[MrRoderick]

Just a quick question, for those who are more knowledgable about the nuances of headphone cabling.

I have a stock pair of D2000's that i'm growing to love dearly. However, there is the occasional fuzz, or sibilance, that pecks here and there. I assumed it was part of the headphone for a while, as others have mentioned, but the way it sounds just doesn't feel that way.

For instance, when there is a very layered timber of sound that is in the upper mid/highs there may be a slight tinny fuzz. It often sounds more electric... or something... not sure how to describe it. But, i seem to have had some success with changing the opamps of my D10.

Now i'm wondering, since the cable is showing that strange bit of white fluff fraying, if perhaps it could be to blame? Could replacing the cable net me a much greater response at these frequencies?

I know it can often be the recording as well. But sometimes it is hard to tell. So i was hoping as another part of this, someone might do me a favor. If you read this and have a stock d2000 and some type of amping, especially a d10, i'd love to have your help in testing a song. That way, perhaps i can determine first of all if there is something wonky in my headphone's drivers.
(i.e. i'll send a particular song and we'll set up some parameters and things to check)

Thanks!

 

[jawang]

based on your description of the sound, I'm 99% sure that it is your source not the headphones. a lot of songs simply aren't recorded perfectly. you can try to cover it up with tubes or smooth, less revealing headphones if it bothers you a lot

btw, some people will disagree with me, but IMO recabling makes no virtually no difference unless you are fixing a broken connection or switching to balanced. I won't say that it's inaudible because I can't prove that, but I can guarantee you that the difference (if it exists) is extremely small and it is the last component of your audio chain that you should consider upgrading

 

[the search never ends]

^^^^ I tend to agree, the problem with owning hfi, is low fi recordings.
I own the d2000, not really my flavor, but it does reveal quite a bit of the recordings flaws.

 

[John E Woven]

I recabled my D2000 when I had them, and it made a big difference. I don't even believe in cables, but the denon cable was just that terrible.

It's also very, very easy to recable. I see no reason not to recable a denon.

 

[sampson_smith]

I was under the impression that it was difficult to do so. I take it that D2000's benefit most, but would you say that it is absolutely necessary to do that with the D5000's and above?

 

[John E Woven]

D5000 and D7000 uses a different and completely acceptable cable. Only the D2000 and below are affected.

 

[MrRoderick]

And you found a discernible SQ difference after recabling the D2000?

..the frayed cable is already fairly annoying.

 

[K3cT]

I think the Denon needs a forgiving source, it's very cruel to recordings with sibilance/boosted treble in them.

 

[John E Woven]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrRoderick /img/forum/go_quote.gif And you found a discernible SQ difference after recabling the D2000? ..the frayed cable is already fairly annoying.

Quite a big difference. I compared a stock pair with my recabled pair, and i could hear it every single time.

 

[DannyBuoy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sampson_smith /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was under the impression that it was difficult to do so. I take it that D2000's benefit most, but would you say that it is absolutely necessary to do that with the D5000's and above?

I borrowed a pair of D2000's for a week and based on the sound, I ordered a set of D5000's. After 2 months or so, I started missing the Mids on my AT-D700s so I ordered the JMoney pads and Wow! what a difference on balancing out the mids and highs with that signature bass of the Denon's.

A month later I cut the fabric out of the center of my JMoney's and now have the earpiece exposed. Another nice jump in clarity accross the whole freq range.

A couple months later, and the cord/plug seemed the next test (since I got favorable results with each step before, I thought why not?) so after looking at Jenna Labs (Lawton Audio), Silver Dragon (Moon Audio) and CryoParts ("The Wire"), I decided to take a risk on a fellow Head-fi'er developing cables based on "The Wire" from CryoParts. His cables are called "twisted Cables" and the model I bought was called "Vortex".

After going back and forth a couple times with me, he was comfortable building a set for me (the back and forth was a conversation determining my requirements) and he built and shipped them in under a week's time. I have had them now for a few days (I did the replacement of the cable myself) I am loving the change. Once again there was an audible increase in clarity mostly in the mids and highs, and the bass seems to have been regressed a bit, it is less boomy, but is deffinitely there. It appears to me that the bloated mid-bass has been trimmed back a bit now.
But, the soundstage and seperation has definitely changed. It has opened up the soundstage quite a bit, and the seperation has changed as much as an upgraded amp can make a difference, or a different set of cans altogether. It is that dramatic of a difference.
So I went from the stock D5000 cable (10 foot I believe) to a 5 foot cable of CryoParts "The Wire", with optional Nylon Sheath, and industry standard Furutech 704 plug. It cost me a little more than $200 for the "Vortex" upgrade, but the difference is on the same par as the $60 I spent on the JMoney pads.

So, I am in the camp that believes cables make a difference (As a matter of fact I have a CryoParts USB cable and an Ironlung JellyFish AC Power cord hooked up to my Maverick D1 that I have the Denon's connected to).

But. This is my opinion and I am very pleased with my opinion.

(Next step is I am going to Dynamat the outside of my Denons and cover the Dynamat in a thin wood or metal shell. This will be a first as far as I know, as I thought of this a few weeks ago when considering the Markl mods but was concerned of losing the timbre of the wood by covering the inside with DynaMat, and thought, why not do it to the outside...I will let you know the results of that if you are interested).

 

[Necrolic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sampson_smith /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was under the impression that it was difficult to do so. I take it that D2000's benefit most, but would you say that it is absolutely necessary to do that with the D5000's and above?

D5000/D7000 use the same cable outside of the less flexible sheathing of the D5K's. This cable is known to be one of if not the best stock cable on the market, and has been compared to or said to be better than many of the high end recable options out there.

 

[MomijiTMO]

I think I read somewhere that the D2000 has a different cable now which is like that of the D5000. Anyone know more info about this? I was looking at some D2000s on the net and noticed that the Y piece is much smaller on mine.

I'm confused lol.