[Daniel4IEM]

I bet that's an awesome unit. My old NFB-28 paired splendidly with the HE1000 Stealth. I have no doubt an R-2R design would be even better.

It’s incredible- super powerful, beautiful sound. Perfect for demanding planar magnetics

 

[NexusOne]

Does the HEK Stealth sound better with a Hifiman amp like EF400 or EF600 than with Chifi Amps from SMSL (DO400)? The problem is: I need a remote, but would there be a noticeable difference or not?

 

[Satriany]

Hello,

I am now using this set-up :

Eversolo z8
Drop thx
HE1000 stealth
Uap, tone booster with oratory1990 eq.

I am very satisfied with the sound, the harshness I had with dx3 is now gone. The infra bass is going very deep, I think I can feel the cover move lol.
And the treble are now not tiresome.
I like the fact that you can hear every nuance of the different drums and cymbals.

 

[trh322]

I saw a HEK Stealth listed today from a reputable user on Classifieds, pulled the trigger and bought one, from what I've read this is a bargain at retail price, glad I was able to bought one for 945usd. I'm thinking about doing a cables experiment with the money saved from buying retail. I already have an OCC copper cable, I'm buying another cable this time pure silver. Been reading about copper and silver cables for a long time, majority of people say cables are snake oil, out of curiosity I want to demo for myself. I found some cables for reasonable price from a shop in China. The shop is pretty highly rated and got some good reviews. How bad of an idea is this do you think? Worst case scenario it sounds the same as my OCC copper cable and I lost 100usd.

 

[Thetaburn]

I saw a HEK Stealth listed today from a reputable user on Classifieds, pulled the trigger and bought one, from what I've read this is a bargain at retail price, glad I was able to bought one for 945usd. I'm thinking about doing a cables experiment with the money saved from buying retail. I already have an OCC copper cable, I'm buying another cable this time pure silver. Been reading about copper and silver cables for a long time, majority of people say cables are snake oil, out of curiosity I want to demo for myself. I found some cables for reasonable price from a shop in China. The shop is pretty highly rated and got some good reviews. How bad of an idea is this do you think? Worst case scenario it sounds the same as my OCC copper cable and I lost 100usd.

High likelihood you will hear a difference.
The real question is will you enjoy the sound signature of pure silver within your audio chain.

To my ears and in my system, pure silver XLR interconnects and headphone cables' s treble energy is overwhelming.
Although sound seperation and depth improves vs copper and silver plated copper, overall sound signature is ultra clean and borderline sterile.
Worst part is the timbre of the vocal is overly analytical and not musical.
Pure silver might have worked for me, if my DAC and amp had a significantly warmer signature.

 

[PinkyPowers]

I saw a HEK Stealth listed today from a reputable user on Classifieds, pulled the trigger and bought one, from what I've read this is a bargain at retail price, glad I was able to bought one for 945usd. I'm thinking about doing a cables experiment with the money saved from buying retail. I already have an OCC copper cable, I'm buying another cable this time pure silver. Been reading about copper and silver cables for a long time, majority of people say cables are snake oil, out of curiosity I want to demo for myself. I found some cables for reasonable price from a shop in China. The shop is pretty highly rated and got some good reviews. How bad of an idea is this do you think? Worst case scenario it sounds the same as my OCC copper cable and I lost 100usd.

You have the gear to create a nice warm source chain, so maybe a pure silver cable won't push the HE1000 Stealth too far into brightness. At least you have options to play around with.

 

[Spawn300Z]

Look into Hybrid cables for the HEK Series.

 

[trh322]

Thanks all. I still have doubt that conductor materials can change the sound signal. But I bought the 7n silver cable anyway, looking forward to do the comparison myself.

 

[Lindholdt]

Thanks all. I still have doubt that conductor materials can change the sound signal. But I bought the 7n silver cable anyway, looking forward to do the comparison myself.

That's the best way to approach it, IMO. Test if for yourself, form your own opinion, and if you want to go crazy, make someone else swap the cables for you, so you don't know what is playing

Have fun with it, that's the main thing

 

[subguy812]

I saw a HEK Stealth listed today from a reputable user on Classifieds, pulled the trigger and bought one, from what I've read this is a bargain at retail price, glad I was able to bought one for 945usd. I'm thinking about doing a cables experiment with the money saved from buying retail. I already have an OCC copper cable, I'm buying another cable this time pure silver. Been reading about copper and silver cables for a long time, majority of people say cables are snake oil, out of curiosity I want to demo for myself. I found some cables for reasonable price from a shop in China. The shop is pretty highly rated and got some good reviews. How bad of an idea is this do you think? Worst case scenario it sounds the same as my OCC copper cable and I lost 100usd.

I prefer a hybrid Copper and Silver for mine...

 

[kRed]

majority of people say cables are snake oil, out of curiosity I want to demo for myself.

That's always good to try stuff for ourselves.

Regarding cables, i've actually asked and deep dived with an engineer which for a living works with signals, circuitry, etc etc, and he confirmed that a material can't change the sound properties of a signal. There is no such a thing that a cable that would make an headphone stage wider or make its signature warmer, and this is already known for sure since measurements are a thing.
Of course, a good cable will just make the HP sounds as it should, compared to a bad cable (bad welding, cheap materials, etc etc) and will surely make the experience better if it is ergonomically better.

In the end, while knowing all of this I myself have bought some decent cables (100-200 usd) just to make sure they are well crafted and to have better ergonomics. But a good 100usd cable and a great 500usd cables, if they are both well crafted and works properly, will sound the same (in the sense of changing the frequency response).

 

[subguy812]

That's always good to try stuff for ourselves.

Regarding cables, i've actually asked and deep dived with an engineer which for a living works with signals, circuitry, etc etc, and he confirmed that a material can't change the sound properties of a signal. There is no such a thing that a cable that would make an headphone stage wider or make its signature warmer, and this is already known for sure since measurements are a thing.
Of course, a good cable will just make the HP sounds as it should, compared to a bad cable (bad welding, cheap materials, etc etc) and will surely make the experience better if it is ergonomically better.

In the end, while knowing all of this I myself have bought some decent cables (100-200 usd) just to make sure they are well crafted and to have better ergonomics. But a good 100usd cable and a great 500usd cables, if they are both well crafted and works properly, will sound the same (in the sense of changing the frequency response).

I am not involving myself in this conversation, only to say that I have always said in my reviews, that cables would be the last tweak I would add to my chain. It is more about ergonomics for me than sound.

 

[Simon Patten]

Regarding cables, i've actually asked and deep dived with an engineer which for a living works with signals, circuitry, etc etc, and he confirmed that a material can't change the sound properties of a signal. There is no such a thing that a cable that would make an headphone stage wider or make its signature warmer, and this is already known for sure since measurements are a thing.
Of course, a good cable will just make the HP sounds as it should, compared to a bad cable (bad welding, cheap materials, etc etc) and will surely make the experience better if it is ergonomically better.

In the end, while knowing all of this I myself have bought some decent cables (100-200 usd) just to make sure they are well crafted and to have better ergonomics. But a good 100usd cable and a great 500usd cables, if they are both well crafted and works properly, will sound the same (in the sense of changing the frequency response).

If it was that cut and dried we wouldn't be having this conversation. If cables were incapable of changing the sound we would all be in agreement and only upgrade them for practical reasons. The fact is that in practice they DO affect the sound and the people who say they don't have never tried good quality cables.

My Null Audio headphone and IEM cables unquestionably opened up the sound stage and revealed more detail than the supplied cables; the Supra Excalibur USB cable actually shocked me compared to the basic one from Amazon that I was using; even good quality power cables made a noticeable difference, and I was VERY sceptical about them.

Yes, they're more or less the last thing to consider but to say that cables don't affect the sound is just plain wrong, even fuses do.

 

[Lindholdt]

The fact is that in practice they DO affect the sound and the people who say they don't have never tried good quality cables

I'm sorry, it is not a fact, it is your opinion, which you are of course fully entitled to have. But I think it's wrong to present it as a fact.
As you say, we would not have this discussion if it was a clear cut, that works both ways, not only the way that supports your opinion, IMO

 

[fidgeraldo]

The fact is that in practice they DO affect the sound and the people who say they don't have never tried good quality cables.

Hmm...it crossed my mind if that reputable engineer has ever used those cables in Hi-Fi chains and listened to music.
Or are those claims just based on measuring cables and providing graphs?

Huh... I'm tripping, too. I heard a big change when I swapped the old speaker cable for Supra Annorum XL.


Cheers!