Testimonials

Nordost Sort Kones (AC) – A Customer’s Review

I present to you, a brilliant blog post written by one of our customers. Big thanks to them for taking the time to write this, we couldn’t have said it better.

Customer Review – Nordost Sort Kones – AC

“I have always been a bit skeptical of system tweaks even though I’ve tried a few over the years. Some seemed to work, some not so much…

So, when I was introduced to a number of them at a recent Nordost presentation at Nuts About Hi-Fi, I was dubious.

In the end, in spite of my skepticism, I was impressed enough to buy into one of them – the Nordost Sort Kones (AC). Was it the wine? The presenter’s pretty smile and detailed explanations? Or my ears… As I waited for them to arrive from Nordost, I wondered, and worried, and wondered.

An explanation seems in order:
Sort Kones are cone shaped and made of various metals. System components: pre amp, amp, DAC, CD player are placed or balanced on several of them – three being the minimum I saw at Nuts. There is some logic in their placement under any
component, balance being one, of course. But they also need to be placed under the areas containing the majority of the unit’s circuitry.

When they finally arrived, I was more than ready to see how they performed…

In my system, I placed them under my Aesthetic Janus pre amp and my Wadia 301 CD player in places that seemed appropriate. Then, I put on a very familiar CD and waited expectantly…

I was amazed. They made a tremendous difference in my system. Notes had more clarity, separation, presence, pace. The soundstage seemed bigger, cleaner, deeper. Everything just seems more right. How was this possible???? I have no idea. I just know that with CD after CD, and LP after LP, I just heard more, and it was not subtle. Give em a listen, I think you will be impressed.”

The Gateway Drug (or, Why is this jazz band in my room?)

A Special Guest Post from a Happy Customer

It all began with a letter from owner Jim Lee in Spring of 2013.

I had made my first purchase on my maiden visit to Nuts About HiFi… a pair of Grado RS1i headphones meticulously selected from a grand total of two pairs that they had in stock, while I was visiting Silverdale from Ann Arbor, MI. This was my second pair of audiophile headphones: one of anything might be good, but two of them represent the start of a collection. That Grado headphone started me on a journey into the land of headphones, and I have acquired at least 50 pairs and written about many of them on the online forum head-fi.com.

I was amazed, a few weeks after my purchase, to receive a letter (remember those?) from Nuts About HiFi. It was from Jim Lee, thanking me for my purchase and hoping I was happy with the headphones. I called him in amazement to express my appreciation for his follow-up. Eight years later I moved to Poulsbo, WA.

Two weeks ago, in September of 2021, 8-1/2 years later, Matt and Adam of Nuts About HiFi completed the installation in my home of a Samsung QN82Q900RB 82 inch TV with wall mount, two Focal Sopra 3 floor-standing speakers, Focal Aria CC900 center speaker, two Focal Surround BE speakers, a JL Audio F113v2 subwoofer, Anthem AVM 70 audio-visual processor, Aesthetix Atlas stereo amp, Anthem MCA 325 3 channel amp for the surround and center speakers, a Sony UBP-X-1100ES 4K BluRay with SACD capability, a Meridian 218 zone controller, a TS-451+ NAS drive, a Clearaudio Concept turntable with moving magnet, Salamander cabinet, $4,500 worth of cables (6% of system cost), a power module, and MX990 universal remote with MRF350 RF module to control it. Whew!

System design was by Matt, who began with a Meridian Sooloos system as music source, but then changed that to Roon when Meridian froze its development of Sooloos. Nuts About HiFi bought me a lifetime subscription to Roon to compensate for the loss of Sooloos.

The upgrade from Sooloos to a Roon subscription is just one example of a whole series of customer amenities that Nuts has offered me. System design began prior to COVID, and the TV, power supply, and cabinet were installed in early 2020. We could not resume installation until May of 2021, and some manufacturers had updated their items, so Nuts updated the diagram. Adam provided excellent installation, particularly in the art of running the ARC Anthem Room Correction, wrestling with a shortage of wall height in placing the center speaker, and programming the remote so that it truly does replace the 4 remotes that we had been using.

Yesterday, I received my first SACD disk (Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue). In listening with eyes closed, I just knew that his jazz band was right in front of me… yes, right there… don’t you see it!?

Thank you, Adam, Connie, Jim, and Matt!!!

John G. Ackenhusen

Nordost Cables – A Customer Review

“I could not resist the rare opportunity to try Nordost cables in my system. I figured I would start with a Blue Heaven Power Cable for this amplifier, and it did not disappoint. I have used that same amp with cables costing 10x to 60x more, and they did not have nearly the impact as this Blue Heaven cable did. In fact, the performance immediately drove me to purchase more Nordost Blue Heaven cables. I now have speaker, HDMI, digital and multiple power cables. My streaming system has Purple Flare Power Cables and Blue Heaven Digital Cables. How is it possible that cables in these price points can outshine reference products from another company I asked myself?”

– James –

focal sopra 3 group

I heard the Sopra 3’s and I was blown away!

5 stars

“Over the years I’ve listened to a number of high-end speakers. Although I heard a few that I thought were just as good, I never found speakers that were dramatically better. Then, on a visit to Nuts About Hi Fi, I heard the Sopra 3’s and I was blown away! They are significantly better than my beloved KEFs! They have an amazing presence, clarity and naturalness, combined with a precise soundstage that allows you to hear the interactions between the dozens of different instruments in a symphony orchestra in impressive detail! They also do a wonderful job with jazz, folk, rock, world music and the other genres that I’ve sampled. After auditioning the Sopras, I had to have them even though they were over the budget I had set. I’m quite happy that I did because the SOPRAs have taken me a major step closer to the elusive goal of faithfully reproducing the experience of a live performances at home. Although I doubt that recorded music will ever totally capture the experience of attending concerts in person, with these speakers, high quality electronics, 4K video and DTS-HD audio I am finding that it’s possible to come pretty damn close!”

D. S.