IEM Cables. Please do not laugh, cos I sincerely hear a difference, contrary to expectations. Wish to explore WHY?

[Jiraya369]

My goodness, it has been a journey, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. After a year or thereabouts of searching to understand more, and also carrying out my own listening tests, the general conclusion is with IEM cables, low resistance is good target to aim for, as the primary property of a cable.

Why is this an issue with IEMs? With IEMS in particular, there is very little attention paid to the need for low resistance, in a similar manner that is almost assured in the over the ear headphone, and in the case of speakers powered by an external amplifier(professional, hi-fi, and public address). What is not an issue in the professional and Hi-Fi space, cos it has been well established, is not paid any attention in IEM cables, and especially in the IEM cables bundled with IEMs.

I've compiled and will continue to update this other thread on Head-Fi(link below), which sums up and houses links, to as much information as I have considered relevant, on the subject, and it has IEM cable recommendations, based on science(i.e properties of cables), and listening (subjective I know, but I would consider myself a trained listener).

I sincerely hope others will benefit, from the pain, including some public humiliation when I spoke up on the subject, puzzlement, and eventual eureka moments, I have experienced in this cable exploration journey.

I may also add. I have no need to consider making my own cables, at least not for a good while, and if I do, it would be purely for the fun of it, as there are excellent low resistance cables, available at very affordable prices.

I have, after quite a search, found excellent cables based on very sound logic and science, and the quality of my listening on IEMs, has significantly improved. Details below.

Recommended - budget to mid priced IEM cables - with low estimated resistance, as a desirable target

Please note, this thread/post is a work in progress, and will be revised, whenever I have more information, knowledge and experience on the subject. So check every few weeks, just in case I have added some new cables I discovered, or any new relevant information. TLDR - Primary target for a...

www.head-fi.org

an easy fix is just using copper cables and staying away from silver coated/silver/gold stuff. Those tend to have differences in resistance and as a result change the frequency.

Only change cables cus you like the different look OR cus you have comfort issues. You can get the sonic differences with eq if you want, so chasing cables for sound quality isn't anything nice.

 

[RexrothPigeon]

listening (subjective I know, but I would consider myself a trained listener)

Unless you are listening blind, your listening assessments are unreliable--in fact, the only way to know that we are assessing based on our listening is to listen blind.

On Edit: See post #51

 

[Chrispy]

an easy fix is just using copper cables and staying away from silver coated/silver/gold stuff. Those tend to have differences in resistance and as a result change the frequency.

Only change cables cus you like the different look OR cus you have comfort issues. You can get the sonic differences with eq if you want, so chasing cables for sound quality isn't anything nice.

uh huh

 

[Jiraya369]

uh huh

resistance changes sound, that's just how it is. Since iems are more sensitive than any other audio product, it doesnt take much of a change to cause a difference in FR. At least that's what I think can be causing the change in sound IF THERE IS ANY lol.

Any copper cable is good enough, all the silver and gold plated stuff is just voodoo shi meant to entice people into thinking it's better somehow. "Wow, GOLD! It must be GOOD!!"

Here's an audioholics article that i really like about cable resistance : https://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-wire-gauge

Another thing you should look up is "load dependence". Here's a video from Erin talking about amps :

 

[Chrispy]

resistance changes sound, that's just how it is. Since iems are more sensitive than any other audio product, it doesnt take much of a change to cause a difference in FR. At least that's what I think can be causing the change in sound IF THERE IS ANY lol.

Any copper cable is good enough, all the silver and gold plated stuff is just voodoo shi meant to entice people into thinking it's better somehow. "Wow, GOLD! It must be GOOD!!"

Here's an audioholics article that i really like about cable resistance : https://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-wire-gauge

Another thing you should look up is "load dependence". Here's a video from Erin talking about amps :

Uh huh

 

[Jiraya369]

Uh huh

listen mate unless you can prove to me with measurements of the cables he owns OR you are somehow more knowledgeable than Erin, i don't think there's much more to be gained here

 

[Chrispy]

listen mate unless you can prove to me with measurements of the cables he owns OR you are somehow more knowledgeable than Erin, i don't think there's much more to be gained here

Erin promotes cable bullshit? Didn't know that if true, but doubtful it is. You're definitely not my "mate" and where your knowledge lies is very suspect.

 

[Aperiodic]

Sighted testing, not properly level matched

Just the first one is enough to make expectation bias the deciding factor,

 

[ahofer]

resistance changes sound, that's just how it is. Since iems are more sensitive than any other audio product, it doesnt take much of a change to cause a difference in FR. At least that's what I think can be causing the change in sound IF THERE IS ANY lol.

Any copper cable is good enough, all the silver and gold plated stuff is just voodoo shi meant to entice people into thinking it's better somehow. "Wow, GOLD! It must be GOOD!!"

Here's an audioholics article that i really like about cable resistance : https://www.audioholics.com/audio-video-cables/speaker-wire-gauge

Another thing you should look up is "load dependence". Here's a video from Erin talking about amps :

Amps with weird and variable output impedance (like OTL tubes) do change sound. They are less accurate and should be considered broken.

 

[Jiraya369]

Amps with weird and variable output impedance (like OTL tubes) do change sound. They are less accurate and should be considered broken.

"but nooooo they're musical and DEFINITELY worth 20000 dollars!!! They opened up my 1000 dollar speakers!!!11"

 

[Jiraya369]

Erin promotes cable bullshit? Didn't know that if true, but doubtful it is. You're definitely not my "mate" and where your knowledge lies is very suspect.

you didnt read the article nor watch the video, he's not promoting cable bullshit but explaining load dependency

 

[ahofer]

"but nooooo they're musical and DEFINITELY worth 20000 dollars!!! They opened up my 1000 dollar speakers!!!11"

You just have to keep spending money to find the *synergy* with the primaluna testarossas.

 

[Jiraya369]

You just have to keep spending money to find the *synergy* with the primaluna testarossas.

you're joking, but there's people out there saying and doing exactly that ;-;

 

[Chrispy]

you didnt read the article nor watch the video, he's not promoting cable bullshit but explaining load dependency

Didn't need to read the article, as there is likely nothing new there. Now you can explain load dependency perhaps....

 

[Mojo Warrior]

I am a believer in education. Has anyone suggested that you take a course in electrical engineering or physics ? Valuable knowledge to have for a lifetime. Then you can return to the forum, enlightened.

 

[Chrispy]

I am a believer in education. Has anyone suggested that you take a course in electrical engineering or physics ? Valuable knowledge to have for a lifetime. Then you can return to the forum, enlightened.

Whut?

 

[Jiraya369]

Didn't need to read the article, as there is likely nothing new there. Now you can explain load dependency perhaps....

dont have the time for that

 

[Sir Sanders Zingmore]

Just the first one is enough to make expectation bias the deciding factor,

It can work in strange ways. Ages ago a couple of friends and I were comparing DACs (I know, I know..). There was the usual “night and day” difference between them. Then we level matched them. This was done by ear, ie very very crudely.
After that, even with sighted switching we couldn’t honestly hear a difference.

 

[somebodyelse]

dont have the time for that

It's not exactly rocket science. We are considering 3 impedances: the output impedance of the amp, the impedance of the cable and the impedance of the load, connected in series. The amp's voltage will be divided between them. The impedances may or may not be variable within the audio frequency range. If none of the impedances vary within the audio range then the voltage division won't vary either, so there is no load dependency. If any of the impedances are less than about a tenth of the higher of the others at all frequencies then that impedance won't play a significant part in the load dependency.

Typically the cable impedance is mostly resistive, and much lower than the IEM impedance, so will have little to no effect on frequency response. Have you ever found a non-faulty cable with resistance >0.1R? I haven't.

 

[Ropeburn]

Typically the cable impedance is mostly resistive, and much lower than the IEM impedance, so will have little to no effect on frequency response. Have you ever found a non-faulty cable with resistance >0.1R? I haven't.

Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that last part.