If I were asked to name two controversial topics on Head-Fi, they'd be "burn-in" and "recabling." Burn-in is free, so it's harmless. Unless it wrecks your cans, or something. Recabling is neither free nor without risk. But many swear by it. Perhaps because I own a pair of D1001s, I've noticed lots of posts and threads about recabling these. So...vote and post your experience:

Does recabling the D1001s change the sound of the D1001s. If so, how?

Please be detailed. Tell us what recabling you did (and how much it cost...), and also what kinds of changes occurred post-recabling.

Ask people who said "snake oil" what cable they used. If none, then their answer is pure speculation and shouldn't count.

That's exactly why this is a discussion thread. I want to hear from people who HAVE heard.

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On the same token, ask people who said it works if they did any sort of rigorous testing. If they say "no", their answer is pure speculation and shouldn't count.

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I agree. FYI, I have two pairs of these headphones at home, one recabled, and one not, anybody can compare directly and conduct a ABX test on me but after auditioning both no-one would dare.

Cable "believers" have a strong expectation that they will hear a difference, and are thus biased. Cable "non-believers" aren't likely to spend a lot of money trying to prove themselves wrong, and so, even ignoring their own bias, they're likely to have nothing specific to contribute.

Then again, nothing prevents 20,000 people who've never even heard the D1001, let alone a recabled one, from voting that recabling it doesn't make a difference.

So the question is -- which bias will win?

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In the spirit of this thread, can you give a detailed description of what the difference is between the two?

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Fair enough. So, let all voters and commenters nail their colours to the mast. Tell us whether you're a believer or not. Then, we can assess your claims with the appropriate amount of salt. This call for anecdotes is not meant to be a rigourous "test" per se. But it could count as preliminary work, I think.

Can it be made some kind rule that polls must have a middle option, if polar? Christ! (it's OK for me, I do it from habit, not belief) How many 2-option polls does that make where a, "I don't know," or maybe "I don't care" option would be really handy? Yes, it's a pet peeve of mine.

That said, I don't know if recabling that headphone will have an affect on its sound, am curious, and think totally deciding one way, on nothing but belief, is stupid. It can be proven that differences in speaker cable, which is awfully similar, can affect the response of a speaker connected. I see no reason why changing to a headphone cable that is more or less conductive (usually more) would not have a possibility to change the sound of that headphone.

Given the differences shown in speakers, basic single-tone sine sweeps should be enough to prove a positive, but not necessarily enough to prove a negative. Those guys at Headroom could prove that it works easily, FI.

My experience so far is Cat 5 for an old KSC75, with no difference compared to a stock one to my ears. Not exactly Cardas, I know . I don't know how much a few inches of 26awg solder cost . For my next recable, I actually bought cable and connectors and stuff (paid for Cat 5 instead of using spare--I'll reach silver wire in a few centuries, at this rate).

I deliberately omitted a "don't know", because I really only want people who've tried it to vote.

So, what are the chances so far that some of the votes come from people with all stock cables on everything, I wonder? In that case (not exactly clear in the OP), this would be a good place to have a poll where who voted what is visible.

Good point. I have no idea if people are voting without evidence. I was hoping people'd vote, then describe their experiences in the thread, but I dunno if that's gonna happen...

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The only proven difference in speaker cables I'm aware of is related to wire gauge, but the rule of thumb this site (very, very against anything other than resistance affecting sound in speaker wire) presents would imply that it'd take some thin wire to be insufficient for headphone use. Do you have different information? If so, please share

No information; just an openness to the idea, and making a distinction between wire going to a transducer, and wire that only provides a voltage. Given the differences it should make, inferred from the speaker differences, it should be something measurable by tools, without a need for human testing. So why not see about testing with some model(s) of headphone that are renown for their great differences with a new cable...and see what the two frequency graphs look like.

Good idea. Doesn't majkel have two sets he could run this test on?