Well I got the cable that you recommended today.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/183653758988 I don't know how/if cable burn-in will change the sound on this, but here are my 1st impressions.
The cable seems well built. It's light and flexible. Compared to the stock z7m2 cable, it sounds leaner. I'll try to elaborate a little.
What I thought I was going to hear: Based on the description of the cable, I thought that it may sound more accurate (tighter bass, and highs, that increased separation between the instruments, making the sound "pop" a little more).
What I actually heard: The bass and highs so seem to sound a little tighter (shorter decay) with the ebay cable, but most of the instruments seem further away now, and a little less engaging. The biggest difference I hear is that vocals seem to have less texture with the ebay cable. For example if a singer is a little raspy, or was hitting a passage where they had to strain a little, you could hear that with the stock cable. These things were less apparent with the ebay cable. I guess you could say the stock cable seemed to allow richer vocals to be heard.
In short, you could say the stock cable is a little on the warm side, and the ebay cable is a little on the leaner. I would have called the ebay cable "more accurate", if the separation of instruments was increased, but things became flatter. I think "leaner" is a better description of what I am hearing in my system. Maybe the silver plating is tightening up the timing, but maybe this cable isn't shielded as well which is leading to a higher noise floor (less separation between instruments)? Just a wild guess here.
I tested using Qobuz, with a handfull of tracks that I use for sound tests. I used my Macbook Pro with a usb-c to 3.5mm Dac Adapter, a Macbook Pro with a Mojo, and I did the same tests with my iPad Pro with the same Dac/adapter and mojo. All 4 setups yielded the same sound signature differences.
For the most part I view cables as the last bit of system tuning. The standard cable is a little bit veiled and is a little warm. The warmth works well in my setup. For others that need a little less warmth this cable may work for you. This cable does seem to have better timing (tighter bass and highs). My only hesitation in recommending this cable was the decrease in instrumentation that I heard. All these tests were done with Apple products. Maybe this cable would interact with other products. In a different way? Well, I am going to post this now so I don't lose the typing I've done so far, and try the cable out of my Bluesound Node to Mytek 192 DSD Dac setup. I'll tack on the results below in a bit...
Part 2:
OK, I tried both cables plugged into the BlueSound Node 2i playing Qobuz (same songs), and then the Mytek 192 DSD DAC that is downstream of the Bluesound. The results were the same. Overall, the better the source, the more noticeable the differences between the cable become. In my systems, I prefer the stock cable.
Please note that overall the differences aren't huge, but you will notice them if you have a good source. For someone with a basic source, that doesn't want to spend a lot of money, this will be a great cable. In fact in a warm system, it may be just the ticker regardless of price. This is a decent cable, and when you look at the ~$40 price compared to the stock cable ($160) and others ($150-$300), this cable is a great bargain.
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