Received my custom silver cable from XINHS looks the same as the standard silver cable. Only difference is the number of core of the regular silver is 10*0.08*8, and the core of this silver cable is 18*0.06*8.
Only way I noticed a difference was by magnifying the cable and comparing it to my half silver half copper XINHS cable.
I’m undecided if going be using it with the Moondrop Variations. The silver imho doesn’t seem to add anything special to the sound quality over my other cables.
Going listen a day or two to see if grows on me. If not it was something inexpensive to try out to see if I like the sound of a silver cable. So far my cable buying experience has been cable material imho can effects sound.
On higher end cables I still feel anything over $100.00 is mostly hype and better off first putting the money into other upgrades first or saving for a better iem. If your at endgame in your setup and buying high end cables makes you feel good then why not. Life’s too short and whatever brings you happiness you should enjoy.
Your exactly right on the last part. My endgame is MEST MK2 and I absolutely love it. Not going anywhere anytime soon. The more I listen to it the more I appreciate it.
But I will say this and this is my experience. Not trying to convince anyone of anything. Simply sharing what I have learned or what I feel I have learned atleast.
Quality of materials does matter! I've had the cheapest of the cheap and some relatively expensive cables and there is a difference. Down to the method of soldering, quality of solder, materials used, connector used and the quality of it, 2 pin material quality, etc...the list goes on.
The biggest difference I have found is the better the cable, no matter the price, the smoother everything sounds. That's the best way I know how to put it. Yes, soundstage, resolution, texture, dynamic range, and all the thousands of names whatever you wanna call it, can and sometimes do get better! But....not always and not all of them.
It also depends on the synergy between the iem and cable. Also it doesn't really matter what cable I use with my BLON 03 because the iem is the bottleneck, not the cable. But on my MEST MK2, the bottleneck is definitely not the IEM.
So then, the difference is noticable when swapping cables on the MEST. Yes its subtle, not an overwhelming difference but the difference is there non the less. So assuming you have found the material i.e. copper, silver, SPC, etc that you feel has the best synergy with your iems the next question is how much are you willing to pay to squeeze every last drop of performance out of your iem?
You cannot say anything over this amount or that amount is dimeneshing returns because most of us have not owned $2000 cables. Only someone who has owned them all can honestly say such a thing.
So the way I look at it is to focus on your source, then your iems, THEN your cables as it's all about fine tuning at that point.
But for me, I'm willing to pay half the cost of my iem on a cable to get that last bit of performance because to me....it's worth it and it's what I enjoy. This is a wonderful hobby and everyone has a different way of doing things. I like to see everyone's way and consider it. If it's not for me no biggy.