[Musicoflife]

Been an audiophile too before the advent of CD and all this while, I do hear differences in speaker cables, interconnects, even power cables.

Since I believe that cables matter (like many here), I'd like to hear what cables work well with Timeless specifically, from like-minded owners.

In particular, I'm curious if anyone has heard an improvement with Litz cables - all other things being equal (silver, copper, OCC etc).

 

[DrewVz]

After listening for about 10 hours so far with my Timeless using the XINHS graphene cable, I can honestly say the effects are nothing short of astounding. For $30, it's a no brainer. It took me a while to get used to the increase in clarity, dynamics, and staging, but now that I've got a handle on the effects, I can't go back to stock. And trust me, I LOVED the stock cable. But this one is just outright better on all fronts.

XINHS 4 core graphene silver plated single crystal copper Litz cable. I don't have the link handy, but you should be able to find it on Aliexpress. My initial impressions are on post #899. But my opinion on it has improved significantly after spending more time with it and doing an A/B comparison back to back with my 2nd Timeless and stock cable. Like I said, I think I'm done with the stock cable. R. I. P.

 

[Musicoflife]

After listening for about 10 hours so far with my Timeless using the XINHS graphene cable, I can honestly say the effects are nothing short of astounding. For $30, it's a no brainer. It took me a while to get used to the increase in clarity, dynamics, and staging, but now that I've got a handle on the effects, I can't go back to stock. And trust me, I LOVED the stock cable. But this one is just outright better on all fronts.

XINHS 4 core graphene silver plated single crystal copper Litz cable. I don't have the link handy, but you should be able to find it on Aliexpress. My initial impressions are on post #899. But my opinion on it has improved significantly after spending more time with it and doing an A/B comparison back to back with my 2nd Timeless and stock cable. Like I said, I think I'm done with the stock cable. R. I. P.

I've been using the Xinhs 8 core Graphene Litz cable for a few days. It's hefty, but let's just say I like what I hear. For one thing the mids really flesh out. Need to do some A/B with my OCC copper Litz cable, but I'm loath to swap with mmcx.

 

[holsen]

After listening for about 10 hours so far with my Timeless using the XINHS graphene cable, I can honestly say the effects are nothing short of astounding. For $30, it's a no brainer. It took me a while to get used to the increase in clarity, dynamics, and staging, but now that I've got a handle on the effects, I can't go back to stock. And trust me, I LOVED the stock cable. But this one is just outright better on all fronts.

XINHS 4 core graphene silver plated single crystal copper Litz cable. I don't have the link handy, but you should be able to find it on Aliexpress. My initial impressions are on post #899. But my opinion on it has improved significantly after spending more time with it and doing an A/B comparison back to back with my 2nd Timeless and stock cable. Like I said, I think I'm done with the stock cable. R. I. P.

Likewise, I loved the stock cable until I swapped out for the silver cable. I've got the Xin graphene on my IMR planar and agree the graphene cable brought extra body note weight and upper end extention. The silver doesn't bring the same enhancement to the mids and bottom end, but the clarity and sparkle (to my ears) is undeniable.. Will probably pick up an mmcx graphene.

 

[blorg]

It's a slippery road to say something makes no difference. We could just as easily say an amp is just amp, all foam tips are the same, tubes sound just like solid state, a planar is no different than an electrostatic. And then, there goes our hobby!

This is a straw man that no-one is arguing. Most of these things create differences that can be measured. The scale of the difference between competently implemented neutral solid state amps is debatable but the differences with tubes, different types of tips or between different headphones can be measured and quantified. These differences in many cases are not subtle. You can clearly see the effect of tubes on harmonic distortion. You can see the impact of tips on frequency response, and that's visible in objective measurements.

Cables on the other hand the differences aren't there in the measurements. And particularly if the references are specifically to frequency response, not making some other claim but claiming that a cable totally removes the bass, that could be measured, and I doubt it would be there. You'd be looking at exactly the same frequency response graph, but saying that one "totally removes the bass", it doesn't make sense. EQ on the other hand... obviously that could remove the bass. But using EQ to attenuate the bass, and then attribute it to the cable? That makes no sense.

Impedance can alter the frequency response with particularly with balanced armatures and to a lesser extent with dynamic drivers, but you are talking large impedances well beyond those in a competently made cable. This is what impedance adapters do, but they don't work with planars. My understanding with planars they have totally flat impedance and impedance changes won't alter the frequency response at all, only the amplitude. As such this specific IEM is even less likely to be affected by cables than most other IEMs.

 

[ExTubeGamer]

Been an audiophile too before the advent of CD and all this while, I do hear differences in speaker cables, interconnects, even power cables.

Since I believe that cables matter (like many here), I'd like to hear what cables work well with Timeless specifically, from like-minded owners.

In particular, I'm curious if anyone has heard an improvement with Litz cables - all other things being equal (silver, copper, OCC etc).

My Litz silver cable creates a smooth sound with soft highs. The bass is less noticeable. The soundstage increases as well, making my Timeless sound like speakers.

 

[DrewVz]

. As such this specific IEM is even less likely to be affected by cables than most other IEMs.

I'm really not sure who you're trying to convince. But I guess now I can see why there is such a debate on this topic. Let me just state for the record that with the Timeless that I have connected to my rig right now, there are night and day differences between the stock cable, a cheap silver cable that I briefly tried, and the new graphene cable that I'm using now. It's not even remotely close. Seriously as if I'm listening to completely different IEMs. That's really all I have to say about that.

 

[ExTubeGamer]

The effect cables have on the timeless is so enormous. Silver litz makes this IEM sound like a monitor speaker with 3D soundstage.

 

[Musicoflife]

The effect cables have on the timeless is so enormous. Silver litz makes this IEM sound like a monitor speaker with 3D soundstage.

Agree. Good as the stock cable is, to my ears the Timeless is capable of more. Hence I wrote earlier in post 591

I tried my Timeless with Litz OCC cable and am astonished. The sound became more natural, unforced and textured, another level up in SQ. I'm beginning to think that the stock cable is a bottleneck.

 

[Birdland]

I love the good, healthy debate! It's such a subjective hobby, based on what appeals to us individually. That's what makes pieces like the Timeless so special... There is almost universal agreement, almost, that these are great, especially for their price.

I'm using mine in the lowest way possible, Bluetooth on a neckband adaptor, and I can still hear how special these are. For the last few years, my big rig has largely just sat there collecting dust. And, for the last few years, I've been looking for portables that made me not miss the big rig so much. These are the first iems I've found that sound reminiscent of my bigger, open back cans. Most sound incredibly detailed, bit small and etched. These sound heftier, more natural and musical.

I love hearing about your experiences with them. If I ever get to sit down again, maybe I will play with cable options and amps too!

 

[Toxolotl01]

Ordered my second pair
Just in case..

 

[mobbaddict]

I'm using mine in the lowest way possible, Bluetooth on a neckband adaptor, and I can still hear how special these are. For the last few years, my big rig has largely just sat there collecting dust. And, for the last few years, I've been looking for portables that made me not miss the big rig so much. These are the first iems I've found that sound reminiscent of my bigger, open back cans. Most sound incredibly detailed, bit small and etched. These sound heftier, more natural and musical.

I was thinking the same thing yesterday, the sound is definitely bigger than many other iems, and the low end response definitely plays a big role in that. My RE400 have a similar tuning for instance but when I which back to the Timeless it's like activating a subwoofer and making everything bigger and effortless. I can listen to them at home and not miss my full-size rig too much. The Timeless are actually becoming a problem, they're better than what I expected and they do things better than my full-size planars. I've spent the last months successfully finding the right pads for my Audeze Sine, only to find out now that they don't do timbre as well the Timeless. And my Quad Era-1 sounds very much like a full-size version of the Timeless except that I love how focused the imaging is on the Timeless in comparison (I blame the dipole nature of open-back planars for that).

 

[hamhamhamsta]

I was thinking the same thing yesterday, the sound is definitely bigger than many other iems, and the low end response definitely plays a big role in that. My RE400 have a similar tuning for instance but when I which back to the Timeless it's like activating a subwoofer and making everything bigger and effortless. I can listen to them at home and not miss my full-size rig too much. The Timeless are actually becoming a problem, they're better than what I expected and they do things better than my full-size planars. I've spent the last months successfully finding the right pads for my Audeze Sine, only to find out now that they don't do timbre as well the Timeless. And my Quad Era-1 sounds very much like a full-size version of the Timeless except that I love how focused the imaging is on the Timeless in comparison (I blame the dipole nature of open-back planars for that).

Add a tube portable amp. It’s heavenly, sounds analogue yet has all the characteristics of planar, clarity, cleanliness galore. Thumping yet deep deep subbass. Timbre is to die for. I don’t miss all the more expensive iems like Fir M5, EE Odin. Excellent excellent iem ( The premise is you need excellent DAP and cable)

 

[F700]

Spent another 100 hours with the Timeless, now reaching the ca. 250 hours mark.

Now that the cable discussion has calmed down a bit, should we start with burn-in? No, obviously not. Still, I am surprised that mood and psychic/physical fatigue level (among other seldom spoken criteria) are rarely taken into account, when it comes to music/sound perception. With a given set-up, meaning a chain made of the same « music files-source-cable-transducer-tips-ears », I know that my own perception is different everyday, and can even evolve during an interrupted listening session. An uniform and absolutely stable perception of the music is utopia to me. Cable X or Tips Y being in action. You can agree or not.

A passionate debate is better than no debate at all. Too much love for the Timeless? Nope. These definitely rock and every owner surely will find his way to enjoy them to the max given the options/material at hand.

It’s week-end guys, time to relax and enjoy some cool tunes with the Timeless or any transducers you like.

Once more, different flavors for different moods:

 

[Musicoflife]

Ordered my second pair
Just in case..

I'm sorely tempted to do the same.

But now that the market has seen a single planar driver iem that actually delivers - and the global sales, best selling over $150? - I bet we'll be soon seeing a raft of single planar offerings from the likes of Fiio, Moondrop, Dunu et al. Whoever makes the Timeless driver, likely an OEM, could be busy now designing for those big brands.

Will be exciting to see not if but how much Timeless can be improved on.