[jdimitri]

I love these headphones.. seriously
K701, SR225, Darths, A900, DT880 and DT990 have come and gone, but the K501 always stayed

So I'm thinking of recabling them.. maybe with RAL cables

But I'm not really sure if it'll be worth it, i mean the recabling+ shipping etc will cost 3x the original price of the headphones

Has anyone recabled their K501? Worth it?

 

[ecclesand]

Did you end up getting your K501 recabled? I just picked one up used and I am very impressed with it...definitely a keeper! I too am considering a recable....

 

[jdimitri]

Naw.. i got a W5000 instead

 

[Rob80b]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdimitri /img/forum/go_quote.gif Has anyone recabled their K501? Worth it?

Did mine almost two years ago check here
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...highlight=k501

 

[ecclesand]

I'm almost afraid to have them recabled because I don't want those beautiful mids and highs to change. I have extremely punchy, tight, clean bass with my Constantine DAC and Corda HA-2 MKII SE setup. Just wondering if a recable would make them better or change them altogether. I haven't taken these off my head since I got them. My other cans are just sitting there getting no head time.

Jeez, I think of all the money I could have saved if I had started my Head-Fi journey with these!

 

[vcoheda]

i owned a pair of K501s a while back. i found the stock cable to be of very low quality, so i had them recabled with an akzip cable. the job was more than the headphones. that's something to consider. was i happy with them. yes. but i eventually sold them because the K501, imo, is just not anywhere close to being a high-end headphone. it has a lovely airy quality to it (this is true), but after repeated comparisons to the K701, it just seemed entirely lacking in pretty every area i could think of.

so if you like the K501 i would keep them but probably not recable them due to cost; of course, if you are able to recable them yourself, then it will be well worth it as the stock cable is very poor.

my .02 cents

 

[Aaron622]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vcoheda /img/forum/go_quote.gif i owned a pair of K501s a while back. i found the stock cable to be of very low quality, so i had them recabled with an akzip cable. the job was more than the headphones. that's something to consider. was i happy with them. yes. but i eventually sold them because the K501, imo, is just not anywhere close to being a high-end headphone. it has a lovely airy quality to it (this is true), but after repeated comparisons to the K701, it just seemed entirely lacking in pretty every area i could think of. so if you like the K501 i would keep them but probably not recable them due to cost; of course, if you are able to recable them yourself, then it will be well worth it as the stock cable is very poor. my .02 cents

I'm the current owner of these headphones. I didn't do very much A/B between the recabled ones and the stock ones that I sold, but I can definitely say that the recable did not change the sound for the worse in any way (except that the bass might be a little leaner, but I think my stock pair was the most bass heavy version, and the recabled pair is a different version, so I wouldn't chalk that up to the recable). The biggest thing I noticed about the recabled pair was that the instrument separation/positioning was better and the soundstage was even wider. Somehow everything seems a little balanced to me with the recabled pair, but it could be placebo because something about the steel wire connecting the left and right sides bothers me. It's hard to say whether or not it's "worth it" because the recable will cost you more than the phones, but if you can find a used pair, and you resell your stock pair (prices seem to be going up a bit), you probably wouldn't be out too much.

 

[vcoheda]

yes. or let someone else pay full price and then buy used. another way around the cost problem. i generally try to buy everything used now and am very cautious about buying new. best way to save some money.

again, i really like the K501 headphone but at the end of the day they are just not even close to putting out a high-end sound. and for that reason i don't think paying for a recabling job is worth while. they will be better but still be low- or mid-tier headphones, in my opinion.