HD-25, Cable Upgrade

  There are some that will tell you that a hp will never perform to it's fullest with a stock cable, but in my experience that is not true.  And if you're hearing is good enough to be able to identify two different cables in a blind test accurately I doubt that the difference would be anything close to significant.

This is not meant to start yet another "cable argument" with anyone.   The above opinions are from my own experience/perceptions.

I was all for selling my newly aquired HD25-1's as the sound was decidedly ''Portable''. I thought I'd give the cable route a chance and I found an old SR325 cable in my box from a few years back when I modded my Grados. Nothing to lose so chucked on a new 90 degree 3.5mm jack and the Cardas connectors and OMG!!!! What a difference...... I think the SR325 cable is SPOFC (I could be wrong) but if you are considering changing the cable, just do it, the difference is substantial.

Pic.

Another one :)

Do the velour pads change the sound at all? Thinking of spicing mine up but don't want to change the signature now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cswann1 

  There are some that will tell you that a hp will never perform to it's fullest with a stock cable, but in my experience that is not true.  And if you're hearing is good enough to be able to identify two different cables in a blind test accurately I doubt that the difference would be anything close to significant.

 

This is not meant to start yet another "cable argument" with anyone.   The above opinions are from my own experience/perceptions.

I personally like the stock cable quite a bit. They're of good length, tangle resistant, the plug is right angled, and the cable itself seems pretty much indestructable. Not much with it that I'm displeased with design wise.

I've tried other copper cables for it and while I do hear a slight differencea in sound I felt that the trade off isn't worth it overall.

Actually I dont really know because I changed them when I ve got the headphones. The reason for that was that I prefer the velour ones because of the "comfort".. Right now the pleather pads are in the box :)

I wish I was handy with DIY cables, I use an Enigma Oracle cable on mine, nice cable but they kind of suck with microphonics and flexibility, plus I miss single entry. I like what they do for the sound compared to stock, nothing groundbreaking but a nice upgrade, IMO.

would a cable upgrade decrease the sibilance?

Quote:

Originally Posted by WakiDabeast 

would a cable upgrade decrease the sibilance?

In my experience it did ever so slightly. The biggest reduction in sibilance with mine was due to burn in, I found this was the last aspect in the burn in process by a large margin. Despite all this I still find them a hair sibilant at times which doesn't really bother me personally.