GM3
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Self-titled honest audiophile claims Cardas headphone cables made (make) an audible difference... Even improvement. Thoughts?
(timestamp'd for his conclusion)
Does a Cardas Audio headphone cable make a difference? - Honest Audiophile Impressions
(below text from CC for the conclusion part of the video, fixed a bit, not perfect, last 2 paragraphs worth reading, for lols)
Myself... I think it reflects very poorly on a reviewer when he jumps in the cable bandwagon... In this day and age, measurements should be at the forefront of any review, and contentious claims such as cables making audible improvements should be at least validated in some way. Do I think he's being dishonest when claiming that he can hear differences? Not really... Do I think the differences really exist? Doubtful...
To defend his claims, he linked to a headphone show video where they explain that in some (rare) cases, impedance can make a measurable difference, with extremely low impedance headphones, ex; RAAL CA-1A. But theses RAALs are "True-Ribbon headphones are of very low resistance (impedance)_few tens of milliohms. About 10 times less than a headphone cable.". So a special case indeed...
By my understanding, headphone cables should have negligible impedance, so their effect should be equally negligible. So you would need abnormally high impedance to make a difference, which would make them measurably worse cables; less conductive cables; smaller cables, or with some sort of resistance built-in, which would make the headphones sound less loud... Not more loud like Andrew from THS heard with the RAAL + upgraded cable (which I could not find specs for...). So my understanding seems to not correspond to their experience... But thinking, given the RAALs require MUCH higher voltage than normal headphones, maybe your average headphone cable's awg isn't sufficient and that's why there could be a benefit? (According to ASR RAAL review, takes ~50-150mv for 94dB for typical headphones, vs 1075mv for RAALs) Maybe higher impedance helps out the amp?
In the case of THA, he used Audeze LCD-5 which are according to their website, are 14 ohms impedance, so they likely do not fall in the realm where cable should matter... But what seems to be most troubling to me, is that his Cardas uses an XLR connection, so not the same as the other cables, and not knowing what amp he used, from what I saw from some Toppings, Schiit, etc., there can be significant differences between different outputs... So comparing different cables by using different outputs, seems at best ill conceived, and at worse dishonest or misleading, as any difference could (and should) likely be attributed to that...
That said, his conclusion is plain awful. Instead of advocating researching whether or not a cable could potentially make a difference given your amp & headphones, he instead advocates 'trying', which would be a complete waste of time and money in the majority of cases... He did admit to receiving the cables as a gift, so that might have influenced his video... (understatement) So sadly, for me, his credibility took a big hit... Warranted?
(timestamp'd for his conclusion)
Does a Cardas Audio headphone cable make a difference? - Honest Audiophile Impressions
(below text from CC for the conclusion part of the video, fixed a bit, not perfect, last 2 paragraphs worth reading, for lols)
(The Cardas cable) ... It's a different sound. Noticeable on all tracks. And, I did hundreds, I mean hundreds, of listens to all the various different cables. Swapping them and listening to the same song over and over and over again, to make sure that I was hearing it properly and every single time, the Cardas cable had more air. It had more space and there was better depth and it even outshined the Odyssey premium cable, while at the same time keeping the body and the note weight and the overall balance of the lcd5.
It just enhanced the whole presentation, not in like force feeding it and throwing it at me but more of just bringing it into focus more and refining it and defining it just a little bit better and it was noticeable every track every single time. I would swap cables and I would compare it to the different ones, it did not matter did not matter to the track it did not matter anything. The cardas with this cable definitely made a difference that was noticeable.
Call me crazy sneer at me if you want jeer me if you want say I'm believing in snake oil do all that kind of stuff if you want. But until you hear it, you won't believe it. And I was the same way and there have been moments as I said earlier, In various other gear, that every now and then, you have that experience. And the lcd5 and the Cardis cable, I heard the difference. On the LCD 2 closed not so much. It was very sporadic. But on the lcd5 and the Cardas cable.
Now what can change that? There are several different things. Impedance. You can match impedance with a cable and with headphone and with amps and they have synergy. And that could be happening with this Cardas cable and the Audeze lcd5 and it's just kind of coming together. Some other things that can change is that it's just a better cable. The Cardis wire, the processes that they use for it, and the build that Patrick did over at Fox City putting together this cable. It all just is a superior cable to everything else, So it just sounds better.
Whatever the reasoning being is, I heard it. You might not believe in it, or you may, but there's one thing: My ears are the final judge, and you have different ears than me. You can't hear what my ears hear, and process the way my brain processes it. So I'm the only one that hears it this way. So you can either take my word that this cable makes a subtle difference or you can just say ave's a wakadu, He's crazy and cables don't make a difference. Try it.
I was really surprised starting at 265 dollars a fog City audio, Cardas cable sounds better than the Audeze premium 600 cable. not by a whole lot but a little bit. I was kind of surprised. And it sounds better than the others, and there is a significant difference between the mogami cable and the Cardas cable. So did I hear a difference? yep sure did. I believe in cables making a difference every single time? Absolutely not. I think a cable can help make a difference and I do think that a cable can enhance the experience whether it be through the build through the looks or the sound. But I don't think that it's the magic pill to I totally change every single headphone or every single IEM or every single speaker or every single deck and amp. I think it just kind of comes down to the synergy of each little piece in the puzzle and in order to find out if a cable makes a difference you just have to try change them out see if you hear a difference. This time I did, probably next time I won't.
Myself... I think it reflects very poorly on a reviewer when he jumps in the cable bandwagon... In this day and age, measurements should be at the forefront of any review, and contentious claims such as cables making audible improvements should be at least validated in some way. Do I think he's being dishonest when claiming that he can hear differences? Not really... Do I think the differences really exist? Doubtful...
To defend his claims, he linked to a headphone show video where they explain that in some (rare) cases, impedance can make a measurable difference, with extremely low impedance headphones, ex; RAAL CA-1A. But theses RAALs are "True-Ribbon headphones are of very low resistance (impedance)_few tens of milliohms. About 10 times less than a headphone cable.". So a special case indeed...
By my understanding, headphone cables should have negligible impedance, so their effect should be equally negligible. So you would need abnormally high impedance to make a difference, which would make them measurably worse cables; less conductive cables; smaller cables, or with some sort of resistance built-in, which would make the headphones sound less loud... Not more loud like Andrew from THS heard with the RAAL + upgraded cable (which I could not find specs for...). So my understanding seems to not correspond to their experience... But thinking, given the RAALs require MUCH higher voltage than normal headphones, maybe your average headphone cable's awg isn't sufficient and that's why there could be a benefit? (According to ASR RAAL review, takes ~50-150mv for 94dB for typical headphones, vs 1075mv for RAALs) Maybe higher impedance helps out the amp?
In the case of THA, he used Audeze LCD-5 which are according to their website, are 14 ohms impedance, so they likely do not fall in the realm where cable should matter... But what seems to be most troubling to me, is that his Cardas uses an XLR connection, so not the same as the other cables, and not knowing what amp he used, from what I saw from some Toppings, Schiit, etc., there can be significant differences between different outputs... So comparing different cables by using different outputs, seems at best ill conceived, and at worse dishonest or misleading, as any difference could (and should) likely be attributed to that...
That said, his conclusion is plain awful. Instead of advocating researching whether or not a cable could potentially make a difference given your amp & headphones, he instead advocates 'trying', which would be a complete waste of time and money in the majority of cases... He did admit to receiving the cables as a gift, so that might have influenced his video... (understatement) So sadly, for me, his credibility took a big hit... Warranted?
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