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headphone cables, what's important and what's not.

JustPoo

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I was just on Aliexpress browsing for an IEM cable and stumbled across this -

xiaofan OKU 8 Core Gold Plated Upgrade Cable 2.5/3.5/4.4mm Balanced Cable

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/tDlA3tHFH

That works out about £45 per cm, is this the most expensive IEM cable you've ever seen?!

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Veri

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Holy crap :p more jewellery than anything else..
 

Tks

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Actually pretty stupid. Now you may say "what are you talking about TKS? it's gold, so there's some value from the raw material there".

Sorry but gold plating costs next to nothing, especially when each layer is less than a micron.

And for what at the end? Worse performance than copper.. So dumb...
 

DivineCurrent

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I know this is an older thread, but I figured I'd post in an already existing thread about headphone cables.

So, I found out the hard way that I actually prefer the stock HD600 cable to a homemade braided paracord one I got off eBay.
The stock cable is lighter, thinner, and easier to handle. And it's made of silicone rubber/plastic, it never gets tangled and always stays straight.

Which got me thinking, there must be a good reason most cables are made with this type of material, silicone/plastic/vinyl, instead of cloth or paracord. It's flexible and thin, and surprisingly durable.

In this case, I would say function over form is important for headphone cables. They need to be light enough to not add more weight to your headphones, and they should be thin and flexible enough to not get in the way. Many stock headphone cables are already like this (except the Focal headphones...)
 

Count Arthur

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The Focal cables are indeed a disaster.

I didn't like the cables that came with the Focal Clear, they look nice enough, but are too stiff and heavy. I replaced it with one I got from Custom Cans: https://customcans.co.uk/s/s/index.php/cables/focal-headphone-cables/elear-unbalanced-cable.html

I can't say I noticed any difference in sound over the stock cable, but it's soft, light, doesn't seem to tangle and I've not had issues with noise through the headphone cups.
 

VintageFlanker

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The Meze 99 cables are absolutely amazing, and they are covered with cloth. They are uber light and flexible.

The Focal cables are indeed a disaster. In fact, I use my 3 meter Meze cable for my Focal Clear and it's great.
Same thing here. The Meze 3 M cable was so much better than the stock one from Focal with my Elex. Plus, I got it for 20€, which is still on the reasonable side.

Also, I noticed a significantly wider soundstage, a much more focused imaging, and smoother mids/highs, yet more detailed...

... Ok, I'm kidding.:p
 

Berwhale

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So, I found out the hard way that I actually prefer the stock HD600 cable to a homemade braided paracord one I got off eBay.

The Sky Audio cable that I purchased off eBay for my AKG 712 Pro's is very well made, flexible and has good quality connectors on both ends...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-Headphone-Cable-AKG-Q701-K702-K712-K7xx-K240-K171-DT1770-DT1990/173447070914?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

I know it's not cheap and doesn't sound any better than either of the stock cables that come with the K712, but I wanted a cable that looked nice, was the correct length for my desktop setup (1.2m) and had decent connectors that felt good to use.
 

DivineCurrent

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The Sky Audio cable that I purchased off eBay for my AKG 712 Pro's is very well made, flexible and has good quality connectors on both ends...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-Headphone-Cable-AKG-Q701-K702-K712-K7xx-K240-K171-DT1770-DT1990/173447070914?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

I know it's not cheap and doesn't sound any better than either of the stock cables that come with the K712, but I wanted a cable that looked nice, was the correct length for my desktop setup (1.2m) and had decent connectors that felt good to use.
So... actually, the cable I’m complaining about did come from Sky Audio.

The main issue I have is the cable kind of conforms to the shape you bend it, and it doesn't go back to it's original position very well. I guess it's just not stiff enough for my taste? It's hard to coil up the cable without getting it twisted, which is also because of the braiding style.

I have no issues with the build quality itself, it's fantastic in that regard. It's just the everyday functionality that I find slightly lacking. But those cables sure look pretty!

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Berwhale

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The main issue I have is the cable kind of conforms to the shape you bend it, and it doesn't go back to it's original position very well. I guess it's just not stiff enough for my taste? It's hard to coil up the cable without getting it twisted, which is also because of the braiding style.

I suspect your issue relates to the fact that the cable splits and goes to each earpiece. I don't have the issue because mine goes to a single earpiece and is terminated in a mini-XLR connector i.e. my cable is litz braided for its entirety.
 

solderdude

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Would resistance at such levels make a difference ? I honestly can't tell from listening at all.

That will depend on the used music and whether or not the cable is 3-wire (thus with a split, common return wire) and above all the headphone's impedance.
In a lot of cases the cable won't matter, in some cases it measurable (and when bad enough, audibly) will.

When you are talking about USB cables then a cable with rather high power supply resistance wires in it could cause issues with devices drawing a lot of current or having a poor layout resulting in weird sounds or start-up problems because the voltage drops too much at the load side.
 
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