Would you support a Fiio foray into the after market headphone cable arena?
Dec 19, 2010 at 4:11 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 8

olor1n

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Who wants an affordable alternative to the current crop of after market cables? Check out the following quotes and vote in the possibly useless poll. I should have probably listed headphone cables but I'm lazy and would have missed too many. Let's try and keep this civil folks.
 
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olor1n said:
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Anaxilus said:
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olor1n said:
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I am amazed at Fiio's willingness to engage the Head-Fi community. If only Fiio would enter the after market headphone cable arena. Their approach could really shake up what must be a lucrative market for some as they provide alternatives to ubiquitous models such as the Sennheiser HD series. The pricing for these cables is ludicrous at the moment but I'd happily pay around $100 for a Fiio produced silver cable, which I suspect would still have a healthy mark up (sorry to go off topic... just seeing if I can plant a seed
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).
 
Btw, would it be possible for the user to swap out the E11's supplied battery for one with more mAh?


Point 1-Not so much a seed but more like BAIT!
 
Point 2-Yes, you can even buy the battery upgrade now before the units out.  
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LOL! Look what I reeled in!


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Jack-Micca said:
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olor1n said:
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I am amazed at Fiio's willingness to engage the Head-Fi community. If only Fiio would enter the after market headphone cable arena. Their approach could really shake up what must be a lucrative market for some as they provide alternatives to ubiquitous models such as the Sennheiser HD series. The pricing for these cables is ludicrous at the moment but I'd happily pay around $100 for a Fiio produced silver cable, which I suspect would still have a healthy mark up (sorry to go off topic... just seeing if I can plant a seed
wink.gif
).
 
Btw, would it be possible for the user to swap out the E11's supplied battery for one with more mAh?

 
We've approached FiiO about this, with a designed that focused on utility, flexibility, and durability (excellent audio performance is of course a prerequisite). If more people showed interest, it would give them a better idea of what kind of potential such a product would have.
 
Jack



 
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feiao said:
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Sure! we will consider it later! now we have too many project and we need to find some good cable and talk with Oyaide who can provide the best cable to us!
 
BTW, there are too many kind of headphone, and with different connector, I will like to see which will have bigger request!



You could maybe start by looking at the detachable Sennheiser cables. My understanding is that the HD650 is interchangeable with their other models so there's a potential market there based on just one cable. And if you guys were to seriously consider this I hope you look at actually providing "upgraded" cables (customer specified wire type, sleeving, plugs), rather than clones of the stock.
 



 
Dec 19, 2010 at 6:11 AM Post #2 of 8
It sound pretty useless to me considering Fiio is supposed to be a value brand and the sorts of cables are defined mostly by their high prices with looks following a fair ways behind.  If they want to make well made and pretty cables for reasonable prices that's fine with me, but it detracts somewhat from the main purposes of boutique cables.  They're generally just jewelry and status symbols...
 
I'll settle for well made and plain.
 
Dec 19, 2010 at 6:29 AM Post #3 of 8
Yeah I can understand that viewpoint. That's why I stated Fiio, if serious about it, needs to provide more than just clones of the stock cables. There needs to be some degree of user customisation (wire, sleeving and plug types) for people to bite. I'm sure people to some degree enjoy the prestige of paying big bucks for after market cables, but if you're a budget conscious student like me, and are curious about what effect a silver cable can have to your chain, rather than just the cosmetic upgrade (although that would be nice as well), then a reasonable price is the only barrier.
 
Dec 21, 2010 at 7:08 PM Post #4 of 8
Without revealing too much, the design we shared with FiiO should fit well with their product/brand strategy, a strategy with a lot of sensibility. You can look to the FiiO LOD cables as an indication of the kind of quality/performance/value combination that FiiO has thus far delivered in a cable-related product. There is no shortage of headphone replacement cables on the market, from stock-clones to extremely exotic custom made designs. So FiiO has to approach a potential product like this with a lot of caution. That and they are currently extremely busy with their other projects. :) 
 
Jack
 
Dec 21, 2010 at 7:22 PM Post #5 of 8
I'd advise them to stay away. Cables sellers inhabit and an area which is either a little shady  such as the claims of enhanced sonic performance which cannot be blind tested and to my ear do not exist so must be pretty subtle if they do. Or a more honest pitch where they are simply a luxury, high quality boutique item, superbly made from the best materials, avoiding all potential quality problems cheaper cables might have and are beautiful to look at.
 
I actually have no problem with the latter category as there is nothing wrong with that at all.
 
But which one fits FiiO? Neither. They have a reputation as honest brokers offering good quality entry-level gear that often punches above its weight but never claims to be high end.
 
Cables don't fit them. 
 
Dec 21, 2010 at 7:57 PM Post #6 of 8


Quote:
I'd advise them to stay away. Cables sellers inhabit and an area which is either a little shady  such as the claims of enhanced sonic performance which cannot be blind tested and to my ear do not exist so must be pretty subtle if they do. Or a more honest pitch where they are simply a luxury, high quality boutique item, superbly made from the best materials, avoiding all potential quality problems cheaper cables might have and are beautiful to look at.
 
I actually have no problem with the latter category as there is nothing wrong with that at all.
 
But which one fits FiiO? Neither. They have a reputation as honest brokers offering good quality entry-level gear that often punches above its weight but never claims to be high end.
 
Cables don't fit them. 


Fixed. And that's what I'd expect from Fiio. I don't want cables made from rare materials harvested from the heart of a passing comet, laced with the illusive Higgs Boson particle captured from the miniature big bangs created by the LHC. I just want something that's more than the stock cable using quality components without the 60000% markup. I could go the DIY route but I don't have the time, resources and know how. There has to be a market here, separate to the existing boutique niche. Like I said a reasonable price is the only barrier.
 
Jan 31, 2011 at 5:39 AM Post #7 of 8


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cables made from rare materials harvested from the heart of a passing comet, laced with the elusive Higgs Boson particle captured from the miniature big bangs created by the LHC.



I'll take twenty. 
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In all seriousness though, I think it'd be pretty interesting to see how FiiO makes great cables for the rest of us. Would be nice to hear the difference of high-end cables without your wallet feeling the difference
 

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