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Blue Dragon (HD600s): Whoa!

post #1 of 12
1/5/10 at 3:54pm
Thread Starter 
I just received my Blue Dragon today from Drew at Moon-Audio; I am in complete shock! I will admit, I wasn't expecting much from a stupid cable.. that's why I've been putting off this upgrade for years now. With my original stock cable developing a short in it somewhere, I decided to just suck it up and get a decent cable. I chose the Blue Dragon over the Stefan Art Equinox because of the Microphonics(sp?) in the Equinox.

Simply put, I am blown away, and it isn't even burnt in yet! Thank-you, Drew!

Sorry to make a new thread for this, but my excitement is still very high!
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post #2 of 12
1/5/10 at 4:41pm
Interesting. I got precisely nothing from a Blue Dragon on my HD-600. Didn't change with "burn-in," either.

I did find it to be better made and more attractive than the stock cable, though.
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post #3 of 12
1/5/10 at 5:30pm
Thread Starter 
I can't rule out the possibility of "placebo" (although I do hear quite a marginal difference) but I will say, I notice the biggest improvement with listening to a string orchestra (playing Vaughan Williams, Elgar, et cetera). And you are right, for sure more attractive than the stock cable. Built very well.. I only wish now I had gotten a 10 foot rather than the 5 foot..

I notice you have the HD800s.. worth the price, may I ask? I am very tempted but I think I would first upgrade my source. (using Marantz SA8260- not bad, but I don't use SACD much and would rather get a better red book player)
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post #4 of 12
1/5/10 at 9:20pm
Perhaps the stock cable had deteriorated so badly, although slowly, that any cable would have made a huge improvement?
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post #5 of 12
1/5/10 at 11:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Erik View Post
Interesting. I got precisely nothing from a Blue Dragon on my HD-600. Didn't change with "burn-in," either.

I did find it to be better made and more attractive than the stock cable, though.
I don't hear a difference in my Cardas cable and the standard one, but it looks nicer than the stock cable and I don't feel like trying to sell it.
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post #6 of 12
1/5/10 at 11:50pm
I hear reasonable improvement on the SAA Equinox but too bright to my liking.
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post #7 of 12
1/6/10 at 12:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gbacic View Post
I don't hear a difference in my Cardas cable and the standard one, but it looks nicer than the stock cable and I don't feel like trying to sell it.
I know. I had the Cardas cable, too, and couldn't distinguish it from the Blue Dragon, HD-650 or HD-600 cables. I left the Blue Dragon and Cardas on the HD-600 and HD-650 because they looked nice.

Might even put a Cardas on the HD-800. It would look good.
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post #8 of 12
1/6/10 at 12:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Erik View Post
I know. I had the Cardas cable, too, and couldn't distinguish it from the Blue Dragon, HD-650 or HD-600 cables. I left the Blue Dragon and Cardas on the HD-600 and HD-650 because they looked nice.

Might even put a Cardas on the HD-800. It would look good.
It definitely would, the old cable I had from cardas was awful (smurf blue, gross) and the headphone connectors didn't fit in the socket so the cable broke after about 2 weeks. Thankfully Cardas has a lifetime warranty and they just sent me a new cable.

They are great people at cardas but I just think their product is snake oil.
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post #9 of 12
1/7/10 at 11:03pm
i don't know about the blue dragon or an hd-600, i can tell you that the silver dragon on the hd-650 is a killer upgrade in every rig i use it with. silver mates well with the hd-650 characteristics, imo. i find the hd-650 needs 500 hours of high intensity burn in to settle & the silver dragon, or any silver cable for that matter, needs 300 hours of line level burn in to reach its maximum potential. the stock hd cable was garbage in my rigs & was tossed. it is possible that the difference is not noticeable because you do not have sufficient burn in on either your cans or your cable or the blue dragon is not an hd-600 cable due to its all copper properties or your system can not distinguish the difference between cables. imo, cables are an important component & are very rig dependent. my hd-650 likes silver over copper in every rig i have. however, many cans prefer copper over silver. no set rule here. btw, cardas did nothing for my hd-650 nor did any other copper cable. try silver.

good luck.
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post #10 of 12
1/8/10 at 8:52pm
I definitely heard a difference with the Blue Dragon V3 (mine was also 5ft). Length can also affect the sound IMO. I felt it smoothed the sound and added more detail and speed to the bass/lower midrange. Ultimately, these weren't changes that were beneficial in my already dark system, so I switched over to my current cable which is noticeably brighter than the stock HD650 cable and the Blue Dragon V3. I sold the BD a couple weeks later after much comparison.

Uncle Erik, I've found it can be hard to differentiate the subtle differences in cables with some genres of music. I listen to a wide range of music and it was only with some tracks that I could pinpoint the differences among cables consistently. How loud you listen and your ability to pick out subtleties also matters (although I wouldn't believe someone of your experience to lack the latter).
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post #11 of 12
1/12/10 at 1:47am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shahrose View Post
I definitely heard a difference with the Blue Dragon V3 (mine was also 5ft). Length can also affect the sound IMO.
I hope this is not too true; I just sent my cable back to Drew today for to swap with a 10'! five feet was just too short.

Also, after shipping the cable back today, I am re-acquainting myself with the stock and can definitely say my original assessment was not one hundred percent placebo. Perhaps not as staggering a difference as I thought at first (probably due to my excitement) and I still can't rule out the possibility of my stock cable having "deterioration" problems. (which I would believe..)

It's funny: my system has never sounded better.. yet I'm tossing the idea of buying another pair of headphones..!! (Beyer.. good for classical?!! )
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post #12 of 12
1/12/10 at 7:29am
There's a pattern developing here from a number of similar threads. First, the headphone most often mentioned as benefitting from an aftermarket cable is the 650. Secondly, it only seems to benefit from a few select cables (two, according to one poster), and Cardas doesn't seem to be among them. Apparently silver is the element the 650 craves, and for those of us with limited funds, that means the Headphile Blacksilver. I'm not an agent for Headphile, but it just seems on the evidence of posts here that that's the obvious choice for those who want a little more life in their 650 without over-investing. Or can someone find an equally attractive alternative?
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