Evo is more subbass focused. XE6 is midbass machine with subbass taking a step back I prefer EVO bass too.
The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.
- Thread starter Rockwell75
- Start date
CharlyBrown
1000+ Head-Fier
Thanks for your impressions.I would like to thank @SteveK27 for the giving me the opportunity to try the most insanely expensive IEM cable I’ve ever had in my hands - the PW Audio Orpheus Shielding!
The cable itself has a massive gauge size, feels premium and sturdy and happens to match Mentor’s aesthetics quite well. At this price, you expect something to have outstanding build quality and I must say the connectors feel rigid and well soldered to the cable, and the braiding is tightly woven, symmetrical and finely crafted.
Is it worth its price tag? Well, as someone who already winces at $300.00+ cables, I’ll say no, but I 100% admit that this cable sounds superb and drastically different than the default PW Audio “Deep of Universe” installed on the Mentor.
How does it sound on Mentor vs stock cable?
- The first thing I noticed was a deeper and wider stage, which allows sound to come at you in more pinpoint fashion in space.
- The above lends to a “blacker background“ which I am amused in saying, as I always found this silly. But, it’s true, the background is blacker and allows for more finite details to come at your more effortlessly and with more nuance.
- Vs the Deep of Universe cable, this cable presents a more softened tonality yet with more refinement and sense of effortlessness in detail. It’s silky, for lack of a better words, and helps “improve“ the timbre of Mentor at the expense of a bit of dynamic attack and sharpness in the top end. Many will like this!
- I find the midbass hump to have been reduced with the Orphy over DeepOfUni lending a cleaner and more organic midrange and bringing out upper mids a bit. I admit I prefer the stock cable on Mentor overall for its musicality and sharpness, but the Orpheus resolves quite a bit more information and expands the sound notably.
- It’s impressive to hear how much sound has changed (objectively) with just a cable swap - I’m happy to say that this is reassuring considering how much it costs!
I would characterize this cable as neutral with a nice tonal quality as you’d expect from Copper without forcing details. Effortless and natural and very expansive without sounding forced in any frequency range.
I won’t personally own such a cable, but hearing it has been enlightening. If you’re an iem maniac who wants to extract every last bit out of your world class iem’s, and have the expendable funds for such luxury - you are getting results
Lastly, I have also received @Rockwell75 's Elysian Acoustics tour units (Gaea/ Diva) so I will write back on impressions with those pairings with Orphy (which I can already confirm synergize better than with Mentor due to their more forward nature). Will also give Orphy a shot with MEST OG & U18T.
Cheers!
I find it fascinating how expensive cables improve sound (and never make it worse somewhere). Will these improvements work with all driver types like DD, BA, EST, Planar and other things that are used in an IEM or are there differences or even driver types where you should use another cable?
I am unfortunately (or rather fortunately as it saves me a lot of money) immune to these improvements. But I am only able to compare to the humble Stormbreaker cable, never used a cable even more expensive.
CharlyBrown
1000+ Head-Fier
I would love to demo the XE6 but from the FR graph alone, this wouldn't be my IEM because of the mid bass focus. I am in love with sub bass!! 
I reacquired the Xe6 a few days ago. I owned it before but could not get used to the elevated lower mids, back then. Since so many seem to love this IEM I was intrigued and decided to try again.
They are bassy but indeed in a very different way compared to the EVO. I think sub bass is there, it is certainly not absent, but it is overwhelmed by the mid bass and the lower mids. The bass of the EVO is tight, while the bass of the Xe6 sounds comparatively woolly and loose to me. In my opinion it is an acquired taste. And I am acquiring that taste this time, but just like the first time I find that it works (very) well for e.g. jazzy music, esp. with female vocals (which sound excellent on this IEM!) and soundtracks, but not so much for rock and metal. The bass is just too boomy and slow for my taste, with those genres. For now I am thinking it will stay in the collection, but clearly in a specialist role.
The fit of the Xe6 is not great for my ears. I bought the XL tips from 64 audio. They are certainly large (see below compared to Xelastecs L), but they don’t have any grip, so they slide out.. Xelastecs is still the best solution for my ears… It was worth a try. Maybe the XL tips will work with some of my other IEMs.
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Set aside--just for a moment, before the wolves descend on me here--sonic qualities entirely. Assume, for the sake of argument, that cables make zero impact on the sound. Given that, would you (or I) drop, say, several thousand dollars on an upgrade cable? Probably not. Does that make changing cables entirely unnecessary always? Nope, not that either.
I especially like this one read from major hifi, if only because their author agrees with a lot of my sentiments.
https://majorhifi.com/copper-silver...bles-whats-the-difference-and-does-it-matter/
My take this: if nicer cables improve sound quality well, sure, it can't hurt. But regardless, there are practical benefits to cable swapping. Weight, durability, microphonics, and build quality are all at play, as are aesthetics. If I'm shelling out that much for new earphones, the cable should match nicely with them. Some IEMs, like the MEST Indigo, I can't imagine swapping cables on, since the cable matches so nicely visually already. But then there are practical considerations too.
The nicest cable I own (currently, anyway) is the Dunu Hulk Pro. I didn't buy it because it was specialty copper whatever, or because of some perception of sound quality. I bought it because it had swappable end connectors, which are useful to me when I want to switch between using my IEMs on my game console, my phone, and my DAP, and because the wire gauge and braiding means microphonics are nigh-nonexistent, but also that it doesn't feel so flimsy that I'm afraid of breaking it while being clumsy, or heaven forbid it snagging on the fingers of my wayward toddler.
As for visuals, like most things, if you're spending that much, it should look nice, shouldn't it? There's a satisfaction pairing a bright green cable with some matching green IEMs. I'm not the target demographic for $5000 cables, but give me anything that's braided and comes in a bright, fun color, and sure, you've got my attention. The Eletech stuff is out of my price range (new, at least), but whatever faults you might have with their pricing, their stuff's certainly not bad to look at, and the wire gauge is solid.
Tl;dr:
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I"ve been MIA for a few months but wow what changed? I remembered you were adamant that Annihilator wasn't top tier due to its bass and was below Supermoon in your own rankings.
Hello Friends,
Happy New year!!!
I got to try the all-new Effect Audio Code 23 cable. This is a prototype that is going around with people who are interested to try it out. The cable is thicccccccccc, like big and eye-catching thick. For the size and build, it's not as stiff as one might imagine.
Soundwise, it's pretty solid. I have currently tested it out with Unique Melody Mext, in my brief audition I find that the Code 23 enhances the sub-bass, instrument crispness, and stage presentation for the Mext. Sub-bass has better refinement, shows a cleaner rumble, instruments sound crispier, they are better detailed as well(compared to the stock cable of the Mext), Stage width is not gained but it now has a better sense of spaciousness and air. This tends to bring out better separation and clarity for instruments as well.
Next, I will put it up with the Audeze Euclid later tonight.
One thing though, the Prototype cable is quite heavy and bulky. It's a little hard to manage it properly, at least for me.
Some Beautiful Pictures for you guys!!
Happy New year!!!
I got to try the all-new Effect Audio Code 23 cable. This is a prototype that is going around with people who are interested to try it out. The cable is thicccccccccc, like big and eye-catching thick. For the size and build, it's not as stiff as one might imagine.
Soundwise, it's pretty solid. I have currently tested it out with Unique Melody Mext, in my brief audition I find that the Code 23 enhances the sub-bass, instrument crispness, and stage presentation for the Mext. Sub-bass has better refinement, shows a cleaner rumble, instruments sound crispier, they are better detailed as well(compared to the stock cable of the Mext), Stage width is not gained but it now has a better sense of spaciousness and air. This tends to bring out better separation and clarity for instruments as well.
Next, I will put it up with the Audeze Euclid later tonight.
One thing though, the Prototype cable is quite heavy and bulky. It's a little hard to manage it properly, at least for me.
Some Beautiful Pictures for you guys!!
Fir fit was an issue for me too. If you love them and manage to stick with iems for a long time, unlike me.. You might consider a custom. Gosh those matt customs look sick...I reacquired the Xe6 a few days ago. I owned it before but could not get used to the elevated lower mids, back then. Since so many seem to love this IEM I was intrigued and decided to try again.
They are bassy but indeed in a very different way compared to the EVO. I think sub bass is there, it is certainly not absent, but it is overwhelmed by the mid bass and the lower mids. The bass of the EVO is tight, while the bass of the Xe6 sounds comparatively woolly and loose to me. In my opinion it is an acquired taste. And I am acquiring that taste this time, but just like the first time I find that it works (very) well for e.g. jazzy music, esp. with female vocals (which sound excellent on this IEM!) and soundtracks, but not so much for rock and metal. The bass is just too boomy and slow for my taste, with those genres. For now I am thinking it will stay in the collection, but clearly in a specialist role.
The fit of the Xe6 is not great for my ears. I bought the XL tips from 64 audio. They are certainly large (see below compared to Xelastecs L), but they don’t have any grip, so they slide out.. Xelastecs is still the best solution for my ears… It was worth a try. Maybe the XL tips will work with some of my other IEMs.
Hello Friends,
Happy New year!!!
I got to try the all-new Effect Audio Code 23 cable. This is a prototype that is going around with people who are interested to try it out. The cable is thicccccccccc, like big and eye-catching thick. For the size and build, it's not as stiff as one might imagine.
Soundwise, it's pretty solid. I have currently tested it out with Unique Melody Mext, in my brief audition I find that the Code 23 enhances the sub-bass, instrument crispness, and stage presentation for the Mext. Sub-bass has better refinement, shows a cleaner rumble, instruments sound crispier, they are better detailed as well(compared to the stock cable of the Mext), Stage width is not gained but it now has a better sense of spaciousness and air. This tends to bring out better separation and clarity for instruments as well.
Next, I will put it up with the Audeze Euclid later tonight.
One thing though, the Prototype cable is quite heavy and bulky. It's a little hard to manage it properly, at least for me.
Some Beautiful Pictures for you guys!!
Thought i saw it somewhere!
I like it though. Just not for portable use clearly haha.
Yeah portable use, it's very hard to manage hehe. I am able to pull my DAP with this cable(on a table ofcourse).
Thought i saw it somewhere!
I like it though. Just not for portable use clearly haha.
Will it fit, coiled up, in a standard IEM case like a leather puck? Or is the cable too stiff for that?
Nice color, does it come in 2pin 4.4?
Thought i saw it somewhere!
I like it though. Just not for portable use clearly haha.
immortalsoul
1000+ Head-Fier
It is not that stiff that it looks like, but its big, and kinda huge. It won't fit in a small IEM case, in a big case it will(like the one I have in the image below, sorry it's not complete image, I am not at home to click another one).
immortalsoul
1000+ Head-Fier
