bidn
Active Member
I see it like this:
Braiding makes them more solid and increases their elasticity (they can cope with more mechanical tension --> less chance of being torn). I suspect this would be because people regularly move them (putting and having them on one's head) so there is higher chance of something happening to the cable, although the probability of such an event is probably insignificant for most people.
The problem is that because of the braiding they loose a lot of flexibility, the higher rigidity makes them "microphonic" (much higher transmission of mechanical vibrations : a small cursory touching contact with a surface like a desk creates a mechanical wave that is transmitted through the headphone to the ear (sometimes through the skull...), creating annoying microphonic noises polluting the music.
BTW I wonder about the origin of the adjective microphonic in this context, would someone know?
The problem is that the drawbacks with microphonics may negatively outweight the advantage of the higher solidity.
One solution against microphonics is using litz wire instead of pure core strains, but those made out of litz seems more expensive than those made out of solid cores.
And the braiding may help in asking for more money, but on other hand there are many super expensive cable speaker cables and they are not braided.
I think aesthetics play a role for the braiding, probably one guy started doing this, and most others followed up. Maybe fashion is the most important factor here?
