[HideousPride]

Thanks John!
 
Looking forward to spending some time with Frank's cables after reading all of the positive feedback they've received.

 

[project86]

They are here and they are freakin awesome! Gotta grab a few pics and then I'll get them sent out, hopefully tomorrow but if not then over the weekend for sure.

 

[Toxic Cables]

Quote:

Thanks John!
 
Looking forward to spending some time with Frank's cables after reading all of the positive feedback they've received.

And you should see how much some of them charge for those feedback. 

 jj

 

[project86]

Alright, this thread is officially back in action! alv4410 and HideousPride both have Silver Poison cables headed their way. Here's a bit of copy and paste from my post in the big Toxic Cables thread, just so you can see the new cables as well as a few others of mine just for Toxic Cables eyecandy.
 
 
 
Starting with the Silver Poison cable for custom IEMs:
 

 

 

 
Just a beautiful cable - thin and manageable, yet substantial at the same time. Love the lack of memory wire too. I didn't listen to this much as they are going to be sent out to some other folks tomorrow for demo purposes. I had another Silver Poison that someone disappeared with, so I'm being a lot more careful about who I loan things to from now on. But Frank was kind enough to replace it for me - what a class act.
 
 
 
 
Next is the completely over the top Silver Widow (OCC Cryo silver with gold) for custom IEMs. This is purely for use at home only - Frank asked if I needed it flexible or if being on the stiffer side was OK. I told him do whatever it takes for pure SQ because I'll only use this at home directly in front of my gear, so flexibility is a non-issue in this case. Subsequently this is some thicker gauge stuff compared to the Silver Poison. It's a type 2 Litz cable where every strand within each wire has its own insulation, meaning none of he strands are in direct contact until the solder joint. Termination is a Neutrik 4-pin XLR for balanced operation. I did get an adapter for XLR to 1/4" made from OCC copper, for those times when I want to use a single-ended amplifier. In any case, I'm blown away by this cable - simply the best my CIEMs have ever sounded. Running the JH13pro FreqPhase from the balanced Silver Widow, driven by an AURALiC Taurus, fed by a Resonessence Labs Invicta playing DSD tracks from its SD Card player.... holy smokes does it sound good! It probably wouldn't work so well on the go, but that isn't really the point, is it?
 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
Last but certainly not least is the balanced HD800 cable - an 18AWG version of the Copper Scorpion which uses fully Cryo'd OCC Copper in a Litz configuration. Notice the special connectors made just for HD800 - very nice. I went back and forth with Frank on which cable would be best for me, and in the end he recommended this one based on my feedback. He says he isn't even sure people know he has this option for HD800 what with all the Silver Poisons and such, but it's a very viable choice - the larger gauge plus OCC Copper translates to spectacular extension on both ends. Despite being on the thicker side, this cable is by no means unwieldy or difficult to deal with. In fact I prefer it to the original Sennheiser cable, which had a tendency to twist up in sharp angles and generally make a mess of itself. Once again, I use balanced operation a lot, but use the adapter pictured above for my single ended amps. I believe it is the same cable but in a higher gauge. In any case, I'm not disappointed in the least with this cable. Frank could have upsold a Silver Widow or even his RC-4 "ultimate" HD800 cable - but he didn't. I think it's worth noting how Frank is the type of guy to figure out what you want, rather than try to sell you the most expensive option regardless of your taste. 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
I'll have more thoughts on these excellent cables as I get more time with them For now, Just wanted to post some pics and note how pleased I am with Frank's service and attention to detail. Since I do this as something of a "professional" over at InnerFidelity, I deal with a lot of manufacturers on a regular basis. If only all of them operated on the same level as Frank.... it would make my job much easier. 

 

[alv4426]

Today is the greatest day in the history of alv4426 headphoneness, I got a demo STAX system with a PICO DAC today and I just went to my mailbox and found the Toxic cable waiting for me. This is gonna be a fun weekend. Someday next week Im gonna be crying in a USPS store mailing this stuff out to the next dude.
Thanks so much to project86, Frank, and Justin (from headamp) you dudes are awesome. 
 
PS that balanced IEM cable is crazy... I need one now

 

[project86]

Quote:

Today is the greatest day in the history of alv4426 headphoneness, I got a demo STAX system with a PICO DAC today and I just went to my mailbox and found the Toxic cable waiting for me. This is gonna be a fun weekend. Someday next week Im gonna be crying in a USPS store mailing this stuff out to the next dude.
Thanks so much to project86, Frank, and Justin (from headamp) you dudes are awesome. 
 
PS that balanced IEM cable is crazy... I need one now

 
Sounds like fun! Just don't get confused and jam the Silver Poison into your Stax amp.... 

 

[alv4426]

 JH5-Silver Poison, Pico Power, Headamp Upsampling DAC, random interconnect.

 

[Toxic Cables]

Quote:

 JH5-Silver Poison, Pico Power, Headamp Upsampling DAC, random interconnect.

Awesome setup, thanks for posting.
 
Thanks for sharing your thoughts John. Really glad you like the cables and a great write up as usual.

 

[project86]

So alv4426 and HideousPride will be done auditioning the Silver Poisons soon.... who's next? I think sunninho is a good candidate but I need one more. Please keep it inside the USA only, as international shipping is a hassle. There was a list of potential people but that was a while ago so I need to know who is interested currently. 

 

[HideousPride]

Hi all, Fairly wrapped up with my impressions, can have the Poison out by the end of the week/early next week to the next person. John, please PM me the person you'd like me to send to and I'll work out the shipping details. Thanks! Danny

 

[project86]

Alright, I found the next recipient for one of the cables, but still need someone else to receive the cable that HideousPride currently has. Any takers? 

 

[HideousPride]

No takers? I'm thrilled that I've been able to hold onto them for so long, but I'd like to give someone else a chance to experience it for themselves. My review came a bit late, but here it is - hopefully it inspires one of you chaps to take the plunge and give aftermarket cables a go!
 

 
 
Introduction
Prior to receiving the Silver Poison, I was situated in the camp of cable agnostics. I hadn’t enough firsthand experience to judge for myself what, if anything, a high-end cable can do for the pursuit of great sound.
 
I have personally replaced a couple of stock headphone cables on my cans with relatively inexpensive aftermarket ones, but the changes were due to issues I had with the stock cable (too long for intended usage, flimsy or otherwise unwieldy, frayed or snapped cable) as opposed to actively seeking to upgrade. I’ve heard higher end headphones with an aftermarket balanced termination sound different from the single-ended stock cable on the same amp, but can’t say I feel comfortable attributing the change to just the cable modification with the other variables in play. Cables are something I’ve been curious about, but haven’t dropped the $$$ on due to my priorities in reaching an endgame amplifier/DAC/headphone chain before toying with the “less important” stuff.
 
Now that I’ve reached that point and am satisfied with the desktop/portable setups I have, it was with the greatest of interest that I received the Silver Poison.
 
On the Cable
The cable looks damn good. It was a very welcome change in the realm of aesthetics as compared to the stock cable my CIEM came with. I gave the section of the cable under the Y-connector a gentle tug, and the build quality of the cable felt durable and strong. Plugging them into my CIEMs and taking the cable for a spin, I immediately noticed and was thankful for the lack of memory wire – the cable strands near the connectors are very flexible and easy to guide around the ears. Fantastic! After several listening sessions, the cable managed to hold its form and resist my unconscious attempts to tangle it as I moved about with the CIEMs in my everyday active life.
 
I didn’t directly test the Silver Poison against the stock cable in the sense of playing songs on one cable, and then switching to the other cable with the exact same songs to see if I could detect any perceptible differences. I believed this would be setting myself up for the placebo effect and straining to hear “magical” subtleties, if you will. Putting in hours of intense concentration on individual tracks and attention to minute details in the background music was a taxing mental burden that I didn’t feel like subjecting myself to.
 
Instead, I decided to go about it by swapping out between extended listening sessions and comparing my overall sense of enjoyment between the two cables. After a week or so of this process, it was clear that the Silver Poison won out by a substantial margin. The memory wire on the stock cable made it feel clunky and chunky every time I looped it around my ears, making me long for the lack thereof on the Silver Poison. Ergonomically from a cable sense, the Silver Poison also provided me greater comfort and peace of mind – I wasn’t irritated by the cable brushing against clothing or foreign objects. Finally, the cable just felt “right” with my setup. From my humble abode in Texas, I’ve taken my portable rig to Los Angeles, to South Korea, and to Phoenix in the days I’ve been auditioning the cable, and have to say I noticed significantly more stares and comments on my CIEMs due to the attention the aftermarket cable attracts. Call me vain if you must, but the Silver Poison connecting my CIEM and AK100 is a fitting (read: good looking ayyyyy) link between the two. It made not having the aftermarket cable in the chain an almost painful difference visually when I swapped to the stock cable.
 

    
I’ve decided to not comment on the audible differences I heard between the cables. Did I find myself hearing perceptible variations listening to some of the same songs with both cables over the days? Perhaps so, and yet with all of the uncontrolled variables in play during the listening sessions, it’s not enough for me to steadfastly declare my allegiance to the cable wars on one side or another.
 
Conclusion
I will say however, that this program has allowed me to gain a more open mind in regards to how much of an enhancement well-designed aftermarket cables can be. I would still advocate focusing your attention on the products in the chain that make an easily perceptible difference until you reach a point where you are satisfied with what you have – once you do reach that point, an aftermarket cable could very well be just the thing you’re looking for on your journey to audio nirvana. Such was the case for me.  
 
A huge thank you to Project86 (John) for allowing me to participate in his loaner program, what a fantastic experience!
 

 

[alv4426]

^^^^I agree with most of your thoughts good sir. This demo pushed me to buy an aftermarket cable for my IEMs, so its evil 

. 

 

[project86]

Thanks guys (but I swear I wasn't part of some grand scheme to get you to part with more money - that's on your head alone!) Now who's next? Any takers? 

 

[project86]

OK, thread bump. I've lost track of this thread but it's time for some new blood. Who wants to try a killer Silver Poison cable?