[mixman]

I have a Draugur Silver on my HEK SE. Still has a little bit of a hot treble. I am wondering if I get a Draug 3 copper cable, could I warm the SE up without loosing any detail?

 

[thecrow]

I have a Draugur Silver on my HEK SE. Still has a little bit of a hot treble. I am wondering if I get a Draug 3 copper cable, could I warm the SE up without loosing any detail?

Funny you should say that:

I have the silver draug that i have tried with the hekse and i have found i prefer the stock cable. I use the silver draug with the hd800, elear, lcd2 and auteur and it pairs up well with all of those.

I’m assuming it’s too much of a good thing with the detailed hekse. And I’m concluding the stock cable is pretty good based on my findings

I am hoping to receive a copper draug3 soon for my hekse as I’m hoping that will pair up nicely with it and bring a nice touch to it

 

[mixman]

Funny you should say that:

I have the silver draug that i have tried with the hekse and i have found i prefer the stock cable. I use the silver draug with the hd800, elear, lcd2 and auteur and it pairs up well with all of those.

I’m assuming it’s too much of a good thing with the detailed hekse. And I’m concluding the stock cable is pretty good based on my findings

I am hoping to receive a copper draug3 soon for my hekse as I’m hoping that will pair up nicely with it and bring a nice touch to it

Ha, right on time then with my question. Yeah the Draug Silver doesn't brighten it, like another unnamed silver cable does, but neither does it tame the treble either. Yeah looking to tame those highs a little, not too much. I just don't want to loose that detail either. I await your review. Post up your results on the SE thread too.

 

[thecrow]

Ha, right on time then with my question. Yeah the Draug Silver doesn't brighten it, like another unnamed silver cable does, but neither does it tame the treble either. Yeah looking to tame those highs a little, not too much. I just don't want to loose that detail either. I await your review. Post up your results on the SE thread too.

did you try the draugur with your elex?
the silver draug was a significant upgrade for the elear v the stock cable
(mind you my balanced silver draug had a balanced connection which allowed my amp to give my elear more power v the stock single ended cable)

 

[mixman]

did you try the draugur with your elex?
the silver draug was a significant upgrade for the elear v the stock cable
(mind you my balanced silver draug had a balanced connection which allowed my amp to give my elear more power v the stock single ended cable)

No, sold the Elex before I got the Norne. If I get a Utopia or Stellia I will definitely look at something like a Draug for them. For something like a Empyrean, I would use the Silver.

 

[thecrow]

No, sold the Elex before I got the Norne. If I get a Utopia or Stellia I will definitely look at something like a Draug for them. For something like a Empyrean, I would use the Silver.

I did demo the empyrean using my silver draug and i thought it definitely responded well. I believe Trevor has a silvergarde version tweaked for the empyrean.

I also found, for me who prefers the brighter hd800 and the hekse, that the empys also needed a bit of eqing and bringing up a bit of the upper mids/treble.

But for me the hekv2 (later to be upgraded to hekse)were so much more what i prefer

 

[akb48jue]

I have a quick question if i want to update my cable, what kind of options you guys' recommendations? I prefer warm sounds, now i have the 64 audio tia trio.

Thanks.

 

[interweb-tech]

I have a quick question if i want to update my cable, what kind of options you guys' recommendations? I prefer warm sounds, now i have the 64 audio tia trio.

Thanks.

Here's what I chose for my 64 Audio U12t

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/nor...pression-thread.606500/page-241#post-14919282

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Here we are .
Trevor's Silvergarde 3 for my ZMF Eikon, will arrive at my house next monday.
I can't wait to hear it at work. I am ultra confident that it will make my listening superlative.
I want to thank Trevor for his kindness, for all the advice he gave me and for all his support.
I also thank Wildcatsare1, because it is thanks to his advice that I contacted Trevor!
I look forward to having the Silvergarde 3 in my hands and connected to the Eikon

Lu

Lu, I hope you love your Silvergarde, it’ll make your ZMF Eikon sing!

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Just arrived today (thanks Trevor!). Vorpal Series Type 4 OCC Litz 8-wire IEM cable. Will be test driving the gorgeous and supple Vorpal with my 64 Audio U12t.

Well, how does it sound?!?!?!

 

[interweb-tech]

Well, how does it sound?!?!?!

It sounds great for what time I have spent with it. It looks fantastic with the hardware that matches the casing. I even have it coiled up right under my monitor to remind me I have been neglecting them (lol). I have had a recent influx of new (to me) headphones (HD800 & LCD-XC) so between listening to them, trying out new pads, and consulting with Trevor on new cables (chose special tuned Draug3 for the HD800 so far), I haven't picked them up much since that new cable arrived. So many things to listen to, so little time.

I will make the side note that my Audio-gd NFB-28.38 seems to be an excellent match for the HD800. No sibilance or treble harshness so far.

 

[ascaso]

Lu, I hope you love your Silvergarde, it’ll make your ZMF Eikon sing!

For sure, my friend!
The Silvergarde is really a hard cable to beat.
With the Eikons it is a perfect match: it literally makes them fly.
ZMF Eikon and Silvergarde 3 are really a splendid pairing: the money best spent on audio for a long time.
I had no doubts, but my ears confirm it!

Lu

 

[interweb-tech]

Ordered a Norne Draug3 (all black cable w/gunmetal hardware) today for my HD800. Can't wait to hear them with some high-grade copper. I have 2 other Draug3s already, black/grey for my HD6XX, and black/copper for my LCD-X.

Draug 3 - 4x20awg - copper occ litz - 24-wire Tri multi-conductor - ultimate copper upgrade cable -

Options: - Headphone Type: Sennheiser HD800 (Eidolic, gunmetal.) - Cable Color Choice: Black - Length: 6 ft. - Termination: Eidolic 4-pin XLR (gunmetal, rhodium plated TeCu) - Premium Splitter Options (optional): Gunmetal Triangle with deep recess logo

Thanks again to Trevor for the guidance and zero sales pressure while I kept flip-flopping between silver & copper cable choices.

 

[donato]

Ok, I finally got around to doing my cable comparison - MrSpeakers DUM, MrSpeakers Vivo, Moon Audio Silver Dragon, Norne Silvergarde S3 all in XLR

B.L.U.F.: The DUM was outclassed. The Vivo was very good although at times a bit ripe in the bass. Silver Dragon disappointed. Silvergarde S3 excelled.

TL;DR version:

This is my setup
Audioquest Diamond USB -> Singxer SU-1 KTE to Holo Spring KTE via I2S (1 ft. Blue Jeans Belden HDMI) -> 0.5 m Wireworld Platinum Eclipse XLR -> Violectric V281 -> XLR headphone cable -> Ether 2 w/suede pads.

Playback was via Roon, upsampling set to max PCM rate (power of 2), smooth, minimum phase filter (still experimenting with these settings). Holo Spring set to NOS. Pre-gain input on Violectric set to -6db.

These are the tracks I compared:
- Schubert Piano Quintet "The Trout" Op 114, fifth movement recorded by Andras Schiff and Hagen Quartet - 44.1/16 FLAC
- Tchaikovsky Symphony no. 6 "Pathetique", 3rd movement recorded by Evegeny Mravinsky and Leningrad Philharmonic - HD Tracks 96/24 FLAC
- Comin' Home Baby by Herbie Mann on At the Village Gate - 44.1/16 FLAC
- Space Cowboy by Kacey Musgraces on The Golden Hour - HDTracks 96/24 FLAC
- Get Lucky by Daft Punk on Random Access Memories - HDTracks 88.2/24 FLAC

I primarily listened to a section of a song, would swap cables, relisten to that same section with the other cable. I would do this with all cables and go back and forth mixing up the order of the cables I listened just to better solidify my understanding of how each cable compared to the others. I would then do this with the next section of the song and then eventually move on to different songs. I kept the headphones on my head the whole time since I'm become quite adept at swapping cables with the HPs still on my head and could swap cables in 15-30 seconds. This is a time consuming process, but hey what better way to be obsessive compulsive about this hobby

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.

Cables from Left to right - DUM, Vivo, Silver Dragon, Silvergarde S3

MrSpeakers DUM cable

MrSpeakers Vivo cable

Moon Audio Silver Dragon

Norne Silvergarde S3

(cross posted to the Ether 2 thread)

 

[Thenewguy007]

Can anyone guess on how the sound signature of a Silvergarde S3 4 wire vs 8-wire would change?

The last communication I had with Trevor was last year & gave some indication that the 8-wire would change the sound signature to be more on the warm side.
This makes sense I think, heavier or thicker guage usually means a more thicker sound in other cables!?


I haven't been able to get in contact with Trevor in a while, I'm guessing he is backed up again.