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RE: Hi-End Headphone Cables

Posted by rrsands (A) on September 29, 2020 at 09:28:33

In Reply to: Hi-End Headphone Cables posted by Duster on September 28, 2020 at 17:29:13:

Duster:

I've had a limited experience with after-market cables for HPs. Firstly, not a huge believer in cable magic, but also want a solid, good set of cables as manufacturers seem to give them short shrift.

My current full-size cans are Focal Elears and Senn/Drop 6XXs, IEMs are JHAudio 13 V2s. Focal should be ashamed of themselves for the crap they call cables for Elears. Junk, and they were $1K. Shame. The 6XXs had decent cables, but as audiophiles we always want better, do we not? Also own Senn Amperior, Beyer 1350s, and Sony WMX1000mk3 wireless, Shure 535 IEMs and Grado SR80s, my original and ancient high end HPs, which I just re-padded. Whew, gotta sell some of this stuff.

Also owned HiFiMan 560s (speaking of abysmal cables), AKG 701s, Senn Momentums. HP amp/DAC is a Mytek Brooklyn Bridge, which is exceptional IMHO.

Bought a set of Periapt single ended cables for both the Elears and the 6XXs a couple years ago. These are more of a low-priced cable, well under $100, but the quality of construction was so superior, especially in the Elears case, it was an instant improvement. At RMAF last Sept, I took advantage of show specials to buy the Mytek, and saw a table from Audio Envy, a mfg of cables I never heard of before. They are more high-end in pricing, but show pricing was about half off, so got balanced cables for my Elears for about $100-$150. These are also well made. How do they sound? Well, everything sounds better through the Mytek, and even better balanced. Is it the cables? Do they make a sea change in the sound presentation? Not to my ears, at least not nearly as much as the Mytek did, both amp and DAC. Do I regret the purchases? Not at all. The Elear cable was literally falling apart, the 6XX cable didn't feel nearly as substantial. Also added Dekoni fenestrated lambskin pads to both, another nice touch.

Am I pleased where I'm at HP-wise? Yes. The Elears clarity and punch are definitely improved by all the changes, and those were the qualities that led me to buy them and give the 560s to my boy (the sales guy at the store asked me to adopt HIM). The 6XXs, while not at the Elears level of clarity, are just fine for everyday listening, and should be in all audiophiles tool box. I could be content with these for the rest of my days, had I not heard the Elears. But I enjoy the Senn sound. Others may differ. But the biggest difference came with the Brooklyn Bridge. This has added a huge amount of digital enjoyment to my system. I'm now fairly content listening to my recordings of my LPs at 24/96 FLAC, and feel I miss little to none of the experience of a needle drop. Or Tidal streams of some obscure stuff or new artists. Very happy.

Sorry to be so chatty. Don't think I helped you much, as I'm too cheap to buy hugely expensive cables. I'm not about chasing the last 5%, just want good quality, good sounding attractive items for a decent price. You might ask, well instead of buying ALL the stuff, why not just get the most expensive stuff up front? Guess I'm just not built that way. And part of the fun of this hobby is trying some different stuff. And that's easier to do when the prices are more reasonable.

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Kimber Kable

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