EQUIPMENT REVIEW

Nordost QKORE ground units
By Alan Sircom

Sometimes we as journalists are privy to items
way prior to their launch. Such is the case with
Nordost’s QKORE trio of ground units. I was told
about these at CES this year, but was so sworn
to secrecy that they appeared as ‘Nordost
stuff’ and later ‘Nordost Q Project’ on our internal planningdocuments. Even Nordost’s distributors will only learn of thisproduct line by reading this review as the devices are released
into the wild at Munich High End in the middle of May.
The popularity, efficacy, and use of ground units appears
to be a comparatively recent phenomenon. In fact, back inthe 1980s, dedicated audiophiles used to create an additional
ground to the domestic AC ‘earth terminal’, by running a thickconductor from the system to an earth spike or ground rod
buried deep in soil. This requires access to said soil (you needto water this ground rod periodically), and is often impracticalto implement. A more recent development has beenstandalone units that replicate the benefits of an independent
ground rod and line.
Thirty years ago, the demand for a separate grounding
system was as an attempt to counter the results of noisy
power supplies on the same local power circuit (such as therefrigerator) undermining the performance of the audio system.
Today, that problem is magnified as ever more products chuckeven more high frequency nasties onto the AC line ground inthe (otherwise laudable) goal of energy efficiency. Power cords
and active purifiers can work to limit these effects on the live

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and neutral lines, but grounding is a tougher nut to crack.
Grounding units and their like leave the electrical ground wellalone, creating instead an unpolluted parallel ground.
QKORE is built around three products, all in an almost
identical case to the one that houses the company’s Qx power
purifiers. The three comprise a QKORE1 with a single binding
post designed to connect to the power before the electronics(ideally connecting to something like a QBASE), QKORE3 that
includes three binding posts to connect to the electronics(plugging into a spare RCA socket), and QKORE6 thatcombines the QKORE1 and QKORE3, adding a supplementary
set of mono ground connectors, for an all-in-one package
or for users of mono power amps. Each one comes with anappropriate green QKORE connector (two in the case of theQKORE6) but additional QKORE cables would be a good idea
to include every device in the chain. The QKORE1 with its
4mm banana plug to 4mm banana plug does imply use witha distribution block with an earthing terminal, and Nordost’s
QBase range is one of the obvious choices.
The change QKORE brought about was instant, obvious,and profound. No need to spend weeks listening (althoughremoving the QKORE products after a few weeks of listening
highlighted what they are doing still further). It was easy to hear
and applied to any music you might play, irrespective of genre.
The main effect was in the bass, which sounded significantly
tighter, deeper, and more authoritative. More significantly,
QKORE was like a quick lesson in ‘time coherence’, giving anyISSUE 147

EQUIPMENT REVIEW / NORDOST QKORE GROUND UNITS

sound (even speech) a moreaccurate sense of rhythmic beatand metre (we often just lump this
together into saying it ‘times’ well). There areother benefits, too; the almost clichéd ‘darker backgrounds’
and wider soundstage with better separation of images
applied here, too. The treble seemed to integrate slightly
better with the midrange and bass as well, but it’s that bass
and temporal correctness that wins you over. It’s like yoursystem no longer has to apologise for itself, even if it had little
to apologise for before you QKORED it!
For those who have already have a collection of Norodst
cable, Sort, and Quantum products in their system, theQKORE line is your next step. Indeed, if you are consideringtaking a jump in cable grade, I’d argue that QKORE is a usefulstep to make before that cable upgrade. Note, not ‘instead’,but ‘before’, or at least ‘in addition to’. If you are less deep
down the Nordost rabbit hole, this is the step between Sort
products and investigating the Quantum line.
The QKORE is not simply there for Nordost users, though.
This plays to a broader church. There are many people whose
systems could benefit from an independent ground. Alongside
trying the QKORE products in a plug-socket-to-speakerterminal-and-beyond all-Nordost system, I ripped everything
Nordost-shaped out and used QKORE as the sole upgradein an otherwise fully ‘untweaked’ Hegel and Graham Audiosystem, the same system with Cardas cable in place, anda ‘mullet’ system of a pair of Wilson Duette II loudspeakers
with a Naim NAC A5 speaker cable and a Naim SuperUniti
as the sole electronics component this side of the Ethernet
switch. And in all three cases, the upgrade in performancewas consistent with that of the Nordost-to-the-bone systemdescribed above.
The idea of an independent ground was very popularwith Naim’s hardcore back in the 1980s, as it moved theperformance on rhythmically from the limits of what you could
do with star-earthing. The QKORE provides the same benefits

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without having to bury bits of metal deep inyour garden. For medium to large sized Naimsystems, even if no other Nordost products make itinto your system, QKORE makes a lot of sense.
Finally, I experimented with different combinations ofQKORE. The three play to different systems, but perform thetask so similarly as to make them near identical. If you havea system with no easy way to add grounding to the power
input, go with QKORE3. If you do, either go with a separate
QKORE1 and QKORE3, or go with the QKORE6 for one-box
convenience. It’s only if you have separate mono amps that
the QKORE6 makes a case for its own unique inclusion.
Nordost isn’t the first – and probably won’t be thelast – company to address the concept of an independent
grounding system. But it has jumped out of the starting gateswith an extremely cogent set of products that fit the widest
variety of systems. And the benefits are immediate, easy tohear, and extremely consistent from system to system, evenin systems that may never use another Nordost product. Veryhighly recommended.

PRICE AND CONTACT DETAILSQKORE1 (with 2m 4mm-4mm QKORE cable): $2,499.99
QKORE3 (with 2m RCA-4mm QKORE cable): $3,499.99
QKORE6 (with 2m 4mm-4mm and 2m RCA-4mm
QKORE cables): $4999.99
QKORE WIRE : $360.00 ($150.00 per additional 1 meter length)
Manufactured by: Nordost
URL: www.nordost.com
Distributed in the UK by: Atacama Audio
URL: www.nordost-cables.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1455 283251

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