[Mindstorms]

Imuch prefer low gain VIA SE but that might change soon!

 

[nc8000]

Imuch prefer low gain VIA SE but that might change soon!

To me the sq difference between normal gain and hi gain is very small but balanced is noticably better than single ended, but from previous experience it varies from headphone to headphone how much balanced improves

 

[Mindstorms]

Imuch prefer low gain VIA SE but that might change soon!

To me the sq difference between normal gain and hi gain is very small but balanced is noticably better than single ended, but from previous experience it varies from headphone to headphone how much balanced improves

I agree but with iems the diference to me via SE its that you loose Staging depth for some extra volume gain thats why i dont prefer high gain i much prefer staging and power its suficient for most sensible iems, i will see now that i get my balanced cable if that changes and i prefer other firmwares, regions and high gain like you all do!

 

[gerelmx1986]

 

[Queen6]

Thank you all for the responses! Its great help to me... I only have this two choices sorry if im off topic here.
I really like the looks of the silver one my only doubt if its i will regret buying it since aparently copper has the best bass response (dinamic sound) and warmer mids and forgiving highs all desirable to me! but it might be a myth since SPC its also a copper cable inside right? anyone has experience on comparing pure copper vs SPC? I have very cheap silver plated cables... and i feel they are can of thin sounding but with better definition overall vs a cheap copper cable, also this will be my first experience on BALANCED.. so since i really like dinamic sound i think as much as I love the silver plated copper colour with my 1A it could be a bad choice... dough some people its allso telling me I cant go wrong since for the prince neither will be excellent sound cable... sill open for any opinions dough i have good material now vs yesterday for a decition! thanks to all answers! my plan its stay in 3.00 FW and use it with BL01, Revonext QT2 and BQEYZ BQ3 wich i love all i was also reading that Sony Kimber Cables are copper inside but gold plated since im very ingnorant in cable logics i deduced two things first im miles away from the quality of a kimber cable (haha pretty obvius first one) and second this cable has many threads so i think the thinner the cable maybe the less bass and less copper inside? in favor silver plated so anyone out there with knoledge about this will much apreciate any education since logic tells me go copper dough its ugly! prety much i was looking for a excuse to get the silver haha... but i cant find it!

Good silver cables even direct from a cable maker are on the expensive side due to the base materials, in you position I'd opt for the copper.

This is my Copper & Silver mix for Ananda next to a Sony Kimber Kable, IMO number of cores & strands do count with some headgear.

8 cores (copper/silver 50/50) 64 strands per core.

Q-6

 

[Mindstorms]

Good silver cables even direct from a cable maker are on the expensive side due to the base materials, in you position I'd opt for the copper.

This is my Copper & Silver mix for Ananda next to a Sony Kimber Kable, IMO number of cores & strands do count with some headgear.

8 cores (copper/silver 50/50) 64 strands per core.

Q-6

Thank you ended up getting copper one! due to bass bet mainly colorwise i loved the silver with my 1A geez i wish i had a 1Z

 

[seanwee]

Good silver cables even direct from a cable maker are on the expensive side due to the base materials, in you position I'd opt for the copper.

This is my Copper & Silver mix for Ananda next to a Sony Kimber Kable, IMO number of cores & strands do count with some headgear.

8 cores (copper/silver 50/50) 64 strands per core.

Q-6

People from the budget cable thread would like to have a word with you lol

There are plenty of high quality sub 50 dollar silver cables in the market now. No point paying a brand premium unless you're going for super high end exotic material cables. And even then you're just paying for the colouration those cables bring.

If you're after just pure materials sub 100 dollar cables will do fine.

 

[gsiu33]

Yes I have arrayed before me a variety of portable HD's and my WD NAS has a pair of 4 TB drives that still have room for all. Only audio files on mine.

And several back-up drives since the labor to rip all my CD's and the redbook layers of my SACD's is something I'll never repeat. (Some CD's have now gone away, more to follow, although many I'll keep if limited editions or special box sets. At this point I intend to retain all my SACD's. But never to re-rip. It took many months.)

Exactly, it will be a disaster if I lost these thousands album. I have 2 units of RAID (each have 20TB space). One is active and other one is just backup.

 

[gerelmx1986]

 

[Lookout57]

People from the budget cable thread would like to have a word with you lol

There are plenty of high quality sub 50 dollar silver cables in the market now. No point paying a brand premium unless you're going for super high end exotic material cables. And even then you're just paying for the colouration those cables bring.

If you're after just pure materials sub 100 dollar cables will do fine.

The best sound comes from OCC high purity silver with OCC high purity copper second. Then the actual wire construction and configuration effects the sound.

I purchased a "pure silver" cable that was recommended on Head-Fi. The sound was better than a silver plated copper cable, but the build quality was inferior. The MMCX connector shell was thin aluminum and unmarked. The wires broke at the 4.4mm connector after a month. A $70 experiment that made me appreciate better quality cables.

So yes you can find cheap silver cables, but the quality is not there. You get what you pay for. So you can keep buying low cost cables to replace them when they break or invest in a better quality cable once.

 

[Queen6]

People from the budget cable thread would like to have a word with you lol

There are plenty of high quality sub 50 dollar silver cables in the market now. No point paying a brand premium unless you're going for super high end exotic material cables. And even then you're just paying for the colouration those cables bring.

If you're after just pure materials sub 100 dollar cables will do fine.

The best sound comes from OCC high purity silver with OCC high purity copper second. Then the actual wire construction and configuration effects the sound.

I purchased a "pure silver" cable that was recommended on Head-Fi. The sound was better than a silver plated copper cable, but the build quality was inferior. The MMCX connector shell was thin aluminum and unmarked. The wires broke at the 4.4mm connector after a month. A $70 experiment that made me appreciate better quality cables.

So yes you can find cheap silver cables, but the quality is not there. You get what you pay for. So you can keep buying low cost cables to replace them when they break or invest in a better quality cable once.

There's a significant difference between price and quality with cables LOL. Quality base material costs simple as that, yet that doesn't automatically equal a four figure price tag for what amounts to be a wire. I'm lucky being based in SE Asia and have easy access to cable makers. The mark up on such items is obscene at times, I've sourced OEM cables at a fraction of the retail price with a little ground work. Yep your being "hosed" by the manufacturer's plain & simple - Branded 4.4 to MMCX Kimber Kable $55 tops...

The high price branded cables your mostly paying for the fine details, enhanced UV protection, kudos and bespoke jewellery in some cases. Yes some can alter the SQ although it's rather achieved by reducing a trait than enhancing one.

I agree with Lookout57 that quality counts. Cable below was produced by a local professional cable maker with OCC Copper & OCC Silver 64 strand cores 4x4 wired to the same pattern as Hifiman's own cable, it results in a slightly smoother & fuller sound, the driving reason was to switch to 4.4 balanced. The fuller sound is likely due to the higher grade of base materials, increased contact area given the 64 strand wire and 8 cores given the cable is 10X the contact area of the OEM cable. Terminators are simply what the cable maker recommended, nothing fancy. Unfortunately without direct access such a IEM/HP cable would be be very expensive as it would likely pass through many middlemen before reaching the end users hands.

8 core Kimber; 4 X OCC Copper X 4 OCC Silver, 64 strands per core, 4.4 balanced to duel 3.5 TRS, 6MM+ These guys generally do high end audio interconnects, with IEM & HP cables being a side branch, equally they can produce to your spec up to and including Gold, should you desire...

TLDR: cables quality is everything, pricing entirely a different matter...

Q-6

 

[Mindstorms]

so copper alone its like bad lol!

 

[Duncan]

Well, colour me confused...

I’m one of those people that rushed out to buy a pair of AirPod Max - and got the cable to enable them to be run wired...

anyway, over Bluetooth from the 1A they sound great - over wired (SE) sound better but the volume tanks - even 120/120 is not that loud, or more importantly - dynamic... whereas they’re perfectly fine with volume and dynamics out of my Galaxy S10+

makes me wonder if there is an impedance trick in the 1A (I have no idea what the impedance of the cable is!) - either way - SE disappoints me.

 

[gerelmx1986]

Well, colour me confused...

I’m one of those people that rushed out to buy a pair of AirPod Max - and got the cable to enable them to be run wired...

anyway, over Bluetooth from the 1A they sound great - over wired (SE) sound better but the volume tanks - even 120/120 is not that loud, or more importantly - dynamic... whereas they’re perfectly fine with volume and dynamics out of my Galaxy S10+

makes me wonder if there is an impedance trick in the 1A (I have no idea what the impedance of the cable is!) - either way - SE disappoints me.

Airpods max ugly looking and pwehaps bad sounding. Tjeir ipods always sounded bad, qpple music has not switched to lossless... still stuck with AAC 256 VBR. I cqnt imagine airpod mqx BT AAC lossy and liatening to already lossy apple music... even worse sq vecause the AP Max Bluetooth codec wull run the aac alfoeithm on the already lossy files

 

[MrWalkman]

Airpods max ugly looking and pwehaps bad sounding. Tjeir ipods always sounded bad, qpple music has not switched to lossless... still stuck with AAC 256 VBR. I cqnt imagine airpod mqx BT AAC lossy and liatening to already lossy apple music... even worse sq vecause the AP Max Bluetooth codec wull run the aac alfoeithm on the already lossy files

AAC 256 can actually sound really good. An advice would be to not focus on the technical part, like "oh, it's lossy, 256 kbps, it must be bad".

I know someone who was so into WAV files, and even how WAV sounds better than FLAC, and now he's all into Spotify for example.

Try seeing the whole picture, and don't focus on imperfections.