Norne Audio Premium Headphone Cable Review

[Rottmannash]

Yeah, some of them are a bit better but I own the Elear, which has probably the worst cable of them all.

• only 6.5 mm, can't use it with a 3.5 mm source
• 4 meters long(over 13 feet)
• stiff rubber coated cable
• cable before the split is just two fused cables side by side, no sleeve of any kind
• cable after the split has visible seams where the cables used to be fused

Connectors seem good quality at least. You get just that single cable. I can't see any situation where using this cable would be practical other than if you're only listening to your headphones on an integrated amplifier in your living room, and the quality is far from acceptable given the Elear debuted at something like $999 MSRP.

Wow-13 feet?! Crazy.

 

[mkawa]

focal cables are crazy short. i could swear my elex cables are both like 8ft. it's a good thing their headphone-end connectord str just 3.5mm TRS and easy to make/obtain

 

[Rottmannash]

focal cables are crazy short. i could swear my elex cables are both like 8ft. it's a good thing their headphone-end connectord str just 3.5mm TRS and easy to make/obtain

You think 8ft HP cables are short??

 

[RobS]

Obviously APx555 is not revealing enough to detect the differences.

Amir should start blind-folding the APx555.

 

[mkawa]

i can velcro long cables, but if my cable is too short i'm screwed. my sim racing seating position is about 6 feet away from my amp. with my elex plugged in i'm constantly running into it while steering.

 

[Ismapics]

Another nail in the coffin of Snake Oil, brought to you be @amirm and ASR. Love it. I just saw another of those adjetive reviewers, the ones that just spill Adjectives in front of the camera. The ones that love to speak about soundstage, thick and thin sound and beleive that Audio Quest Cables make a difference. They say that ASR is a cult conspiracy, jajajaja. Thanks Amir for a great one. Cheers all from warm and sunny San Juan, PR.

From the 13th Note HiFi Reviews comments:

 

[AudioSceptic]

This is a review and technical measurements of the three Norne Audio "high-end" cables made out of Litz wire of different material. It was kindly sent to me by a member for testing. The cables are slight variation of what is sold currently although visually they seem the same:

View attachment 123899

The one on the left appears to be the Draug 3 "4x20awg - copper occ litz - 24-wire Tri multi-conductor - ultimate copper upgrade cable."

Middle is Draug Silver 4x20awg - 24-wire - Tri multi-conductor (cotton cores) - Flagship headphone cable.

Last one is copper silver hybrid is a Solvine Series likely v2S which was described as a 4x18.5awg - 16-wire - Silver occ litz / Copper occ litz - fusion.

Not sure of the exact prices but we are talking about US $250 to $800 range.

All cables were terminated in balanced connections for the Drop X Focal Elex headphone.

The cables themselves had a very light feel and were much more flexible than the stock stiff braided cable Focal supplies.

Headphone Cable Testing
I first tested the cables using the Elex on my measurement fixture. Extreme care was taken to keep the headphone stationary while changing the cables. Here are the frequency response measurements of all three compared to the stock supplied cable by Focal (all use unbalanced connection):

View attachment 123900

As you see, all the graphs land on top of each other indicating identical tonality.

Distortion test showed almost the same outcome:

View attachment 123901

The variation is within the scope of the test other than perhaps that difference at 120 Hz highlighted by the cursor. The stock cable appears to have lowest amount of that mains induced frequency. We did not however try to keep the cables routed identically so that may have something to do with it. Follow up testing of the cables by themselves using a transformer to induce interference showed more or less the same performance so I am not thinking much of that difference. Stepping back then, nothing has been impacted as far as non-linear response of the headphone no matter which cable is used.

Acoustic measurements are subject to noise and of course performance of the headphone itself. So I thought I also test the cable electrically and see if there is a difference there. Here, a Topping A90 amplifier is driving the cable at one end, and the other end goes into the Audio Precision APx555 analyzer for analysis. Here is the frequency response now:
View attachment 123902

This is an incredibly zoomed vertical scale of just quarter of a dB yet the three graphs land on top of each other again (ignore the little wiggles below 20 Hz). So no way is the tonality is changed with this cable.

Headphone Cable Listening Tests
This is tricky business to do objectively in that cable swap takes a minute or so. As such, no way short-term memory is able to remember the sound of the last cable to compare to the current one. My son and I tried anyway but could not detect any difference.

Conclusions
Objectively there is no way for these cables to change the sound of the headphone. Frequency response that impacts tonality is absolutely the same as the physics would predict. Distortion/non-linearity is the same for the same reason: the headphone dominates by far. The cables by themselves provide wider bandwidth than the amp can use resulting in no measured difference.

"Quick" AB test shows no difference in any way that I or my son could identify.

Everything points to these cables being differentiated by how much money you spend toward them than any fidelity difference.

Needless to say, I do NOT recommend that you buy any Norne Audio Cables for performance. For feel, there may be some value there and I let you decide on that.

Edit: video review also posted to youtube:

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Thanks Amir, another great review. I have to say that I thought there might be tiny differences due to different LCR, as in some extreme speaker cables, but we don't even have that.

Anyone got some Nordost cables they want tested? <https://nordost.com/images/review-images/review-pdf/HFC_440_Nordost_Heimdall_2.pdf> I mean, how could I not pay a mere a £650 for this improvement?

Already a great headphone, fitted with Nordost’s Heimdall 2 the HD 800 S really does raise its levels of clarity and realism for even greater involvement with the music.

 

[frogmeat69]

Yeah, some of them are a bit better but I own the Elear, which has probably the worst cable of them all.

• only 6.5 mm, can't use it with a 3.5 mm source
• 4 meters long(over 13 feet)
• stiff rubber coated cable
• cable before the split is just two fused cables side by side, no sleeve of any kind
• cable after the split has visible seams where the cables used to be fused

Connectors seem good quality at least. You get just that single cable. I can't see any situation where using this cable would be practical other than if you're only listening to your headphones on an integrated amplifier in your living room, and the quality is far from acceptable given the Elear debuted at something like $999 MSRP.

I guess you never had an Audioquest Nightowl, with it's fat garden hose of a cable, or the original Nighthawk with it's kinked up, fragile as all hell cable that tarnishes if you don't wipe the connectors after each use with the provided cloth. For a company that makes their bones on fancy cables, they really messed up with their headphone cables, though I love my 'hawks.

 

[AudioSceptic]

They do to me. They are very soft.

Could it be that this is a major part of their appeal, especially if cable microphone is reduced (never mind that this doesn't need to cost much at all)?

 

[AudioSceptic]

I think these are DIY cables. People just follow the formula for what sells and then sit in their bedroom for hours and hours braiding these cables, and soldering them to connectors. It is horrible, repetitive work. I don't know why they think this is what they should dedicate their life to.

$$$£££€€€???
BTW what would you estimate the BOM to be for the cables tested?

 

[maverickronin]

Yeah, some of them are a bit better but I own the Elear, which has probably the worst cable of them all.

• only 6.5 mm, can't use it with a 3.5 mm source
• 4 meters long(over 13 feet)
• stiff rubber coated cable
• cable before the split is just two fused cables side by side, no sleeve of any kind
• cable after the split has visible seams where the cables used to be fused

Connectors seem good quality at least. You get just that single cable. I can't see any situation where using this cable would be practical other than if you're only listening to your headphones on an integrated amplifier in your living room, and the quality is far from acceptable given the Elear debuted at something like $999 MSRP.

I guess you never had an Audioquest Nightowl, with it's fat garden hose of a cable, or the original Nighthawk with it's kinked up, fragile as all hell cable that tarnishes if you don't wipe the connectors after each use with the provided cloth. For a company that makes their bones on fancy cables, they really messed up with their headphone cables, though I love my 'hawks.

All kinds of expensive headphones have terrible cables for no good reason.

My standard operating procedure has become to buy a replacement HD650 cable and reterminate as necessary.

 

[amirm]

BTW what would you estimate the BOM to be for the cables tested?

I don't know as I have not shopped for silver cables and such. Maybe someone can point to Ailexpress type listing of similar cable and then we get an idea of what they sell for.

Edit: did a quick search and found these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001166709135.html

"NiceHCK LitzPS 4N Litz Pure Silver Earphone Upgrade Cable 3.5/2.5/4.4mm MMCX/NX7 Pro/QDC/0.78mm 2Pin"

Not the same thing probably but sells for $23.

 

[mkawa]

ebay price for that cable is probably 40-50 shipped if you're impatient like i am.

 

[devopsprodude]

You think 8ft HP cables are short??

INORITE!?

 

[aldarrin]

Hart's cables are pretty reasonably priced though.

Yeah, I spent three years in Korea where, at least at the time, premium cable nonsense wasn't a thing (which is where I pieced together my first "big boy" audio system). I was pretty pissed when I came back to the US and discovered that folks were asking for $20+ dollars for HDMI cables.

I have no issues with the prices for Hart Audio products. He gets a livelihood, I get decent VERY useful cables, everyone wins. Highly recommended for folks that intend to keep a few or more headphones and actually use them all. If I could get a combination XLR switch and mini XLR switch, AB testing amps would be stupid easy.

 

[LearningToSmile]

I don't know as I have not shopped for silver cables and such. Maybe someone can point to Ailexpress type listing of similar cable and then we get an idea of what they sell for.

Edit: did a quick search and found these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001166709135.html

"NiceHCK LitzPS 4N Litz Pure Silver Earphone Upgrade Cable 3.5/2.5/4.4mm MMCX/NX7 Pro/QDC/0.78mm 2Pin"

Not the same thing probably but sells for $23.

The IEM cables are usually a bit cheaper, the headphone ones seem to be going for a bit of a premium on aliexpress. But still several times cheaper.

Also, can't find a link for the life of me, but I seem to recall someone doing lab testing of some similar cables, and despite being silver-colored and claiming to be silver, they actually weren't(not that it affected performance). If someone knows what I'm talking about and has a link handy I'd be grateful.

 

[devopsprodude]

I was pretty pissed when I came back to the US and discovered that folks were asking for $20+ dollars for HDMI cables.

To be fair, as the spec has gotten more demanding, manufacturing cost for HDMI cables has gone up as well. It's not trivial to manufacture cables that can handle the tolerances required for high speeds.

Then again, you can find 100 foot cat 7 ethernet cables on Amazon for $33, so...

 

[Ismapics]

Is it Leetz or Laitz, I say Leetz like Hugo Stiglitz from the Bastards.

 

[AndreaT]

" A fool and his money are soon parted". In the name of social mobility in perfect Capitalism.

 

[majingotan]

In my opinion soundquality is not the only thing when it comes to cables. I bought a Forza Audio Works Noir Hybrid cable because i think it is the most beautiful cable out there and the ergonomics are just crazy good for me.

Does it sound better? I don't care

Fully agree with you on that one. Have the same thing for my K712 Austrian headphones and a fancy IEM cable for the same reasons