Oh boy
I have the Ode To Laura and Viking Ragnar demos from Musicteck, full reviews of both coming soon. I also borrowed the FTS again, wanted to give it another try, especially compared to OTL. Everything is breaking in now, but initial impressions are very, very impressive. All listening on my LP6 Ti AE. (my dad's little HiBy is just for break-in purposes)
The OTL is fantastic, with probably the best bass of any cable I have ever heard. While being pure copper it performs with the technicalities of some exotic hybrid, with some of the magic warmth and note weight. It is very powerful, tight and punchy, with great energy. As it breaks in the high end is opening up nicely, with that Eletech signature golden sparkle. Easily my favorite of theirs, and the most natural and realistic. Eric recommended 140hrs, so I will wait for final impressions, but really really good. Pairs phenomenally with Jewel, perfect blend of energy, staging, and high end, plus that bass.... hot damn it is GOAT for sure.
The Ragnar deserves its hype, it is fabulously resolving and highly musical. Great neutral bass with superb DD timbre and texture, amazing weightier forward mids, and some of the best extended (albeit energetic) treble I have heard. It is so detailed when switching back and forth with Jewel, the Jewel
almost sounds veiled and dark... hard to imagine. I have been trying it with both stock cable as well as Orpheus and FTS, I personally think it benefits from some copper warmth and extra bass weight, stock focuses too much on the high end for me. Ragnar + Orphy is wild! I could imagine that with longer listening periods it
could be fatiguing, especially with that additional treble energy, but I haven't had a chance for longer periods and won't say anything conclusive yet. Will defer real impressions until it's had a chance to really break in, but it is immensely impressive so far.
I am unfortunately having some trouble with the fit, as the nozzle angle is a bit weird causing it to sit quite far out of my ears, but that could easily be a personal anatomy thing. I have some Spinfit W1s arriving today and we'll see if that helps. So far my favorite tips sonically are KBear07, softens the high end a bit.
Stay tuned for more!