[Jpbas1]

I spent about a year experimenting with various cables for the LCD2/3.

I used OFC, UPC and OCC copper, Silver coated copper and pure OCC silver.


I tried wires from bulk suppliers, then various cables from Cardas, ALO, Moon and many other vendors.

In a nutshell, I found out that price is no guaranty for good results. The key was to compensate for the voicing of the headphones with the right cables. The LCD has a dark, caramel coating sound that is appealing to many but is still a coloration. The bass is a little loose and the soundstage virtually non existent. I found that silver OCC cables has strengths in the very areas where the LCD2/3 were weak. But not all silver cables reached the same performance with the LCD.

I finally selected the Silver Widow from Toxic Cables (England), which outperformed all other cables In addition to being reasonably priced and very well made. Frank uses OCC silver, with rectangular wires (?). There is some gold added and surface treatment that are proprietary. The wires are cryogenically treated. I selected 8 wires and XLR connector with silver pins. With the LCD/Silver Widow pairing (and the right amp) the caramel coating is removed leaving a more transparent sound with a tight and more dynamic bass, a slightly less forward-some call it "in-your-face"--center image, and a sufficiently large sound stage to make orchestral music more enjoyable. The Silver Poison produced a slightly lower performance for less money.

Thank you for that....  unfortunately they're sold out on a number of those designs....

 

[Justin_Time]

  Thank you for that....  unfortunately they're sold out on a number of those designs....

I am not sure I understand.
 
Frank (Toxic Cables) has been making these cables for a few years now  and will do so in many years to come.
 
How did you come up with the information that they are sold out? ALL the cables he makes--there are probably a dozen varieties--are still available for order as far as I know. 
 
There is a thread (Toxic Cables Appreciation) that you can read about various cables he makes then you can PM him for the order--his website is useless as he has no time to work on it. It usually take a few months for an order because there are hundreds of orders just from Head-Fiers and Frank will not compromise on wire quality or workmanship.  He still does a lot of the work himself. 
 
Frank will deliver the last batches of orders this month and will go on vacation with his family for a few weeks--he has been working non-stop  without vacation for 3 years!  He will be back.  He just won't take any order until he gets back. You can read about all this on the Appreciation thread. 

 

[Jpbas1]

I was thanking you for the education. At the time I went to the toxic cable website several of their silver cable designs for the Audeze LCD series were sold out or out of stock.

This just taken today..... http://www.toxic-cables.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_61&product_id=68

I am willing to buy now.

Thanks again, Justin.

 

[buson160man]

  I would really love to truly try a A/B test with some of these cables. I just can't justify $300-$600 for wire.
 

 I know what you mean the pricing on these aftermarket cables is ridiculous. Beside that for the price that audeze is asking for their headphones they should include a decent cable with their phone .          

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

 
 I know what you mean the pricing on these aftermarket cables is ridiculous. Beside that for the price that audeze is asking for there headphones they should include a decent cable with their phone .          

 
What's wrong / indecent about your cable?

 

[buson160man]

  I am not sure I understand.
 
Frank (Toxic Cables) has been making these cables for a few years now  and will do so in many years to come.
 
How did you come up with the information that they are sold out? ALL the cables he makes--there are probably a dozen varieties--are still available for order as far as I know. 
 
There is a thread (Toxic Cables Appreciation) that you can read about various cables he makes then you can PM him for the order--his website is useless as he has no time to work on it. It usually take a few months for an order because there are hundreds of orders just from Head-Fiers and Frank will not compromise on wire quality or workmanship.  He still does a lot of the work himself. 
 
Frank will deliver the last batches of orders this month and will go on vacation with his family for a few weeks--he has been working non-stop  without vacation for 3 years!  He will be back.  He just won't take any order until he gets back. You can read about all this on the Appreciation thread. 

 I don,t know about you but a year ago I ordered one of his copper based headphone leashes for my lcd2 v2s . I waited for three months and I got an email letting me know my order was cancelled . At least I got my refund for my order . But I did not initiate the cancellation . In the end I guess I was happy with the refund but after waiting in anticipation for three months and then get my order cancelled that sucked.
  I guess he preferred filling orders for his more expensive cables which were a lot more .
  But that closed the book on me for ordering any toxic cable products in the future .

 

[buson160man]

   
What's wrong / indecent about your cable?

 I just purchased a aftermarket cable and with no time on it all it just embarrassed the stock cable . The difference was like between a decent sounding stereo and a transistor pocket radio . I think that for a thousand dollars the cable they include should be at least decent sounding.

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

 
 I just purchased a aftermarket cable and with no time on it all it just embarrassed the stock cable . The difference was like between a decent sounding stereo and a transistor pocket radio . I think that for a thousand dollars the cable they include should be at least decent sounding.

 
Really? What new cable was that, and what happened more specifically?
( I should admit I do not use the stock cable either, but my stock cable is not of the latest version.)

 

[Jpbas1]

I agree. Outrageous.... But I wanted different sound signature and silver cables by brand X made a difference.

 

[Justin_Time]

 
 I don,t know about you but a year ago I ordered one of his copper based headphone leashes for my lcd2 v2s . I waited for three months and I got an email letting me know my order was cancelled . At least I got my refund for my order . But I did not initiate the cancellation . In the end I guess I was happy with the refund but after waiting in anticipation for three months and then get my order cancelled that sucked.
  I guess he preferred filling orders for his more expensive cables which were a lot more .
  But that closed the book on me for ordering any toxic cable products in the future .

I was trying to help you with possible cable choices for LCDs.  Please do not get me caught up in any transaction mess.
 
Having recommended Toxic Cables, however, I am now obligated to support my recommendations by saying that after three years of transactions, I have nothing but the highest praise for Frank and his company (Toxic Cables).
 
 
I do not have the facts of your transaction with Toxic Cables but personally, I have not experienced or heard of any preferential treatment due to the costs of the cables.  The long wait is normal and expected due to the large number of orders and the one-man operation.
 
But if you have any grievance I suggest that, to be fair to the vendor, you post it on the appropriate place--I think it is Toxic Cables Appreciation--so that they can respond appropriately. 
 
I do vaguely recollect reading about this case a few months ago on the Toxic Cables Appreciation thread but the complete story seemed to be different from what you described.  
 
But that's not really relevant here.  This is not the right place to resolve the issue and we should not derail this thread any further with it.   

 

[buson160man]

   
Really? What new cable was that, and what happened more specifically?
( I should admit I do not use the stock cable either, but my stock cable is not of the latest version.)

 The headphone cable I am trying (30 day trial period) is the cable pro reverie headphone cable for the lcd2/3  headphones. I was considering the cheaper freedom cable which was a lot cheaper .
I have had some experience with cable pros power cables . I bought a couple on closeout from his site .I think they could have been prototypes but they did sound pretty good and were reasonably priced . I did eventually buy two of his reverie power cables for a pair of emotiva stealth 8 active monitors . These were outstanding sounding power cables . While they were his best at the time they were only around 300 usd each. After they were broken in I thought they were better sounding than my two most expensive power cables that I had bought before them . One the kubala sosna emotion which were the better part of a grand and the other my nordost brahma which retailed for 1400 usd and I bought on a close out for 700 usd.  After I had broken in my cables they did sound better than either of those two more expensive cables. I called ted paisley at cable pro and talked with him and decide to give the reverie cable a shot. But at almost 640 usd which is more than I wanted to spend on a headphone cable this is a bit of a stretch for my budget . I am retired and that is a substantial sum for a headphone cable(almost 2/3 the price of the lcd 2) . But after my experience with his power cables I thought I would give them a shot .I am in the process of breaking in the cable so any further observations at this point are meaningless . This will have to be one awesome cable though for me to buy it . I will see if I do not think it is worth the investment I will return it .But so far so good but I have to give it at least twenty five hours of use before I am going to make any judgements about the cable . I actually should give it a hundred  hours but that is a bit of a stretch in thirty days I just do not have the time for that much listening in a thirty day trial period. I have maybe 10-12 hours on the cable so far . I just put a cd in and pressed repeat just now I am going to let the cable burn in  some more today . We shall see .

 

[buson160man]

Well I have been pounding the cable pro reverie lcd2 headphone cable for about a week now. I have perhaps  40 to 50 hours on the cable now . The cable is sounding very promising now it has developed a clarity that is very noticeable . That clarity seems to be across the board from the highs through the midrange and the low frequencies as well. The soundstage presentation has also improved considerably . The cable also seems to reproduce low level detail with aplomb . If you can tell I am liking the headphone cable a lot .The bass definition is spot on and I am hearing a clarity in the bass that I have not heard with my lcd2s before . I am definitely thinking the reverie is a keeper at this point.
  I called ted paisley at cablepro to let him know what I am thinking about this cable and he added that he felt 200 hours of use was the point he considered the cable should be pretty much broken in .
 I am at approximately the 50 hour point at this juncture. I do not know how much better things will get but as I had mentioned this cable looks to be a keeper .I am hoping it gets even better the closer I get to the 200 hour break in point . While I had rather hoped that the headphone sounded like it does now with the stock leash I am happy with the cable pro reverie lcd2 headphone cable .
  While the cable is not exactly inexpensive the improvement is definitely worth the extra scratch. It brings the lcd2 a long ways and makes it  into a definite contender for the best sound from the lcd 2.

 

[Sound Eq]

paying about 500 bucks man for a cable is never ever ever in my book of things I will ever do. I heard the sound of a 600 USD cable and compared to stock and no difference to my ears
 
we did blind tests and never passed that a 600 USD cable is better than stock
 
sorry for 500 USD or more I would just buy a new headphone

 

[Justin_Time]

paying about 500 bucks man for a cable is never ever ever in my book of things I will ever do. I heard the sound of a 600 USD cable and compared to stock and no difference to my ears

we did blind tests and never passed that a 600 USD cable is better than stock

sorry for 500 USD or more I would just buy a new headphone

My view:
Live and let live.

 

[Justin_Time]

 
I've very happy with my balanced Moon-Audio Silver Dragon V3.  And they are affordable.  I thought the Blue Dragon sounded a little dull in comparison with my LCD-2 rev 2, even though cables make the smallest differences when compared to the big changes with source and amp.  Still, I prefer the Silver Dragon for my LCD-2 and HE-500, and Black Dragon on my HD800.
 
I've tried many ALO cables and many are excellent but too expensive for most. I liked the SXC a little better than the Jenna Labs Cryo, but I don't know much about the more recent cables since I switched to Moon-Audio for recent purchases due to the costs.  I still have my old ALO SXC interconnect cables, but I haven't been able to afford new designs from them with 2 kids in college.

 


I completely agree with your statements regarding the pairing of Moon's Dragon cables with the HD800 and LCDs.

I had the same experience with the excellent and relatively affordable OCC copper and OCC silver cables from Toxic Cables (England).

I found that the Silver Widow cable (OCC pure silver + gold + cryo) works great with the LCD2/3, but not as well with the HD800--though some like that match. To my ears, the HD800 sounds much better with the Copper Venom cable (OCC copper; rectangular wires; cryo). That seems to be identical results with similar (not identical) "type" of wire materials used in the Silver and Blue Dragon.

That's comforting.