hifuguy
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2011
- Posts
- 97
- Likes
- 39
I've been enjoying my Lanzuli Reference for several months now, so it's nicely burned in (both the cable and/or my brain) and I can now confidently chime-in with my experiences with it. Here's the context of my system. The source consists of a Mac Mini running Roon Core. It goes through a nothing-special switch to a dedicated Intel NUC7i3 that is running Euphony software (simply awesome!) to become a Roon Endpoint. The DAC/Headphone amplifier is a Hugo 2, connected with an Audioquest Cinnamon USB cable. The headphones are the newer Sennheiser HD800S. My musical leanings are such that I like full-range, yet highly-detailed presentation. As many of us have learned the hard (read expensive) way, it is so easy to mistake brightness for detail, which ultimately becomes fatiguing and no fun. You can tell when it's happening when you don't want to listen for extended session.
So any worthwhile review needs a frame of reference. So here's mine. Three years ago, I visited the Axponia show and got a chance to drop by the DanaCable booth and meet Dana. He was offering direct A-B comparisons of their their Lanzuli cable (the only one they had at that time a few years ago) to the stock cable of a couple high-end headphone brands, including the HifiMan and Sennheiser. The difference in SQ between the respective manufacture's cable and the Lanzuli cable was nothing short of a stunning revelation to me. The comparison made me think and say that they don't even sound like the same headphone... which they didn't. At the time, I was using a HifiMan HE500 with a Chord Mojo. Dana told me that they couldn't fit their cable into a 1/8" plug for the Mojo. I had a (probably ill-advised) mind-block about using an adapter. So time passes... and I upgrade to my current Sennheiser 800S headphones and a Chord Hugo 2. Major upgrades there. The stock Sennheiser cable is a reasonably-nice looking, yet crazy-long cable. The next year at Axponia, I listened to and liked the WyWires headphone cable. Talking to WyWires led to my purchase of a WyWires Platinum (not Red) headphone cable for the 800S. That was indeed a significant upgrade in sound quality over the stock cable, just as you might expect. Yet, in my mind, I never was able to forget those DanaCable A-B comparisons and how dramatic they were. So, that nagging feeling finally got the best of me and I reached out to DanaCable with a question. Vinh Vu at DanaCable nearly instantaneously responded with answers and a rather rapid-fire email dialog ensued. That dialog lead me to the decision to take a leap-of-faith and try-out not just the DanaCable, but the DanaCable Reference. I kind of thought I'd lost my mind, yet Vinh could not have been any nicer and more accommodating. I got the sense that I could trust him, his company and his advice... that goes for Dana too. A total pleasure to deal with them, just in case your wondering. They are flexible and will listen to ideas. So, that's the background leading up to my review and comparisons between the three headphone cables: The stock 800S cable, the WyWyres Platinum and the the Lanzuli Reference.
So as noted, the stock 800S cable simply does the headphones no justice at all. I really don't understand why Sennheiser sells them with that cable. If you have the 800S and that's all you have listened to, then you have no idea of how good your headphone really is, yet. The crazy-long length of the stock cable doesn't help either. The WyWires Platinum is a clear and worthwhile step-up. It's a better sounding cable, all the way around and is fairly reasonable... trust me, get rid of the stock 800S cable at all cost. So, with all of that said, the Lanzuli Reference simply blows them away. It's not even close. Going back to the WyWyers from the Lanzuli Reference presents you with a sense of loss. You loose that sense being at the musical event. You loose bass definition and strength. You loose soundstage, in that the music collapses closer into your head. The music with the Lanzuli Reference just draws you into it, there's a sense of completeness and coherence. There's a sense of balance from bass notes to high treble notes. I sit down and think I'm going to listen for a few minutes and that turns into a couple hours... frequently. It's the just-one-more-song thing. That's when you know it really good. So, if you've been thinking about headphone cables, I can totally endorse the Lanzuli Reference. The Lanzuli Reference is an investment that I would do again in a heartbeat. It's a thing of beauty, in terms of sound quality, physical build quality, appearance and simply end-game satisfaction and peace. And just for the record, I have no links to DanaCable... wish I did!
So any worthwhile review needs a frame of reference. So here's mine. Three years ago, I visited the Axponia show and got a chance to drop by the DanaCable booth and meet Dana. He was offering direct A-B comparisons of their their Lanzuli cable (the only one they had at that time a few years ago) to the stock cable of a couple high-end headphone brands, including the HifiMan and Sennheiser. The difference in SQ between the respective manufacture's cable and the Lanzuli cable was nothing short of a stunning revelation to me. The comparison made me think and say that they don't even sound like the same headphone... which they didn't. At the time, I was using a HifiMan HE500 with a Chord Mojo. Dana told me that they couldn't fit their cable into a 1/8" plug for the Mojo. I had a (probably ill-advised) mind-block about using an adapter. So time passes... and I upgrade to my current Sennheiser 800S headphones and a Chord Hugo 2. Major upgrades there. The stock Sennheiser cable is a reasonably-nice looking, yet crazy-long cable. The next year at Axponia, I listened to and liked the WyWires headphone cable. Talking to WyWires led to my purchase of a WyWires Platinum (not Red) headphone cable for the 800S. That was indeed a significant upgrade in sound quality over the stock cable, just as you might expect. Yet, in my mind, I never was able to forget those DanaCable A-B comparisons and how dramatic they were. So, that nagging feeling finally got the best of me and I reached out to DanaCable with a question. Vinh Vu at DanaCable nearly instantaneously responded with answers and a rather rapid-fire email dialog ensued. That dialog lead me to the decision to take a leap-of-faith and try-out not just the DanaCable, but the DanaCable Reference. I kind of thought I'd lost my mind, yet Vinh could not have been any nicer and more accommodating. I got the sense that I could trust him, his company and his advice... that goes for Dana too. A total pleasure to deal with them, just in case your wondering. They are flexible and will listen to ideas. So, that's the background leading up to my review and comparisons between the three headphone cables: The stock 800S cable, the WyWyres Platinum and the the Lanzuli Reference.
So as noted, the stock 800S cable simply does the headphones no justice at all. I really don't understand why Sennheiser sells them with that cable. If you have the 800S and that's all you have listened to, then you have no idea of how good your headphone really is, yet. The crazy-long length of the stock cable doesn't help either. The WyWires Platinum is a clear and worthwhile step-up. It's a better sounding cable, all the way around and is fairly reasonable... trust me, get rid of the stock 800S cable at all cost. So, with all of that said, the Lanzuli Reference simply blows them away. It's not even close. Going back to the WyWyers from the Lanzuli Reference presents you with a sense of loss. You loose that sense being at the musical event. You loose bass definition and strength. You loose soundstage, in that the music collapses closer into your head. The music with the Lanzuli Reference just draws you into it, there's a sense of completeness and coherence. There's a sense of balance from bass notes to high treble notes. I sit down and think I'm going to listen for a few minutes and that turns into a couple hours... frequently. It's the just-one-more-song thing. That's when you know it really good. So, if you've been thinking about headphone cables, I can totally endorse the Lanzuli Reference. The Lanzuli Reference is an investment that I would do again in a heartbeat. It's a thing of beauty, in terms of sound quality, physical build quality, appearance and simply end-game satisfaction and peace. And just for the record, I have no links to DanaCable... wish I did!
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