Introduction of the Zu Mobius Cable
It's been two days since I've listened to the 650s. After being impressed with them through the stock cable, I had the see what this Zu Cable was all about. Before I go any further I must say that it was a pleasure to deal with the guys at Zu. Nate especially was very helpful and he answered all of my questions.
I'm sure I asked a couple of silly questions but what can I say, I get silly when I'm getting a new toy
. I placed my order at about 1:00pm one afternoon and the cable was delivered to my door at 10:00 the next morning. I didn't even get a chance to excercise my impatience and start harrasing Fedex (maybe next time
). They arrived very neatly packed in a small notebook sized cardboard box. The cable itself is in a sealed plastic bag which kinda looked like a zip lock bag (I got a chucke out of this
). Upon inspecting the Mobius I was really impressed with the quality. Very solid connectors and definately more flexible than I expected. Plugging these things into the 650s was no easy task. First of all, I damn near passed out trying to unplug the stock cable. I had to eventually go with the old teeth grip method. As I was trying to install the Mobius, I thought I was going to break it. I pushed the connectors in to a point that I felt secure with. I figured I'd give them a quick listen before I went to bed. I loaded up Miles "Kind of Blue", sat in my chair and hit play. NOTHING!!! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING !!!!! "OH GOD, I BROKE IT"!! Hearbeat starts pounding. Two sweat beads are racing each other down my forehead. "Who put the heat on"????
After taking off the 650s I realized that the connectors weren't all the way in. I tried again. This time I pushed with everything I had until I felt it lock in. Once installed, I took that experience as a sign to hold off on my listening. So I pressed play, and then went to bed. A little more burn in never hurt anyone.
650s with Zu Mobius: First Impressions
After letting the 650s with the Zu cable burn in for about 40 hours, I decided to give them a listen. I pressed play and was not happy with what I heard. As 'Kind of Blue' started to play, the first thing I remember thinking was "where's the air"? The sound had become sort of closed in. It was as if I had just dropped from high altitude and my ears needed to be popped (we all know how annoying that can be). All of the detail was there, every single note, just no air. That feeling of space was gone. "Oh no, could this be the infamous Sennheiser veil that I've read about"? Or could it be that the Mobius was going through it's break-in metamorphosis that I've also read about? I wanted to believe that it was the Mobius breaking in since it didn't sound like this with the stock cable. I didn't like the bass that I was hearing yet. Again, full impact but not very tight. Very good bass extension, as a matter of fact I think it's going a little deeper than with the stock cable. I have a feeling it's going to go through a lot more changes before it finally settles down. What I'll be left with, I have no idea. All in all, this still is a very pleasant presentation. Still warm, still smooth,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, almost tubey!
.
The soundsatge was still in tact and I'm still sitting dead center. I also liked the midrange tonal character. I think this is what 'flat response' means. There are no humps or dips. The drum section had some nice qualities. It was nice to hear a brush sound like a brush and not like a big bag of hiss. Really nice!
Next it was on to some bass heavy hip hop. I went with 'Busta Rhymes' Genesis album. Busta's music is always bass heavy and always has a lot of detail (actually sometimes it's over produced but that's another story). I started with track #5. Ok now this is nice !!!!!!. Prior to this I was starting to think that the 650s may be a bit one dimensional. I was afraid that I was always going to be in the audience, even when the recording was right on stage. Well after playing this track for about a minute, my fears subsided. I was so close to Busta he damn near spit on me while he was rapping. The bass had so much impact that my earlobes were vibrating. There is a background synthesizer in this song that wraps around your entire head. This was really nice
!!!!!. I knew I was enjoying it because I totally forgot about evaluating the sound. No longer was I focused on the loose bass or lack of splash in the treble. Plain and simple, I was jammin' !
This is one of the reasons I enjoy hip hop. It's all about a mood. No time for thinking, just strictly jammin'. If any of you were wondering if the smooth, warm presentation of the 650s would prevent them from getting down, have no fear. These cans can boogey with the best of them. I'm never, ever selling these cans. This was a lot of fun!!!!!
I'm going to let this combo burn in for a few hundred hours before I give my final opinion. I apologize for not being able to offer distinct characteristics of the 650s and the Mobius. As far as the combo goes, so far so good. I few minor complaints but I think time will heal. I think the bass will tighten up and the treble will open up. I've got no problems wih the midrange AT ALL !. This is the smoothest midrange I've ever heard.
Stay tuned for the final installment in a few days.
