Comments on Profile Post by Lyander

I'm a cable not-disbeliever for now, but due to how atypical the headphones are (really low impedance with high sensitivity, anally designed cup and baffle) jury's still out on how it'll affect more normal cans until I can get ears on em.

$200 USB cables feeding a $120 DAC/amp though... no. Just. No.

I can hear a difference between Cu and Cu/Ag @Forza AudioWorks cables on the ZMFs but it's subtle.

The difference between Zach's stock cables and better ones is not - maybe because the stock ones are not OCC? Haven't bothered to figure that out, they're not very comfortable so I swap them out anyway.

Lyander, which cables did you try? The only high dollar cable I tried was a Cardas Cross on my HD650. Extremely subtle difference, but I could swear it is smoother. Damn hard to quantify. Super beefy build, though, so I kept it.

@SeanT no clue, I have no interest at all in getting new cables until the ones I have putz out. Looked like a custom job, lots of braiding.

@Taverius not yet tried any ZMFs (sad) but from how well they're made I'm thinking that yeah they might be sensitive to cables.

Shiz. Never thought I'd see the day I'd admit cables make a difference. Not even very subtle in my case.

I mean they do but most of it is on moving on from base-model copper. Once you're past that it's all pretty minor. The real reason to better headphone cables is durability, comfort and microphonics.

Never gave much thought to the idea that the stock cables were "bad", to be honest. Might demo some affordable others when life permits, but priority goes to other components haha. Also, it is still pretty encouraging that I actually disliked the sound from the third party cables XD

Well, at that level, as you found out, synergy is the name of the game.

Forgot to hit send whoops. Yeah the third party ones made things even more warmbutt in the lower mids, very thick sound that reminded me of AQ headphones. Mushy.

Preferences though, owner of the cable preferred the Klipsches with his. Shrug.

Agree that cables make a small difference in most cases... Different measurements and properties on cables imply it ... But spot on with $200 USB on $120 DAC analogy

@fp627 this was the iFi Mercury cable, which the people in-shop said was perfect for the Zen DAC. I... might just stick with whatever comes with the box if/when I get one TBH. Audio upgrades are a pretty low priority for now and I'm spending on repairs for... other audio gear.