[ozziecook]

I have been vocal about burn-in and cables and not believing however...



This is from U.S. National Institute of Health site.

Placebo, power of suggestion and influence is real. This is pain sufferers. Imagine how easy it is to repeat the uttering of a reviewer that "A" sucks or "B" is awesome...and folks believe it....so it is.
And since perception is reality, it will likely suck or be awesome cuz....someone said so. Doctors to patients. Reviewers to buyers

Absolutely. We kinda crossed messages there.

 

[dharmasteve]

I have been vocal about burn-in and cables and not believing however...



This is from U.S. National Institute of Health site.

Placebo, power of suggestion and influence is real. This is pain sufferers. Imagine how easy it is to repeat the uttering of a reviewer that "A" sucks or "B" is awesome...and folks believe it....so it is.
And since perception is reality, it will likely suck or be awesome cuz....someone said so. Doctors to patients. Reviewers to buyers

Yes true, but there is more to it to that. In vipassana and mindfulness meditation we can train the mind to notice the subtlest of things. I think we are all open to suggestion at levels we cannot see...but we can also realistically train our minds in such detailed noticing in the subtlest of things. Two sides to this coin.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

Absolutely. We kinda crossed messages there.

Yes we did.

My strong belief that cables do nothing.... all but ensure they do not..in my mind. That is no more valid than the opposite opinion. That's why i stay out of the debate.

“And what is good, Phaedrus,
And what is not good—
Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?”

-Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

 

[RevPizzaguy]

I'm using a TRN T2 with .78 termination on my Blon. Only just got it so can't comment on sound. It fits great but leaves the plastic showing. Definitely doesn't sound any worse than the standard cable and I really don't think I'll bother swapping cables to do a comparitive.

Interesting... So it's not any worse, but curious to hear your thoughts on if it's better or if one needs to step up to the $30-$60 cables to notice a "better" sound.

 

[ozziecook]

Yes we did.

My strong belief that cables do nothing.... all but ensure they do not..in my mind. That is no more valid than the opposite opinion. That's why i stay out of the debate.

“And what is good, Phaedrus,
And what is not good—
Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?”

-Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Nice approach.
'There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so...' (Shakespeare, Hamlet Act 2, scene 2)

 

[Tonymac136]

Interesting... So it's not any worse, but curious to hear your thoughts on if it's better or if one needs to step up to the $30-$60 cables to notice a "better" sound.

I think I've noticed a slight improvement in the treble. Seriously though spending £30 on a cable on a headphone that cost me £24 seems a bit silly. I've swapped out tips with some success (currently on Symbio MandarinEs) and swapped the cable more because of the feel and aesthetics than the sound. Its already more than I intended spending. If I had £30-60 to spend on a cable I would rather drop it on another IEM with a different sound signature entirely (KBear F1, CCA C12 are two that I have bought for that reason) or put it towards a better source or stronger amplifier. Diminishing returns certainly aren't going to allow a night and day difference by blowing that money on a cable IMO.

 

[chinmie]

I often come back to the same music, the same iem, cable and all, and the sound can appear different to last time. I think mood and expectation have their role to play in influencing our senses and how we process and interpret the sounds. People can put things like this down as placebo effect, but it doesn't make it any less real...

listening to an IEM in my living room downstairs with no AC, and then going upstairs to my room that is cool with AC, listening to the same song sounded slightly different.
what are the variable changes? room temperature? ambient noise? or might be that the increased comfort makes me more perceptive?

i also tried those quantum balls an Rosenkranz stickers that my friends stick all over their DACs and earphones.

different small pressure on the ears caused by difference of cable weight might also changes the hearing experience slightly. also different cables can result in different slight variation on the way the IEM sits in the ears.

so other than slight difference in impedance (that might or might not affect the sound), that is my reasoning of why cable change can make slight difference in sound.

i personally would respect any person's opinion about cable change: placebo or scientifically proven, as long as they're happy. proofing them wrong is pointless and unhealthy

 

[voicemaster]

Yeah, I bought my BL01 after my 03 wondering if it would sound like an 03 for less money. It doesn't, (more like a Tin T2) but in ways it is better. I went over a week listening using just the BL01.

I meant bl03 not bl01. Mistyped.

 

[Tonymac136]

I meant bl03 not bl01. Mistyped.

I've got both. Both are great. Probably the best for their respective costs

Also -
Am I only driaming
Or is letmusicburn an eternal flame?

 

[Slater]

Fake ones. These aren't the exact same. I garbaged mine.

Mine were genuine.

 

[dw1narso]

regarding cable, I want to chime in a bit..

I used to run a small, home made, RCA interconnect business about 18 years ago or so... for quite short period; only about a year and sold about 20 pairs. Until I run out of time due to my office work. It was started with my DIY effort to get cheap quality products. I experimented with few types of cables... RF cable, Cat5 UTP cables, magnet wire cable, Belden 89259, etc... and used Belden 89259 for my cable business. (Note: if I'm not wrong, this is the same cable used by Blue Jeans cable)

Cable material do have effect in sound... but there's really no magic here, they are all could be explained in physics...
For example cable that is used for very high frequency (2.4GHz for example) transmission sometimes made with aluminum as the core and the copper only on the most outside surface (if you ever heard about skin effect... they really do put this into consideration for economical reason... since having all copper material would be useless for such a high frequency transmission). Now if we compare this cable with all copper cable of the same AWG size, for audio band (20Hz-20KHz)... You will easily hear the difference...

Cable core diameter and material makes difference... for example for speaker cable... if you compared 10AWG of single core cable vs 10AWG of multi strand core.... you could hear that single core big diameter cable would sound dull. Once again, law of physics could explain it...

Different cable material of quite close characteristic say 26AWG stand, OFC, non-OFC, pure copper or silver plated copper... would not be much different (if placebo really makes us believe we can hear the difference).

BUT... There is also another thing could really make them sound different.... that is how they are terminated....
If let's say you have two cables, with the same termination end connector, one with good solder joint and with non-perfect solder joint (for example cold joint).. you could hear the difference... I don't need to explain why; this could be searched on the net...

Talking about termination, different connector material and size could make the difference... but these are all actually related with how perfect the termination could be done. For example in my case... I tried cheap RCA connector which has thick metal... It was sooo difficult to get a good solder joint with it... why? because the thickness of the material absorb and spread the heat very easily... so, the result is non-prefect joint... and bad sounding... It is not as good as the same cable terminated with Neutrik Profi RCA, which is very well thought construction with thin soldering point and thus easy to make perfect solder joint. Then I tried compare Neutrik Profi with more esoteric connecter, Eichmann Bullet Plug RCA.... Perfectly terminated, both, ...no difference...

Sooo... I want to come to my point... cables... based on factors I mentioned above.... IMO... could sound different...

(And frankly... I sometimes worry if cable that is sold too cheap, would the manufacturer made correctly or not... terminated correctly or not... )

 

[ozziecook]

Sooo... I want to come to my point... cables... based on factors I mentioned above.... IMO... could sound different...

(And frankly... I sometimes worry if cable that is sold too cheap, would the manufacturer made correctly or not... terminated correctly or not... )[/QUOTE]
So with this in mind, and your experience, what would be your cable rec? (Not that I believe it makes any difference, obviously

 

[peter123]

The cable discussion is going to get this thread closed.....

Not much to talk about really, either you believe or you don't. There's no facts showing either side right or wrong.

 

[Slater]

i also tried those quantum balls an Rosenkranz stickers that my friends stick all over their DACs and earphones.

Say what now?

Quantum balls? Rosenkranz stickers?

I’ve never heard of those. What are they, and what are they supposed to do?

 

[ozziecook]

The cable discussion is going to get this thread closed.....

Not much to talk about really, either you believe or you don't. There's no facts showing either side right or wrong.

I'm not so sure this is a discussion about cables as much as it is about belief and how we interpret and hear and what influences that. Cables just happened to be part of it.
I actually think it's far more interesting (and amusing) than some of the repetitive affirmations about certain IEMs. No offence meant to anyone here, btw. It's just nice to dice it up a little, non?