[Yikes]

Just to get an idea as to how many members have recabled their Headphones? and whether the result was positive or not.

This Poll is for people who have actually had someone recable their headphones or did it themselves. Please do not vote in the poll if you have not had your own headphones recabled.

1) My Headphones were recabled and it definitely made a positive improvement.
2) My Headphones were recabled and it made no notable improvement.
3) My Headphones were recabled and it definitely had a negative impact on the sound.

 

[AmanGeorge]

I think I might change the poll slightly - one option for "I recabled my headphones and it made no difference to sound" and one for "I recabled my headphones but I'm not sure if I like the change)

 

[leeperry]

cryo-parts TWCu + furutech plug on a Manufaktur DT770/600Ω..SQ was way worse than before

saturated overblown bass and dead trebles...don't tell me about recabling ever again(it took me forever to braid this damn cable

). My own theory is that the drivers FR is engineered depending on the stock wire FR...mess w/ it and fear the consequences, only someone w/ zillion different wires and lot of free time in his hand could possibly find an "improved" cable, and sell it for a HUGE markup.

I also tried an ipod Monstercable on a DT770Pro, and SQ was identical to stock...at least it wasn't worse

 

[Necrolic]

First off, I've never even heard a person say they've heard a large improvement in recabling, it's just for getting those last few percent out of your headphones. If you've got a mid-fi rig, you'd be much better off upgrading your amp/source.

Now that being said, it completely depends on your cable. If you have D2000s, which have a notoriously bad stock cable, but have a very high end rig outside of those headphones, having them recabled will DEFINITELY make a difference, as the stock cable loses signal.

But D5000/7000 on the other hand, have a very, very good stock cable, reputedly one of the best stock cables out there. If you have a system to match that, a recable won't make much difference if any, and a cheap recable could make it worse.

It also depends on the quality of cable.

In other words, a $150 cable may make a difference on D2000s, whereas it would make D5K/7K worse. A $300 cable you may notice a slight difference with, or nothing at all on the D5K/7K. The $500 Jena cable will probably give you a fairly noticeable difference, but not even close to what $500 towards upgrading another part of your system would get you.

 

[HONEYBOY]

I've heard a stock hfi 780 and a recabled hfi 780 and the recable definitely improves these phones. The APS V3 recabled version has better clarity and transparency, shrill in the treble is almost gone and the bass is a bit more controlled too.

 

[Justice Strike]

you can always recable with a really really bad cable.

 

[leeperry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Necrolic /img/forum/go_quote.gif A $300 cable you may notice a slight difference with, or nothing at all on the D5K/7K. The $500 Jena cable will probably give you a fairly noticeable difference

that's a fascinating story...makes me wonder about $1K cables at this point

 

[majkel]

Creative Aurvana Live! - definite improvement
Sennheiser HD565 - mixed emotions, once I think the DIY cable is better (same as for CAL!), another time I like the stock one more
Grado GS1000 - I compared thoroughly my friend's piece with Black Dragon and Furutech 1/4" jack to mine with stock cable. Black Dragon added boomy bass and removed all microdetails and "substance" drifting in the air from music... but they weren't mine, so I voted according to Creative Aurvana Live! experience.

 

[BushGuy]

I see many, many posts where the re-cable they've had done gets extolled to the heavens......their headphones/IEM's are incredibly better. Then, a month or two later - their much-praised re-cabled headphone/IEM is on the F.S. pages. Huh! (small chuckle ensues).

The re-cable will rarely provide more than a subtle change. The subtle change may be better, .......and sometimes, it's worse. IMO, if a headphone/IEM needs a transformation - the transformation will be to a different headphone.

 

[oqvist]

Did a change and no hardly any difference. Not that big that I can rule out placebo anyway.

 

[roker]

how about:

I'd love to try a recable but there's no way I'm going to pay the same price I paid for my headphones!

edit: Sorry, I just woke up. I meant, DOUBLE the price of my headphones:

http://www.lawtonaudio.com/page9.html

 

[cantsleep]

i like cables but yeah, i dont pay 2x either.
rather buy a better headphone with that kind of money.

 

[rhythmdevils]

really depends on the headphone and cable. I imagine any DIY cable that is better than extention cord would be better than the stock sextett cable.

I got a Silver Dragon V2 for my HD650 and I definitely notice the difference, but think it sounds worse than the Oelbach. Mids sound like they are being pushed down, and congested, sort of clouded, and the highs are brought up and they sound seperated from the rest of the spectrum, as if there is now a gap between mids and treble. The Oelbach stock cable has a much smoother transition between all frequencies, even if it is darker in tone. But I have an equinox on the way, which has always been my favorite cable. We'll see how that sounds.

 

[hockeyb213]

which is why buying a cable should be the last step in the rig journey.

 

[nc8000]

I have had most of my headphones recabled and most times it has been an improvement but to varying degrees. Also in many cases the recabling has also involved reterminating to balanced so often I don't know how much of the improvement came from recabling and how much came from balancing.