Brace yourself—potentially controversial post ahead.
Yesterday, I was unprepared for what was about to unfold. It all began innocently enough: “I’m curious about how my ST7 sounds with its stock cable…” but it quickly escalated to a more profound question: “How can different cables alter IEMs sound so significantly?” and then, the perhaps a touch paranoid and blown out of proportion: “When we are talking about the same IEM on the forum, are we really talking about the same IEM? More precisely, how can we possibly be having the same experience?"
Consider this: Most of us end up pairing our IEMs (especially cheaper ones) with different cables, leading to considerably varied experiences. And that’s not even factoring DACs and tips into the equation.
Let’s focus on the ST7. During my tests, it transformed from a warm and relaxing presentation, with a good quantity of bass and a precise yet smooth treble (paired with my TRN RedChain) to an almost crystal-clear sound with just sufficient bass and a sharper and brighter treble (using the stock cable). The TRN T2 Pro found a middle ground, while the NiceHCK BlackCat and NiceHCK BlackInk offered entirely different experiences. And, absurdly, the differences were far from marginal—I’d likely mistake them for 4-5 distinct IEMs in a blind test.
The point of the post? I don't think there is one precisely, but potentially many. As for me, I will limit my conclusion to this:
Re-cabling an IEM it's a process that many of us do as a "due step", especially with cheaper IEMs. However, thanks to this newfound awareness of mine (in particular of the extent of said alteration) it's starting to feel more like an "analogue equalization" rather than an "effortless due step necessary to make an IEM show its full potential".
Also, I have a doubt, and I would be very thankful if some more experienced users on the forum could help me dissipate it: do companies design and tune their IEMs with their stock cable in mind, or is the IEMs tuning completely ‘unrelated’ to the cable they will later pair said IEMs with? I’m quite skeptical of this probability because it would make the stock cable a de facto fortuity, and the tuning of IEMs would be created based on an impossible ‘cableless’ experience. Furthermore, this will make the ‘vanilla’ experience of an IEM (with the stock cable) not differ from any other, so, as I said, it becomes a fortuity.
By the way, if you don’t believe cables alter sound, more power to you! Arguing is not the purpose of this post; I’m simply sharing my experience and thoughts, and I’m also curious to hear your opinions on the matter (and potentially clarify the abovementioned doubt of mine).