[Shawn71]

I do with a multimeter ever since my first TF10 cable arrived reverse polarity. The eBay cable makers often (with cheap labour) mould the plastic ear hoops the wrong way. So in some cases it wasn't the person who soldered it.

Yes not 100% AM cables are polarity matched as the respective mfr's.....

TY H20 for the response.....

 

[Shawn71]

I do. They aren't always accurate on sound, as cable pairings can be as volatile as Amps or sources, but knowing their build quality, variations between batches and even customer feedback is good to know beforehand.

Ok yeah sure...hope you have'nt faced any polarity mis-matches in any cables.....

TY Exesteils,for the response.....

 

[twister6]

   
Got it today ($40 silver plated cable from lunashops for IM03/IM50)!!!  Just took a bunch of pictures and will post a review in the next day or two in IM0x thread
 
As an early impression: amazing build quality, snappy connectors with a perfect fit, soft cable shield (no springy effect), cable feels strong, goes over you ears without a need for ear hook guides and stays around your ear thanks to a chin slider, hardly any microphonics effect.  Sound quality - DEFINITE improvement!  But I would consider it more appropriate for IM03 rather than IM50.  With IM03 (using UE900 tips) the sound gets brighter, like a veil lifted off (and IM03 with a stock cable is great to begin with), you hear more definition and details in sound across the entire frequency range.  The change is not just subtle, but actually noticeable.  But improvement with IM50 (using hybrid tips) wasn't as tolerable for my taste because of a very simple reason - overwhelming bass. IM50 has enhanced bass to begin with, but now it's borderline basshead quantity.  You get the same enhanced details but sub-bass became a little too much for me which took away focus from upper mids.  Still well controlled bass without spilling over, but just a bit too overpowering.
 
Will do more listening and some burn in (from my experience, cable goes through some burn in settling as well), and then will post my final thoughts about it.

Just to add, since it was mentioned to check polarity (L/R) mismatch to verify new cable.  Just checked 3.5mm connector T (tip, Left ch), R (ring, Right ch), S (sleeve, GND) against 2pin keyed connectors of IM series (left pin signal, right pin ground).  Everything matches perfectly in this lunashops cable.  Furthermore, going from original cable to a new silver-plated cable, the impedance went down from 0.9 ohm to 0.6 ohm, pure wire results in lower resistance, obviously.
 
After a few hours of burn in with IM03, my impressions in sound improvement are still the same as before.  Though a sound is brighter now, without pushing toward sibilance, I think the biggest impact is in low frequency improvement with a sharper attack of mid-bass, and more rumble in sub-bass.  If anything, sub-bass is where it benefits the most with additional dimension to it's texture.  Also, the same improvement was a bit overwhelming in IM50 where sub-bass got a little too much for my taste.

 

[Shawn71]

TY twister6!.....

 

[drbluenewmexico]

TY twister6!.....

yes, thank you twister6!! appreciate your research.  since i love sub bass
I'm still excited about the upgrade cable improving my IM50s....we shall see.
its nice to have a choice!...

 

[twister6]

  yes, thank you twister6!! appreciate your research.  since i love sub bass
I'm still excited about the upgrade cable improving my IM50s....we shall see.
its nice to have a choice!...

In case if you missed it, the full review was posted here: http://www.head-fi.org/t/705687/review-of-audio-technica-ath-im01-ath-im02-ath-im03-ath-im04-ath-im50-ath-im70/795#post_10734593

 

[Dsnuts]

The color of Louis Lake is a jade green color. Sometime in your life you must visit this magical of places. Breathtaking don't quite describe this place. Loved this place, was a bit far for a road trip but was worth it for me.
 
I think the most unnerving aspect of being on the road is the wild animals that seem to gravitate toward the road for some reason. Almost hit, Deer, Elk, ground hog, fox, rabbit, cows and most certainly killed rabbits, a few ground hogs and thousands upon thousands of insects just to make it to this place and back. Glad to be home.

 

[ericp10]

 

The color of Louis Lake is a jade green color. Sometime in your life you must visit this magical of places. Breathtaking don't quite describe this place. Loved this place, was a bit far for a road trip but was worth it for me.
 
I think the most unnerving aspect of being on the road is the wild animals that seem to gravitate toward the road for some reason. Almost hit, Deer, Elk, ground hog, fox, rabbit, cows and most certainly killed rabbits, a few ground hogs and thousands upon thousands of insects just to make it to this place and back. Glad to be home.

 
 
That place looks very majestic!!! Which state is that? Nice photo!!! Surreal.

 

[Dsnuts]

Well I didnt have time to load my own photos as I just got home about 5 hours ago, this is a pic off the net and this photo is not a touch up it literally looks just like this in Banff Canada..An hour alway from Calgary. We spent the night at this park and this particular lake is Lake Louis. There is a giant hotel overlooking this lake but why would you not want to sleep under the stars around this part of the Rocky Mountains. I have never seen a more picturesque scene.

 

[ericp10]

  Well I didnt have time to load my own photos as I just got home about 5 hours ago, this is a pic off the net and this photo is not a touch up it literally looks just like this in Banff Canada..An hour alway from Calgary. We spent the night at this park and this particular lake is Lake Louis. There is a giant hotel overlooking this lake but why would you not want to sleep under the stars around this part of the Rocky Mountains. I have never seen a more picturesque scene.

 

 

[waynes world]

  The color of Louis Lake is a jade green color. Sometime in your life you must visit this magical of places. Breathtaking don't quite describe this place. Loved this place, was a bit far for a road trip but was worth it for me.

 
Awesome dude! I'm glad you had a chance to witness that incredible beauty!
 

I think the most unnerving aspect of being on the road is the wild animals that seem to gravitate toward the road for some reason. Almost hit, Deer, Elk, ground hog, fox, rabbit, cows and most certainly killed rabbits, a few ground hogs and thousands upon thousands of insects just to make it to this place and back. Glad to be home.

 
Lol unnerving yes! A few summers ago on one of the Gulf Islands when racing down a very steep road on my bike at around 35mph, a deer ran out onto the road. It saw me bearing down on it at the very last second and did a four-hoof skid and stopped as I whipped by mere few inches away. I ride down those hills much more slowly now!

 

[dweaver]

You were in my backyard DS, I live in Calgary.

Rabbits and gophers (ground hog to you) get run over quite regularly here. Deer and such are not fun to hit though so glad nothing bad happened on your trip.

Lake Louise sure is a beautiful location, glad you were able to take it in.

 

[Dsnuts]

We was driving last night and the highways through Wyoming is barren as it gets. The eerie blackness of night and just your headlights. If it wasn't for our high beams I would have missed the two eyes that was looking at us on the middle of the road. Was a fox I had to swerve in order to not hit the damn thing.  Evidently people are killed all the time by road kill. I don't know if you guys see them crosses on the side of US highways but that indicates someone died on the road and I bet it was trying to avoid or by striking a larger animal.
 
Your flying down the highway going 75mph especially at night you have a split second to react. Something smaller like a fox can damage your car to the point where your stuck in the middle of nowhere, or worse yet make you crash your vehicle..  The best thing to do in this situation is trail a big truck.. I can't count the amount of road kill I saw on the road.  By tailgating a big rig they make so much noise that it usually scares the animals from getting on the road or even worse if there is a bigger animal it wont phase a big truck.. We was in a mid sized van and I still didn't feel our family was protected from road kill. Lol. So I learned a lot on this trip. How to survive on a long road trip..

 

[Dsnuts]

You were in my backyard DS, I live in Calgary.

Rabbits and gophers (ground hog to you) get run over quite regularly here. Deer and such are not fun to hit though so glad nothing bad happened on your trip.

Lake Louise sure is a beautiful location, glad you were able to take it in.

I live in Colorado and we have comparable locations here as well but was nice to see a different part of the Rockies. Them mountains in Banff are amazing.

 

[drbluenewmexico]

congratulations DS on an epic journey.  I'm sure it was good for your soul ears and brain!
now you can really hear the sounds of silence again!
 
good for you taking good care of yourself and family!
 
cheers!