gmounce611
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2013
- Posts
- 25
- Likes
- 23
Hey, all!
About ten years ago I sent off my HiFi 780s to have the cable shortened. I was in college at the time, and I was sick of stuffing the ~7,000 ft factory cable in my jeans every time I wanted to take my headphones for a walk around campus. I got the cable lopped off to a more manageable 3 ft (1 meter). (This was so long ago that I don't remember where I sent the headphones off to have this done.) When the headphones came back, the sound signature had changed completely. The bass was gone, the highs and ultra-highs were ear-splitting, and the mids were so far forward it felt like vocalists had taken up residence in my ear canal. I should have reached out to the person who re-cabled them and complained, but I was young and intimidated by the inscrutable world of hi-fi audio. I wondered if maybe the problem was all in my head.
Anyhow, I got out of audio gear for about a decade--not necessarily because of the sad state of my 780s, but that was definitely a contributing factor--and just got back into it about a year ago. I've got a few pairs of headphones now, but it wasn't until I got the Schiit Modi/Loki/Magni stack that I dusted off the 780s to try them out again. With the Loki, I can EQ the 780s to sound great--the sound stage and separation are as good as ever--but I've really gotta crank the low end and shave off the high end (like completely) to get them sounding good.
I'm wondering if it's worth it to re-cable them. Like I said, I can get them to sound good with EQing, but I'd like to hear them like they used to be before I had the cable shortened. What are the options with HiFi 780 recabling? Balanced cables or just single-ended? Detachable or do they have to be attached? I should mention that I'm not super handy, so I'd probably have to send these somewhere for re-cabling unless it's a simple matter of soldering (which I sorta doubt it will be).
Thanks for any help!
About ten years ago I sent off my HiFi 780s to have the cable shortened. I was in college at the time, and I was sick of stuffing the ~7,000 ft factory cable in my jeans every time I wanted to take my headphones for a walk around campus. I got the cable lopped off to a more manageable 3 ft (1 meter). (This was so long ago that I don't remember where I sent the headphones off to have this done.) When the headphones came back, the sound signature had changed completely. The bass was gone, the highs and ultra-highs were ear-splitting, and the mids were so far forward it felt like vocalists had taken up residence in my ear canal. I should have reached out to the person who re-cabled them and complained, but I was young and intimidated by the inscrutable world of hi-fi audio. I wondered if maybe the problem was all in my head.
Anyhow, I got out of audio gear for about a decade--not necessarily because of the sad state of my 780s, but that was definitely a contributing factor--and just got back into it about a year ago. I've got a few pairs of headphones now, but it wasn't until I got the Schiit Modi/Loki/Magni stack that I dusted off the 780s to try them out again. With the Loki, I can EQ the 780s to sound great--the sound stage and separation are as good as ever--but I've really gotta crank the low end and shave off the high end (like completely) to get them sounding good.
I'm wondering if it's worth it to re-cable them. Like I said, I can get them to sound good with EQing, but I'd like to hear them like they used to be before I had the cable shortened. What are the options with HiFi 780 recabling? Balanced cables or just single-ended? Detachable or do they have to be attached? I should mention that I'm not super handy, so I'd probably have to send these somewhere for re-cabling unless it's a simple matter of soldering (which I sorta doubt it will be).
Thanks for any help!
