[zazex]

   
Do you plan to return the hard coating cable? Hope I didn't make a poor choice.

Yes.
 
The soft coating cable arrived yesterday, it sounds to me
identical to the hard coating cable.
 
The hard coating cable looks better, though, with that nice
blue and black swirl.  But that really has to be irrelevant here
 
I emailed Surf Cables and received a friendly reply almost
immediately.  "Send it back to the address on the website
for a refund".  It's really nice doing business with people
like this

 

[zazex]

Quote:I

  I'm sorry but I'm having hard time believing that the cable makes any difference, AFAIK cables are the biggest scam/placebo in the audiophool business.
 
It's simple science of "bottleneck". Even if you make a cable out of silver/gold/platinum/diamond or whatever magical material you wish to call it, what difference is it going to make if the wires and the circuit board in the amp/DAC/headphone are made of simple copper? Same goes for those audiophile power cables, what difference do they make when the copper wires behind the wall socket is 30+ years old and is probably corroded too?
 
Please people, stop fooling yourselves, you think you "hear" the difference with the kimber cable because you're looking for a reason to justify your purchase.

It's perfectly OK with me that you're having a hard time believing the cable makes any difference.
My question is only - why is it important to try to convince me that I should feel the same way?
 
 

 

[Thorbee]

+1

 

[Sonic Defender]

 
It's perfectly OK with me that you're having a hard time believing the cable makes any difference.
My question is only - why is it important to try to convince me that I should feel the same way?
 
 

Missionary zeal? To help you out of your profound ignorance? A calling perhaps?

 

[zazex]

 
Missionary zeal? To help you out of your profound ignorance? A calling perhaps?

 

[Mickice]

thank you guys@D-TECH & DrMIS , i will get mine in few days, for DAC/AMP i bought this combo [COLOR=0066CC]FiiO E09K[/COLOR] + [COLOR=0066CC]Fiio E07K [/COLOR]   what do you think of it?

My E7 non K blew one of the channels and killed my Windows xD

 

[saeedkunna]

My E7 non K blew one of the channels and killed my Windows xD

How did that happen ?

 

[HiFiGuy528]

It's important to note that not every system is transparent enough to hear the smallest changes.  The music file type is also important.  Not going to hear much difference testing with heavily compressed MP3 files.

 

[zazex]

  It's important to note that not every system is transparent enough to hear the smallest changes.  The music file type is also important.  Not going to hear much difference testing with heavily compressed MP3 files.

 
Thanks for posting that! Somewhat surprisingly at this point,
it still needs to be mentioned from time to time.

 

[Sonic Defender]

   
Thanks for posting that! Somewhat surprisingly at this point,
it still needs to be mentioned from time to time.

True, but likely less so these days as I think virtually everybody I talk to uses 320 files and despite what most people think, you would have a far tougher time picking out the 320 versus lossless in bind listening tests. It would also depend on the music as I find electronica sounds fantastic at 320. I think we need to start reading references to mp3 files as most likely 320. Storage and bandwidth are cheap so there seems little need to compress deeper than 320. Just a thought. 

 

[gr8soundz]

Surf cable arrived today.
 
Good build quality but the hard sleeving is def too rigid; like 1 step away from slightly-bendable pvc plus the bad microphonic effects (wonder why the hard sleeving is offered at all?). Regret not getting the soft and will likely send this one back. Site's description says soft sleeve can't support itself. That threw me off without knowing how the gauge of wiring would hold up on its own; seems now it could/can.
 
Initial sonic impression is slight improvement over stock cable (subjective of course especially with stock cable being 10ft vs the Surf at 4ft). Treble is a bit better and perhaps? a bit more soundstage.
 
Shame the Kimber cable is so expensive. Think I'd rather invest those funds towards a new headphone like the Oppo PM-3 instead.
 
For the price, the Surf cable is a great value. Just be sure to get the soft sleeving.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Surf cable arrived today.
 
Good build quality but the hard sleeving is def too rigid; like 1 step away from slightly-bendable pvc plus the bad microphonic effects (wonder why the hard sleeving is offered at all?). Regret not getting the soft and will likely send this one back. Site's description says soft sleeve can't support itself. That threw me off without knowing how the gauge of wiring would hold up on its own; seems now it could/can.
 
Initial sonic impression is slight improvement over stock cable (subjective of course especially with stock cable being 10ft vs the Surf at 4ft). Treble is a bit better and perhaps? a bit more soundstage.
 
Shame the Kimber cable is so expensive. Think I'd rather invest those funds towards a new headphone like the Oppo PM-3 instead.
 
For the price, the Surf cable is a great value. Just be sure to get the soft sleeving.

Ask Trevor at Norne Audio for a quote, I'm sure he would be competitive. My Solv cable is luxurious and very soft. I don't comment on cable sound as I'm really not sure about the idea yet. My big problem is I changed both my cable and amp at the same time so I can't say what accounts for the sound improvement. Regardless, the Norne cable is fantastic and extremely well made. It should be very competitively priced with the Kimber.

 

[Mickice]

How did that happen ?

Tried A/B testing headphones, computer died and for the life of me I couldn't get into Windows again without formatting. I tried plugging it in again and only the left channel works.

Just my experience, I'll never go Fiio again xD

 

[Sonic Defender]

Tried A/B testing headphones, computer died and for the life of me I couldn't get into Windows again without formatting. I tried plugging it in again and only the left channel works.

Just my experience, I'll never go Fiio again xD

I'm not sure a device could do that? That would actually be the hugest flaw in an operating system (meaning Windows) I have ever heard of, bar none. I would have to think something else happened. Although based on what I am reading, I will wait until FiiO get better at UI design as it sounds like they are very far off the mark. That was a big part of my decision to get the Sony A17 (albeit underpowered) but it is easier to use than an iPod and sounds fantastic.

 

[zazex]

  Surf cable arrived today.
 
Good build quality but the hard sleeving is def too rigid; like 1 step away from slightly-bendable pvc plus the bad microphonic effects (wonder why the hard sleeving is offered at all?). Regret not getting the soft and will likely send this one back. Site's description says soft sleeve can't support itself. That threw me off without knowing how the gauge of wiring would hold up on its own; seems now it could/can.
 
Initial sonic impression is slight improvement over stock cable (subjective of course especially with stock cable being 10ft vs the Surf at 4ft). Treble is a bit better and perhaps? a bit more soundstage.
 
Shame the Kimber cable is so expensive. Think I'd rather invest those funds towards a new headphone like the Oppo PM-3 instead.
 
For the price, the Surf cable is a great value. Just be sure to get the soft sleeving.

 
Yes, I think it would have been more accurate and useful for the site to indicate
that the soft sleeve alone can't support itself; certainly the soft sleeve with the wiring
inside can.