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HD800 and Silver Cable?

post #1 of 30
2/24/10 at 3:16pm
Thread Starter 
I'm in the market to replace my current stock HD800 cable with something more substantial. I will be feeding the headphones through my Maxed WA5 and I primarily listen to Jazz, Accoustic, as wells as some Classic Rock / Indie Music. I have an existing pure silver cable from Moon Audio (Silver Dragon 2) which I was using for my HD650s. I'm wondering if you think they might have good synergy with the HD800 or if the highs would be too shrill with a silver cable. If so do you have any good recommendations?
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post #2 of 30
2/24/10 at 5:11pm
My circumstances were similar to yours. I had balanced Moon Audio Silver Dragon V2s which I used on an HD600. I had Moon put on the HD800 connectors (and I also beefed up the XLR connectors to the top Furutechs).

I have been quite happy with the cables. I have had an opportunity to compare them with an HD800 with balanced Moon Audio Blue Dragon cables, and I thought they sounded the same--no significant treble or other differences, etc. I also compared them with the far more expensive Equinox copper cables and did not hear any significant differences. The owner of the the Equinox cables, who had an excellent overall system, heard some differences and believed the Equinox were better, but he termed the differences subtle.
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post #3 of 30
2/24/10 at 7:03pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks a lot for the great response ctemkin! I'm glad to hear that the silver cable doesn't necessarily add more shrill to the highs of the HD800s compared to copper.
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post #4 of 30
2/25/10 at 1:45am
I had a bad experience with a pair of HD650 and a balanced RAL silver cable. Mids and highs were nice and soundstage got bigger but they lost a lot of bass.

I went with the Double Helix Complement cable that uses copper. It is pricy but they sound awesome. The sound is so clean and pure that it's hard to believe it is copper and not silver.
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post #5 of 30
2/25/10 at 7:31am
Monsieurguzel: The Double Helix Cables Complement is the best HD800 cable I've owned or heard. You can get it in copper or silver. I have copper. After Peter (Double Helix Cables) loaned me his personal one, it only took me 2 minutes of listening before I placed my order and immediately put my APS V3 (with the best connectors) up for sale. If it's not in your budget they also have excellent cables (which I've listened to) for less that are also extremely good.
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post #6 of 30
2/25/10 at 2:28pm
IPodPJ is right. If the Complement is out of your budget Peter has also the one call The Clone which uses the same Complement wires just with less isolation and it is more in line with the cost of a Equinox cable.
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post #7 of 30
2/25/10 at 3:39pm
i have a cardas. i like it.
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post #8 of 30
2/25/10 at 10:45pm
Shrillness, in my experience, is the result of bad gear or poor cable design. So far I'm enjoying the results with the APS v3 I have, which is mostly silver.
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post #9 of 30
2/25/10 at 11:33pm
I have the baby(less dampened) compliment and like it a lot. Very nice match with the HD800's and tube gear.
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post #10 of 30
2/26/10 at 3:14am
Thread Starter 
Well, it definitely seems that the consensus is leaning towards the double helix cables. I would probably go for the baby" complement cable since it seems a lot more reasonably priced. I would be going single ended though, since it will be fed into a Woo Audio 5 maxed, so I'm not sure if that will still be the best cable to use.

Btw, I agree with Currawong that a good amp and a good source are essential to getting good tonal balance in headphones and get rid of that 'shrillness'
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post #11 of 30
2/26/10 at 3:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Currawong View Post
Shrillness, in my experience, is the result of bad gear or poor cable design. So far I'm enjoying the results with the APS v3 I have, which is mostly silver.
The APS V3 is silver plated copper. I don't think that's "mostly" silver.
The DHC Clone, Baby Complement, Complement are far superior to the APS V3. The soundstage with the V3 sounds congested next to the DHC cables and doesn't have the natural sounding qualities or transparency of the DHC. Oddly enough, the comparisons were most revealing on the Phoenix.
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post #12 of 30
2/26/10 at 3:23am
Try it, what will you hurt but your wallet?
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post #13 of 30
2/26/10 at 3:23am
Thread Starter 
Out of curiousity, is the only difference between the complement and the baby complement the amount of insulation used? Do they both used the same type of wiring (ie. same gage and material type?)
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post #14 of 30
2/26/10 at 3:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by monsieurguzel View Post
Well, it definitely seems that the consensus is leaning towards the double helix cables. I would probably go for the baby" complement cable since it seems a lot more reasonably priced. I would be going single ended though, since it will be fed into a Woo Audio 5 maxed, so I'm not sure if that will still be the best cable to use.

Btw, I agree with Currawong that a good amp and a good source are essential to getting good tonal balance in headphones and get rid of that 'shrillness'
I used a balanced-to-TRS adapter with my Complement to listen with the WA5. It sounds phenomenal. So yes, you can absolutely get it single ended.
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post #15 of 30
2/26/10 at 3:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by monsieurguzel View Post
Out of curiousity, is the only difference between the complement and the baby complement the amount of insulation used? Do they both used the same type of wiring (ie. same gage and material type?)
Yes, no dampening in the baby. There is very little difference between the two. At the last meet Santacore and I compared mine to the baby, and we both thought we could hear a tiny amount more bass with the Complement, but it was very slight.
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