I just got some when I ordered my amp and dac from Schiit. Oddly enough also for a pair of sundara's lol. I decided to get the Ninja cables mostly because of limited options and price point. The cheap ones from amazon looked ok but after doing some searching got pretty mixed reviews. Sounds like they have poor quality control issues. Which is to be expected at that price point I guess. And everything else I was finding was just stupid expensive in my opinion. Heck the stock cables from hifiman are freaking 130 bucks! And I was wanting like a 8-10 foot long cable. The Ninja cables, single ended with a 1/4 jack and 10 foot length was like 80 bucks or so with express shipping.
I got an email after ordering them letting me know the order went through on the website. I never received another email letting me know they were being built, when they actually shipped or any kind of tracking number. I think I got them in under a week which I didn't think was bad considering he probably had to make them because of the longer length.
They came in a fancy branded cardboard box, no real extra packaging of any kind for protection but they are just cables and they made it to me just fine. Inside the box is the cables, a pen, a bottle opener/key chain and a little card telling you how to know which cable is the left from the right when you plug them in (they are not marked L and R or anything). They look nice enough with fabric sheathing and nice hardware with solid connections. The cable was not as stiff as I thought it would from reading reviews. A few said they are bit stiff I think. I was expecting something like RG6 RF cable stiff or something I guess lol. They are supple enough to coil up and lay nicely while using them. I would say about the same as my XLR cables for my microphone set up. They look good. They don't look like flashy expensive cables or anything. Just nicely made, solid black cables. And they feel 10 times better than the stock ones. Those were just gross.
Sound, well hmm. When I got all my other stuff, amp and dac I didn't have the cables yet. I was using the stock cables with an extension. When I got the new cables I swapped them out and started listening. They sounded fine, no issues so I didn't fuss with it any more than that. I am not a cable guy and don't pay a lot of attention to it. I have done a lot of testing and messing around in past years with home audio interconnect cables and speaker wire and never found there to be a difference unless something was wrong or damaged. I even took some very expensive cables on loan from a high end store once because they said once I heard them I would want them. I couldn't tell a difference from standard speaker wire so I took them back. So I never bothered comparing these cables to the old ones.
So I decided what the heck, lets test it out. It shouldn't take long and I have the time. At least I can tell everyone they sound just as good as the stock ones and I will feel honest about it. I just got done listening to both and I honest to god can't believe I am saying this. They actually sound better than the stock ones. Something I thought I would never say in my life about a set of cables. They sound "cleaner", especially in the highs, but over all in general. I wouldn't say they have more frequency range. I don't think the highs were any higher but then again I didn't break out any test tones and a spl meter either lol. It just sounded more clean if that makes sense. And maybe a bit more detail. They also had a wider sound stage. For sure, that isn't a "I think it felt like it had a better sound stage". They for sure had a wider sound stage. Not by any huge amount, but it was there. I think maybe better imaging as well but that is more of a "I think" kind of thing. I wouldn't bet a kidney on it or anything. And I didn't notice anything like more bass or anything like that either. It was kind of like the difference when I was testing out other amps and dacs compared to the Asgard and modi 3+. I would say the difference was kind of like going from a cheap crappy dac to the modi 3+. It was just better and more clean. Not as big of a difference though. And I don't think I was biased in any kind of way. I really wasn't expecting them to sound better after all. It was kind of a surprise really. And I wasn't trying to justify the purchase because I don't think the price was that much really. I mean the stock cables cost almost twice as much!
I first found his website because I was thinking of going balanced at one point so I was looking at balanced cables. His are by far the most affordable balanced cables I found. Aside from the amazon ones. Then I decided to go single ended and after looking around on the internet he still seemed like the best deal between quality and price.
I would recommend them, I am happy with the purchase.
My only comment to Ninja would be to drop the fancy box, pen and key chain and either lower the prices or go with labeled connectors. I would have really loved to see an L and R or at least a white and red dot or something.
. Anyway, I have a 5ft pair of the audiophile ninjas and a 5ft pair of gravediggers on the way (both used, less than $150 total delivered for both) for comparison. Whichever I like better I keep, the other goes on usaudiomart, catch and release, as they say. And yes, I will consider sound as well as convenience, price and construction/looks in my personal evaluation. The gravedigger will be at a slight disadvantage because I will have to use a 3.5mm to 1/4” adapter, but I have a handful of those adapters laying around (just to make things even more interesting I can do a shootout of which adapter sounds best - Lol!). Hoping one or both of them will allow for that slight bit of missing bass traction whose absence keeps me from all out raving about the Anandas (off topic, but I don’t hear the midrange glare others complain about with these phones, but I do think the bass, while extended is a little soft). To me this is the type of subtle subjective qualitative difference cables can make, probably due to differences in capacitance and resistance matching and the like - they’re never going to be night and day differences, except in the case of a grossly flawed wire. But the devil is in the details. IMHO.
