[NymPHONOmaniac]

Hi all, I got couple of detachable cable with broken end and was thinking using a silver plated one for upgrading earbud I feel need more push (okay, earbud I don't like): the TY Hi Z 32ohm or the earbud include with benjie S5 (not bad, but a little shy-don't know Ohm).
Anybody already upgrade-mod one of them?
I wonder if it will gain in impact and clarity cause of beter conductivity.....
Any good story about using silver plated cable for upgrade?

Never done this before....perhaps I will do a big mess too...guess t'will be a miss or hit

 

[ClieOS]

Is the Masya better than the Zen or Stardust? Maybe @ClieOS could chime in? Cheers

Not better then the original Zen nor Stardust, but better than Zen 2.0 while below Zen 2.0 Black.

 

[slappypete]

Any good story about using silver plated cable for upgrade?

Many people claim to hear differences from upgraded cables. Objectivists will claim there is no difference in sound quality. I tend to lean more in the objective camp myself. I have recabled many headphones and have never noticed a difference in sound quality. I only recable for aesthetic reasons, or to simply have a nicer cable that has less memory effect. If a drastic change in sound quality is what you are after, I'd say you are better off trying out a different earbud instead. Measurements I've seen have showed that cables may have a minor effect at very best on frequency response. Thats not to say it isn't possible there are other things at play that can't be seen in a frequency response graph, but so far I don't know of anyone that has shown objective data confirming sonic improvements from cable swaps. If you are interested in reading about the subject this is a good read.

 

[cigarello]

Not better then the original Zen nor Stardust, but better than Zen 2.0 while below Zen 2.0 Black.

Thank you. What would you suggest for $120 for a warm, detailed sound with a bit of sub bass?

And if I order a balanced Stardust/BK do I need a balanced amp to use it? I see it can come with a balanced adapter? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of being balanced because its still ending in a 3.5mm???

 

[silverfishla]

Thanks! I didn't realize it was the NICEHCK DIY PK2. Thought it was something else.

I've been liking the DIY PK2 for the past couple of weeks, casually listening to it with a Zishan Z1. I even gave it a thumbs up and as a suggestion on this thread...but tonight I REALLY listened to it. In a dark and quiet room. It fails to pass the test in 3D headspace. The highs are cluttered and the whole thing is not very resolving. In comparison to something like Rose Masya, there is no competition.
DIY PK2 has a good sound "signature", upbeat and punchy...but it has bad resolution if you really listen to it. Sorry everyone.

 

[Mahathera]

I've been liking the DIY PK2 for the past couple of weeks, casually listening to it with a Zishan Z1. I even gave it a thumbs up and as a suggestion on this thread...but tonight I REALLY listened to it. In a dark and quiet room. It fails to pass the test in 3D headspace. The highs are cluttered and the whole thing is not very resolving. In comparison to something like Rose Masya, there is no competition.
DIY PK2 has a good sound "signature", upbeat and punchy...but it has bad resolution if you really listen to it. Sorry everyone.

No need to be sorry voicing your thoughts. It is an a forum.

I myself listen to my DIY PK2 on a bright and not so quiet environment so all good on my end.
DIY PK2 is now my daily earbuds because it is so easy in my ears. Form factor just excellent like all yuin type really. And the sound is good enough given the price for me.

 

[chaiyuta]

Hi all, I got couple of detachable cable with broken end and was thinking using a silver plated one for upgrading earbud I feel need more push (okay, earbud I don't like): the TY Hi Z 32ohm or the earbud include with benjie S5 (not bad, but a little shy-don't know Ohm).
Anybody already upgrade-mod one of them?
I wonder if it will gain in impact and clarity cause of beter conductivity.....
Any good story about using silver plated cable for upgrade?

Never done this before....perhaps I will do a big mess too...guess t'will be a miss or hit

It depends on synergy between earbuds and an cable. In case of earbuds, I don't have experience but In case of multi-BA iems. Normally silver-plated boost resolution and low-high extension. It brings fast feeling. I ever repair my old-school earbuds and I found that soldering wire has effect on SQ. in case of earbuds I recommend you use non-lead free soldering wire rather than lead free (primarly tin) soldering wire. I ever heard that some earbuds hardly to get SQ improvement when changing to high quality cable, In the contrary, some have marginally improvement. You might trial & error by yourself.

 

[springbay]

Today I decided to take some measurements of my current bud collection to try and get some objective data for comparisons. Take all this with a grain of salt because my measurement rig is far from professional.

The rig is a simple coupler attatched to a miniDSP UMIK-1 mic. The measurements are raw, uncompensated, and have no smoothing applied to them. I tried my best to get accurate and repeatable results by averaging at least 5 measurements for each earbud and re-seating the earbud for each measurement. Unless stated otherwise, the measurements were all done with Monk Plus Donut foams at 90 dB SPL. The Shozy BK was used as a reference since it is the best I have at the moment.

These measurements can only be compared to each other, not to measurements from other rigs. You can't judge too harshly any peaks or dips you see because these are uncompensated and by the time sound travels through your ears the response will have changed. Bass response won't be representative of real world bass response in your ears due to ears having a vastly different seal from the rig. What we can do is compare the responses to each other and determine which buds have more or less bass, treble, etc.

Here is the Data:

Spoiler: Measurements

I think this really illustrates what a great value the Vido is (at least in my opinion). I have a pair of Sennheiser MX980, CampFred 2, EMX500, and Edifier H180 coming in the mail, so I will be able to upload some more measurements soon if you guys are interested.

EDIT: I added Shozy BK vs SHE3800 with MP thin foams to the measurements.

Thank you for this. Inspired by your comparison I sat down and did some A/B-ing of my Seahf LD-3.0 150 (guess they're called Seahf AWK-F150C now) and my TY Hi-Z 150 on the iPhone, and also compared the Seahf Smart 1.0 to my TY Hi-Z HP320M on the XDuoo X3.
Even if the difference is not huge, I definitely prefer the Seahf tuning compared to the TY Hi-Z tuning on both. To me the Seahf buds sound more coherent and lively, and also much less fatiguing on challenging tracks like The Mars Volta – This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed.
I don't know if the right word to use should be veiled, but there is something about the TY Hi-Z that's lacking in detail and clarity in comparison to the Seahf tuning.
I got the TY Hi-Z HP650 last year and they could never match on any level with my K's 500.
When the Seahf 650 were released I thought the cable looked ugly and was so pleased with the K's 500 (still am) and underwhelmed with the TY Hi-Z HP650, that I didn't buy them.
I guess I have to give the Seahf 650 a try next time the price is right at Jim's shop, because apparently I'm a Seahf and not a TY Hi-Z kind of guy.

 

[slappypete]

@silverfishla thanks for sharing your thoughts on the DIY PK2.

@springbay you may find this interesting as well... I opened up the HP320M and Seahf Smart 1 (extremely easy to open btw, no glue) to take a look at the drivers and see if there was a difference in how the tuning foam was used. I was thinking you might be able to turn one into the other, but It turns out that they look identical inside. The drivers look the same but I can't spot any build differences so I am assuming the drivers are actually slightly different. Also worth mentioning is that not all MX500 shells I have come across are identical. On some shells the extra hole next to the cable entry hole goes all the way through to the driver area, on others this hole is closed off inside and essentially does nothing. The HP320M and Smart 1 both have this hole closed off inside. I was thinking this hole may have been designed by sennheiser to be a bass port similar to a ported loudspeaker, but I really have no idea at this point what effect it has on the tuning of the earbud.

 

[noknok23]

Diy pk2 really good on poor source Imo, it's some sort of reverse scaling

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

Many people claim to hear differences from upgraded cables. Objectivists will claim there is no difference in sound quality. I tend to lean more in the objective camp myself. I have recabled many headphones and have never noticed a difference in sound quality. I only recable for aesthetic reasons, or to simply have a nicer cable that has less memory effect. If a drastic change in sound quality is what you are after, I'd say you are better off trying out a different earbud instead. Measurements I've seen have showed that cables may have a minor effect at very best on frequency response. Thats not to say it isn't possible there are other things at play that can't be seen in a frequency response graph, but so far I don't know of anyone that has shown objective data confirming sonic improvements from cable swaps. If you are interested in reading about the subject this is a good read.

Big thank for your interesting toughs, as I never try to change cable for earbud I might wait to have a broken pair before using the broken cables collection for good, perhaps I will be less obsess to change my Kossportapro cable if it do not improve sound (really like the sound already!).
Personally, with iem, sometime I find the silver plated cable give little more brightness and impact , will do real comparaison to be more objective.

So, for earbud I like great cable, not the big black one like with the TY 32ohm, the Musicmaker earbud cable are always nice for example and at good sub-40$ price. I feel I can pay 10$ extra for great construction, big plastic housing isn't really my cup of tea neither, but YES sound is number 1 interest so if we can get incredible sound for 5$ I can deal with this, but would rather pay a little extra for same earbud with better cable.

Now, I look at these and wonder if any of you have heard them? It's call the **** Tank and seller tell me it have a soundstage as big than the Mrz Tomohawk. Cable and metal housing look nice, i'm tempted.
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...32815205964.html?spm=2114.12010615.0.0.AqRDRp

Mrz are the only to give me a WOW effect, with other earbuds I feel sound is always congested, Grado Sr60 like, in your face and punchy etc but still too much in your face and lack air between instrument separation.

 

[Ira Delphic]

It depends on synergy between earbuds and an cable. In case of earbuds, I don't have experience but In case of multi-BA iems. Normally silver-plated boost resolution and low-high extension. It brings fast feeling. I ever repair my old-school earbuds and I found that soldering wire has effect on SQ. in case of earbuds I recommend you use non-lead free soldering wire rather than lead free (primarly tin) soldering wire. I ever heard that some earbuds hardly to get SQ improvement when changing to high quality cable, In the contrary, some have marginally improvement. You might trial & error by yourself.

I don't doubt your sincerity, but I doubt anyone can tell the difference between most cables or (solder used) in a blind A<->B test, except in extreme cases. The diameter of the cable matters, since thinner had more resistance, higher Ohms. If you can point to any peer reviewed data proving your belief I'd love to see it. A decent cable, like the thick copper cable used in a Monk+ is more than adequate. You can use a $100 silver cable but the electrons don't care.

 

[springbay]

@silverfishla thanks for sharing your thoughts on the DIY PK2.

@springbay you may find this interesting as well... I opened up the HP320M and Seahf Smart 1 (extremely easy to open btw, no glue) to take a look at the drivers and see if there was a difference in how the tuning foam was used. I was thinking you might be able to turn one into the other, but It turns out that they look identical inside. The drivers look the same but I can't spot any build differences so I am assuming the drivers are actually slightly different. Also worth mentioning is that not all MX500 shells I have come across are identical. On some shells the extra hole next to the cable entry hole goes all the way through to the driver area, on others this hole is closed off inside and essentially does nothing. The HP320M and Smart 1 both have this hole closed off inside. I was thinking this hole may have been designed by sennheiser to be a bass port similar to a ported loudspeaker, but I really have no idea at this point what effect it has on the tuning of the earbud.

Interesting, I've not opened mine before. It would be great if someone with the first gen Zen could take a picture of that driver as well to compare.
Or we should just ask the Seahf/TY Hi-Z creator what the difference is. He's in the Earbuds anonymous group @ FB.

 

[WayTooCrazy]

Those foam rings speaks volumes on how the tuning was taken into consideration when making those earbuds. Now I need to acquire a pair. The Monk+ doesn't have a foam ring. I'm not sure if the Zen 2.0 does, but I will find out soon (once I source a cable that I like), as I don't like the feeling of the Zen 2.0 Standard cable. I'm thinking OCC Copper anyway. My Zen 2.0 Black Edition will remain in stock form.

 

[slappypete]

The diameter of the cable matters, since thinner had more resistance, higher Ohms.

Even very thin and long wire would likely have very little effect on sound quality. It would be the same as adding a resistor in series with the driver, which will boost low frequencies around the resonant frequency of the driver, but only marginally and you need quite a lot of extra resistance to do it. Many people do this on purpose to mod their headphones, for example the 75ohm resistor mod for the KSC75. You would need some seriously long and thin wire to have the same effect haha. If we're going to talk about how a stock cable can be less than ideal, then I think its more important to have a 4 wire cable rather than 3. If your headphones have only 3 wires below the Y split then maybe its worth upgrading for sound quality reasons. Luckily most budget earbuds seem to come with 4 wire cables stock. Theoretically if you had a cable with three conductors from the Y split down, and the cables were thin and long, then there could be a negative effect on stereo imaging, or so I've heard. Here is another good cable read that talks about 3 wire vs 4 wire cables. The page links to a PDF that is very informative. If you care about the 3 vs 4 wire argument and are looking for upgrade cables on aliexpress, then be careful about what you purchase. There are many so called upgrade cables on there that actually have 3 wires below the Y split and would really be a downgrade over most stock earbud cables. It is probably best to stick to the braided cables, since with those it is easy to see how many wires are in the braid.

Interesting, I've not opened mine before. It would be great if someone with the first gen Zen could take a picture of that driver as well to compare.
Or we should just ask the Seahf/TY Hi-Z creator what the difference is. He's in the Earbuds anonymous group @ FB.

I agree, I would love to know the difference as well. I wish I could get my hands on a zen 1.