Headphone Cables

I've been buying inexpensive tripowin gran via cables for Senns and focals lately. $39 recently for a 1.5m cable. I think they sound better than my audiophile ninjas and periapts. I still want Forza cables though lol

 

Most of the budget stuff is Mogami or Canare microphone cables with various levels of dress up especially if their marketing is PRO or Japanese copper. At that level, the real decision will be aesthetics and after sales support. Stuff priced similarly but braided and blingy will be equivalent to the Aliexpress roulette. I don't have a recommended maker but I like as much transparency from them, especially at the budget end.

I will forever recommend avoiding hard techflex or similiar as a covering unless you drag your cables over sharp edges routinely. Anything that has hard techflex and heatshrink all the way up to the headphones is going to be stiff and rough to handle compared to stuff like nylon multifilament or paracord or just naked cables with a little bit of heatshrink to keep things tidy.

 

@crenca I have a BJC HF cable that you can have for free. You would need to just pay shipping. It's 4-pin balanced on the amp side and 3.5mm(s) on the HF side. Let me know if you are interested.

I'll let you know upfront that it didn't knock my socks off. Sounded harsh, poor micro and macrodynamics, and was rather stiff. After my foray into inexpensive HF cables (also tried an Audiophile Ninja cable that was less than impressive sonically and actually had an intermittent channel dropout), I only now go with Norne or Forza HF cables, if needed. I say if needed b/c the stock cables that came with my VO are surprisingly good.

Bill

 

Thanks for thinking of me @roughroad! I would take you up if I had a need for a 3.5mm cable terminated on the HF side but I don't at this time.

I'm actually with you, @Josh Schor , and others in that I tend to go with at least Forza level (I like their TOTL silver/copper hybrid) for my Utopia, Atrium, etc. out of my desktop rig (Yggdrasil, DNA, etc.). However even with these HP's I find lessor cables fine when connected to DAP's (usually when I'm listening in bed reading). It might be heretical to some, but I don't find HD6xx cans (e.g. I have a JARHD650) really scale with better cables so Ninja/etc. is what I use with them normally....

 

Agreed, I really like cables that have a good about of flex / no memory. I do find the Forza cables to be pretty stiff. At least the ones I've had.

 

Custom Cans makes cables that are @atomicbob approved (I'll try to find the link to his post on them). I use them on my JAR600b and on my Auteur OG. They are very supple, no microphonics

I have a Forza Claire on my LCD-x (hoping to grow up and be an RD-x someday) and I don't feel like I'm missing anything with the less expensive Custom Cans cables (although I can't directly compare on the same headphone).h

-----edit------
just searched for @atomicbob 's post and can't find it... was at least a few years ago and may have gotten lost with the hacker (may have been in his original system synergy thread).

 

@ColdsnapBry I have to disagree with you about the Forza cables being stiff. I've owned many of their cables and they have all been supple. Mine have been all copper models.

 

Which one? I got the Copper Series IEM Mk2 and it was a bit stiff.

 

I used the Claire HPC Mk2 in various iterations for different headphones.

 

I'll give a mention to fogcityaudio where I've bought a few cables from in the past (offer Mogami and Cardas).

And currently just recently bought cables from Arctic Cables which also have excellent quality and service.

I still hold Norne and Forza as my benchmark for top quality cables and service. I think Arctic is in that tier for me as well.

 

I recently made a few cables using Mogami and Belden
As well as using different connectors.

my goal was not comfort of the cable. How flexible it is etc.

I wanted to see if there were differences in sound

I won’t bore you with the details and just give the lowdown and see if anyone has anything to say.

These were for my Beyerdynamic 1990 pros

For whatever reason I much prefer tinned cable from OFC or bare copper.
For whatever reason connectors make a difference.
I prefer switchcraft 3 pin mini XLR connectors and Amphenol. The switchcraft aren’t robust but have copper that is silver plated and they have a lot of detail. Maybe a bit sharp sounding at times. The Amphenol are the most balanced and not as ‘ dull’ as Neutrik , they are also very robust.

what is odd is that I got super thick Belden 1696a cable ( 22awg) with HDPE insulation. My second favorite is Belden 1508a 24 AWG. Mogami was a bit meh to me. Sounds good, but the Belden has more punch and just a bigger sound.
Back to the odd thing about the Belden 1696a. I don’t know why but this cable had the biggest difference in that it has an enhanced soundstage, where things image better and you can tell more space around instruments. The soundstage also feels deeper and like you moved back a few rows. Not too much, but a nicer presentation. It’s easier to tell with complex music like Classical where a lot of things are going on. Is it because it has a very fast velocity of propagation?
I don’t know.
I liked this cable the most with AECO 1/4” jacks and Amphenol and Switchcraft mini XLR

https://www.belden.com/products/cable/audio-cable/digital-audio-cable/1696a

Neutrik jacks sound good as well.

the oddest were the furutech jacks. Rhodium plated copper. Those had the most distinct sound of anything. For the rest I mentioned above you did have to concentrate a bit to tell differences. But the Furutech 1/4” jacks sounded very round and smooth. I didn’t like them much. Just a very different sound and I don’t know why.

Im one for science, and love measurements, but yeah cables and connectors change the sound a bit.

All comparisons were made with the same type of wire and cable lengths btw

well that’s all I have to say about that.