Long Versus Short SQ Comparison
Have you ever wondered about the sound quality difference would be between a very long Q-Cable and a normal length Q-Cable? I have some real-world listening thoughts on the subject that I thought some of you would be interested in hearing. I compared a very long, original-style, 15-foot Q Cable to a current-style, 3-foot, slightly larger gauged, Q Cable, with Hifiman earring dongles. So yeah, not exactly an apple-to-apples comparison, but still interesting. So the variables in play were: the cable lengths (15' versus 3'), cable gauge (the new 3' cable has more Litz conductors), earrings (the new 3' cable uses Hifiman-style SMA adapters).
The system hosting this comparison is pretty serious, I love it to death.... Mac Mini, Amarra, Locus Design USB cable, Wyrd4Snd Dac2, MG Audio interconnects, Violectric V200, Q-cable and Hifiman HE500s, with Triode Power Labs power cables. Listening tests were done with short term and long term listening periods, using a variety of musical styles over a period of about a week.
The results were that the shorter cable, with the earrings, sounded just a tad better. Cable shortness and more conductors trumped the no-earring advantage. That being said, the difference was quite subtle and difficult to describe in typical audiophile terms. Suffice it to say, things just sound a bit more real, more immediate, more controlled and with a better connection to the music. Quantitatively, perhaps something like 5%. Without the ability to do the direct comparison, the difference would fade into the noise floor of my ability to remember the differences pretty fast. So, that's about it. If you have a logistical need that requires a long headphone run, I would humbly submit that you can go for it without any worries with a Q-cable. As always, Steve at Q-Cable is a great guy and an asset to our hobby. And as so many of us already know, nothing beats Q-Cable when it comes to how the cable physically behaves.... so nicely that you often forget that it is there. Just for the fun of it, at one point in my testing, I put on the the Hifman cable (the silver one) that came with the headphone. That was a flashback nightmare. I've been spoiled. The cable is horribly stiff, microphonic and it doesn't sound very good either. If you're still using one of those, you really need to give Steve a call post haste... seriously!
WIth Kind Regards & Happy Listening!
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