I preferred the RAL Paradise cable. In terms of design approach, I think Brad's aim was to make a pure path with the wire and to minimize colorations (i.e. due to the cable itself).
It raises the question: with the stock cable, am I listening to the cable or the headphones? One's preference for an after-market cable that "embellishes" the way the HD650 sound with their stock cable may simply mean that the listener prefers the sound of the stock cable to begin with. IMHE, the RAL brought out the true potential of the HD650 (a headphone I've owned on three distinct occasions)--whose "stock sound" I admittedly did not, do not and probably never will like.
But then again, I'm firmly entrenched in the AKG camp, now. The only Sennheiser I'd reconsider would be the HD600. The HD650, to me, were the mass-market-driven design equivalent to the DT880/2005, another headphone that I think was clearly bettered by its predecessor.
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Iesus autem intuitus eum dilexit eum et dixit illi unum tibi deest vade quaecumque habes vende et da pauperibus et habebis thesaurum in caelo et veni sequere me. (Mark 10:21, Vulgate)
Source: EVS-modded Oppo DVD-970HD
Amplifier:Modded Bada PH-12
Headphones: Beyerdynamics DT880/2003, AKG K501, Denon AH-D5000
FOR SALE: Darkvoice 337
Last edited by pataburd; 05-26-2008 at 12:13 PM.
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