[chinerino]

Which Sony player do you have?

currently a Sony NW A45

 

[cooldude211986]

The original HD800 cable is a silver coated copper too. The sound itself did not change, the control that the player has over the headphone gets better, and the impulse response seems to improve.

I believe Silver coated Copper will behave different than the actual Silver cable. Do you see any change on the sound-staging/imaging with the new cable? Silver does emphasize on PRaT. I'm not sure if there will be a sound difference between hybrid cable (Silver-Copper) vs stock cable (Silver-coated Copper).

 

[melons]

I've seen a few posts regarding lack of communication from Forza with order progress, but I think they're getting better. I placed my first order (Hybrid iem cable) with them on the 9th May and registered an account on their site during the ordering process (I'm based in the UK).
Registering an account allows you to sign-in and view your orders, it didn't provide much succour prior to dispatch, other than a 'payment accepted' flag, but on dispatch the order status does change to shipped. I also received an email on the shipping date (24th May) advising me that my order had shipped and it included a Polish mail tracking number & hyperlink which at least lets you follow status and date Polish mail pass your order onto International couriers (in my case Royal Mail, I discovered this by pasting the tracking code into RM's tracking website), I'm guessing that Polish mail generally forward to your Country's National mail service.

My order was delivered today (29th May), sadly I'm currently 120 miles away, but looking forward to our first date

Time from order to (UK) receipt: 14 Working days/ 20 Days Total (This includes One Bank Holiday). Shipping method/option: Polish Post

 

[pietcux]

I believe Silver coated Copper will behave different than the actual Silver cable. Do you see any change on the sound-staging/imaging with the new cable? Silver does emphasize on PRaT. I'm not sure if there will be a sound difference between hybrid cable (Silver-Copper) vs stock cable (Silver-coated Copper).

The cable for sure sounds fantastic. But it is on the dap side that you use two total different output stages so the comparison is not easy. It is like using two different amps for two different cables. Balanced vs unbalanced. The cable has a wonderfull physical behoviour. It is absolutely not stubborn, it has the perfect weight and is optical very pleasing and impressive.

 

[Sheep1234]

What a beauty

 

[pietcux]

currently a Sony NW A45

I am not convinced that the WM port carries an analog signal on the A45. It does on the A15 that I own, but it is a very silent signal, so I prefer to use the headphone out to feed my amp.

 

[chinerino]

I am not convinced that the WM port carries an analog signal on the A45. It does on the A15 that I own, but it is a very silent signal, so I prefer to use the headphone out to feed my amp.

isnt it double amp?

 

[cooldude211986]

I've seen a few posts regarding lack of communication from Forza with order progress, but I think they're getting better. I placed my first order (Hybrid iem cable) with them on the 9th May and registered an account on their site during the ordering process (I'm based in the UK).
Registering an account allows you to sign-in and view your orders, it didn't provide much succour prior to dispatch, other than a 'payment accepted' flag, but on dispatch the order status does change to shipped. I also received an email on the shipping date (24th May) advising me that my order had shipped and it included a Polish mail tracking number & hyperlink which at least lets you follow status and date Polish mail pass your order onto International couriers (in my case Royal Mail, I discovered this by pasting the tracking code into RM's tracking website), I'm guessing that Polish mail generally forward to your Country's National mail service.

My order was delivered today (29th May), sadly I'm currently 120 miles away, but looking forward to our first date

Time from order to (UK) receipt: 14 Working days/ 20 Days Total (This includes One Bank Holiday). Shipping method/option: Polish Post

I did place an order recently with Forza. I've to say that communication is not Forza's forte but Matt was kind enough to reply to my mails once in a while and helped me with my queries/cable selection. Patience is the key here It took better part of three weeks for my cables to ship out since the time I placed the order. I'm hoping to receive them shortly and post my impressions.

 

[cooldude211986]

The cable for sure sounds fantastic. But it is on the dap side that you use two total different output stages so the comparison is not easy. It is like using two different amps for two different cables. Balanced vs unbalanced. The cable has a wonderfull physical behoviour. It is absolutely not stubborn, it has the perfect weight and is optical very pleasing and impressive.

I got you. Probably then 'sounds fantastic' could be either because of the new cable or going from unbalanced to balanced or both. There is no way to figure out what caused major change to the sound but I'm guessing that going from unbalanced to balanced will bring the major change and then the hybrid cable will complement that change as well.

 

[cooldude211986]

What a beauty

Perfectly done!

 

[melons]

As all cables are apparently the same I'm booking myself an appointment with a psychologist as since receiving the Forza Hybrid iem cable (2.5mm trrs) I'm hearing voices in my head that I've never heard before. The cable matches with my IE80S's beautifully, music has more authority, clarity, bass is great and treble much improved. More to the point, the tracks that wouldn't play well with my previous 2 cables sound hugely better with the Forza. My only regret is not opting for the dark tint skin

 

[Matez]

As all cables are apparently the same I'm booking myself an appointment with a psychologist as since receiving the Forza Hybrid iem cable (2.5mm trrs) I'm hearing voices in my head that I've never heard before. The cable matches with my IE80S's beautifully, music has more authority, clarity, bass is great and treble much improved. More to the point, the tracks that wouldn't play well with my previous 2 cables sound hugely better with the Forza. My only regret is not opting for the dark tint skin

And you just became our Facebook star for today!

Thanks!

 

[melons]

And you just became our Facebook star for today!

Thanks!

I've just this moment ordered a Claire Hybrid cable for my HD660S OE's, was toying around with opting for the Noir HPC but as I'm an impetuous child I couldn't wait for an answer to my email

 

[melons]

I got you. Probably then 'sounds fantastic' could be either because of the new cable or going from unbalanced to balanced or both. There is no way to figure out what caused major change to the sound but I'm guessing that going from unbalanced to balanced will bring the major change and then the hybrid cable will complement that change as well.

Agree to a degree but I did notice quite dramatic improvements especially at low & top end of frequencies using the Forza cable.

Equipment: AK70 Mkii DAP (Equaliser left at factory setting), Sennheiser IE80S iem's
Music: All ripped from retail CD's via JRiver at 1440 flac & rendered at 16Bit 44.1kHz on DAP playback. (300gb accross most genres of music styles)

Coming from listening to music via cheap (£30) iem's and Smartphone I was more than wowed with the AK & IE80S's musicality, however I found that I had volume set towards max setting most of the time and wasn't totally happy with playback with a small number of tracks. I found playback volume too quiet on some Classical albums, a good example being Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet (This Recording) and Kamasi Washington's 'Change of the Guard' track from his 'The Epic' CD (This Recording), a very busy track with lots going on at the low end that came through my iem's sounding very muddy & boomey. Most everything else played on this combo however sounded pretty great. Oh! Also, Eliza Carthy's 'Devil in the Woman' from her 'Big Machine' album (This Recording) always sounded a little fuzzy

After lots of browsing on head-fi I became pliable to the opinion that balanced cables gave better sonic performance over unbalanced, but no way was I willing to pay the insane prices the After Market cable makers were charging on a 'maybe'. Fortunately In my search for 'cheap' I eventually stumbled across the FiiO RC-IE8B (Oyaide?) balanced cable, as it retails at a mere £30 I took the plunge.

The FiiO cable was an eye opener, despite treble being very bright (unbearably bright on some tracks), definition and instrument separation was better, everything sounded a little clearer, also bass was still good (the Prokifiev was lovely, the Kamasi & Carthy were both improved but still flawed). Volume from the AK increased by around 30-40% (this may be device specific) so I could finally turn down the volume level.

I managed to live with the FiiO for a few weeks before the Treble brightness started to really sting, but accepting that cables did make a sonic difference and in this case (with balanced on the AK) a volume one too, I bit the insane pricing bullet and started looking at cable reviews. I very nearly ordered a cable from the highly regarded Toxic Cables, only hesitating because of their elongated delivery times, then came across forza through a Google search which lead to a review on head-fi, which lead me to this thread, read the entire thread, drank some wine and became a forza customer.

When the forza hybrid iem cable finally arrived it looked great (if the bag it comes with was an inch taller it would be a great sleeve for my AK, just putting that out there), sound wise, all I can say is that for the first few days it sounded better than it's two previous incumbents. Sound had more confidence (if that makes sense), yet there was a slight veil over the music. Then, only a few days into listening and without warning I plugged my ear buds in and everything changed. The veil had lifted and I was hearing a very neutral, very very clear sound. Sound stage wider than I've previously heard with this set up, really excellent instrument & vocal definition and separation. Bass was superb, excellent treble as was everything inbetween (mid range). The odd thing was that whilst bass sounded deeper and more extended, treble was also more pronounced, not sibilant in any way, just brighter and purer and more forward on the soundstage, everything was there...... vocals have never been clearer, bass is superb, detail astounding and always very cohesive and musical, but on a couple of albums (ie: Florence and the Machine's 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful' & some early Elvis Costello tracks) the treble can make the presentation sound a little 'light'/'high', but that's what 'transparency' gets you

This leads me onto my next purchase (briefly), 'Inairs' memory foam tips. The Sennheissers came with some 'Comply' foam tips which I tried with the original cable set up and binned sharpish as they made everything sound muddy. I did however purchase a box of Inair Air2 buds a couple of days ago, started out looking for replacement standard silicon buds (to have on stand-by) but stumbled on inairs & based purely on their reviews bought a box. They've reigned in enough of the 'exuberance' of the forza hybrid with the likes of 'Florence and the Machine' , have imo added a little colour and even more bass extension and punch but not (in my listening so far) compromised the substantial positives of the forza cable. Infact I was listening to Dave Brubeck's 'Take Five' last night and was surprised to notice that I had a tingle of excitement going down my spine, I've listened to this track many times before but it has never sounded this good. I can't offer an opinion on or comparison to other after market cables, but the forza, coupled with my kit is to my ears money very well spent

EDITED NOTE 14th JUNE: I should have stated in my original post that impressions are based on iem only experience. Will post opinion on OE's using the Claire Hybrid cable when my order arrives

 

[Matez]

Agree to a degree but I did notice quite dramatic improvements especially at low & top end of frequencies using the Forza cable.

Equipment: AK70 Mkii DAP (Equaliser left at factory setting), Sennheiser IE80S iem's
Music: All ripped from retail CD's via JRiver at 1440 flac & rendered at 16Bit 44.1kHz on DAP playback. (300gb accross most genres of music styles)

Coming from listening to music via cheap (£30) iem's and Smartphone I was more than wowed with the AK & IE80S's musicality, however I found that I had volume set towards max setting most of the time and wasn't totally happy with playback with a small number of tracks. I found playback volume too quiet on some Classical albums, a good example being Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet (This Recording) and Kamasi Washington's 'Change of the Guard' track from his 'The Epic' CD (This Recording), a very busy track with lots going on at the low end that came through my iem's sounding very muddy & boomey. Most everything else played on this combo however sounded pretty great. Oh! Also, Eliza Carthy's 'Devil in the Woman' from her 'Big Machine' album (This Recording) always sounded a little fuzzy

After lots of browsing on head-fi I became pliable to the opinion that balanced cables gave better sonic performance over unbalanced, but no way was I willing to pay the insane prices the After Market cable makers were charging on a 'maybe'. Fortunately In my search for 'cheap' I eventually stumbled across the FiiO RC-IE8B (Oyaide?) balanced cable, as it retails at a mere £30 I took the plunge.

The FiiO cable was an eye opener, despite treble being very bright (unbearably bright on some tracks), definition and instrument separation was better, everything sounded a little clearer, also bass was still good (the Prokifiev was lovely, the Kamasi & Carthy were both improved but still flawed). Volume from the AK increased by around 30-40% (this may be device specific) so I could finally turn down the volume level.

I managed to live with the FiiO for a few weeks before the Treble brightness started to really sting, but accepting that cables did make a sonic difference and in this case (with balanced on the AK) a volume one too, I bit the insane pricing bullet and started looking at cable reviews. I very nearly ordered a cable from the highly regarded Toxic Cables, only hesitating because of their elongated delivery times, then came across forza through a Google search which lead to a review on head-fi, which lead me to this thread, read the entire thread, drank some wine and became a forza customer.

When the forza hybrid iem cable finally arrived it looked great (if the bag it comes with was an inch taller it would be a great sleeve for my AK, just putting that out there), sound wise, all I can say is that for the first few days it sounded better than it's two previous incumbents. Sound had more confidence (if that makes sense), yet there was a slight veil over the music. Then, only a few days into listening and without warning I plugged my ear buds in and everything changed. The veil had lifted and I was hearing a very neutral, very very clear sound. Sound stage wider than I've previously heard with this set up, really excellent instrument & vocal definition and separation. Bass was superb, excellent treble as was everything inbetween (mid range). The odd thing was that whilst bass sounded deeper and more extended, treble was also more pronounced, not sibilant in any way, just brighter and purer and more forward on the soundstage, everything was there...... vocals have never been clearer, bass is superb, detail astounding and always very cohesive and musical, but on a couple of albums (ie: Florence and the Machine's 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful' & some early Elvis Costello tracks) the treble can make the presentation sound a little 'light'/'high', but that's what 'transparency' gets you

This leads me onto my next purchase (briefly), 'Inairs' memory foam tips. The Sennheissers came with some 'Comply' foam tips which I tried with the original cable set up and binned sharpish as they made everything sound muddy. I did however purchase a box of Inair Air2 buds a couple of days ago, started out looking for replacement standard silicon buds (to have on stand-by) but stumbled on inairs & based purely on their reviews bought a box. They've reigned in enough of the 'exuberance' of the forza hybrid with the likes of 'Florence and the Machine' , have imo added a little colour and even more bass extension and punch but not (in my listening so far) compromised the substantial positives of the forza cable. Infact I was listening to Dave Brubeck's 'Take Five' last night and was surprised to notice that I had a tingle of excitement going down my spine, I've listened to this track many times before but it has never sounded this good. I can't offer an opinion on or comparison to other after market cables, but the forza, coupled with my kit is to my ears has been money very well spent

Whoa, that's quite the story. Many thanks!