Low end. Cheap. Generic. Otherwise bang for buck cable thread!

Hi guys,

After some critical listening in the same track (that I know by heart) and same setup, here are my thoughts and little sum-up on those different cables I own :

• 125 : subbass and bass MUCH bolded, mids slightly bolded, not much details, thin soundstage. Overall sound is a bit "coloured" but clean.
• 165 : very light in subbass and bass, excellent mids and highs, king of details, best soundstage and resolution. Excellent instruments separation. Extremely clean, natural and transparent sounding.
• 155 : slightly bass and mids bolded, clean but very neutral, good middle soundstage. Nothing is lacking, very pleasing sound overall. Good instruments separation, highs keeps good amount of details.
• 115 : subbass and bass bolded, neutral mids and highs. Good details, soundstage a bit thin, basic instruments separation.
• 056 : a bit similar to 155 but with slight mids emphasis and a bit less natural sounding overall.

Hope this helps

I will complete my full review about cable 165 soon, and I'm planning to add 053 to this post soon too.
Cheers'

 

wow... that's totaly rip off...
> 30% of the price

 

nice!!

 

if you like/need copper (bold bass, good low textures, great for bright combos), cable 171 should be the best one in my list, imo.
i'm talking to the seller to see if they can provide ae standard shipping options.

if you need mids and highs more upfront, so you can appreciate them better (good for dark, laid back mids, combos), silver, silver plated copper or mixed, would fit the bill. cable 169 should the best atm, imo.
hope we can see 8 cores cables of that litz wire (or other silver ones) soon

 

anyways, with these neotech up-occ wires, you can think you are using a silver cable when using copper and vice versa quality is superb along the whole frequency range in both cases

 

Is the difference "huge" between 171 and 165 ? whats your quick thoughts? interested
Many thanks for your advices, appreciated

 

i did some AB between 165 and 170 (same wire than 171, but 4 cores), to confirm if litz versions of up-occ helps.
the difference is not huge, as usual for cables, but i could confirm that you get deeper stage, more spacious sensation, and that's enough for me (or for people who seek for this extra "5%") to prefer litz versions.
cable 165 is great, and supposed a jump respect the other cables in my stock, so still a nice option.

edit: any of these neotech frozen up-occ wires are worth it. just choose copper, silver plated copper, or mixed, depending of your source and phones signature, and litz/no litz depending of your perfectionism and price difference

 

Just got an email notice that my 9 pair of cables ordered June 16, were delivered to my home. Perfect weekend timing!

NICEHCK MMCX/2Pin Connector 3.5/2.5/4.4mm Balanced 8 Core Plated Silver Cable For SE846 V80 AS10 ZS10 BA10 NICEHCK EBX/NK10/M6
Color: 2.5mm plug with 2PIN (Alice Chou)
$ 12.80 1 piece $ 12.80 Awaiting Receipt

NICEHCK MMCX/2Pin Connector 3.5/2.5/4.4mm Balanced 8 Core Plated Silver Cable For ZS10 AS10 BA10 NICEHCK NK10/M6 With Ear Hook
Color: 2.5mm plug with 2PIN
(Alice Chou)
$ 12.80 1 piece $ 12.80 Awaiting Receipt

NICEHCK MMCX/2Pin Connector 3.5/2.5/4.4mm Balanced 8 Core Copper Silver Mixed Cable For TRN V80 AS10 BA10 NICEHCK M6 P3 EBX NK10
Color: 2.5mm plug with 2PIN
(Alice Chou)
$ 12.80 1 piece $ 12.80 Awaiting Receipt

NICEHCK MMCX/2Pin Connector 4.4/3.5/2.5mm Balanced 8 Core High Purity Copper Cable For ZS10 AS10 TFZ NICEHCK M6/P3/DT300/DT500
Color: 2.5mm plug with 2PIN

NICEHCK MMCX/2Pin Connector 3.5/2.5/4.4mm Balanced 8 Core Silver Plated Cable For SE846 TRN V80 AS10 ZS10 CCA C10 C16 NICEHCK N3
Color: 2.5mm With 2Pin
(Jim NiceHCK)
$ 12.50 1 piece $ 12.50 Awaiting Receipt

NICEHCK MMCX/2Pin Connector 3.5/2.5/4.4mm Balanced 8 Core High Purity Copper Cable For TRN V80 AS10 ZS10 BA10 NICEHCK M6 N3 NK10
Color: 2.5mm With 2Pin
(Jim NiceHCK)
$ 11.16 1 piece $ 11.16 Awaiting Receipt

TRN MMCX/2Pin Connector 3.5/2.5mmBalanced 8 Core Copper Silver Mixed Cable For TFZ TRN V80/IM1 ES4 AS10 ZS10 BA10 NICEHCK M6/N3
Color: 2.5mm With 0.78mm
(Jim NiceHCK)
$ 7.52 1 piece $ 7.52 Awaiting Receipt
AliExpress Standard Shipping

TRN MMCX/2Pin Connector 3.5/2.5mmBalanced 8 Core Copper Silver Mixed Cable For TFZ TRN V80/IM1 ES4 AS10 ZS10 BA10 NICEHCK M6/N3
Color: 2.5mm With 0.78mm
(Jim NiceHCK)
$ 7.52 1 piece $ 7.52 Awaiting Receipt

NICEHCK 16 Core High Purity Copper Cable 3.5/2.5/4.4mm Plug MMCX/2Pin Connector Cable For TRN V30/V80 AS10 ZS10 BA10 M6 N3 NK10
Color: 2.5mm plug with 2Pin
(Jim NiceHCK)

 

Curious, I just do a small session of AB ing my preferred cable.
ISN H16, 130, 165 and Abnormalz

each have its own Possitive and Negative.
well after doing it with AJA album DSD, and IEM...
Need to clear up again...

still think to reterminate...

the surprise that H16 2.5mm was not like I as i used to remember...
Thight Low, and quite nice micro detail...
the seperation somehow comparable to 165.
LOSS of spark and weight is another concern...

Abnormalz, 4.4, impressive micro detail, but somehow fell mixed between Hi Low with Sub Mid, now I remember why this cable collecting dust... its a good Quality cable, but Strong Warm Sig...

130, 4.4, consider I used this the longest, more then 4 months, became my own benchmark. the 8 core Cable that is can be neutral (tends to warm). Micro detail and refine sound in Low & Mid Freq.
for me this Cable is the best pairing with my current gear... The Mid became layers, sub Mid, Mid and Hi Mid was refine... but not to good in separation.

165, 2.5. Tight low and mid is the main focus of this cable. combine with good separation, create good combo of Dark Background...
What amaze me, only 4 core... compareable with the separation of 16 core. means cable material is good.
But still copper based sound char, not to good in Micro detail...
I just realized one of my cup of tea is detail.

hahaha.. the short session became 1,5 hours of listening...
Love the morning, listen to good song, accompany by good coffee...

Just take my babbling as grain of salt...
Have a nice day..

edit : just to clarify, my adapter 4.4 to 2.5 is a cheap adapter from Aliexpress, that Need to be reterminate due to bad soldering... the cost become more expensive, better buy from known brand from the beginning ... at least better quality and hassle free...

edit2 : 135 -> 130... mistypo... sorry

 

PURDY!!!!

 

nice!!

considering your gear and preferences, yes, you ought to aim to silver plated or pure silver wires

edit: pm me

 

yeah.. looking for good value for money Pure silver... was looking at Fiio LC2.5D... the spec seems tempting...

 

OK friends, I have a few more budget cable dissections:

1. TRN black 16-core, 2.5mm balanced, 2-pin ends




2. KZ 8-core gold/silver, 3.5mm SE, Paragraph B 2-pin ends



3. KZ 8-core copper/silver, 3.5mm SE, mmcx ends



4. HiFiHear brown 16-core, 2.5mm balanced, mmcx




Thoughts and notes about this batch of cables:

I'm happy to report that all 4 cables I dissected were legit (including the TRN), with all cores soldered to BOTH the source end AND the IEM end.

This just goes to show that you don't have to spend a lot of money to get real 16-core cables. My hats off to the companies making the legit 16-core cables. I am in awe that they are able to solder all 16-cores, and get it all to fit neatly inside of the plugs (mmcx, 2-pin, 3.5mm, 2.5mm). To build one of these cables is quite time consuming and requires a decent amount of skill to ensure they’re constructed properly. The fact that we can buy real 16-core cables as cheap as $8-$10 is mind blowing.

Out of the 4 cables I dissected, the HiFiHear had the nicest build and solder joints. If the HiFiHear cable looks familiar, it's because it's clearly made by whatever company is making (some of) the NiceHCK cables. It's assembled the exact same way, which is unique and instantly recognizable. Therefore, I am confident that dissecting a NiceHCK 16-core cable would be redundant, as the results would be the same as the HiFiHear cable - it's literally the same cable just with a different logo engraved on the plug.

The KZ cables have 2 separate strain reliefs (which is nice), but I was less than impressed with the source (3.5mm) plug, which had mediocre solder joints. Plus the 3.5mm plug was filled with a crusty white cyanoacrylate-based plastic/adhesive (which doesn’t affect the function of the cable, but it does give me an idea of the construction, cost, and repairability).

The 16-core TRN cable was actually made decent, and it had nicer solder joints than the KZ cables IMO, but not nearly as nice as the HifiHear/NiceHCK cables. I am convinced that a different company is making the TRN 16-core cables than company making the 6 & 8-core cables. This was also verified by @KopiOkaya, who has insider knowledge of TRN. The solder joints on the 16-core TRN cable was significantly better than the solder joints on the 8-core TRN cables. I wouldn't hesitate to buy the 16-core TRN cable.

If I had to rank the overall build quality of this batch of 4 cables, I would go: 1 HiFiHear, 2 TRN, 3 both KZ cables.

Note that I'm not saying that the KZ cables are 'bad', but rather the other 2 cables in this particular round of dissections just happened to be better made.

For those curious of the individual connections of the bi-color KZ cables, they are as follows:

KZ 8-core copper/silver, 3.5mm SE, mmcx ends:

• copper #1 (L+)
• copper #2 (L+)
• copper #3 (R+)
• copper #4 (R+)
• silver #1 (gnd)
• silver #2 (gnd)
• silver #3 (gnd)
• silver #4 (gnd)

KZ 8-core gold/silver, 3.5mm SE, Paragraph B 2-pin ends:

• gold #1 (gnd)
• gold #2 (gnd)
• gold #3 (L+)
• gold #4 (L+)
• silver #1 (gnd)
• silver #2 (gnd)
• silver #3 (R+)
• silver #4 (R+)

I'd like to give a huge thanks the following HeadFi members for their generous donations, which helped offset the cost of dissecting this batch of cables: @PreetyAdrian, @fokta, and @Dani157. I can’t do these tests (which benefit the whole community) without some help!

Finally, I'd like to mention that all cables I dissect are purchased from various sellers on Amazon or Aliexpress (all of whom have no knowledge of me nor what purpose the cables are to be used for). I have no affiliation with any of the sellers or manufacturers (in fact, if anything my tests have put me on some black lists lol). All of my tests are 100% unbiased, and are for educational purposes only.

 

Results not surprising... HiFiHear cables are made by "banned company" (yes, for NiceHCK too), and we all know they make very good cables.

 

Yup...I own one, and have 2 more on the way; one with 3.5 to give away at Christmas and another 2.5 for my new TFZ No.3.