shotgunshane
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2010
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Brian recently contacted me about a new C/IEM cable he is thinking of offering. Yup, a Q Cables C/IEM cable no less. Until now, Q Cables have only been made for headphones, desktop and speaker applications. Since I'll be cross posting this in the BTG Audio Cables thread, let me take a brief detour of explanation for those not familiar with Q Cables and their construction:
Q Cables are also known as the French Silk cable. The wire is type 2 litz copper construction with a pure silk wrap and French Silk braiding sleeve. The result is an extremely light and flexible cable even though a much larger gauge wire is used. No thermoplastic polymers are used, like on typical headphone and earphone cables, which means flexibility and weight really are on a different level with Q Cables. This amounts no tangles, easy manageability and storage and minimal microphonics.
The Q Cables C/IEM demo cable Brian loaned me is 4 wire construction but overall size of the cable is comparable to many 8 wire C/IEM cables on the market with standard thermoplastic polymer sheathing. Due to the large gauge of the wire, termination options would be limited. Standard Q Cable plugs are of course available (in 3 different finishes), as well as Eidolic plugs, which are slightly larger than most other brands of IEM plugs and are able to accept the larger wire. The demo cable has Eidolic standard 2 pin connectors. I’ve yet to confirm with Brian if MMCX or FitEar connectors are feasible. The French Silk sleeving is available in brown or black standard but is available in over 200 colors for an up-charge.
The Q cable is easily double the size of the BTG Audio Starlight cables that Brian also builds under his other brand. Yet despite being so much larger, The Q cable feels so much more effortlessly flexible than the Starlight. The standard Q Cables plug is also much larger than my Starlight’s Oyaide right angle. Also of note is that due to the Q Cables construction, a neck slider is just not possible above the Y-split; it would greatly alter the look and appeal of the design.
The lack of a neck slider brings me to the question of application. How and where would you use a Q Cables C/IEM cable? Brian and I both think the Q cable would perfectly at home in a desktop set-up for users that love to use their custom and universal IEMS mostly in their home set-up. That’s not to say you couldn’t use the Q cable on the go as well but the lack of a neck slider or memory wire means the cables can slip off from over the ear when you are in a lot of motion. The fit and construction of the IEM can play a large roll in this as well. When used with my old EarWerkz Supra and Legend, the Q cable would slip from over the ear from time to time with the Supra but never lost over ear fitment with the Legend, even when bending to pick something up or to put something in a bottom cabinet.
I feel confident that this will be a product Brian will be offering in the near future but hearing interest from some of you all, when considering a brand new product, would certainly help. Feel free to comment in this thread of reach Brian directly at either http://www.q-audio.com/contact/.
Q Cables are also known as the French Silk cable. The wire is type 2 litz copper construction with a pure silk wrap and French Silk braiding sleeve. The result is an extremely light and flexible cable even though a much larger gauge wire is used. No thermoplastic polymers are used, like on typical headphone and earphone cables, which means flexibility and weight really are on a different level with Q Cables. This amounts no tangles, easy manageability and storage and minimal microphonics.
The Q Cables C/IEM demo cable Brian loaned me is 4 wire construction but overall size of the cable is comparable to many 8 wire C/IEM cables on the market with standard thermoplastic polymer sheathing. Due to the large gauge of the wire, termination options would be limited. Standard Q Cable plugs are of course available (in 3 different finishes), as well as Eidolic plugs, which are slightly larger than most other brands of IEM plugs and are able to accept the larger wire. The demo cable has Eidolic standard 2 pin connectors. I’ve yet to confirm with Brian if MMCX or FitEar connectors are feasible. The French Silk sleeving is available in brown or black standard but is available in over 200 colors for an up-charge.
The Q cable is easily double the size of the BTG Audio Starlight cables that Brian also builds under his other brand. Yet despite being so much larger, The Q cable feels so much more effortlessly flexible than the Starlight. The standard Q Cables plug is also much larger than my Starlight’s Oyaide right angle. Also of note is that due to the Q Cables construction, a neck slider is just not possible above the Y-split; it would greatly alter the look and appeal of the design.
The lack of a neck slider brings me to the question of application. How and where would you use a Q Cables C/IEM cable? Brian and I both think the Q cable would perfectly at home in a desktop set-up for users that love to use their custom and universal IEMS mostly in their home set-up. That’s not to say you couldn’t use the Q cable on the go as well but the lack of a neck slider or memory wire means the cables can slip off from over the ear when you are in a lot of motion. The fit and construction of the IEM can play a large roll in this as well. When used with my old EarWerkz Supra and Legend, the Q cable would slip from over the ear from time to time with the Supra but never lost over ear fitment with the Legend, even when bending to pick something up or to put something in a bottom cabinet.
I feel confident that this will be a product Brian will be offering in the near future but hearing interest from some of you all, when considering a brand new product, would certainly help. Feel free to comment in this thread of reach Brian directly at either http://www.q-audio.com/contact/.
