[dhruvmeena96]

The thing which makes difference are given below

Price tag
Psychoacoustics

Crosstalk(reasonable one)
Microphonics(reasonable one)


Biggest effect is price tag
And then, how smexy the cable look(I mean thicc)

For the expensive cable buyers for iem

Get a ISN S16 iem cable and be happy for life(cheap, looks expensive and doesnt have microphonics.


I buy my cables to take pressure, last long and have low resistance overall.

 

[Thx1326]

Actually - if you re-read what they've posted, you'll find they are correct. Typically when a cable has produced a different sound for me, I've gone back and done measurements. Every time I've done it, the cable has has slightly different resistance which has then raised or lowered the volume slightly. When I volume match - the difference disappears. It's not magic we're talking here - merely science. If it is so easy to discern, then why is it that no-one has successfully ABXed under controlled conditions when two cables are compared?

If you want to send me a couple of different sounding cables - I'll measure them for you.

So... How do you know which cable is correct? Did you overlay it with the actual performance of your ears? And you know your ears will adjust to compensate to a point as to what they are hearing. Just because a cable measures well doesn't mean your ears can hear hit OR your brain can recognize it. Now don't get me wrong, any of the litz type cables that combine copper, silver and other materials will have a slightly better performance than two strands of 12gauge electrical wire. The number of strands in the cable and the gauge of the strands will probably be more audible than the actual difference in metals. Lower frequencies travel more down the center of the cable where as high frequencies tend to migrate to the outer surface (skin effect). Ideally, a large core solid conductor wrapped in lots of smaller strands would be the ideal setup. And silver normally sounds a bit brighter than gold or copper. To hear a difference in cables, there really has to be huge differential in a lot of factors. If we were talking about cables that were thousands of mile long - more factors will show more differences. But in a 1 - 2 meter IEM cable? Really? And even the cable is perfect with absolutely no effect on the signal, are your ears perfect? Was the recording perfect? Is the DAC perfect? Is the amp perfect? Are the IEM's perfect? Sheesh... give me a break - the point of no return is about to smack you in the face. Forget the specs, find an IEM you like and listen to your favorite song... make some slight adjustments to the EQ if you have one to make it sound even better and then sit back, pop the top on your favorite beverage and......

Enjoy the Music (not the specs)

 

[FOBean]

Sorry, but you people are wrong. Different types of cables can sound different. You may not be able to measure this, but you can hear it.

I can't agree anymore. I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO sick and tired of the whole "cables DON'T make a shred of difference" posts on numerous forums. I've been using HQ Audio Magic XStream XLR cables (back from 1999-2006) and then got into "pure" silver or silver plated copper XLR cables, all while using the exact same pair of AKG 480 microphones to record live music (everything in the jamband scene including Phish mainly) and I can without a doubt here that switch in XLR cables, and for the worst. I much preferred the AM XStream copper cables for those mics as the silver/SPC were very shrill and shouty sounding compared to them.

But now, and since 2011, I've been running Schoeps microphones with the Schoeps KCY cabling, so I can't comment on that anymore.

Onto IEM Cables now....

BUT, in the last 10 years I've had NUMEROUS expensive IEM's (Campfire Audio Andromedas and Dorado's, about 4x different pairs of the V1 and V2 Westone UM Pro 30 IEM's, to some Chi-Fi IEM's and VARIOUS (like 20+ different IEM Cables, ranging from cheap ofc, to high end OCC copper and SPC (silver plated copper) copper IEM Cables, ranging from $10 to around $300.

Bottom line is, i have phenomenal hearing, even after the 1,000+ shows/concerts I've recorded since 1997. And just because I CAN CLEARLY hear a difference between one cable vs another, and can't "prove" it, is just rubbish!!!! To say because one person can (me) and one person can't (you) hear an easy different between IEM Cables and since it's subjective and not "provable", that I'm wrong, is just idiotic IMO.

I wish EVERYONE had the amazing ability to hear subtle changes in sound as i do do, but lets face it, they don't.

I can hear the BIGGEST difference in IEM cables when going from a pure OCC copper cable to a SPC OCC copper cable. Or a pure 6N (the purest) occ silver cable, much easier than the purity of them 4N/5N/6N/7N for copper or 4N/5N/6N for OCC silver. Also, the diameter of the conductors and etc.

But i can absolutely without a doubt tell the difference between an OCC copper/SPC OCC copper/OCC silver cable, and I have enough confidence that I could do it blindfolded.

I cannot speak for speakers and amps and cables, as that's not my foray and expertise. But i can clearly hear the difference between my old Audio Magic XStream XLR cables and the custom silver/SPC in regards to my old AKG 480 microphones when recording live music.

But the easiest for me to tell the difference is obviously IEM Cables. Switching conductors like i said (OCC copper, SPC OCC copper, OCC silver) and not so much the purity, is something i do EVERY single day.

So my word of advice is, just because YOU cannot hear any difference in cable varieties and I CAN'T prove it, since it's mostly subjective. DOESN'T mean that someone with better and more critical hearing of details CANNOT

 

[FOBean]

I can't agree anymore. I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO sick and tired of the whole "cables DON'T make a shred of difference" posts on numerous forums. I've been using HQ Audio Magic XStream XLR cables (back from 1999-2006) and then got into "pure" silver or silver plated copper XLR cables, all while using the exact same pair of AKG 480 microphones to record live music (everything in the jamband scene including Phish mainly) and I can without a doubt here that switch in XLR cables, and for the worst. I much preferred the AM XStream copper cables for those mics as the silver/SPC were very shrill and shouty sounding compared to them.

But now, and since 2011, I've been running Schoeps microphones with the Schoeps KCY cabling, so I can't comment on that anymore.

Onto IEM Cables now....

BUT, in the last 10 years I've had NUMEROUS expensive IEM's (Campfire Audio Andromedas and Dorado's, about 4x different pairs of the V1 and V2 Westone UM Pro 30 IEM's, to some Chi-Fi IEM's and VARIOUS (like 20+ different IEM Cables, ranging from cheap ofc, to high end OCC copper and SPC (silver plated copper) copper IEM Cables, ranging from $10 to around $300.

Bottom line is, i have phenomenal hearing, even after the 1,000+ shows/concerts I've recorded since 1997. And just because I CAN CLEARLY hear a difference between one cable vs another, and can't "prove" it, is just rubbish!!!! To say because one person can (me) and one person can't (you) hear an easy different between IEM Cables and since it's subjective and not "provable", that I'm wrong, is just idiotic IMO.

I wish EVERYONE had the amazing ability to hear subtle changes in sound as i do do, but lets face it, they don't.

I can hear the BIGGEST difference in IEM cables when going from a pure OCC copper cable to a SPC OCC copper cable. Or a pure 6N (the purest) occ silver cable, much easier than the purity of them 4N/5N/6N/7N for copper or 4N/5N/6N for OCC silver. Also, the diameter of the conductors and etc.

But i can absolutely without a doubt tell the difference between an OCC copper/SPC OCC copper/OCC silver cable, and I have enough confidence that I could do it blindfolded.

I cannot speak for speakers and amps and cables, as that's not my foray and expertise. But i can clearly hear the difference between my old Audio Magic XStream XLR cables and the custom silver/SPC in regards to my old AKG 480 microphones when recording live music.

But the easiest for me to tell the difference is obviously IEM Cables. Switching conductors like i said (OCC copper, SPC OCC copper, OCC silver) and not so much the purity, is something i do EVERY single day.

So my word of advice is, just because YOU cannot hear any difference in cable varieties and I CAN'T prove it, since it's mostly subjective. DOESN'T mean that someone with better and more critical hearing of details CANNOT

Oh and one other thing i forgot to mention, I prefer different construction of IEM Cables for different IEM's. Just depends on what I like the best, the trypes of drivers the IEM's have, and even as much as the braid, shielding, cotton fibers inside of each conductor core, etc

 

[FOBean]

So... How do you know which cable is correct? Did you overlay it with the actual performance of your ears? And you know your ears will adjust to compensate to a point as to what they are hearing. Just because a cable measures well doesn't mean your ears can hear hit OR your brain can recognize it. Now don't get me wrong, any of the litz type cables that combine copper, silver and other materials will have a slightly better performance than two strands of 12gauge electrical wire. The number of strands in the cable and the gauge of the strands will probably be more audible than the actual difference in metals. Lower frequencies travel more down the center of the cable where as high frequencies tend to migrate to the outer surface (skin effect). Ideally, a large core solid conductor wrapped in lots of smaller strands would be the ideal setup. And silver normally sounds a bit brighter than gold or copper. To hear a difference in cables, there really has to be huge differential in a lot of factors. If we were talking about cables that were thousands of mile long - more factors will show more differences. But in a 1 - 2 meter IEM cable? Really? And even the cable is perfect with absolutely no effect on the signal, are your ears perfect? Was the recording perfect? Is the DAC perfect? Is the amp perfect? Are the IEM's perfect? Sheesh... give me a break - the point of no return is about to smack you in the face. Forget the specs, find an IEM you like and listen to your favorite song... make some slight adjustments to the EQ if you have one to make it sound even better and then sit back, pop the top on your favorite beverage and......

Enjoy the Music (not the specs)

I agree with this more than ANYTHING else. Find what YOU like/love, sit back, pop the top of your favorite beverage, and MOST importantly, ENJOY the music (not the specs)

 

[cancermonkey]

Does anyone have any experience in combing the pure silver and copper cables in one. I am not a sound or cable expert, but after reading so many people raving about pure silver and copper etc, each with their different characteristics, I thought I will try to have both materials all in one cable. I got some 5n , 8 strand silver cable, and I got some 8 strand occ copper (This is what the seller/manufacturer claimed they are anyway), I am going to make some headphone and iem cables out of them. Does anyone have any idea of what I will get "scientifically"?? Cheers.