Forza AudioWorks Cables

Discussion in 'Modifications and Tweaks' started by Elnrik, Apr 25, 2018.

  1. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2017
    Likes Received:
    8,973
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Denver CO
    Home Page:
    I didn't see a thread for Forza cables, and I just received the Claire HPC Mk2 for my Eikon. I thought I'd put some thoughts up.

    First off, when I buy cables, it's because they have physical properties that I'm searching for - Length, comfort, flexibility, durability, style, etc. Yes, I believe cables can improve sound quality, but I take more of a cynical point of view: It is far more likely that a stock cable is absolute shit to begin with, and much less likely that exotic cables are providing dramatic improvements to the sound due to some special properties such as LN2 treatments, crystal metals, or some other combination of unicorn farts and dragon tears that give it magical properties. In fact, I've heard some cables that cost a ton, use those marketing lies, and straight up sound like a goat's sphincter.

    With that said, I chose the Claire cable as I wanted a flexible cable with quality connectors that was short and looked good. I also didn't want to spend a crap ton of cash. (Sorry Zach, your stock cables are fine, but they don't look great.)

    So far, I'm impressed. Build quality is good. The connectors are solid. It is flexible. Yes, it sounds good too. I like the ViaBlue 1/4" connector as it isn't this huge monstrosity sticking out of my Lyr 3 like the Neutrik plug on the stock cable. The mini XLR plugs for the headphones are great with a very easy to operate latch to disconnect them from the headphones. The heat shrink was done well. I think the braided cable looks very nice as well.

    All in all, I got exactly what I wanted. I'll make no claims as to audio quality, other than to say they had no adverse effect on sound, and all of the electrons are getting from the amp to my headphones just fine. I'd recommend these to others without hesitation.

    Thanks

    IMG_20180425_092352.jpg
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2018
  2. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

    Pyrate Banned
    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,455
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Wait...no picture? :oops:
     
  3. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2017
    Likes Received:
    8,973
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Denver CO
    Home Page:
    Fixed
     
  4. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

    Pyrate Banned
    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,455
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Nice! My Forza cable has black sleeving but I think I like sleeve-less even better.
     
  5. Vent

    Vent Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2016
    Likes Received:
    296
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Probably the nicest looking cable at a reasonable price. Did you order this with the semi-transparent black insulation? Are there any microphonics when it rubs against your clothing or the edge of your desk?
     
  6. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2017
    Likes Received:
    3,026
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Rapallo, Italy
    Mine are on the way.

    I started by picking up a bunch of pigtail adapters of various grades, XLR into 1/4, 1/4 into mini jack, and so on. That stuff is always useful for auditions, meets etc and I never had any nice ones.

    I then spent around thirty minutes fondling them, and muttering "ooo" "soooft" and the like :oops: and ordered a bunch of stuff when I had the chance.

    Based on the adapters I got, the base "color" cable is totally worthy for anything midfi, plus its super super thin and light and really cheap to get in "wheeling around the office" lenghts, and the "copper"/"hybrid" tier I'd be comfortable using up to say, AFO tier cans.

    I picked up a "Hybrid" series for the Ori and a "Claire" for the Kennerton Vali, for example.
     
  7. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2017
    Likes Received:
    8,973
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Denver CO
    Home Page:
    Yes, it is the semi-transparent black.

    No microphonics at all. Further, the xlr plugs are short, which means they don't touch my neck or shoulders whenever I move my head around. That is a nit I pick on some other cables I have.
     
  8. KurtSvensson

    KurtSvensson Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2015
    Likes Received:
    188
    Trophy Points:
    43
    I have the same cable but with different sleeving. It's really free from mechanical noise and it's very flexible. I agree, great cables.
     
  9. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2017
    Likes Received:
    8,973
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Denver CO
    Home Page:
    One reason I didn't just build my own - I noticed that it is really rough trying to find good cable for the purpose of headphones without going into crazy pricing again. I've cut up Mogami and Cardas quad microphone cables before, but then you need to sleeve it to make it look good, which can add microphonics if you don't get some good paracord or other sleeving, it becomes a pain at the Y without some kind of splitter thing, they end up being less flexible, ... you get the idea.

    Plus I'm lazy, so I'd rather have someone else braid the cable and do the soldering. :cool:
     
  10. Pharmaboy

    Pharmaboy Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    May 3, 2018
    Likes Received:
    2,463
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Goshen, NY
    I googled "goat's sphincter" & up popped this thread. You gotta love the Internet.

    I own 4 HPs w/LCD/ZMF input jacks & have 2 high quality aftermarket cables. One of them is F.A.W.'s HPC Noir MkII, a very handsome, flexible, non-microphonic cable. It sounds better than stock cables. The differences are subtle but meaningful to me.

    But w/4 HPs & 2 cables, too much unplugging & plugging. So I'm getting interested in a 2.5M Claire HPC MkII cable. The fact that someone whose sonic judgement I trust started this thread doesn't hurt, either.
     
  11. Jalsar

    Jalsar Facebook Friend

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2018
    Likes Received:
    134
    Trophy Points:
    33
    Location:
    Florida
    Thats a good looking cable. Looking at my stock LCD2C cable and thinking why don't you look that good.
     
  12. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2017
    Likes Received:
    8,973
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Denver CO
    Home Page:
    Uhhh... I won't ask why you would Google goat sphincter.

    I still use that cable, and still recommend it. No apparent wear or tear. I kind of wish I put an extra foot of length on it, but that's my fault.
     
  13. brencho

    brencho Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 18, 2015
    Likes Received:
    7,978
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    LA
    Nice dude. I emailed with them for a while, huge delays between emails, ended up just giving up and never placed an order. Too bad as they look nicely made.
     
  14. Vent

    Vent Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2016
    Likes Received:
    296
    Trophy Points:
    63
    I ordered one and it was painless. It came in the mail after a few weeks. Certainly the best cable I've owned in terms of look, feel, flexibility, and lack of microphonics. Like @Elnrik I probably would have ordered an extra foot or so (I went with the 1.5m option).
     
  15. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2017
    Likes Received:
    3,026
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Rapallo, Italy
    That's kind of how it works sadly, I've been waiting on some cables for a while now.

    Website orders are usually very fast though.
     
  16. damaged-goods

    damaged-goods Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2017
    Likes Received:
    77
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Location:
    Europe
    I've bought 2 last year, a Claire mk2 and a Claire Hybrid mk2 for my HD600/650. Turnaround was for each orders was about 2 weeks and one was a black friday offer. I think that's great for custom made products. Build quality is fantastic, very comfortable and very little microphonics. The translucent black cables look absolute awesome with the Sens.
     
  17. sacredgates

    sacredgates Audio-Technica's high priest

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2015
    Likes Received:
    417
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Black Forest Germany
    Home Page:
    My experiences with Forza Audioworks have been very positive.
    Occasionally communication or delivery has been a bit slower as what I would rate perfect, but everything always worked out well.

    For my last purchase I was looking for a reasonably priced cable for my HD540 and I checked about every possible custom headphone cable manufacturer. Once again I ended up with Forza Audioworks because of their great quality/price relationship and excellent workmanship.

    The cables Forza Audiowork use seem to be of really fine quality if you check and compare specs; I especially like the copper litz cables where each strand is seperately insulated. Even though I have one of the hybrid cables, I now stick with the pure copper cables, as I think there are a lot of myths about the tonal influence of silver or hybrid cables.

    Around Black Friday Forza Audioworks usually has some excellent deals for a short period, often for their copper headphone cables.

    O.K. here some pics of my humble collection: from left to right:

    - Claire Hybrid HPC (I sent the ATH-W3000ANV headphone to Matthew for this custom cable modification)
    - Claire HPC Mk2 semi-transparent black on the venerable and quite amazing HD540
    - Noir HPC Mk2 (my favourite for heavier flagship headphones, like my beloved ZMF Auteur Blackwood)

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  18. TwoEars

    TwoEars Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,006
    Trophy Points:
    113
    @sacredgates "Humble". That's a top shelf collection, very classy combination of neutral headphones.
     
  19. HumanFly

    HumanFly Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2017
    Likes Received:
    93
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Location:
    Netherlands
    I got my Claire HPC mkII in the mail today. About a week between order and delivery, not bad at all!
    The cable is very nice, almost no microphonics from rubbing against fabrics etc. Only when you tap it or when the cable rubbs against itself will you hear some noises. It is really lightweight and flexible too. The build-quality looks very good but on day one it is hard to tell how good it really is. My old cable broke so I can`t really say if it sounds better, but considiring it`s price, I`m sure it does. I had to triple check to find the marking for left and right channel. Turns out that the right plug has a green dot/cog in the forzalogo. Left is all white.
     
  20. Vesa74

    Vesa74 New

    Joined:
    May 28, 2019
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    1
    Location:
    Finnland
    Hey

    First impressions of Claire HPC mk2 with Hifiman HE-400i. Open and slightly soft. Very natural sound. Frequency responce is almost neutral. Connected directly to Chord Mojo. Seems good! I can recommend this cable :)
     

Share This Page