[davidmolliere]

The longer I have the CL2 the more I find that copper cables are the way to go. I have been using the silver-plated cable for the past weeks and switched to the stock copper cable today, it's simply more natural to my ears.

I told you guys from day one
Did you find a good one?

I love the Hansound Zen so much that I got myself the 8 wire variant which I should get next week, I'll report then. Expect a 4 wire to be on sale soon

 

[Kitechaser]

I'm still loving my 16 core **** SPC... Got their OCC cable in my Amazon basket, but not committing as I don't hear anything blatantly wrong...

Are you guys doting on the OCC going for the last nth percent of SQ, or are we going for big revelations?

Short answer. Yes
Big revelations
Edit: to my ears, its night and day.

 

[joshnor713]

Update.

These are starting to sound TOTL at 65 hours burn in.

Dynamic range is fantastic and the bass is deep and extremely fast without the grain I find in BAs or some other planars. It lacks impact and slam, like planars typically do, but it is rendered extremely accurately.

The transformation has been ridiculous. I wonder how much of it relates to burn in (I don't think I've had much mental burn in with these as I had with something like the isine20) versus finding the right pairings/settings with my equipment. Today is the first day I think they're comparable with the Andromeda or it04.

100% agree with @Kitechaser on the speed. Because of the bass speed, these are faster than BA sets with more accurate attack and decay as a result. That said, somehow, timbre still seems to be a bit off though. I'm hoping that changes with more burn in. Acoustic guitar aren't sounding as lifelike as they do on the isine 20 or Andromeda.

I'd like to provide an update too. I've been quiet since raising my concerns a week ago. Been running them many hours to make sure I'm getting to how they're supposed to sound.

As a reminder, I initially found the upper mids/lower treble region pretty unbearable (sensitive ears here). Happy to report that the region has tamed down with burn in. I'm usually more of a believer with brain burn-in than physical burn-in, but I have never owned a planar headphone before, so giving the benefit of the doubt. After running them a while, my ears are much happier with the sound. It's not a night and day difference like some users make it appear, but the harshness is definitively smoothed out compared to out-of-the-box.

That said, I do agree that the metallic nature of the region and off-timbre is still present. It's a shame, because when I go back to the IE 800 S, I can easily tell better definition in the region. But like I said before, the CL2 are so much more engaging than the IE 800 S. The fullness, imaging, dynamics are top-notch. Also, like SciOC's comment above, the decay is really something on these. Never been that mindful of decay; you hear smooth fading so clearly with the CL2. It's beautiful.

If the upper mids region was more natural, these would be TOTL headphones for me. I'd be content stopping the IEM game here...at least for a while

 

[Kitechaser]

I'm still loving my 16 core **** SPC... Got their OCC cable in my Amazon basket, but not committing as I don't hear anything blatantly wrong...

Are you guys doting on the OCC going for the last nth percent of SQ, or are we going for big revelations?

Let's just put it this way, after listening to a pure copper cable for an extended period of time, i have a 150 dollar ALO audio SPC Litz cable that will never see the light of day. Probably with any of my iems.
They just sound off to me.
Sound is unnatural with SPC cables.
@davidmolliere was right. The timbre is off with stock, SPC cables in general.

 

[Duncan]

Interesting!

Whilst I ponder spending more money I can say that I’ve been listening to 70s disco most of today, it’s generally been a wall of enjoyable noise to me, but today I’ve realised that even this has good production values, the CL2 squeeze good SQ out of virtually everything you feed them!

 

[HarlanDraka]

I told you guys from day one
Did you find a good one?

I love the Hansound Zen so much that I got myself the 8 wire variant which I should get next week, I'll report then. Expect a 4 wire to be on sale soon

If you will sell the Hansound cable, send me a PM as I would be interested I’m always keen to try new esotic cables

 

[davidmolliere]

If you will sell the Hansound cable, send me a PM as I would be interested I’m always keen to try new esotic cables

Ok will do, it's not that exotic but a good performer for the price!

 

[SciOC]

There are some excellent 11.11 deals on copper cables on AE. The silver are slightly discounted, but the occ copper are really getting discounted...

Here are a few:
New Arrival LZ 2.5mm Balanced Cable 8-core 6N Upgreded Single Crystal Copper Earphone Cable With MMCX Connector For LZ A4/A5
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/bOLfzGp6

OFHC 24 AWG 6N High Purity Copper Cable 2.5/3.5/4.4mm Balanced Earphone Cable With MMCX Connector from Taiwan For HQ8 HQ10
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/bzFhQyta

NICEHCK MMCX/2Pin Connector 3.5/2.5/4.4mm Balanced 8 Core 6N GC-OCC Single Crystal Copper Cable For SE846 NICEHCK EBX AS10 BA10
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/5cKBYt6

AK Audio LZ 8 Core 6N Upgraded Single Crystal Copper Cable 4.4/2.5/3.5mm Balanced Cable With MMCX/2Pin
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/cdq2pW6U

 

[HiFlight]

I had an eye-opening experience today with my CL2. I had mostly been using it with my desktop gear and top portable players, but hadn't seriously tried them with any of my smartphones. On a lark, I hooked them up to my HCT10 (which I now only use as a DAP) using the Dolby headphone setting through the excellent Naturalizer app and streaming my Eva Cassidy Tidal playlist. As many have recommended deep insertion tips, I swapped my Spiral Dots for the Spinfit twin-blade tips as they are the only deep-in tips I own. To my amazement, the sound is absolutely stunning! Very dimensional soundstage, spot-on timbre and I have never heard Eva sound so fine! This setup, coupled with my OCC copper cable is, unbelievably, sounding better than any of my previous combinations! Can't stop listening!

 

[bidn]

I had an eye-opening experience today with my CL2. I had mostly been using it with my desktop gear and top portable players, but hadn't seriously tried them with any of my smartphones. On a lark, I hooked them up to my HCT10 (which I now only use as a DAP) using the Dolby headphone setting through the excellent Naturalizer app and streaming my Eva Cassidy Tidal playlist. As many have recommended deep insertion tips, I swapped my Spiral Dots for the Spinfit twin-blade tips as they are the only deep-in tips I own. To my amazement, the sound is absolutely stunning! Very dimensional soundstage, spot-on timbre and I have never heard Eva sound so fine! This setup, coupled with my OCC copper cable is, unbelievably, sounding better than any of my previous combinations! Can't stop listening!

Hi HiFlight,

it's the same for me with my Samsung Note 9!
I used to have really unsatisfactory results with most IEMs with my iterations on Samsung Note phones, except combined with the Focal Sphear which are quite fun out of my phones. And now (I purchased my CL2 a little more than a month ago) my CL2 sounds incredible to me out of my Note 9 (using the copper cable; Comply with wax gard; aimp audio app or bandcamp streaming app). I would never have expected this !. I take the CL2 daily with me to work, love them.

Enjoy them,
bidn

 

[joshnor713]

Hi HiFlight,

it's the same for me with my Samsung Note 9!
I used to have really unsatisfactory results with most IEMs with my iterations on Samsung Note phones, except combined with the Focal Sphear which are quite fun out of my phones. And now (I purchased my CL2 a little more than a month ago) my CL2 sounds incredible to me out of my Note 9 (using the copper cable; Comply with wax gard; aimp audio app or bandcamp streaming app). I would never have expected this !. I take the CL2 daily with me to work, love them.

Enjoy them,
bidn

Funny you say that. Listening to my CL2 out of my Note 9 today as well and am surprised how great it sounds. Cheers!

 

[SciOC]

I must be deaf, or I just listen to music way too loud. I feel like I can barely get enough power out of my hiby r6 for these, I can't imagine listening to them on a smartphone or tablet.... I do have to drop the pre amp gain down pretty far to get rid of any distortion on my hiby, but I am right around 85/100 on high gain on my hiby to get to my listening level (with Mseb and EQ on). That said, my Cayin n3 also seems to power them better than the hiby even though specs would suggest otherwise....

 

[Kitechaser]

I must be deaf, or I just listen to music way too loud. I feel like I can barely get enough power out of my hiby r6 for these, I can't imagine listening to them on a smartphone or tablet.... I do have to drop the pre amp gain down pretty far to get rid of any distortion on my hiby, but I am right around 85/100 on high gain on my hiby to get to my listening level (with Mseb and EQ on). That said, my Cayin n3 also seems to power them better than the hiby even though specs would suggest otherwise....

These are power hogs. On my NW-ZX300, with high gain off, I am at 90/120. Balanced out.
The more power they have, the more deeper the soundstage, dynamics become.
The quality of the sound on the ZX300 Is simplu outstanding, but I am going to be upgrading to a Sony WM1Z sometime in the future.
Edit: keep the ZX300 for out and about and the gym.
Also, volume on these is tricky. You can drive them pretty loud on a phone, but you won't have the soundstage, seperation, and "the magic" that you will have on better quality players.

 

[Kitechaser]

Also grabbing the **** 7n single crystal copper 4.4mm cable on 11/11.
This is gonna be sweet.

 

[Duncan]

I'm at 85/120 on the Sony 1A, high gain, bang on the money for me for both volume and clarity.