Hello Claud and All,
Happy New Year! Just a brief update from my side. Since my last post here, I've acquired the following cables from Alex:
- Platinum USB - 4-ft
- Platinum XLR interconnects - 0.5M
- Platinum HP cables for HD800 (x2) - 4-pin XLR and dual 3-pin XLR - so me and the wife can listen together
Yes, I love Wywires cables!
The first to show-up were the USB and interconnects. The USB replaced my toslink (Mac to GMB), and the Platinum interconnects replaced my Blue Wywires interconnects. I heard an improvement to soundstage and midrange (overall SQ), in particular with the Ether Flow. The midrange of the Flow are now approaching the HD800, no small feat there! The effect seemed less pronounced with the HD800, until I continued listening...I didn't think the stage and mids of the HD800 could be improved, but Alex did improve them with these Platinum cables!
Second, received yesterday: Platinum HP cables for the HD800. I had been using Red cables for the HD800 (they sound great), but now my Platinum set is complete! Full Wywires Platinum from source to ears with all (3) headphones. YES!
Alex has again improved the build of his Platinum HP cable - based on input from his customers - it's now lighter and more flexible, similar to the Red cable. Very nice, IMO.
Net, I am now breaking in three cables at the same time: USB, interconnects, and HP cables. You know, that's fun. I prefer to break in new equipment while listening to music, not with the pink noise or whatever. I am already starting to hear the capability of these rig components, not to mention the HD800. They've never sounded so good to my ears!
For reference, my upstream rig is MacPro - JRiver22 - Gungnir MB - Bryston BHA-1 - headphones. The music is all 16/44.1 ALAC/FLAC (ripped from CD's), or in a few cases 24/96 or 24/192 from HDTracks. I prefer rock/alt/blues/jazz/acoustic and listen at reasonable levels so I can hear the music. It is all digital music. Occasionally I listen to metal, then I put on the LCD-X.
IMO, every cable upgrade I've made (all with Wywires) has improved the sound of this rig. Perhaps the Yggy and maybe a WA5 amp would be the next step, but at this point, I'm not overly inclined to jump. I'm real happy with where my music is.
As always, YMMV and IMHO. Cable upgrades can be somewhat subjective, but I have personally heard the benefit to my listening experience.
Enjoy your music!
RCBinTN