Justin_Time I appreciate your comments however I have to clarify a couple of points.
Firstly I don't hear any glare or hardness at any volume with the HE-6's , even with the stock cable which gave me an overly warm sound.
You say that it is 'most apparent' when they are driven hard, well could it be the amp that is causing that because if the HE6's are being driven hard then the amp (unless you are using a speaker amp) will be as well.
I don't like 'bloom' in the bass, to me it comes across as lack of control or distortion. The bass I am getting is very deep but very well controlled and fast but also pretty weighty and full sounding.
The thing I like with quality silver cables is the speed and control in the bass, the SW also gives me great depth as well as nice weight. Hence the superb bass I get with the HD800/SW as well.
I would really like to hear the Venom cable but as I don't have any fatigue I am struggling to imagine where it would be superior.
NigelJames,
You made a good point about potential amp distortion. I am quite sure, however, that it was not the cause of the hardness/glare in the HE-6 sound. I used the Woo WA5 K1K output, the high impedance plug of the HP-4 or the speaker output of several amps (resistor arrays to protect the HE-6 against too much power) and although the HE-6 was played pretty loud--that's what I meant by driven hard--the amps were barely breaking a sweat (volume control between 12 and 3 o'clock).
I would agree that, with the right amp, the hardness/glare in the HE-6 sound could be much reduced if not eliminated. But I am also quite sure, having gone through countless combinations of DAC/Amp/Cable, that this coloration is inherent to the voicing of the HE-6. OCC copper like the Copper Venom helps reduce that coloration. The Siver Window is faster, more transparent and lthus ets this coloration pass through. The Copper Venom add a little more volume to the bass, which I called "bloom." With the Copper Venom, the HE-6 retains the bass tightness so the result is a thunderous slam of the bass that rivals that of the LCD3., which still has a little more volume but a lot less speed in the bass.
The hardness/glare in the HE-6 sound is somewhat similar to the sound you make when hitting two pieces of metal together or hitting a piece of glass. It is a ringing but of course to a a reduced degree here. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we tend to get used to a sound that we listen to a lot and pretty soon we can no longer easily hear the flaws or fully appreciate the positive attributes for that matter. To re-acclimate my hearing, I usually do a quick comparison with other headphones--the Fostex TH-900 or the Denon LA7000 have a particularly smooth and clean midrange/upper midrange and no hardness or glare at all in the sound. Any hardness left in the HE-6 then becomes very apparent. I also once in a while check the sound with my stereo system in the room.
But, rather than speculating about the difference between the two cables on the HE-6, the most direct (not always the cheapest) way is to check is to swap the cables. Thanks to the little adaptors Frank made for me for swapping cables among different headphones without havung to buy it first, I can try on the HE-6 the Silver Widow (8-wire) I use on my LCD3 or the Silver Poison (4-wire) I use on my LCD2, or the the Copper Venom (8-wire if memory serves) I used on my HD800. As the DAC/amp remain the same, the difference is in the wires. Doing that, I can quickly compare the sound and easily "hear" the difference.
Now, after going through this comparison, you may still prefer the HE-6 with the Silver Widow, but to my ears, with all the DAC/amp combinations I tried, I much prefer the Copper venom/HE6 because of the absence of hardness/glare in the sound and a tremendous bass slam. The Silver Widow has a slightly tighter focus and a tad more inner details, The Copper Venom has a smoother sound and a more natural center image. The soundstage are essentially the same for both cables , i.e. sadly not very big for the HE-6 or any other headphones when compared to speakers in a room or concert hall. But that is another topic for another time...
Cheers,
Justin_Time