nickosiris
500+ Head-Fier
Just to let you know that I successfully placed an order on the TC website just now. It seemed to work ok.
Just to let you know that I successfully placed an order on the TC website just now. It seemed to work ok.
32 mins in to first listen. Jazz at the Pawnshop, oh yes. Aural bliss. The sounds! Wow. Tsk tsk of cymbals is so, I don't know how to describe it, crisp, clear, drums are great and the soundstage is crazy good. It was anyway but with TRRS it's good. The background voices and glasses chinking is clearer. Who cares if it's a placebo effect, I like it! A lot.
Frank its here! Lol. Brilliant. Time for the first test.
I got a portable DAP (Cowon Plenue P - not that well known in the west compared with all the A&K type stuff) and I quickly realised I needed something better than my 12 year old etymotic 4p (mind in terms of value they were probably the best bargain i’ve had) so I bought in quick succession shure 846 for commuting/travelling (I got them for a good price) and the Audeze LCD-X for listening at home… both were excellent “out of the box” and the 846 a stunning upgrade over the 4p. I also knew that “everyone” upgraded the cables so I lurked around on here and found the Toxic Cable thread (pretty hard to miss it)… since I am in Manchester (England not NH) I really liked the idea of buying something made here in Britain (I think it best to drop the UK bit since it isn’t really ‘united’ anymore - an irrelevant aside for most on this forum) and I read my way through the hundreds of pages. Initially I was worried about the comments about waiting 6 months, no communication and the occasional person saying cables “are snake oil”…well:
I contacted Frank, he replied, I asked his advice and moved up to the SilverWidow 24 for the LCD-X well it arrived almost exactly when Frank said it would (11 weeks and that included Xmas) and without burning in it was night and day better than the stock cable and just got better. The sound was clear as if it had been congested (especially in lower mids and upper bass - sorry if wrong terms) and the treble so much easier and natural. I know some folks say cables make no difference and I do think there are somethings in ‘hi-fi’ which are not the easiest to prove (hi-res I’m talking about you - though that doesn’t stop me buying stuff in 24/192 just in case - but think about it I’m a middle age man who has listened to loud music for decades - how much above the dog’s frequency will I hear) but getting back to cables well if you want to tell if there is a difference go back to the stock cable, then back to the custom one as many times as you like - the change isn’t subjective!
Then an updated version of my DAP was released (with a 40% hike in price but still a third of A&K) and one of the main improvements was a balanced output so back my SilverWidow went to be re-terminated for 3.5 TRRS (at a very reasonable price) and back out came the stock cable! Lord it was a long couple of weeks -leaden is my best description of what it sounds like when you have become used to a good custom cable. Anyway my cable came back and the balanced output really is an improvement. I don’t understand the technicalities but it is a real step up…. for anyone considering spending over £3K on a A&K 380 I strongly urge you to try the Cowon Plenue S with a balanced cable (you will save yourself more than enough to get a LCD-X and SilverWidow22 (never mind 24)).
So I decided I would see about getting a cable for the 846 and contacted Frank - he asked what I wanted out of it and I said balanced and some control of the boomy bass the 846 can have and - whereas I had reckoned on SilverWidow he advised SilverPoison at a £90 saving! Now you know you are dealing with someone special when they advise you to spend less money with them!
Again the cables came quicker then estimated (it was only 9 weeks this time) and without a minutes burn in they are so much better than the Shure cable it is outrageous! Obviously some of this is going from Stock single ended to balanced but the change is bigger than going from SE to balanced on the LCD-X (which was itself a substantial improvement). I know the 846 isn’t very favoured on head-fi as it is the Montblanc of IEMs (but that isn’t to say Montblanc don’t make great fountain pens - they do, but there are more interesting ones out there) but listening to them connected with the SilverPoison balanced and it is hard to imagine how any IEM could sound better than this…
So buying custom cable has been a big big upgrade, buying from Frank has been a pure pleasure and if anyone is reading this as I was when I was considering whether to buy I can honestly say you can’t do better than deal with Frank.
I am sorry that my iphone photography is poor - the cables look a million times better in reality (particularly the SilverPoison which looks simply stunning)
so in the first one we have the SilverPoison meeting "Jack Straw" (no not the ex labour mp)
and in the second one we have the SilverWidow meeting 'Tom Sawyer' who is probably better known these days compared to 'Jack Straw'
I am sorry my photos do no justice at all to these marvellous cables
Hi all,
I want to be able to use my SW24 TRRS cable with my iPhone 6S+
Can I use 'any old' Female TRRS to Male TRS converter or does it have to be a certain type?
Thx,
Rich.