[shysteve40]

Hi, Guys Steve here from New York. I have the Sennheiser HD820 headphones. I am using them with this, headphone amplifier. Sony Premium Hybrid Headphone amplifier TA-ZH1ES. The HD-820 stock cable broke the other day. so I ordered a good replacement cable XLR Silver Dragon Premium Cable for Sennheiser Headphones latest addition. Did I make the right choice in replacement cable with my setup? What I am wondering would the XLR Premium Dragon Copper Cable have been a better choice than the Silver one I got? Keep in mind the Sony amp I am using is a $2k+ amp in price. Please Respond with all and any help

 

[Redcarmoose]

Hi, Guys Steve here from New York. I have the Sennheiser HD820 headphones. I am using them with this, headphone amplifier. Sony Premium Hybrid Headphone amplifier TA-ZH1ES. The HD-820 stock cable broke the other day. so I ordered a good replacement cable XLR Silver Dragon Premium Cable for Sennheiser Headphones latest addition. Did I make the right choice in replacement cable with my setup? What I am wondering would the XLR Premium Dragon Copper Cable have been a better choice than the Silver one I got? Keep in mind the Sony amp I am using is a $2k+ amp in price. Please Respond with all and any help

I have the TA and use it with the MDR-Z1R. Never tried the HD820 or those cables. Though take note many in the MDR-Z1R thread admire a silver upgrade cable over the typical KImber upgrade cable.

There will always be an element of uncertainty with purchases. At times folks like silver and at times copper. In a way this mystery is part of the excitement of the hobby, as at times stuff works out, other times, not. Even if someone gives advice here, it may not be related to what your end experience will be.

Cheers!

 

[VladYR]

I have that same amp and it's fantastic. I had a chance to audition those headphones although on a Sennheiser amp. Interesting sound but I prefer the open backed ones. As far as the headphone cables are concerned, I'd steer clear of either silver plating or fully silver cores, especially on Sennheiser headphones, which are somewhat bright to begin with. Silver Dragon cables are not cheap to begin with, particularly their premium versions. I actually contemplated buying a pair of those for my Meze Empyrean and Sony MDR-Z1R headphones but then changed my mind and instead went with Nordost Heimdell 2. Sure, those are a few hundred dollars more expensive but the price difference is well worth it, at least for me.

If you end up keeping those cables, here is something for you to keep in mind. If you upgrade the other cables connected to that headphone amp, just be mindful of increased brightness associated with either RCA or power cables with silver in their construction. In my case, I upgraded the RCA cables to Nordost Tyr 2 and the power to Nordost Frey 2. While the increase in performance was phenomenal, the brightness went way up. It was annoyingly obvious when using stock silver plated cables that came with my Sony MDR-Z1R headphones. However, this problem went away when using copper headphone cables. Sometimes there's such a thing as too much of a good thing after all.

 

[whitedragem]

my experience with silver has been it has removed sibilance on speech/vocals...
if a ‘thick enough coating’ (moons v2 cables came up with a 15-18% ‘balance (price-performance) when making cables for ‘others’) it can really help; some speaker cables in the late nineties quoted it could almost double duty as ‘bi-wiring’; bass frequencies going down the thick copper core (bass is high power demands) and the high frequencies travelling down the silver ‘skin’.

not sure if I believe it, but it was a good sell.
i like how silver oxidation doesnt have detrimental effects on sound, but I concur that silver can allow high frequencies to ‘flow free’.. and its all about balance- its why most say ‘finish your system/get your endgame rig’, then ‘tune with cables’ (hobby money)..

for example- i am going to rewire some high end headphones, but mostly to ‘go balanced ‘ (doubles slew rate, nets me an extra 6db of signal to noise ratio from an iFi Diablo)..
for $55 australian dollars I can get a ‘cheap’ silver coated copper ‘monocrystaline’ build which has required plug ends etc. I couldnt build it that cheap, factoring a moment of my time-thats a ‘no brainer’.
i’d love some several hundred dollar moon v2s, and my rig might even justify it, i certainly have the ear training to appreciate any sound change- but thats the gamble; its bot a given it would tailor in the direction I want to go in, and ultrasone edition 5s might not need brightness; I’d want to test.

this is why I always support my local bricks and mortar store, and ‘trying cables’ might actually be something I do... (they know they will get my business, and have always been honest/helpful and put my needs above theirs(rare in retail))

if they are too bright for you, there are ways to detune the brightness from your system elsewhere.
as an example, I once bought an unshielded interc0nnect that ‘brightened sound’ (too much) and I just used darker (cheap) speaker cables to counter balance the problem. not ideal, but worked....

 

[michaelc]

If you have bought the cable, don't think too much.
A good cable will tune the sound, but it will still an HD820 sound at the end.
So please enjoy until you can compare the cables in an audio outlet for tuning purposes rather than expect change drastically. This is the final 5%-10% thing.
In the end, everyone has their own preference.
So, trust your own eyes.

 

[Rob the Comic]

I think you will be fine. By it’s closed design, the 820 resolves some of the upper range problems of the 800. The closed back will give you enough bass effect, so I think the silver cable is a good choice. At the end of the day, you have a decent set up and these cables will have very little difference in sound profile. Audio cables are like golf equipment; there is something new every week and they are not as groundbreaking as they claim.
Rob