wolfstar76
Headphoneus Supremus
Cross posting from Effect Audio thread:
Thanks to Effect Audio and @Sebastien Chiu, I got a chance to demo two mystery prototype cables from EA. Though soon after the tour started, we learned what those two cables are, and I will directly use the official names for those two prototype cables.
Before I start my impression of those two cables, a little background for myself. I am relatively new to the cable rolling business and as matter of fact, this is my first time to demo high-end cables (with the recent inflation, cables are becoming much more expensive and people may argue that at this price, they are not technically “high-end”. However, I would say that they are a steal at this price point given their high-end performance. I am not just saying that, but I will soon order one of those cables as my first “high-end” upgrade cable). In the past I have purchased more than 10 upgrade cables for my IEMs, but they are mostly for the purpose of ergonomic improvements, and none of them are over $250. I did have chance to use more expensive cables, mostly PWAudio cables as stock cables from UM Mentor, Merst, etc. Frankly, I did not find any of those cables make significant impact on the sound quality of the IEMs.
Therefore, even though I am not in the camp of cable non-believers, I am also not a strong believer of cable as well, well, until recently.
The two cables from Effect Audio are code 24 in beautiful deep ocean blue, and its little sister code 24c limited in purple. Most of my impression, however, will be on the big sister code 24 since I spent most of my time on it and I just can’t take it off my ears, sorry.
When I took out the cables from the small package, I happened to take the blue one out first without any knowledge of which is which and what are those cables. When I switched the stock cable to the blue code 24, I had been listening to music with the stock cable for hours since the time I picked up the FedEx package was in the evening.
Even though I did expect some sound signature change, I was totally unprepared for what was about to come, and my jaw dropped the moment the music started.
I must tell you that if I were doing this as part of a blind test, I would definitely believe I were listening to a much, much more expensive IEM since everything changes, I mean EVERYTHING!
Okay, let’s start with the first thing I noticed: the bass, yes, that BASS. The first IEM I happened to use is Oriolus Isabellae, which has good bass but mostly renowned for its sweet midrange. Instantly, the bass performance was brought to the next level, sweet Isa immediately exhibited Sony IER-Z1R level of bass. Not only I could hear deeper, more impactful bass, but also higher quality more textured bass. The sub-bass reached deeper, and the mid-bass was more prominent.
The second thing I immediately noticed is the clarity: the resolution suddenly increased, more information was there, just like magic happened. I have no idea why this is happening, but it may have something to do with the “super-tweeter effect” after I did some research on code 24 from Effect Audio website.
The next thing I noticed was the sound stage: Isa is not renowned for its sound stage, but with code 24, I did feel a much-opened sound stage, almost to the level of grand. With a grander sound stage, I also noticed that code 24 brought better instrument separation and you will notice the music become more layered.
Later, I found out what those two magic cables are. Code 24 is a silver-plated copper cable with 16.5 AWG, 13 multiple size core bundles. The cable is thick, visually much thicker than its little sister 24c. I haven’t used EA’s code 23 before, but it has been mentioned numerous times in the watercooler thread I hung out. To some fellow coolers with code 23, code 24 is 23 on steroid. I can definitely testify for the excitement code 24 can bring to your IEMs.
Both code 24 and 24c comes with EA’s ConX Basic Set, which comes with both 2pin and MMCX connections. I must emphasize it again, the fact that you don’t have to buy a separate cable for IEMs with a different connection is another huge saving in your cable investment.
Unfortunately, the prototype cables we received for this tour do not have the entire ConX basic set, they only have 2pin connection. Because of that, I did not have the chance to try it on IEMs with MMCX connection.
I did a short demo of code 24c, which initially I thought could have another flavor. But I was wrong. Code 24c is a pure copper cable, which is thinner than code 24 and much easier and flexible to handle. But the pro stops here. Code 24c has very good bass but with less bass impact than code 24, that will be the first and foremost impression you will notice. Even though both cables have the same deep reach in sub bass, the bass quantity decreases in code 24c, some people may like this if they put more emphasis on vocal and midrange. But for me, I strictly prefer code 24 even though 24c is much cheaper. As matter of fact, I don’t have to think for another second to decide which one I will buy, it is code 24. To put it in a simple way, code 24c limited is the little sister with a similar sound signature.
However, code 24/24c do not have the same impact on your IEMs. Since I haven't done very extensive test, my conclusion might be wrong. Given what I learned, code 24/24c have the largest impact on IEMs with dynamic drivers, either single DD, or multiple DDs. However, for IEMs with hybrid drivers, such as tribrid with DD, BA, and EST drivers, the impact on bass is still very high, but on not as high in term of resolution and sound stage.
Here are some of the music I used during my demo using my desktop gears. Unfortunately, I am in a process of re-organizing my gears, I don’t have a chance to use tube amp. All listening below is from solid state desktop amp, R2R little RU6 dongle. I did spend several hours outdoors with the cable using my Sony WM1A with local music library, but since I was listening with shuffle mode I did not remember the music I was listening to.
Mark Lettieri - "Pulsar" (Deep: The Baritone Sessions, Vol. 2) Official Video
Live performance in a small concert, code 24 just gave its performance in a grander scale sound stage.
Cory Wong’s performance is always great, but the vocal from dodie in this collaboration brought some interesting flavor to the music and with code 24, I enjoyed it even more.
What can I say, the master guitar performance and the vocal is one of the best covers beside the original for this classical song. Again, code 24 brought the string stroke in a much vivid way.
One of my favorite songs from Dire Straits, you may notice much more details coming from the beginning of the song with code 24.
In the end, I would like to say something about the ergonomics of those two cables, even though originally I did not want to talk about since I only received the prototypes, not the cables in final production. I believe the final products will be in a much refined form and will be more ergonomic. With the prototypes I got, even for code 24c which is thinner, they will be much thicker than most of your stock cables. With flagship performance, the high-end cables unfortunately will be much thicker and will be more challenging to use. For code 24, each time I put them on, I had to spend some time to bend the cable to the shape I would like them to have. It is not very convenient but still doable. I am not sure if the finished cables will have ear hook, but the prototypes I received did not have any hook. However, I had some bad experience with Z1R ear hooks, which I wish they did not have. As matter of fact, some owners took the pain to cut the plastic hook open and took them away to improve the ergonomics. I still decide to order code 24 anyway without knowing the ergonomics of the finished products. As someone said before, if it was a tradeoff I have to make, I would pick much better sound quality over slightly more ergonomics.
Thanks to Effect Audio and @Sebastien Chiu, I got a chance to demo two mystery prototype cables from EA. Though soon after the tour started, we learned what those two cables are, and I will directly use the official names for those two prototype cables.
Before I start my impression of those two cables, a little background for myself. I am relatively new to the cable rolling business and as matter of fact, this is my first time to demo high-end cables (with the recent inflation, cables are becoming much more expensive and people may argue that at this price, they are not technically “high-end”. However, I would say that they are a steal at this price point given their high-end performance. I am not just saying that, but I will soon order one of those cables as my first “high-end” upgrade cable). In the past I have purchased more than 10 upgrade cables for my IEMs, but they are mostly for the purpose of ergonomic improvements, and none of them are over $250. I did have chance to use more expensive cables, mostly PWAudio cables as stock cables from UM Mentor, Merst, etc. Frankly, I did not find any of those cables make significant impact on the sound quality of the IEMs.
Therefore, even though I am not in the camp of cable non-believers, I am also not a strong believer of cable as well, well, until recently.
The two cables from Effect Audio are code 24 in beautiful deep ocean blue, and its little sister code 24c limited in purple. Most of my impression, however, will be on the big sister code 24 since I spent most of my time on it and I just can’t take it off my ears, sorry.
When I took out the cables from the small package, I happened to take the blue one out first without any knowledge of which is which and what are those cables. When I switched the stock cable to the blue code 24, I had been listening to music with the stock cable for hours since the time I picked up the FedEx package was in the evening.
Even though I did expect some sound signature change, I was totally unprepared for what was about to come, and my jaw dropped the moment the music started.
I must tell you that if I were doing this as part of a blind test, I would definitely believe I were listening to a much, much more expensive IEM since everything changes, I mean EVERYTHING!
Okay, let’s start with the first thing I noticed: the bass, yes, that BASS. The first IEM I happened to use is Oriolus Isabellae, which has good bass but mostly renowned for its sweet midrange. Instantly, the bass performance was brought to the next level, sweet Isa immediately exhibited Sony IER-Z1R level of bass. Not only I could hear deeper, more impactful bass, but also higher quality more textured bass. The sub-bass reached deeper, and the mid-bass was more prominent.
The second thing I immediately noticed is the clarity: the resolution suddenly increased, more information was there, just like magic happened. I have no idea why this is happening, but it may have something to do with the “super-tweeter effect” after I did some research on code 24 from Effect Audio website.
The next thing I noticed was the sound stage: Isa is not renowned for its sound stage, but with code 24, I did feel a much-opened sound stage, almost to the level of grand. With a grander sound stage, I also noticed that code 24 brought better instrument separation and you will notice the music become more layered.
Later, I found out what those two magic cables are. Code 24 is a silver-plated copper cable with 16.5 AWG, 13 multiple size core bundles. The cable is thick, visually much thicker than its little sister 24c. I haven’t used EA’s code 23 before, but it has been mentioned numerous times in the watercooler thread I hung out. To some fellow coolers with code 23, code 24 is 23 on steroid. I can definitely testify for the excitement code 24 can bring to your IEMs.
Both code 24 and 24c comes with EA’s ConX Basic Set, which comes with both 2pin and MMCX connections. I must emphasize it again, the fact that you don’t have to buy a separate cable for IEMs with a different connection is another huge saving in your cable investment.
Unfortunately, the prototype cables we received for this tour do not have the entire ConX basic set, they only have 2pin connection. Because of that, I did not have the chance to try it on IEMs with MMCX connection.
I did a short demo of code 24c, which initially I thought could have another flavor. But I was wrong. Code 24c is a pure copper cable, which is thinner than code 24 and much easier and flexible to handle. But the pro stops here. Code 24c has very good bass but with less bass impact than code 24, that will be the first and foremost impression you will notice. Even though both cables have the same deep reach in sub bass, the bass quantity decreases in code 24c, some people may like this if they put more emphasis on vocal and midrange. But for me, I strictly prefer code 24 even though 24c is much cheaper. As matter of fact, I don’t have to think for another second to decide which one I will buy, it is code 24. To put it in a simple way, code 24c limited is the little sister with a similar sound signature.
However, code 24/24c do not have the same impact on your IEMs. Since I haven't done very extensive test, my conclusion might be wrong. Given what I learned, code 24/24c have the largest impact on IEMs with dynamic drivers, either single DD, or multiple DDs. However, for IEMs with hybrid drivers, such as tribrid with DD, BA, and EST drivers, the impact on bass is still very high, but on not as high in term of resolution and sound stage.
Here are some of the music I used during my demo using my desktop gears. Unfortunately, I am in a process of re-organizing my gears, I don’t have a chance to use tube amp. All listening below is from solid state desktop amp, R2R little RU6 dongle. I did spend several hours outdoors with the cable using my Sony WM1A with local music library, but since I was listening with shuffle mode I did not remember the music I was listening to.
Mark Lettieri - "Pulsar" (Deep: The Baritone Sessions, Vol. 2) Official Video
The bass guitar and the string strokes are heaven from code 24 (they are wonderful with stock cable, but man, I have to say code 24 just rendered it much, much, more lively
Caro Emerald Live - A Night Like This
Live performance in a small concert, code 24 just gave its performance in a grander scale sound stage.
Cory Wong Call Me Wild (feat. dodie)
Cory Wong’s performance is always great, but the vocal from dodie in this collaboration brought some interesting flavor to the music and with code 24, I enjoyed it even more.
Santana - While My Guitar Gently Weeps
What can I say, the master guitar performance and the vocal is one of the best covers beside the original for this classical song. Again, code 24 brought the string stroke in a much vivid way.
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
One of my favorite songs from Dire Straits, you may notice much more details coming from the beginning of the song with code 24.
In the end, I would like to say something about the ergonomics of those two cables, even though originally I did not want to talk about since I only received the prototypes, not the cables in final production. I believe the final products will be in a much refined form and will be more ergonomic. With the prototypes I got, even for code 24c which is thinner, they will be much thicker than most of your stock cables. With flagship performance, the high-end cables unfortunately will be much thicker and will be more challenging to use. For code 24, each time I put them on, I had to spend some time to bend the cable to the shape I would like them to have. It is not very convenient but still doable. I am not sure if the finished cables will have ear hook, but the prototypes I received did not have any hook. However, I had some bad experience with Z1R ear hooks, which I wish they did not have. As matter of fact, some owners took the pain to cut the plastic hook open and took them away to improve the ergonomics. I still decide to order code 24 anyway without knowing the ergonomics of the finished products. As someone said before, if it was a tradeoff I have to make, I would pick much better sound quality over slightly more ergonomics.
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