1Plus2 Impressions Update With The Silver/Gold Cable
I managed to get my hands on a pair of sliver/gold cables today and can compare the silver & silver/gold side-by-side - well can't A/B immediately since I only have 1 pair of 1Plus2's.
Let's get the quick summary out of the way, then delve in a little bit into the details.
So I find the silver/gold still somewhat sibilant but different and in a way more acceptable. The reason is that the silver/gold (as previously mentioned by others here) alter the sonics of the IEM quite differently. Is it noticeable? Yes quite so - although I never was a skeptic on cables causing sonic changes, trying these two silver vs sliver/gold cables merely confirms my beliefs.
A few noted comments others have made about the silver/gold is that it's warmer, slightly smaller soundstage, not so sibilant, etc. I'd agree with most of them but I may describe my thoughts somewhat slightly differently.
Frequency Response
As with others, I'm finding that the upper bass or lower mids are filled more which makes it nicer for vocals. Others have said that it's more TG!334-like. Although I won't say that they're (the 1Plus2 and TG!334) alike but with the silver/gold cable, the signature starts to sway more towards that TG!334/XBA-3 direction.
Whilst with the silver cable, I described quite a bit of sibilance, I didn't really put down too much detail but (and here's where I may start pulling numbers out of thin air), around the XkHz and above, the trebles start to sound quite forward. Whilst with the silver/gold cable, it's more around the upper trebles of YYkHz that starts to exhibit sibilance.
As such I find I have less sibilance issues with the silver/gold than I did with the pure silver cable. There's more about sibilance later.
Soundstage and Imaging
Others have noted that with the silver/gold cable the soundstage is less. In the short time I've had with the silver/gold, I'd say that the apparent soundstage does sound somewhat narrower. But this isn't bad - where I found the silver to be unrealistically wide, If find the silver/gold to be more realistic. In general though with other headphones/earphones I've tried, I've noticed that with more pronounced U or V-shaped signatures, the apparent soundstage sounds wider than those headphones/earphones with a more forward midrange.
On the other hand, a more prominent midrange doesn't always necessarily mean deeper imaging but well made IEMs with rich mids (coupled with rich bass) do seem to exhibit a deeper imaging. I find that the 1Plus2 with the silver/gold cable to have a deeper imaging naturally.
Now back to the sibilance topic again, with the silver cable the soundstage was unnaturally vast and at least to my ears seem to start earlier on in the treble frequencies. As such the sibilance on the silver cable seems to me to be "all around" which is probably where I had a problem with. On the other hand with the silver/gold cable, as mentioned above the apparent soundstage seems narrower (and more realistic), and the treble forwardness seems to start later in the upper treble region - therefore the sibilance seem to be more focused rather than "all around". I actually feel there's more room for other instruments to breath, and therefore doesn't feel overshadowed by the sibilance.
This inadvertently seem to imply that instrument separation seems to be more distinct with the silver/gold cable.
Detail
I can't remember if I read somewhere that the silver/gold has less detail. If someone did say that, I'd have to say that my ears disagree. The details and micro-details aren't as obvious smacked right in front of your face, but it's there in a more subtle form that you'd hear more naturally. This is something I learnt through my ownership of the TG!334, TH-900, and SR-009, and as such appreciate in the silver/gold cable more so than the silver.
Conclusion
As such, I actually find the silver/gold cables of the 1Plus2 to be more agreeable to my ears. Though the upper treble region forwardness is still there, most of my music genre don't venture that far (at least excessively).
Does this mean there's no room for the silver cable for my 1Plus2? Well, not entirely....the silver cable is quite useful in determining the quality of a rip or mastering of a CD/SACD. However, that's more critique rather than listening for enjoyment.
