First time Toxic Cable customer, received my IE80 Silver Poison yesterday morning.
As can be confirmed by all the review posts in this appreciation thread, the quality of Frank's cables is truly exceptional. Genuine works of art which can only be appreciated fully in person.
So far, my cable has 30 hours burn in, and at the moment it is sounding fantastic. Out of the packet it was initially very bright and quite harsh with little bass to speak of (quite a contrast with the usually bass heavy stock IE80's), but that's no surprise for a brand new silver cable I guess.
After 8 or so hours burn in the signature was changing quite considerably, and listening again this morning (16 hours) it had improved markedly. I've just finished 2 hours of listening and am extremely pleased with the progression in the sound I'm perceiving. The bass has returned and is is extremely well controlled (much better than stock). Mids are glorious, which is the typical weak point of the IE80 and undoubtedly a strength of the Silver Poison on these IEMs. The initial harshness in the treble has disappeared leaving an excellent overall sound-stage. I don't know how much further they will change in the days and months ahead, but I'm extremely happy as things stand.
Linked below is a snap of my portable set-up...
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad221/f4780y/2013-08-22163626.jpg
Sorry, I don't have enough posts yet to have inline images
In the spirit of full openness and honesty, not everything was rosy in the garden prior to receiving the cable on Thursday. For me personally, the purchasing experience (via Frank's eBay store) did not meet my, admittedly high, expectations. I'm sure that's more to do with me than it is to do with Frank, as plenty of folks praise his service on this thread. All in all my IEM cable took almost 12 weeks to arrive after thinking I was getting it initially from stock, then expecting it to come after 6 weeks, then 9 and chasing after 10 and 11 weeks. Throughout the whole process I personally felt the comms could have been much better, but that said, I do understand Frank is extremely (too?) busy. There is no better evidence of this than the temporary "closing" of his eBay store, but that didn't exactly inspire confidence in a first time buyer that didn't know he should have been following this thread! I'm not the type of person that cannot wait for things, but I do like to be kept informed if things change or are delayed etc. As I say, maybe that's my problem, not Frank's.
To compound things, I also seem to have been unlucky enough to have actually had my order lost in the post. Following a PM exchange with Frank on the forum on Saturday night I had almost reached the point of giving up and writing off my purchase. Then, to Frank's credit, I received a PM out of nowhere on Monday morning saying I really should have received my cable by now and another would be sent out via Special Delivery. True to his word, that replacement cable arrived on Thursday morning with a big "sorry" written on the ziplock bag. The other remains lost in the ether somewhere...
Nobody is more pleased than me that this all worked out in the end, and hopefully, rather than being seen as a negative, this information will give anyone out there that is currently waiting, perhaps impatiently, for their first order from Toxic Cables, the comfort to know that you haven't made a mistake and that Frank will get to you in the end.
The truth of the matter is now that I have one of Frank's cables in my possession and have been through the process once, I'd happily wait patiently for a year to receive my next cable if that's what it took.
Anyhoo, that's my tale. Thanks to Frank and Toxic Cables.
I'll be sure to post an update if my perception of the cable continues to improve over time.
