contained this sentence, “The results were stunning. Even with competing systems in adjacent rooms rattling the walls, it was easy to hear the much lower noise floor and improved soundstaging, texture and decay. Cash’s ragged voice sounded like he’d leaned an inch closer to the microphone, as well as pulled off the foam sock.” When a singer gets an inch closer to the microphone, the output amplitude of the microphone goes up. The reviewer was reporting an increase in volume and thinking the cable was the cause…it wasn’t. There are slick published “Guides to High-End Cables” full of glowing reviews and glossy photos of cables. Reading them will cause your head to spin…complete BS.
Cable vendors and the press that uniformly support them with ridiculous “reviews”, are not being truthful about the relative merits of their products. Overpriced cables…analog and digital…are not worth the money. It’s really that simple.

Ich denke es ist klar warum Nordost das nicht stehen lassen wollte, denn wenn stimmt, was Waldrep schreibt, dann hat der Nordost-Vertreter durch Manipulation der Lautstärke bei der Demo geschummelt. Man könnte es auch Betrug nennen.

Nun gut, Waldrep kann es wohl schwerlich beweisen, er kann bloß seine eigene Beobachtung schildern, deswegen hat er sich wohl auch entschlossen, dem Säbelgerassel der Nordost-Anwälte nachzugeben. Aber Waldrep ist kein Laie, der auf der Brennsuppe daher geschwommen kommt und irgend einen Unfug erzählt. Was er schildert ist plausibel. Und wahrscheinlich auch kein Einzelfall.

Diese und die AudioQuest-Episode zeigen meiner Meinung nach ein paar Dinge:

• Die Verkäufer von überteuertem Zubehör verstehen genug von Psychoakustik, daß sie wissen was man mit ein bißchen mehr Lautstärke erreichen kann. Es wird Zeit, daß das breite Käufervolk begreift, wie wichtig stringente Lautstärkekontrollen bei solchen Vergleichen sind.
• Die Konkurrenz im Kabelmarkt der "gehobenen Klasse" ist so groß, und die Verkaufsmargen so attraktiv, daß jegliche Hemmungen fallen, was die Verkaufstricks angeht. Waldrep schreibt die Lautstärkeunterschiede seien "not subtle" gewesen. Man wollte offenbar absolut sicher stellen, daß der Unterschied auch gehört wird.
• Man braucht faule Tricks, um teure Kabel verkaufen zu können.
• Zu wenige Leute durchschauen noch immer diesen Betrug. Wenn bei einer Kabelvorführung deutliche Lautstärkeunterschiede zu vernehmen sind, dann müßten eigentlich faule Eier nach vorne fliegen.
• Den schönen Schein müssen notfalls die Rechtsanwälte verteidigen.

Ihr könnt mithelfen, der Firma Nordost zu zeigen, daß sie sich für die falsche Strategie entschieden hat. Berichte über solche Betrugs- und/oder Zensurversuche sollten viral werden, und möglichst weithin bekannt werden. Die Firma soll ruhig erfahren was man von ihrem Vorgehen hält.

Und man sollte in solchen Vorführungen wesentlich kritischer sein. Setzt Euch da rein und beobachtet was der Vorführer macht. Nehmt das Lautstärkethema ernst, aber konzentriert Euch nicht zu sehr darauf, es gibt auch andere Tricks. Generell verdächtig ist, wenn nicht sicher gestellt ist, daß Ihr immer derselben Audio-Probe in immer derselben Lautstärke zuhört. Es ist einfach, mehrere leicht veränderte Proben auf eine CD zu brennen, und die nacheinander vorzuführen. Und wenn Ihr ein begründetes Verdachtsmoment habt, äußert es so daß es möglichst viele Leute mitkriegen, nicht in Privatgesprächen hinterher. Eure Eindrücke dürft Ihr schildern, das kann kein Rechtsanwalt verbieten.

Die nächste Gelegenheit dafür ist schon in ein paar Tagen in München auf der High-End. Nordost findet Ihr auf dem Stand Nr. A4.1 E114