[HappymaN]

Adam was kind enough to send me this cable to use with my K1000's (completely free of charge), because I was curious about the different K1000 extension cables floating around Head-Fi, and whether or not they actually made any difference to the sound. He told me that if I like the way it sounded, I could keep the cable, and even after offering more than once to pay for the cable, Adam refused. Don't you love the camaraderie here at Head-Fi?

The cable previously had some fancy WBT banana plugs on the end, but Adam kept those ($$$$) under my instruction, and I terminated the cable myself with cheaper, but high quality banana plugs that I bought on eBay.

Now, I must say, the cable itself is made beautifully. There is enough techflex here to cover my house.

And the blue of the Canare GS-6 cable really matches the black tencflex quite well.

Now, for sonic impressions:

Associated equipment:

NAD C542, Modded ART DI/O (on loan from fellow Aussie Head-Fi'er ronslam), stock ART DI/O, nOrh SE9 (stock EH and Sovtek tubes), stock AKG K1000 extension cable

I must admit, the differences in sound between the stock cable, and this cable are very minor. I struggled to initially hear any difference at all, but I think this was perhaps because I was expecting too much.

After a few days, I noticed a "thumping" sensation in my chest, with tracks such as Dave Matthew's Band's "Two Step", when the heavy bass notes hit in the intro. I then investigated further, and have now decided that the bass is extending deeper (which I think explains why the bass have become more visceral), and perhaps, the slight bass roll-off that the K1000's are notorious for has been smoothed out a little. I am hearing more bass, and bass notes that are more visceral in nature (does this mean they are deeper?). This helps to balance out the slightly bass-shy, bright nature of the K1000's, and seems to offer an overall more balanced tonal presentation. The cable allows the K1000's to give that impact that live instruments, such as drums really need to sound as they should.

As far as the rest of the frequency range goes, I found it near impossible to distinguish any other differences in sound between the two different cables. The ultra-fast, highly detailed nature of the K1000's remained. Spatial presentation was indistiguishable also, but I must admit, the K1000's seem like an overall, more "balanced" headphone with the use of Adam's custom-made extension cable.

The K1000 is truly a great headphone, perfect for late-night listening sessions in bed, when the rest of the house is dead-silent. Thanks for reading everybody, hope it was interest.

Khoa

I will post a picture of the cable in the next post.

 

[HappymaN]

Here she is.

 

[eric343]

OOooooohhh. Nice job with the Techflex Aeberbach

What cable did you use, or how did you make it?

 

[aeberbach]

It's a pretty basic cable with a lot of care in connecting it all up with heatshrink etc., I was experimenting a bit. From the banana plugs to the middle join is Canare GS-6, I used four lengths one for each plug. In the middle join these connect to some silver-plated teflon-insulated shielded Belden instrumentation cable (I don't remember the catalog number, I only had a length rather than a reel) with + as core and - as shield. Two lengths of that carry the channels up to the Neutrik connector which is wired as you'd expect. Multiple tiers of different-gauge heatshrink attempt to equalize the diameters of the cables around the join and almost do a good job.

An old picture of the cable I found on my web site, with the WBT bananas:

The red teflon Belden 88760 cable I have now is perhaps better:

There's a matching piece to connect the amp to the Neutrik connector. Trouble is the cable is way too stiff - sounds better, but the result is I don't put on the K1000s as much as I used to so I have to call the end result a failure. Of course now summer is here I don't want to power up the rig anyway, tube amps, Melos, PS300 etc. What I'm going to try next is using silver stranded conductor teflon-insulated Belden hookup wire and making twisted pairs out of it. I bought four good lengths from Handmade Electronics before leaving New York and I think it might be just right. I have red, green, blue, yellow. It would be the most colorful cable to date, I will take inspiration for the color scheme from the Rainbow Lorikeets I'm going to be seeing in Noosa over Christmas, but I'll try to forget their sound

(I found the best way to attach techflex to a cable is to use a tape and heatshrink sandwich. If you just put heatshrink over the end of the techflex it will pull out easily. If you put heatshrink over the cable, then use good electrical tape (i.e. Nitto or 3M, not $0.29 on sale) to tightly tape down the techflex and then apply more heatshrink on top it will look neat and stay put.)

 

[eric343]

Thanks for the information, if I ever get K1000s I'll have to try that!

Quote:

Originally posted by aeberbach (I found the best way to attach techflex to a cable is to use a tape and heatshrink sandwich. If you just put heatshrink over the end of the techflex it will pull out easily. If you put heatshrink over the cable, then use good electrical tape (i.e. Nitto or 3M, not $0.29 on sale) to tightly tape down the techflex and then apply more heatshrink on top it will look neat and stay put.)

I electrical-tape down the fraying end tightly to the cable, slide a 2" length of adhesive heatshrink over the connector and cable (covering 1" of connector and 1" of cable, so you don't see the tape), and apply heat with my heat gun.

 

[Edwood]

Wow. Sweet job, aeberbach. I wouldn't have the gonads to rip apart my K1000's like you did. Amazing stuff.
Have you ever made 1/4" terminated ones?

The Aeron chair pellicle material matches the tech flex quite well.

I hear ya with the heat thing. I have a P300 as well, and it makes a great space heater in the winter. K1000's are my favorite when it's hot, because they aren't ear muffs like Sennheiser 580/600/650's are.


HappymaN, have you ever tried Stephan AudioArts cable?

 

[aeberbach]

Yeah, my first K1000 mod was to take an Equinox HD600 cable and attach it to the K1000s. These days I just make two tails, one to 1/4" and one to banana plugs.

Last post before heading up north for Xmas with the family. When I come back I'm going to use that other cable, the teflon/silver hookup. As I said I'm not happy with the cable on there now, too stff. I've made a twisted pair and it seems pretty good, very much like the Equinox.

Sooner or later I know I'm going to damage my headphones beyond repair. I've done it with plenty of other bits of equipment but always had fun doing it and occasionally I've made real improvements. At least I learn something every time, and I take that as part of the value I get from any product I disassemble. There's definitely added satisfaction when a procedure involves risk but it all trns out well.

 

[Edwood]

Have a happy and safe trip.

Good luck with the further procedures with the K1000. I eagerly await your results.

-Ed

 

[HappymaN]

Quote:

Originally posted by Edwood HappymaN, have you ever tried Stephan AudioArts cable?

Sorry for the late reply, but I'm overseas with the family at the moment. I'm currently sitting in some seedy Internet Cafe in the middle of Ho Chi Minh City.

But, no, I've never tried the Equinox range of cables.