[shakur1996]

  Yes, I own/use the FAW hybrid (it's on my RTi1 at the moment) for some months. My SW only has around 40hrs burn-in time (while listening)...when I'm at the needed 100hrs I'll get back to you, OK?

of course. thanks

 

[flinkenick]

@Kerouac you guys having any power issues in the north east?

 

[Kerouac]

  @Kerouac you guys having any power issues in the north east?

Nope, no candles and wood + matches needed over here. But I'm in Leeuwarden, so that's almost Scandinavia

 

[shakur1996]

                                                                TOXIC CABLES - THE VIRUS REVIEW
                                                           
 
Well I'll start this review by saying that after I first set eyes on Frank's latest creation of a  Hybrid called The Virus.
I immediately mailed him that I really would like to buy one..
 
His reply was "Haven't you got enough cables already?". Ummm well yes but not this one........
 
Well to be honest the man had a point....I do own many cables yes, but my favorite 2 were from The Toxic Stables of Cables....
The Silver Poison and the  Silver Widow, the latter was only acquired earlier this year.
 
So with this in mind I just had to get the latest....I had Silver & Gold but this offered Silver & Copper.
I also had a 30 pound gift voucher that was burning a hole in my pocket.....

 
LOOKS & BUILD QUALITY:
Anyway, after the usual wait, which seems to have got longer as the news of these cables has spread through the Head-fi community.
Fast forward so many weeks......I finally had the Package in my eager hands.
 
On first look, it had all the trademarks of Toxic's fine build quality & the braiding with the Oyade connector was a work of Art. Yes the Virus was indeed well put together, felt great in my hand incredibly light , highly flexible, & pliable.
 
LET THE COMPARISON'S BEGIN:
 
 
 

 
        SILVER POISON                                    SILVER WIDOW                                      VIRUS
 
TEST EQUIPMENT - IPOD 7th Gen- CLAS- ALO RXII- UM Miracle Custom IEM.
Songs   Esbjorn Svensson Trio: Do the Jango   Fast paced Three piece Piano Trio
                Pat Metheny: And I Love Her (beatles cover)  Acoustic Guitar
               Norah Jones: Come Away With Me  Female Vocals
  

 
 
 
1: SILVER POISON: Stranded OCC Silver with 1% Gold Cryo Treated.
 
After ordering the Virus, I immediately went back to the basic stock cable just to familliarise myself again. I admit this was difficult at least at the start.
Finally when the Virus arrived I put it on constant burn in, so now I had the opportunity to hear my cables fresh again.
First off the rank was the Silver poison.  Immediately this cable made impact on me cleaner faster bass, slight increase in soundstage, the vocals seemed more life like, blows the stock cable away. I have an original Pure Silver Fortis cable which I also tried but the SP seemed to have more substance with greater bass retreival due to the gold in the cable, even the Treble was more crisper and smoother not as harsh. A very nice cable indeed.
 
2: SILVER WIDOW:  Stranded OCC Silver With ?% Gold Cryo Treated Litz.
 
Now this cable definately "ups the ante" WOW....Now I remember why I was so impressed the first time. Everything is just sooo much better.
Who says the Miracle does not have bass...... Get this Cable, Its got it in truckloads....I found myself pulling  the Miracle out of my ear just to see if I had the Merlin in instead? Silver Widow... It takes the Miracle to the next level to another realm.. Sparkly Highs that just keep extending . The soundstage also gets improved again slightly more than the SP. This cable is winner with any Genre it has it all... Surely Frank Cant beat this one?
 
3: VIRUS: First True Hybrid  Using both Stranded Silver & Copper within the same wire Triple Cryo Treated Litz.
 
The reason I picked EST's Do the Jangle is because not all cables can handle it, making a mess with Instrument separation during such complex passages from this Jazztrack. All of Frank's cables passed this test, especially the Virus the instrument sounded real It gave me the total picture of there placement. It's safe to say this cable so transparent It ticks all the boxes. I love this cable everything is just so clear....A great compliment to the Miracle.....when I close my eyes I can clearly place the Muscicians  in my mind, I can pick the individual instruments the bass has Authority but never draws attention  to itself. Fast and detailed quality bass that extends deep when needed. Drums are amazing hearing the sticks slap against the skins on the snare & thud on the toms  , cymbals are crisp and extend wonderfully. The Acoustic Guitar of Pat Metheny is a delight to the senses, I love his version of the Beatles' And I love her, Here The Miracle/Vrus combo really helped create that magic that makes ones hair raise.
I love Norah Jones' first album, I picked Come away with me and was not dissapointed, sure there's better singers out there, but not as cute..... anyway it was as if she was right next to me I could hear her breathe. (enough said) .
 
Frank you are a genius, I am so happy with all 3 of my purchases. The newest Virus cable is now on the Miracle full time a great match, the Silver Widow is now on the Merlin, which by the way also has great synergy, as it has opened up the highs for me as it was formerly a tad dark, but also retains that hefty punch which I love for those live recordings.
 
To sum it all up, I would have been happy with the Silver Poison, if I had not heard the Silver Widow which  just raises the bar on every level.
Then The Virus comes along, Its got everything but not as imposing as the SW, Its a wider cleaner neutral cable, that just oozes class.
No the Virus is not better than the Silver Widow they are just different.
 
Now in saying what I have said, firstly remember that you need to have some nice gear for the magic of Toxic cables to work for you.
Cables alone with just anything wont cut it. BUT....If you have shelled out and have...... Then do yourself a favour and add a little of Frank's magic to the mix. Its the seasoning that makes a good meal great.

It's more than 1 year old post but I just discovered it
 
maquire, could you please elaborate more on bass in SW vs Virus. You are saying that bass with Virus becomes faster and tighter. What SW does to bass? I don't like overwhelming bass but I don't like too fast, too tight bass because oftenly this affects to some extent body of the bass.
moreover, could you please write something about presentation between SW vs Virus. Are they presenting music more out of the head? Are they focusing more on width than depth or maybe the opposite?

 

[Kerouac]

 

  Yes, I own/use the FAW hybrid (it's on my RTi1 at the moment) for some months. My SW only has around 40hrs burn-in time (while listening)...when I'm at the needed 100hrs I'll get back to you, OK?

of course. thanks

Btw, what I can tell you already (excluding sq) is that, although the build quality of the FAW cable is pretty good, the SW is definitely on an even higher level. I don't think it gets any better than this in that department

 
 

 

[hifimanrookie]

It's more than 1 year old post but I just discovered it

maquire, could you please elaborate more on bass in SW vs Virus. You are saying that bass with Virus becomes faster and tighter. What SW does to bass? I don't like overwhelming bass but I don't like too fast, too tight bass because oftenly this affects to some extent body of the bass.
moreover, could you please write something about presentation between SW vs Virus. Are they presenting music more out of the head? Are they focusing more on width than depth or maybe the opposite?

Dont forget also that the new SW22 is an huge step upwards sound qualitywise (also in bass) above the already excellent former SW, that was used in this review.

I compared the regular Sw22 to the 8wire balanced dual mono copper venom (franks TOTL copper cable) i had..and although the copper venom hit harder and lower, i didnt miss anything on the 4wire single ended SW22 i had (and still have) as a loaner..on contrary..i preferred the SW22 over that reference TOTL copper cable overall...thats why i am now waiting for a 8wire version (with reference upgrade) of the SW22 and sold my Copper Venom...the SW22 is that good...the minor on almost all silver based cables (lack of bass and extreme treble) isnt existing on this cable..it sounds more like a hybrid, made of two TOTL wires in one cable. Try it and it will blow u away..especially if u like metal with fast guitars and hardhitting fast drums and those evelish LOW voices of some singers...scary real how they sound..on the other hand..try out some movie soundtracks played by HUGE orchestras...never a moment the music gets blurred or mixed up...and then those high pictch voices of a violin!!!!.goosebumps! .i dont like organs..but i listened to a classic piece in which they use HUGE church organs...OMG...as if u feel it...no kidding..onky the venom could do that for me...well..now i know a silver based cable can do that too...but only one...cant wait to try it out on the new 8wire balanced reference Sw22 i will be getting soon...it will sound better (as the loaner i have now) as my amp is purely a balanced amp and in so will be able to stretch its legs better...the SE output is there only to compare headphones on the builder told me.

 

[negura]

So for the HE-6s, what are some of the better choices? Because I am speaker amping them, I realize just how inefficient they are, so my rationale is going for heavy gauge, similar to speaker cables.
 
How's the Scorpion 18AWG vs Viper 18AWG sounding?

 

[hifimanrookie]

So for the HE-6s, what are some of the better choices? Because I am speaker amping them, I realize just how inefficient they are, so my rationale is going for heavy gauge, similar to speaker cables.

How's the Scorpion 18AWG vs Viper 18AWG sounding?

U could also choose the 22awg Copper Venom RC4 or RC8 (solid retangular copper wire!) (i had the RC8) or the 18awg (8wire solid retangular silver wire) silver venom for the he6, as in my experience those kind of wires also do well in speaker cables.

 

[negura]

I don't feel very rich these days. =)
 
It's going to have to be between those two 18AWGs.

 

[HeavenMore]

Dear Frank,

I guess you must be busy recently and you might miss out few of my pm.
Please do reply me ASAP after received my pm.

Thank you!

 

[Paganini24]

Is there any way else to contact Frank? Except leave message on the official website. I wanna buy a toxic custom cable. So I leaves message on the page of contact on the official site. But no one reply me in one week.

 

[hifimanrookie]

Is there any way else to contact Frank? Except leave message on the official website. I wanna buy a toxic custom cable. So I leaves message on the page of contact on the official site. But no one reply me in one week.

welcome
Pls sent a pm to him (toxic cables) here on headfi...and in subject write: ' order for new headphone cable'

Hope that tip helps...

Good luck with that..and have fun for when u get ur new cable

 

[Toxic Cables]

Sorry guys, will go through PM's tonight. Have been very busy as i have orders that are late and am unable to reply to people swiftly.
 
Please understand this and that i am not ignoring you.

 

[maguire]

 
It's more than 1 year old post but I just discovered it
 
maquire, could you please elaborate more on bass in SW vs Virus. You are saying that bass with Virus becomes faster and tighter. What SW does to bass? I don't like overwhelming bass but I don't like too fast, too tight bass because often this affects to some extent body of the bass.
moreover, could you please write something about presentation between SW vs Virus. Are they presenting music more out of the head? Are they focusing more on width than depth or maybe the opposite?

Shakur 1996, sorry for the late reply.
I  indeed wrote this review a long time ago. These impressions were made when swapped from both Miracle & Merlin Customs. I am unable to swap them over like that again since the connectors were looking like they were coming loose.
So I can not say accurately which was more out of head experience. That would also depend on your IEM also.
As the review said Basically the original SW had more bass thump & presence & yes more body to it. I originally had the SW on the Miracle & when I purchased the Virus, found it to be be a better match with it as the same applied to the Merlin with the SW.
With the SW Miracle had almost Merlin sounding bass, (Almost) . I found the Virus complimented the Miracle's sound sig better, If you are after more body SW both cables are detailed.
Summing up if your IEM needs more oomph, then SW or if you want a more linear neutral cable with faster bass Virus.
I don't get much of a chance listening to my customs much these days so my recollection of everything is not as it was. But I hope this helps.

 

[shakur1996]

Thanks maquire. My CIEMs only need sligh improvement in clarity and they need bigger, more distant soundstage. They have full bodied bass and would prefer not to make it faster but I would also prefer not to make it boomy; small subbas lift would be appreciated.