[Ancipital]

Hi all,
 
I want to replace the (overlong, plastic-y, kink-prone) cable of various headphones with shorter, less troublesome cable. I was sort of interested in these:
 
https://customcans.co.uk/s/s/index.php/shop-for/hd-25-sp-hd600-hd650/hd600-unbalanced-cable.html
 
The only downside is that since I'm not a teenage boy, I don't really like the gold "woman in underwear waving guns around" logo printed all over them, they're downright embarrassing. So my question is whether other UK-based people have alternate suggestions of where to look? I specifically want a UK company, so I can have nice fast shipping and lack of customs hassle (so no US-based outlets, Chinese ebay sales are right out too). I'd like to avoid paying more, as I can't drink too much kool-aid without feeling a little funny.
 
So, suggestions? If you have personal experience of a company's service and product quality, all the better. Thanks in advance!

 

[Vigrith]

Frank at Toxic Cable is far and away your best bet within the UK, he has a thread here and he also replies to e-mails super fast from my personal experience. They don't offer as many colours and stuff as customcans but seeing as you seem to want something a little more sober and less flashy I'm certain they'll be to your liking.
 
Little more expensive though.

 

[Ancipital]

Thanks for the response! 
 
Yes, I looked at those, and they look very pretty, and are doubtless well-made.
 
However, 80-odd quid is already straining at my credulity. The claims of  being constructed from "unidirectional" cable was probably the straw that broke the camel's back. I can talk myself into a physically sturdy, attractive cable with good solid connectors, that is shorter, and less and prone to kinking and tangling.. but I'm really not great a believing in magic. Hell, there's a very real danger that my colleagues (especially in the audio team) would stage an intervention, too.
 
(I know, I'm a grumpy sod, and this is probably heresy around here, but it can't be helped!)

 

[Vigrith]

I wouldn't think it to be heresy at all, I personally care very little for the sonic performance and/or differences between certain types of cables. The custom cables I've bought were all because I'm a sucker for aesthetics and I was not happy with certain qualities of the stocks or because I needed balanced plugs - Hifiman cables are super stiff, Audeze cables are heavy and uncomfortable, HD650 cables look boring, etc. That terminology a la "unidirectional cable" never bothered me but I understand how it might.
 
The fact a company can make me one cut to my preferred measurements, terminations, sleeving, colours, etc is enough for it to be my money's worth most the time. Though if I remember correctly Toxic Cables' entry level are like 100 quid right, not exactly chump change and a little bit over what the customcans ones cost.
 
That said I have purchased a fair amount of cables (headphones or otherwise) from Matt at Forza Audiowork - he's based off of Poland and the cables are personally tailored so the ETA is probably around 3 weeks after order depending on how busy he is at the time. His entry level cable starts at like 25 quid though and is fully customizable, think I paid around 40 for my 4ft one and the build is excellent, he's extremely pleasant to deal with too if that's at all relevant.

 

[Ancipital]

Yes, that's exactly it; nicer cables in terms of mechanical characteristics, and possibly secretly aesthetics too. That's easier to rationalise, even if the cost is somewhat steep. I'll have to see how pliable and advanced my cognitive dissonance can be, as I do like shiny things.
 
Thanks for the suggestion of Forza, I will take a longer look when their website is less wobbly, it's throwing intermittent 500 errors on product pages right now, e.g.:
 
http://forzaaudioworks.com/en/product.php?id_product=79
 
Anyway, food for thought, and it's nice to run across someone of a similar inclination. 

 

[Vigrith]

I love shiny things to the point where I physically cannot help myself some times, had to hold back on buying a $350 Norne Draug for a long time, managed to talk myself out of it but I'm definitely going to order the cheaper Vanquish (like $200 instead) soon enough.
 
Shame the FAW site is down right now, I can see it is having problems on my end too, never happened before though so I assume it'll be back up soon.
 
Food for thought indeed. 

 

 

[ElectroMod]

Try Atlas cables there are now making custom headphones cables any length with any termination.
 
Mark

 

[Toxic Cables]

  Thanks for the response! 
 
Yes, I looked at those, and they look very pretty, and are doubtless well-made.
 
However, 80-odd quid is already straining at my credulity. The claims of  being constructed from "unidirectional" cable was probably the straw that broke the camel's back. I can talk myself into a physically sturdy, attractive cable with good solid connectors, that is shorter, and less and prone to kinking and tangling.. but I'm really not great a believing in magic. Hell, there's a very real danger that my colleagues (especially in the audio team) would stage an intervention, too.
 
(I know, I'm a grumpy sod, and this is probably heresy around here, but it can't be helped!)

Could you please tell me which cable you saw unidirectional on, this was my wire manufacturers description from 4 years ago (most well known OCC wire manufacturer out there) and was removed from my cables 4 years ago. If it's left on any cables by mistake, please let me know.
 
4 years ago i also posted on my appreciation thread a email from said manufacturer on why they called the wire unidirectional, but still chose to remove from my cables as to not confuse my customers.
 
Prices on cables cables can very hugely from the wires/connectors used, All of our cables use custom wires manufactured for us by the most well know OCC wire manufacturers, which are then hand made from braiding the entire cable to assembling the connectors. We can offer much cheaper cables with Canare and Mogami wire which keep in stock for a studio we make cables for, these wires take a lot less work and are cheap to buy, so we can offer them a lot cheaper to those that want these
 
By the way, have you looked on eBay, some nicely made cables being sold there pretty cheap from 

 

[Ancipital]

Sure:
 
https://www.toxic-cables.co.uk/product/scorpion-24awg-occ-cryo-copper-cable/
 
"The base metal used is unidirectional UPOCC. Being almost free of impurity (upto 99.99999% pure copper) this gives the cable ideal electrical resistance properties with almost no crystal boundaries. This allows the cable to transmit electrical signals faster and with less distortion than ordinary OFC and silver wires."
 
Interesting about the Canare and Mogami options- is it forbidden for you to reply here with how much it would be to make up a cable for HD650 at your normal length with either of these (terminated in a fairly reasonable 3.5mm)? If you're not allowed to reply here with that info, feel free to stick it in a PM.
 
I did look at ebay, but it's a bit wild west, sometimes. Hard to tell what's good and what's not.

 

[Toxic Cables]

  Sure:
 
https://www.toxic-cables.co.uk/product/scorpion-24awg-occ-cryo-copper-cable/
 
"The base metal used is unidirectional UPOCC. Being almost free of impurity (upto 99.99999% pure copper) this gives the cable ideal electrical resistance properties with almost no crystal boundaries. This allows the cable to transmit electrical signals faster and with less distortion than ordinary OFC and silver wires."
 
Interesting about the Canare and Mogami options- is it forbidden for you to reply with a how much it would be to make up a cable for HD650 at your normal length with either of these? If you're not allowed to reply here with that info, feel free to stick it in a PM.
 
I did look at ebay, but it's a bit wild west, sometimes. Hard to tell what's good and what's not.

Thank you, was just having a look and it seems this was the only once that was missed, will take care of it tomorrow.
 
We should be able to do one at £60.
 
I think i have some HD650 cables wire our own wires in stock, just have heat shrink prints i was not completely happy with in a drawer somewhere, if you wanted one of those we could let go of them with a chunk off the retail price, saves us re doing them again. If you PM me i can have a look at what we have once i get in, but if i remember correctly, i know i have a 6ft Viper.

 

[imas69]

I have bought some connectors and some wire from cosmic-cables.co.uk but I haven't bought one of their cables YET, I am very interested to hear if any one has one, I
think they are a new company but the service was good and everything was in stock and with me in two days.

 

[wwinter86]

I use Custom Cables UK they are a great company

 

[mikem1062]

Oidio Sound is another UK-based option.