Coop
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2008
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Not the best there is, but really quite acceptable. But then again, that's only fiddling with the cable sitting at my desk. I'll let you know if I change my opinion after my lunchbreak walk tomorrow
Ok, I just returned from my 1.5 mile lunchbreak walk. During activity the paracord cable sleeving performed a little better than I expected when it comes to microphonics.
Test setup:
- V-Moda Crossfade M100 w. Coops Custom Cable (hmmm, that might actually make a nice brandname
)- Fiio X3
- Lowa Combat boots (nice and firm soles, sure to send up some extra vibrations)
- Cotton T-Shirt
- Fleece jacket
The X3 was in my jacket pocket, cable routed through a cable hole to the inside of the jacket. Then run up to the headphones in between T-shirt & jacket.
Impact:
On impact, the microphonics were pretty much what you'd expect from a closed over ear headphone. The cable with it's paracord sleeving didn't really influence this as it hardly sent up any noise from the impact of my feet on the pavement. As a reference I disconnected the cable a few times, but there was virtually no change in microphonics.
Scraping:
There was some microphonics due to the cable scraping against my jacket collar and/or my beard. But not as much as I expected. The upgrade cable I have for my Momentum, which is sleeved with some generic tech-flex clone was way more sensitive to this. So there were some vibrations travelling up the cable, but not as much as I thought there would be. All in all it was pretty much drowned out by the noise caused by the wind.
Comfort:
I have a ridiculously sensitive skin, so this is quite important to me. The fairly soft exterior of the paracord actually felt pretty comfy. No red spots from where it was rubbing against my skin. Also as the paracord has a much denser weave compared to the faux tech-flex on my Momentum cable, it did't have the problem where hairs from my beard could get stuck in the sleeving and plucked out with head movement like when making sure you don't get turned into a road-pizza when crossing the street.
Conclusion:
The performance of paracord as cable sleeving is better than expected. It is flexible, looks nice and is comfy when touching skin. But I wonder how durable it will be. As it has a softer exterior than most cable sleeving, it might wear out easier. Ok, it is cheap and taking off a connector to replace is fairly easy, but sliding the paracord outer over the Mogami 3031 is a pain, so not something I'd want to do every few months.
And on another note: The China Special 3.5mm connector I used is not that great. While the fit and finish look quite ok to the naked eye, its real world performance leaves quite a bit of room for improvement. As usual, I measured my cable for shorts in all sorts of crazy curves and awkward bends before using it. I wasn't able to reproduce any shorts or interruptions that way. Yet when connected to the M100, there is a bad connection with the connector rotated in a certain direction (approximately 1/5th part of a 360 degree rotation of the connector poses problems, if the connector is in the other 4/5 there's no problem whatsoever.) This happens on both the left and the right receptacle of the M100, and also when using it as an interconnect between Fiio X3 and my O2.
I measured the cable for continuity and shorts again, but could not reproduce the issue. So it seems to me that the connector is made with quite large tolerances towards the 3.5mm jack specs, or it has a bit of a bend in it (it looks ok though).
Also, it was quite a pain to solder, even with my 1.2mm tip. So it's safe to say I won't be using this type of connector anymore. Too bad, as it does look quite nice. So any suggestions for an alternative 'slim'-type 3.5mm jack are much appreciated
