[TheTrace]

Would a really good headphone or earbud as is benefit from a different or "better" cable (like silver)? Or is it more to it than that like the overall design of the earbud? Thanks in advance.

 

[bigshot]

Not unless the cable you are using is defective in some way.

 

[TheTrace]

Thank you, was suspecting as much.

 

[bigshot]

No problem. Enjoy your music!

 

[ev13wt]

Would a really good headphone or earbud as is benefit from a different or "better" cable (like silver)? Or is it more to it than that like the overall design of the earbud? Thanks in advance.

If you are using very sensitive IEMS... and an improper amplifier for those low Ohm earbuds, there IS or CAN be audible shifts in frequency response. As such, using a higher resistance wire can help balance it out. But its like placing one race tire on a car with 3 normal tires, where one is already flat. It will drive different with that race tire, true...

Proper amp for the headphones: Cable change will result in 0.001% sound difference. So yes. It changes the sound.

Changing pads changes the tonal balance. Changes in dampening materials, or filter material, All those thing make a difference.


Sticking your earbuds in slightly different, or 32th of an inch different positioning of normal headphones on your head: this changes the sound orders of magnitude higher than any cable ever could.

 

[overgang]

Would a really good headphone or earbud as is benefit from a different or "better" cable (like silver)?

Depends on what you mean by 'benefit'. Better sound, no. Better looks or comfort, maybe.

 

[bigshot]

You're fine, The Trace. Don't worry about it.

 

[ev13wt]

Depends on what you mean by 'benefit'. Better sound, no. Better looks or comfort, maybe.

Well, if you place some Beyerdynamic T1 pads on a DT-770, you will receive: less bass, less isolation, different distance (driver to ear). Even old, used pads vs. the same model new can be "different". So you can certainly make it worse quite easily. Making it sound "different" isn't very hard. Making it sound better ... that is a challenge best combined with great measuement gear, so one can understand what is going on. edit: repeatability!

But what bigshot said is true: don't worry about it, you are fine.


Enjoy the music. Don't chase "perfect sound" as it does not exist.

If you really want to learn a bit, go get the kindle version of this book and read the first 3 chapters.
https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Reproduction-Psychoacoustics-Loudspeakers-Engineering/dp/0240520092

Worth the time as well:

 

[sonitus mirus]

Just for fun. This site is full of audio calculation tools:

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/Calculations03.htm

There are tons of methods to calculate wire properties.

Here is one way that you can play around with the different properties and values to see just how small the changes are in most typical consumer applications.

Assume we want to look at a 4 meter long, copper, stranded, 16 AWG speaker cable.

An online calculator is available that automatically converts AWG of solid wire to the diameter in mm. This conversion tool is located near the bottom of the page under the following heading:

Conversion and calculation of cable diameter to AWG
and AWG to cable diameter in mm - American Wire Gauge

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-cross-section.htm

For a stranded wire, we need to convert the wire diameter to cross-sectional area. The same link from above also includes the tool for converting a solid wire diameter to cross-sectional area:

Again, this information can be calculated on many similar sites.

Here is one example that is very basic and easy for someone like myself to use:

http://mustcalculate.com/electronics/wireproperties.php?mat=cu&l=4&area=1.3088&areae=mm2&temp=25

You can easily change the parameters and see how much of an impact it might create. I only see a few milliohms difference between silver and copper until you start using very long or thick wires. The tiny amount of attenuation from using copper over silver would be minimal and most likely insignificant compared to the room acoustics. It's possible that placing a beer a few inches in one direction or another on a table might impact the sound more than changing from copper to silver wire material. I'd like to state for the record that I would love to volunteer myself for that experiment, provided the beer is fresh.

 

[Thenewguy007]

Not unless the cable you are using is defective in some way.

If it isn't occ silver, then it's defective

 

[Speedskater]

................................................................................................
You can easily change the parameters and see how much of an impact it might create. I only see a few milliohms difference between silver and copper until you start using very long or thick wires. The tiny amount of attenuation from using copper over silver would be minimal and most likely insignificant compared to the room acoustics. It's possible that placing a beer a few inches in one direction or another on a table might impact the sound more than changing from copper to silver wire material. I'd like to state for the record that I would love to volunteer myself for that experiment, provided the beer is fresh.

It's doubtful that you could find a copper and silver wire that were identical in length and cross-section area. But if you did, the difference would be about the same as a 10 foot copper wire compared to a 10 foot 6 inch copper wire.

 

[Speedskater]

If it isn't occ silver, then it's defective

Conveniently electricity doesn't read forums, so it doesn't know that it's supposed to act differently wire silver wire.

 

[Thenewguy007]

Conveniently electricity doesn't read forums, so it doesn't know that it's supposed to act differently wire silver wire.

Well it's a good thing that the conductivity of metals do read forums then
Because they have a measurement for types of metals & silver OCC has the fastest rating on the International Annealed Copper Standard system (IACS).

 

[ev13wt]

Well it's a good thing that the conductivity of metals do read forums then
Because they have a measurement for types of metals & silver OCC has the fastest rating on the International Annealed Copper Standard system (IACS).

But then again, audio signals are veeeerrrry sloooowwww.

 

[colonelkernel8]

Well it's a good thing that the conductivity of metals do read forums then
Because they have a measurement for types of metals & silver OCC has the fastest rating on the International Annealed Copper Standard system (IACS).

If you think you’re going to win this argument with this line of reasoning, I recommend doing some basic research into how electricity travels through materials first. “Speed” in this context makes no sense at all.