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Found an interesting way to compare IC cables...

Hi Agoner's,

I found an interesting way to compare IC's that immediately and vividly shows up the difference between different cables.

I was listening to my new pair of Sennheiser HD-580's and thought the sound was "veiled over", so did a quick switch of IC cables and everything immediately openned up. So much for the award winning name brand cables versus the no-name brand :)

Caveat: I realize this does not highlight the exact effects of the different interactions between equipment!

Any thoughts on this as a valid test?
joshcloud9
bluenose
387 posts
 
It is hard to guess how IC's react with the equipment. A friend of mine uses siltech gen3 ic's. He has a single-ended[Bruce Armstrong non-pariel preamp]. Magic. He tried them on my pre[also single-ended]. More magic....the best I every heard from just changing ics. I asked him why. He believes siltech really jells with single-ended designs. Why? I don't know why but it's all synergy. Your choice may be just what you need. Wires can drive a person to drink.
subaruguru
1,376 posts
 
Gotta agree with Agonanon. I find that the spectral tilt of my Senn HD600 to be midway between my Spendor HT setup and my Parsifal Encore ref 2 ch setup, which at first made me wonder which was correct. It's simply that the Spendors are more forgiving than the Parsifals, so using the SPM XLRs on the HT would be a waste, whereas in the ref system, along with the extension of the other components, they help provide revelatory musical experiences every time.
I should think that the HOT-topped Stax phones would help differentiate ICs, pre's and CDPs even better...although with a much higher fatigue-factor, eh?
crazy4blues
243 posts
 
Here's a thought: Since your are using headphones, why not swap out only ONE of the pair of IC's you're comparing; that is, swap out brand a's red wire for band b's red wire while leaving brand a's black wire in place. I don't know what it might tell you, but it's worth at least trying, no?
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