[gerG]

Burning in or thawing out?

I agree with some of the other posts here: tech flex is a real pain. I used to use it on my regulator hoses (scuba) until I found out that it added failure modes without improving anything at all. Just a cosmetic feature.

Oh, how about "KoehlBachs"

I am going to LN2 dip mine just so that I can call them "IceBachs".

Sorry, I will quit with the cold jokes. It just gave me a chuckle today. Feel free to make fun of me this summer when I have to get into a 200 degree car. Thermal induced insanity is quite common here.


gerG

 

[gerG]

Silence....

Not even a single groan?

C'mon, don't you guys know a bad pun when you see one?

Have a good weekend anyway!


gerG

 

[blessingx]

Anyone else give these a try?

And I can't tell, but how much thicker are these than the stock 580/600 cord (to protect against my chair rolling over the cables all the time)?

 

[TheMuffinMan_01]

jan said it was just a little bit thicker than the stock.

 

[aerius]

Quote:

Originally posted by AnsBjork For the first time I hear what my top notch source is capable of AND IT'S DELIGHTFULL! It's strange but I fell that I wouldn't hear such a difference with a "regular" source.

I just got the cable myself today and even with a crappy Panasonic CD/DVD player it makes a difference. Not much, but I do notice a slight improvement.

Quote:

Originally posted by blessingx And I can't tell, but how much thicker are these than the stock 580/600 cord (to protect against my chair rolling over the cables all the time)?

Roughly 50% thicker. Rolling over them with a chair is still going to kill them eventually, but it should take longer to kill than the stock cables.

 

[Anders]

I got my Oehlbach a weak ago and listened to it after nearly 100 hours of burn-in. I compared it to the stock cable and Zu. I haven't made extensive listening tests and only switched cables a few times.
Test equipment was a Lindemann CD1 SE (very good
German CD player), Corda Prehead amp and HD650.
Oehlbach is an improvement over the stock cable. It is a little warmer, more detailed and with better soundstage. But the difference between Oehlbach and Zu was at least as big as between Oehlbach and stock cable. Zu is not as warm as Oehlbach and has better resolution and dynamics. I think the tonal character of Zu is more neutral but it can also be much more revealing of limitations earlier in the chain, and Oehlbach probably more permissive.
I think the Oehlbach cable is a very good value and that there should be less matching problems with this cable than I imagine that you can get with Zu. If you have a high resolution system and want the ultimate, go for Zu. In a system with lower resolution, you might not hear so much of the advantages of Zu, but this is an assumption and not anyting I have tested.

After this testing, I used the Oehlbach cable as an upgrade cable for Beyerdynamic DT931. This is no plug and play and you have to demount the headphone, solder etc. DT931 has a lousy stock cable and the improvement was big with Oehlbach. DT931 / Oehlbach sound very good with the EarMax Pro tube amplifier.

Oehlbach is a good upgrade cable but I also have some criticism. The cable length after the split can be too short and you have a very short length of cable between the headphone connectors and the absorbers. It could be possible to remove the absorbers and make a new cable split lower down the cable, but then you are not far from building a new cable from scratch.
It was possible to keep the absorbers but the length of cable left over for wiring within the headphone was very short and made soldering difficult.

 

[kyrie]

Finally a comparative review on the oehlbachs! Thank you anders.

 

[radrd]

Quote:

Oehlbach is a good upgrade cable but I also have some criticism. The cable length after the split can be too short and you have a very short length of cable between the headphone connectors and the absorbers. It could be possible to remove the absorbers and make a new cable split lower down the cable, but then you are not far from building a new cable from scratch.It was possible to keep the absorbers but the length of cable left over for wiring within the headphone was very short and made soldering difficult.

Uh, that criticism would be a bit more valid if the manufacturer intended for you to take the cable apart and re-wire other headphones with it.

 

[Alex Altorfer]

Anders,

Thank you for the comparative review of Oehlbach vs. Zu Mobius cables! Very illuminating. Please post further impressions if you reach new conclusions later.

Everyone else,

Now, consider Ander's conclusions: that Oehlbach is tonaly warmer, presenting a wider soundstage, more detailed improvement over stock cable. I say this calls for a direct comparision of Oehlbach and Equinox cables, for the latter has also been described similarly: Warmer, smoother, more detailed, and wider soundstage. Is Oehlbach similar to Equinox? To what extent? Does it sonically measure up to Equinox or is it still light years behind? The Equinox cable is a lot more expensive than the Oehlbach.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[Anders]

rardr, I asked Jan Meier about Oehlbach as an upgrade cable for other headphones also when he released the news about it. He anserwed that it is suitable for other headphones too and this is cited from the product information.

"In our opinion it represents a cost-effective method to improve the sound quality of any dynamic headphone."

Most dynamic headphones have no Sennheiser plugs so then you have to cut and solder. I am sure Jan likes when people use his cable to upgrade DT931, one of his favourite headphones. This headphone is generally underestimated because it comes with a bad cable and is too bright with an ordinary headphone output with 0 ohm impedance. You can add a 120 ohm resistor for each channel and get a much more pleasureable tonal balance with less treble and more bass. EarMax Pro has an impedance of 60 - 80 ohm, better but still slightly low for DT931.

 

[gerG]

Perhaps if there is enough interest Jan could get a run of cables without the Sen connectors on them, as a means of bringing the cost down for diy-ers.

Anders, the DT931 sounds bright due to a 10 db peak in the response at 5500 hz. Without that peak they have the flattest response of any headphone that I have tested. Running at a higher impedance loosens up the bass and brings up the level of the bass and lower mid. This masks the peak, but the response is no longer flat. I haven't found a mechanical way to tame that peak yet, but I am still looking. The DT931 is an extrodinary headphone.


gerG

 

[radrd]

Quote:

rardr, I asked Jan Meier about Oehlbach as an upgrade cable for other headphones also when he released the news about it. He anserwed that it is suitable for other headphones too and this is cited from the product information.

Thanks for the info. Actually, I'm interested in eventually upgrading the cabling on my W1000, and the Meier cable presents an attractive solution. I was just giving you a hard time.

 

[pabbi1]

I have to second Anders observations, having gotten my Oehlbach cables today. Right off the bat, all Anders observations seem dead on. I was/am wearing a shirt with a thick collar, and the absorbers do catch on occasion, which is annoying, but could easily be remedied with a few more inches of cable separation.

Rig: Carver 490t > SDS labs amp > Oehlbach > HD600

The sound? Maybe it's my choice of music (DEVO, Hendrix, Dylan, Zappa, Skynrd, Depeche Mode, Neil Young, EWF) but I get substantially more detail than the stock cable. The other thing I seem to get is, for lack of a better description, is presence (balls, timbre, punch) in addition to superior separation.

It's criminal that these aren't the stock Senn cables with the HD600. Well worth more than the $55.

 

[Alex Altorfer]

I've just got the Oehlbach cable and I must concur with Ander's review. Indeed, it is tonaly warmer and more detailed. Improvement is readily noticeable in the bass region. The only area in which I strain to tell much of a difference is soundstaging, though instrument separation is clearly better.

I must mention that Jan Meier has provided a great service. Cable was promptly shipped and well packaged.

I'm so excited!

Cheers,
Alex

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Now if only the Zu's were $55....