[Lebowsky]

for the money I would try one of these instead. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32973046302.html?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.36.13a27019l0CWsW
Mee stuff is about as simple and plain and the stuff you recieve on their earphones.

you mean Mee is not known to be reliable? Just asking, I know nothing about them, only on paper their cable looked interesting. Unfortunately that NICEHCK has memory wire so its a no go for me, but I'll keep looking!

 

[Podster]

I agree the NICEHCK 8 & 16 cores are well made as I have been using many especially the 16 cores for over a year now with zero problems. Also these new cables have flexible pre formed ear guides now with no wires. Of course wired ear guides are easy to remove with simple surgery. If you are still uncomfortable do keep looking until you see what you like.

 

[Lebowsky]

how "heavy" are the NICEHCK cables? Are they fine to wear straight down while walking or do they pull on the IEMs?

 

[Podster]

Well I think the 8 cores are light enough to work but I would find one worth a try for $8 but that’s just me

 

[richthorn]

Where are people sourcing their 8 core and mini xlr connectors? Looking to make some Audeze/ZMF cables

 

[Dsnuts]

NEWS! Has to be the cheapest pure silver cable and not by TRN. NiceHCK just released these
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001166709135.html?spm=a2g0s.imconversation.0.0.24643e5f25odGm

Buy using web money and place order. Message NiceHCK that your headfier and they will give you a discount for $15.99 a piece for these. DEAL!

Then you can pay for the item after they change the price for you.
I am getting a sample so if anything I will let you all know if these are legit. If so these will be the absolute best bang for buck cables on the planet.

 

[Slater]

NEWS! Has to be the cheapest pure silver cable and not by TRN. NiceHCK just released these
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001166709135.html?spm=a2g0s.imconversation.0.0.24643e5f25odGm

Buy using web money and place order. Message NiceHCK that your headfier and they will give you a discount for $15.99 a piece for these. DEAL!

Then you can pay for the item after they change the price for you.
I am getting a sample so if anything I will let you all know if these are legit. If so these will be the absolute best bang for buck cables on the planet.

Nice, I’d love to check these cables out. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[jibberish]

NEWS! Has to be the cheapest pure silver cable and not by TRN. NiceHCK just released these
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001166709135.html?spm=a2g0s.imconversation.0.0.24643e5f25odGm

Buy using web money and place order. Message NiceHCK that your headfier and they will give you a discount for $15.99 a piece for these. DEAL!

Then you can pay for the item after they change the price for you.
I am getting a sample so if anything I will let you all know if these are legit. If so these will be the absolute best bang for buck cables on the planet.

I ordered two of them earlier today actually, both 4.4mm balanced, once MMCX and one 2-pin.

 

[Dsnuts]

I will bet getting a review set. I like that it is NiceHCK and not a TRN cable. I can trust that these are actually legit. Lol.

 

[Slater]

Also, I wanted to mention that the TRN T3 silver cables are legit.

All 8 cores soldered properly, and I tested the metal as 95% pure silver. A very well made and impressive cable. Very unlike TRN, that’s for sure!

 

[Dsnuts]

Nice. Either silver cables have been way overpriced or these guys tapped into a large supply of silver material. Don't know how they do it this cheap.

 

[Slater]

Nice. Either silver cables have been way overpriced or these guys tapped into a large supply of silver material. Don't know how they do it this cheap.

I have no idea.

I’ve been in the fine jewelry business on and off for over 30 years now, and with the wholesale market prices of silver as of the last 5+ years now, I just don’t see how they can do it.

The amount of actual fine silver by weight is about $5-$7 dollars, but there is the cost and labor to make it into actual insulated wire, the cost and labor to make it into a finished audio cable, packaging, shipping, handling, etc.

How they can sell a finished cable for $15 and make a profit is beyond me. I honestly just assumed that TRN was selling the silver cables at cost, as a way to build up their reputation after ruining it with the fake cable debacles of their previous cables.

 

[Dsnuts]

Let me ask you slater is there a difference in silver quality? I forgot someone told me that some cheaper quality silver is what is used on a lot of the aliexpress cables but. Heck if it sounds the same and looks the same well.

Take that free $500 silver cable they are throwing in for the new 64 audio hybrid earphone on the front page. $500? vs $15.99? I am sure there is more silver material on the $500 cable but is it just better silver? I don't get it either.

 

[Slater]

Let me ask you slater is there a difference in silver quality? I forgot someone told me that some cheaper quality silver is what is used on a lot of the aliexpress cables but. Heck if it sounds the same and looks the same well.

Take that free $500 silver cable they are throwing in for the new 64 audio hybrid earphone on the front page. $500? vs $15.99? I am sure there is more silver material on the $500 cable but is it just better silver? I don't get it either.

Well, all pure silver starts as 99.99% bullion. As long as it’s refined and assayed to 99.99% pure silver, it’s not like silver from India is “better“ than silver from Russia.

When it’s made into other “stuff”, it must be mixed with other metals depending on what properties are desired.

Just like 14k gold is only 58.5% pure gold, silver is the same way.

Alloys are mixed into the silver to make the insulated wiring (ie the single wire on a spool). The wiring can never be 99.99% pure silver, or else it will not be robust. It must have some other metals added (such as copper or brass) to make the wire resilient and be able to flex and bend and last as a cable.

Sterling silver is only 92.5% pure silver; the rest is made up of other metals. Silver (currency) coins are usually 90% silver. So for the TRN cables to be 95% pure silver is very good, and is a very high silver content for cable.

If a company wanted to save money, they could use less silver and more alloys. For example, 75% or 50% pure silver (and the rest alloys). But it really doesn’t save that much money in the grand scheme. Maybe $1 worth of silver. If a company was really unscrupulous and wanted to cheat people they would just sell tin cables as pure silver (or silver plated copper cables as pure silver).

But the reality is $500 silver cables are a lot of markup IMO. Sure, they may have other features that justify some price premium, such as beryllium copper jacks, rhodium plating, hand braiding, cryo treating, solder quality, build quality, etc. But the actual silver contained in the individual wires is virtually identical. An exception would be a thicker gauge of wire. A silver cable that uses 20 gauge wire will be more expensive than an identical silver cable that uses 28 gauge wire, simply because it contains more precious metal.

But I’m sorry to bust anyone’s bubble, but a $500 IEM cable that uses (for example) 95% pure silver is really just a luxury/prestige markup mostly due to marketing or name, compared to a $50 IEM cable that also uses (for example) 95% pure silver with roughly the same construction and build quality.

Finally, I want to clarify the purity. TRN and others advertise that they use 99.99% pure silver. But the finished cable contains 95% silver. That’s not lying; the context of the marketing is just confusing. What they really are saying is that of the 95% silver that’s in the cable, the silver used is 99.99% pure silver. It’s like if I ordered a whiskey and soda water from a bar. The finished drink might contain 50% whiskey and 50% water, but the advertising on the water bottle says it’s 99.99% pure water. Yes, the water IS 99.99% pure water, but I mixed it with the whiskey to a 50% dilution. So there’s no trickery involved; it’s just a marketing mumbo jumbo that can be a bit confusing if taken out of context. Make sense?

 

[JEHL]

If I remember anything from both physics and chemistry correctly (take anything I say here with a grain of salt) resistivity is a constant of a material that for wire purposes you multiply the constant by the length and then divide by the transversal area to get the resistance of that wire.

Last time I checked I think you're looking at 6%, give or take, lower resistivity for silver but silver is also 17%, again give or take, denser than copper, so the silver cable would be more conductive but also heavier than the equivalent copper cable.