[rprodrigues]

You are not the only one who claims TRN pure silver cables might not be that 'pure'. Someone from another forum told me we should look for another brands since he knows TRN close enought to say such a thing...

Anyway, I would love to try the $25 ones from them althought one may find similar cables from another brands for about $ 35.

 

[Slater]

You are not the only one who claims TRN pure silver cables might not be that 'pure'. Someone from another forum told me we should look for another brands since he knows TRN close enought to say such a thing...

Well, those that know me know that I always give people the benefit of the doubt.

I don’t know if the T3 cable is pure solid silver or not. It very well could be. It’s theoretically possible TRN is losing money on every one of them to help win back customer confidence after their previous behavior. It’s also theoretically possible that they’re lying and selling a cable that’s sterling silver plated copper.

The only way to know for a FACT is for me to tear it down myself and assay the total metal’s purity (not just possible surface platings). Then we will all know for certain. Until then, we just have to take their claims at face value.

 

[Captainbeefturd]

Well, I’m not saying that the TRN cable is or isn’t pure, solid silver (not just silver plated). I would have to do assay testing of a TRN cable to know for sure.

I DO know for a 100% fact that FiiO makes a pure, solid silver cable of very high quality. It runs $100, which is a very reasonable price. That’s why the low price of the TRN cable raises big red flag for me.

As far as the price, $10/meter is a pretty good rule of thumb price for solid silver wire of the typical gauge used for headphone cables. However, if you have a multi-core cable, you have to multiply that price x8 for an 8-core cable, x16 for a 16-core cable, etc.

So assuming a cable is 0.5meter long, an 8-core cable would use 4 meters of cable. At $10/meter, that’s $40 for JUST the bare wire. You then have to add in the ends, y split, soldering, labor, packaging, shipping, profit, etc.

See why a “pure silver” 8-core cable for $23 shipped sounds awfully suspicious and too good to be true? Especially given TRNs history of using fake wires that aren’t even connected anywhere, super thick insulation to make wires appear that the copper conductor is a heavier gauge than it really is, etc.

I’d love to get one of these T3 silver cables, properly test it, and be pleasantly surprised by TRN.

I'll have to get in touch with him and find out for sure but he's not some mucky mouse hobbyist with a soldiering iron and a voltmeter, he's a chief engineer for the Eurofighter who knows his material and buys Noble for fun and he swears by them, I sourced him one then a brought a bunch. The cable I've seen for 10usd per meter was also Braided, 8 Core Silver plated go's for about 2-3usd pm (on Ali at least). Whether it's a quality silver plate or pure it stands out against the **** or Audiosense OCC 6n or indeed other TRN 8 and 16 cores I've tried which have no auditory improvements. Maybe it's less how cheap the TRN cable is more how expensive other gear Is, trn have really worked on their QC issues of late and keen to cement their rep

 

[HardstyleLoco96]

So after a few months of owning the T800 I have been looking for another iem or headphone to compliment them. Many iems have been coming and going, many visit to stores and a lot of borrowing from friends and other people but yet I haven't found much that really made me go wow. Only a few did but were way out of my price range. Well..... recently I have had a 3 options. Sendy Aiva, Tin Hifi P1 or the Cayin YB04. I went for the P1. I purchasd them for a great price at a nice discount and luckily have a nice 2.5 balanced cable and great dac/amp to pair them with (E1DA 9038s). It has only been roughly 14 hours of listening and breaks. But all I can say is, WOW. Immediate things I noticed is low end. Roll off is there and sub bass needs a boost. At 31hz I did a 5.5 db boost and at 62hz a 4 to 3.5 db boost. This has greatly filled in the low end and now does not feel lacking and can rumble and hit hard but with an extremely clean and tight controlled low end. It is not basshead level but will satisfy for sure. I am going back and forth between the P1 and T800 and it is so strange as both iems are very different from each other. The T800 feels so much more relaxed in comparison and warmer while the P1 has a presentation similar to the Sendy Aiva but more intense and detailed. Much more detailed compared to the T800 for sure. More listening is needed but damn. It has made me realise the strengths of the T800 much more. I know it is a completely different iem and not really meant for this thread. But if anyone has been wanting to try a different iem. I highly rec the P1. I can understand why BGGAR put it as number 5 a while ago and now it is not in the list. It seriously needs power. A massive amount of power. But luckily we have a calling from heaven and the 9038s has been made. So portability is no issue now. But also EQ is needed in the low end unless you like the stock tuning of the P1. But other than those two small issues. They are close to perfect. I honestly have not heard clarity and detail like the P1 before. The treble is truly amazing, it's extremely energetic while be smooth. Smoother than the T800 and more detailed? How?. Mids are crisp and upfront. Low end is clean, tight and extremely controlled. No hype here. Issues are the power issues and need of eq and soundstage isn't the widest but never congested. But damn. I am impressed. Further more impressions to come. I really have noticed more about the T800. The T800 is a very nice warm, bright, detailed, intense, relaxing listen. It can do so much. I really appreciate it more

I loved the T800 and still do and would still choose it over many many many iems. But I think the P1 has taken the throne. The T800 made me go wow and really opened my eyes. But the P1 made me go °○°

Mind Blown. I honestly did not know what to expect. I have listened to them before, but was uncertain. I was nervous about the purchase but am beyond glad I got them.

 

[Slater]

I'll have to get in touch with him and find out for sure but he's not some mucky mouse hobbyist with a soldiering iron and a voltmeter, he's a chief engineer for the Eurofighter who knows his material

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not implying that your friend isn’t a qualified engineer or doesn’t know all about materials.

I’m not a Mickey Mouse with a soldering iron and voltmeter either. Audio and electronics is just 1 of many hobbies.

I don’t work in aviation like your friend, but I’ve been working in the silver, gold, and precious metals business (platinum, rhodium, palladium) for 30 years.

I can’t change the laws of physics and material science though. Conductivity tests are not a reliable way to assay the purity of a base metal that is possibly plated. Otherwise, everyone in the precious metals industry would just do a simple conductivity test.

Hopefully, between both myself and your friend, we can collectively shed some light on exactly what it is TRN is selling us. Your friend’s analysis may be spot on. But good scientific method dictates that results are replicated by others. If I do my testing and come to the same conclusion as your friend, then we know the results are totally reliable.

 

[Captainbeefturd]

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not implying that your friend isn’t a qualified engineer or doesn’t know all about materials.

I’m not a Mickey Mouse with a soldering iron and voltmeter either. Audio and electronics is just 1 of many hobbies.

I don’t work in aviation like your friend, but I’ve been working in the silver, gold, and precious metals business (platinum, rhodium, palladium) for 30 years.

I can’t change the laws of physics and material science though. Conductivity tests are not a reliable way to assay the purity of a base metal that is possibly plated. Otherwise, everyone in the precious metals industry would just do a simple conductivity test.

Hopefully, between both myself and your friend, we can collectively shed some light on exactly what it is TRN is selling us. Your friend’s analysis may be spot on. But good scientific method dictates that results are replicated by others. If I do my testing and come to the same conclusion as your friend, then we know the results are totally reliable.

Lol I realised what that sounded like just as I clicked 'post', my apologies. If anyone's the 'Micky Mouse' hobbyist with a soldering iron and voltmeter it's me, although my solderings pretty ropey at best, plus as far as you know he could well be a slightly camp jumped up rodent. I'm sure he would have known how to discern plated from pure so I'll find out what methods he did in fact use. Unfortunately I doubt many of us have access to use let alone own the kind of equipment available to multimillion pound MOD subcontractor. Hopefully he was able to produce verifiable hard results from said equipment without getting a disciplinary and security clearance revoked for using ministry of defence equipment to assess essentially Chinese electrical equipment.

 

[zachmal]

Newbie question: are they supposed to smooth some peaks?

the faaeal litz cable definitely, it has been mentioned to smooth, roll off the peaks a bit

I'm currently using it with the Nicehck NX7 - seems to be a good match, emphasizes the bass also a somewhat

 

[Captainbeefturd]

Exactly.

It would have to use destructive testing. The wire would have to be cut, stripped of insulation, then melted and the metal assayed for purity.

I do already possess all the appropriate equipment and knowledge to properly perform the purity tests. I just need to decide if I’m even willing to throw the money away on the tests given TRNs track record with cables.

If you ask LuckyAudio nicely he'll do you one for under 20usd (paid about £16 for mine) so maybe worth the gamble. My guys in work in Preston until the weekend I'd imagine, see if he's got some read outs. Can confidentially report it's absolutely a good cable either way and as I say the most expensive detailed sounding cable even close to the price I've heard, better than any advertised silver plated (trn, kbear **** etc) and notably better than my Audiosense or Linsoul occ 6n single crystal copper. Whether its plated or pure its quite a marked improvement unless on my T800's where that spike just becomes unbearable to my ears

 

[rprodrigues]

BGGAR gave AQ3 a 'C' grade, behind S, A, B grades, in his classification sytem. It is far behind BL-03 (A grade), for example.

 

[Slater]

If you ask LuckyAudio nicely he'll do you one for under 20usd (paid about £16 for mine) so maybe worth the gamble. My guys in work in Preston until the weekend I'd imagine, see if he's got some read outs. Can confidentially report it's absolutely a good cable either way and as I say the most expensive detailed sounding cable even close to the price I've heard, better than any advertised silver plated (trn, kbear **** etc) and notably better than my Audiosense or Linsoul occ 6n single crystal copper. Whether its plated or pure its quite a marked improvement unless on my T800's where that spike just becomes unbearable to my ears

I appreciate the offer of a discount, but to remain impartial I always order all cables that I analyze from a random seller and pay the normal asking price - nothing free, no discounts, and paid for with my own money. This guarantees that I receive a random cable, purchased as an anonymous Joe Blow customer (just like everyone else). This also ensures that there can be no accusations of bias, no discounts that could influence my findings, and no chance of tampering by a seller or manufacturer sending me a 'golden' product.

 

[gazzington]

BGGAR gave AQ3 a 'C' grade, behind S, A, B grades, in his classification sytem. It is far behind BL-03 (A grade), for example.

That's a shame, I really like the aq3. Great bassy fun that I don't find fatiguing

 

[Slater]

That's a shame, I really like the aq3. Great bassy fun that I don't find fatiguing

There's 7.8 billion people in the world. If you really like the AQ3, isn't that all that matters?

 

[Captainbeefturd]

I appreciate the offer of a discount, but to remain impartial I always order all cables that I analyze from a random seller and pay the normal asking price - nothing free, no discounts, and paid for with my own money. This guarantees that I receive a random cable, purchased as an anonymous Joe Blow customer (just like everyone else). This also ensures that there can be no accusations of bias, no discounts that could influence my findings, and no chance of tampering by a seller or manufacturer sending me a 'golden' product.

More a suggestion from experience than an offer lol but appreciate your objectivity. I just buy from the seller willing to sell at the cheapest rate with most reliable dispatch, I've always assumed that stocks pretty much all drawn from the same warehouses whether it's Missaudio, ****, SA, AK or Luckylz Audio, maybe I'm wrong they seem like agents to the manufacturers/producers only price and dispatch time tends to fluctuate. Does avoid any danger of a 'Golden' product I guess

 

[gazzington]

There's 7.8 billion people in the world. If you really like the AQ3, isn't that all that matters?

Corrrect. They suit my work day with my wm1a perfectly. So much so That I may buy the t800 too

 

[Captainbeefturd]

That's a shame, I really like the aq3. Great bassy fun that I don't find fatiguing

It's a subjective game, Portafi loved them as did that spanish/Mexican dude (from what I gathered at least), ironically he's more a fan of neutral and BGGA seems more into V-shaped on the whole, they've both drawn pretty different conclusions. Maybe QC issues but mine certainly dont sound that bassy compared to most Hybrids, BGGA rated them as a Bass Head model, yet its the clear accurate highs and staging I enjoy most in the AQ3's