Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Nov 7, 2016 12:56:26 GMT
I've been trying out a new cable on my hd600 today and for some reason, I AM getting a sound difference. My first feeling was that I must be imagining it but swapping back to stock made me feel that there is something odd with this cable. It seems to raise mid bass bloom slightly. The only reason that I noticed was that I was listening to a podcast that I'm used to hearing, and it felt too 'boomy'. I changed back to stock and the boominess reduced. My first thought was that the cable is wired out of phase. But wouldn't that cut bass? Then I wondered about some kind of impedance difference...... It's very slight but has me quite puzzled. The cable is just 1.2 silver plated and cheap. It's twisted tightly and is very thin. My stock is just the standard hd600 copper lead. Never heard that before. Both coming from an O2 amp. I only detect difference on direct comparison and it seems to be in the 'bloomy' area of the headphone which is highlighted when you listen to mens' speech. Imagination or could something else be causing this to happen? Maybe the fact that the wires are twisted together tightly? Could they be affecting each other? The effect is something like the feeling of having water in your ears with a resonance.
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jello
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Post by jello on Nov 7, 2016 13:16:18 GMT
I don't know if this applies to a higher impedance headphone so much but I found the Nighthawk sounded completely different when I swapped between the premium thick one and the cheaper looking thin one. The 'premium' cable sounded bassier, smoother and had more body to my ears so Frans decided to test them both. Although initially sceptical it became clear that the thin cable was what one might consider as being 'gimped' by a much higher resistance.
In reality the higher resistance didn't in any meaningful way change the FR curve except that at all frequencies the better cable measured 1dB louder. But that was enough to demonstrate to (or some may say dupe?) owners into thinking expensive cables sound better.
Now I didn't perceive any difference in terms of volume but the cables sounded nothing alike, so possibly you are hearing something similar? But perhaps it'd need to have a stupidly high resistance to manifest itself with the HD600 so could be something else. I'm sure Frans will be able to give a better appraisal.
btw here's what Frans had to say in summary of the AQ cables (skipped the rest as it was quite in depth):
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Nov 7, 2016 14:34:16 GMT
It has me puzzled Mark, because I don't normally hear anything going on via cables. I heard it by accident when listening to a familiar voice on a podcast.
The short cable is a lot thinner and it's wound. I wondered whether winding cables together might do something? On music, it might be perceived as better, with a slightly more fruity bass but to me, it's slightly 'off'. Kind of rubbery in the upper bass like I have water in my ears!!
I like the cable but I don't like the sound!! It was a cheapie so no big deal.
I hadn't realised that Frans had found something with those Nighthawk cables.
Actually, Im really surprised by it....
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on Nov 7, 2016 14:49:32 GMT
Most likely an out of phase thing. On a headphone with one driver out of phase the bass doesn't cancel. This only happens with speakers when you are right in between them.
With headphones it just sounds a bit 'weird' and voices appear to come from both sides, not well defined in the middle of the head. Tonal balance will be off slightly as well.
I had been listening for a while to a modified Philips (wires in the remote control which I wired incorrectly) and couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. It just didn't sound exactly right, just a little different. Not in a bad way either. Something in the voices seemed 'different'. Took me a while before it dawned on me.
A multimeter can be of help here.
Take the original cable and measure between the sleeve (the broad part) and see what pins on the cable are connected to the sleeve. Each side must have one pin connected to sleeve.
Compare to the other and see if the same pins are connected to the sleeve.
Silver cables cannot change the tonal balance. They conduct slightly better than copper but conduct all frequencies in the exact same way.
The AQ cables were definitely 'rigged' to produce a difference, even with AB comparisons it would be obvious. I reckon they made the copper cables much thinner to produce a higher resistance = less level = less 'full' on direct comparison.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Nov 7, 2016 15:52:45 GMT
Ah, that would make sense. Thanks Frans. I've never heard out of phase headphones before.... at least, I don't think I have. The sound is ok but something just seems odd, like water in your ears.
What a nuisance ..... you can't trust cable makers!!
Audioquest have an agenda and probably 'need' to try and prove that cables sound different I guess.
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