***DISCLAIMER: Cable atheists will be ignored. These are my personal experiences using my gear and ears.***
So my new Moon Audio Silver Dragon LCD-2 cable arrived today. First off, my purchasing experience from Moon Audio has been top notch. Drew is readily available and is very quick to respond, build the cables and ship them out.
First off the construction:
It's a beautifully crafted cable. The workmanship and quality of materials really shows! The cable is quite a bit lighter and more flexible than the stock cable. As well, I find the upper "Y" portion less microphonic than the stock. Though it still can show some microphonics, it's an improvement. I really like the lighter and more flexible cable. These headphones are heavy enough and having a lighter cable really helps.
The Furutech plug is HUGE and just gorgeous! As big as the stock Neutrik plug is, it is nowhere as impressive as the Furutech plug.
Now how does it compare sonically to the stock cable:
My source: Marantz CD Player (CD Transport)
My dac: PS Audio DLIII
My amp: Meier Audio Concerto
My music: Jazz at the Pawnshop (Vol. 1 & 2), Kind of Blue (Legendary Edition) and Moving Pictures (from my avatar...you might tell I'm a fan.
)
Right off the bat, I tried Moving Pictures and from a direct A-B on Tom Sawyer, Neil Peart's cymbals had more energy (which I did crave more for when just listening to the stock cable). As well, Geddy's voice had the higher octaves back and he sounded more like well...Geddy. If you're a Rush fan, you'll know what I'm talking about.
As well, there was an improvement on instrumental separation. They still very much sound like LCD-2s, but with the more presence of "air" that I wanted. The soundstage also seemed to open up a bit. Now it was not a massive shift, but enough to notice (also an added bonus IMO).
With my 2 jazz albums, very similar characteristics were detected. Sax's seemed to have more energy on the higher notes, muted trumpets didn't seem set as far back and the instrumental separation did improve.
I just wanted to clarify that the Silver Dragon did NOT change the treble from the typical LCD-2 treble to that of the HD800s (that would be silly), but did present it (the treble) in a way that wasn't as pushed back with the stock cable. The mids seemed a bit more liquid and better integrated with the treble as well.
My experience with "cheap" silver cables (like 2N silver) is that they can sound a bit thin and lack a full bodied sound. But these are NOT cheap silver cables (they are 6N silver as noted on the Moon Audio website with very low impurities) and the bass/mid-bass was UNAFFECTED with the change from copper to silver. A very, very good thing IMO as the bass on the LCD-2s is the BEST I've ever heard.
To sum it up, I am quite happy with this purchase and with the subtle to not so subtle improvements made with the Silver Dragon cable, I'm now thinking I can say that the LCD-2s are now my "on an island headphone". Something I couldn't really say with the stock cable due to the issues I had with the pushed back treble and less sense of air.