[koshertattoo392]

Hello everyone,

When it comes to cables, I can see majority of the people tend to switch to after market cables in terms of better music quality. However, this brings me the questions like are those after-market cables really better in every aspects than the stock cables?

I had some experiences with IEMs, I can clearly see than when it comes to the price range above 1000$, many of those IEMs models comes with stock cables that are quite decent in terms of quality, therefore I always tend to stick with the stock cables with it comes to a much high-end IEMs, to prevent any potential changes that alter the sound signature to the IEMs (headphones).

I'm not sure if I'm heading the right direction here since I can see after-market cables are quite popular these days, I can see lots of people talking about cables from brands like Effect Audio, they got pretty good cables, especially their popular models with price range 100$-300$.

So perhaps switching to after-market cables may not be necessary all the time especially when you are already purchasing an IEM or headphone that already comes with premium price tag above 1000$.

Would love to hear what other people think.

Cheers

 

[theveterans]

With aftermarket cables on high tier IEMs, it's all about synergy in a way that you want the least amount of sins of omission and most amount of sins of commission. This is barring the looks or feel of the cable. You can also play the DAP rolling to see which DAPs synergize the most with your IEM of choice and stock cables

 

[Roseval]

There are two types of copper.
Copper: the one that comes with your headphone
Aftermarket copper, the type of copper you get when you buy a after market cable. Of course after market copper is superior to copper because it is after market copper!
Obvious there are better ways to waste your money then buying after market cables.

Next question, did I buy a after market cable?
Yes I did.
When the original audiophile style cable of my HD800 started to break, I bought one from Hart Cables.
Light, flexible, really a delight compared with the stiff and heavy original one. Really an improvement in comfort.
Did it sound better?
Of course not because even high quality copper (they use Mogami!) remains what is is: copper.

 

[Terriero]

You are new here, you can trust what people say about cables or check by yourself (preferred with a blind test) or go to the Sound-science forum to see what science say about that...

 

[H T T]

You are new here, you can trust what people say about cables or check by yourself (preferred with a blind test) or go to the Sound-science forum to see what science say about that...

And what does the science say? What does that science measure? That changing the RLC characteristics from one cable to another changes or doesn't change what in particular and to what degree?

IME, most of the time the cable (unless going from SE to balanced) does not change much but there have been isolated times when it is a night/day difference (the Tansio Mirai Sands sure showed me that a cable change can dramatically change the sound of an IEM. Putting the Penon Fan cable on the Sands sure changed the Sands sonic presentation. The Sands' cable sure changed the edge definition of my Penon Serial from the stock cable). Meanwhile, the Hana 2021 is pretty much 100% resistant, sonically, to cable changes...

Some aftermarket cables are much more comfortable than the stock cables. Most of the time that is the biggest change, IME.

 

[koshertattoo392]

There are two types of copper.
Copper: the one that comes with your headphone
Aftermarket copper, the type of copper you get when you buy a after market cable. Of course after market copper is superior to copper because it is after market copper!
Obvious there are better ways to waste your money then buying after market cables.

Next question, did I buy a after market cable?
Yes I did.
When the original audiophile style cable of my HD800 started to break, I bought one from Hart Cables.
Light, flexible, really a delight compared with the stiff and heavy original one. Really an improvement in comfort.
Did it sound better?
Of course not because even high quality copper (they use Mogami!) remains what is is: copper.

I shared the similar opinions here, perhaps it was only necessary to switch the cable until the stock cable breaks. Not to mention that the upgrade to sound quality is usually minimal when lots of high-end IEMs (headphone) already comes with decent stock cable in the first place.

 

[koshertattoo392]

And what does the science say? What does that science measure? That changing the RLC characteristics from one cable to another changes or doesn't change what in particular and to what degree?

IME, most of the time the cable (unless going from SE to balanced) does not change much but there have been isolated times when it is a night/day difference (the Tansio Mirai Sands sure showed me that a cable change can dramatically change the sound of an IEM. Putting the Penon Fan cable on the Sands sure changed the Sands sonic presentation. The Sands' cable sure changed the edge definition of my Penon Serial from the stock cable). Meanwhile, the Hana 2021 is pretty much 100% resistant, sonically, to cable changes...

Some aftermarket cables are much more comfortable than the stock cables. Most of the time that is the biggest change, IME.

I'm in a situation like I don't have the chance to try lots of different cable, and I don't want to blindly read some reviews and then buy a after-market cables that I believe is going to sound good on my headphone. So therefore perhaps sticking to stock cable is the best option for me.

 

[ExTubeGamer]

The typical chifi In ear und 300$ at best comes with an ok cable. Aftermarket cables are very often an upgrade to the stock cable.

 

[GREQ]

Aftermarket cables don't change the sound of a headphone.

They can however be designed better, be more flexible, more portable, easier to wind/unwind etc.
Their utility is far more important than any placebo they have on the sound.

 

[Tiax]

I can see majority of the people tend to switch to after market cables in terms of better music quality.

If they do it for "better music quality", they have more money than sense, it's that simple.
But it's fortunately not majority, most people don't care about cables at all, it's only loud few here on head-fi.

 

[ExTubeGamer]

Aftermarket cables don't change the sound of a headphone.

They can however be designed better, be more flexible, more portable, easier to wind/unwind etc.
Their utility is far more important than any placebo they have on the sound.

I can hear the difference.

 

[GREQ]

I can hear the difference.

Didn't ask.

 

[megabigeye]

The only times that I can think of that a cable might make any difference at all is if A) it's broken, or B) the IEM is extremely low impedance with a non-flat impedance curve, and the cable is extremely high impedance (the cable's impedance would have to be almost 1/8 of the IEM's). But even then the chances of it improving the sound are very slim, because how it affects the sound will come down to the shape of the impedance curve.

 

[buke9]

While not wanting to get into a cable debate I do think cables make a bit of difference. I got a pair of Unique Melody Multiverse Mentors and the cable being a woven outer cable gave some noise when moving around. I looked for another cable and settled on the Eletech Raphael being well made and sounding close on audition. While neither cable is broken they do sound different. I also have a Effects Audio Aries that came with my Empire Ears Phantom‘s and sounds definitely different than the others.