Ok, I finally got around to doing my cable comparison - MrSpeakers DUM, MrSpeakers Vivo, Moon Audio Silver Dragon, Norne Silvergarde S3 all in XLR
Two cables that had the best microdetail and definition were the DUM and the S3. By detail and definition, I don't mean tilted up upper end, but for me it's being able to distinctly hear the start and stop of a notes (regardless of the instrument) which allows me to better enjoy all the different musical lines happening in the music. The Silver Dragon was a surprising disappointment here. One thing to note on the Silver Dragon cable I had is that it was built with the adapters in the middle of the cable so that you can swap out different terminations. I can't imagine this benefits sound. I was even concerned to the point of using some DeOxIt on the connectors (and separated/reinserted several times to try to work it in) in case there was any corrosion or just patina on the connectors. It didn't seem to make a difference.
For me, I also find that the soundstaging ability also largely goes along with a cables microdetail and definition capability, although the tonal balance also affects this a bit. The Vivo was still very good at this but on some tracks, it seemed as if the Vivo had a bit less air on top and sometimes it didn't soundstage as well. I also found the bass to sometimes be a touch ripe on some tracks; it was often enjoyable too, but it sometimes seemed to make things just a touch muddy or wooly. Maybe this is because I was also using the suede pads, so perhaps the Vivo is a better match to the original pads.
For my experience, I didn't find much fault with the S3 other than the price. It's my reference since I haven't heard any better (I have done similar comparisons on my other headphones with black dragon, cardas, ZMF michanikos, hifiman stock, zmf stock). Plus, the build on the Norne cables seems more like a bespoke product than any of the others (not that that benefits sound quality). I wanted something very different from my other cables so I went for the purple sleeves.
As a caveat to cable upgrades, I always caution that sound differences are relatively minor so if you haven't optimized your upstream components (or even which headphones you are using), you may not want to spend a lot on cables. The Vivo is a very good one, perhaps the best stock cable I've heard (although the bar is pretty low in my experience...). My experiences are with my equipment, with my ears, and my value system. That being said, I believe that if you want to extract the most performance out of your system, you do have to upgrade your cables (hey, don't forget the interconnect from your DAC to your amp...). As always YMMV.
(cross posted to the Ether 2 thread)
