My first ‘love’ was the original Chord Hugo. It was amazing. It probably still is. I don’t own it anymore. I then owned the Hugo TT. A lovely bit of kit.
I then went for the whole MScaler/TT2 setup, complimented by a Mojo2/Poly combo for mobile use. They were great.
But this FiiO R7 confounds me. It’s relatively cheap, but it sounds so damn good! I don’t miss my (relatively expensive) Chord gear one little bit.
How the hell can something so ‘cheap’ sound so FOOKIN’ good…?
There is no doubt in my mind that my 2m length of Atlas Zeno 4-pin XLR to two 3.5mm plug cable sounds better than the corresponding 3m variant from Beyerdynamic.
The ‘problem’ is, it’s £530 vs £135. Worth it? It’s for you to decide…
OK. However good the Beyerdynamic cable is, the Atlas cable sounds more ‘open’ and transparent. The Beyerdynamic cable sounds almost ‘muffled’ and ‘dull’ in comparison.
This isn’t a blind-test. But I’m surprised about how much difference a cable can make. And the Atlas cable is the superior cable IMO.
Away from cables, I have a bigger (albeit ‘first-world’) problem.
I own a few pairs of cans: Beyerdynamic DT1770 PRO, Beyerdynamic T1.2, Beyerdynamic T5, HiFiMAN Sundara, HiFiMAN HE6se V2, Sennheiser HD800 & Sennheiser HD820’s.
The ‘problem’ is that, apart from the HD800’s (which constitute some sort of ephemeral presence), I’m not listening to any of my other cans, apart from the HiFiMAN Sundara’s & the HE6se’s. The HiFiMAN cans are (surprisingly) so bloody good.
There was a cheaper Mail option but knowing SA mail services I may see it Xmas 2024 if at all, our mail service is close to bankrupt . So courier is the only real option.
It’s not uncommon to get Xmas cards mailed from the UK arriving in May or June or simply not …
We had something recently from Amazon UK DHL it was about the same courier cost.
I have the same problem but on a lesser scale, this is my first new HiFi headphones in 10 years so my trusty HD800 will stay and complement the Arya’s
The rest are travel noise cancelling ones ,Sennheiser 585 (?) about 20 yrs old, Bose QC15, QC 25 the the Sony WH 1000 MX4 and more recently the WF earbuds for a very specific duty while I had to wear a neck collar.
The Sonys are still current and keepers, the Bose rarely get out of the cupboard
Getting rid is probably more trouble than it’s worth, who wants 10 yr+ wired headphones, may be best just to bin them
If you don’t see yourself wanting a bite of the other taste, why not make space for another planar magnetic wonder?
Like you, i have a pair of Sennheisers (HD800S) and a few Hifimans (Sundara, HE-560V2, HE-400i, Edt X v2) but still use my Denon/Fostex (Denon AH-D2000*2, Fostex TX-900) frequently. I also have two pair of Philips Fidelio X2, stupidly good for the money!
Which one gets most use? hmmmm… I think HD800S and EditionX v2 are the leaders, but then i have treated my Hifimans with a Nordost Heimdall 2 cable (useable for all Hifimans except Sundara )
All very nice, albeit incomplete, collections of cans. Time for you gentlemen to add some Focal and Dan Clark Audio headphones to your collections. For Focal start with the Clear MG and the Bathys. For DCA start with the Aeon 2 open back and Aeon 2 closed back. With both Focal and DCA there is plenty of room to grow.
I updated the cable on my HD800s due to the ergonomics and microphonics of the stock cable. It was too stiff and I could hear noise though the cable every time I moved (like a “twang” when the cable was touched). So hopefully the new cable would not cause you issue…
I also went balanced XLR for my Cavalli Liquid Gold. Went with a Norne Draug 3 cable.
Dan Clark is unknown to me, but i had Focal Utopias along with Hifiman HE1K a couple of years ago. The Utopias was splendid in some situations but they were never inviting and welcoming, so they were canned. The HE1K was lovely i most aspects, but still got least used, so they were sent off also.
I have had 4 stock cables over the years, the original one rubber outer perished within 3years , just outside the guarantee. Sennheiser replaced for free. The replacement lasted another 5 years but met the same fate.
The other 2 are still in use one balanced the other unbalanced
If you can, make your own with some decent cable and connectors.
All my headphones have 4-pin XLRs, except my Senn IEs which have a balanced 4.4 mm TRRRS for which I also have a 4-pin XLR adapter.
I made an extension cord from some decent Van Damme Studio Grade 2-pair cable. 10 metres of it and a couple of Neutrik connectors set me back about £50.
I had thought about it but my dexterity is not what it used to be , I have had 2 neck fusions over the last 20 years to try to sort out spinal cord restrictions , the last one only 6 months ago.
I can do most normal things but something so fussy as soldering I wouldn’t be confident with. Imagine struggling to button a shirt up , that’s how restricted my dexterity is .
I used to be a whizz in my youth , soldering components onto boards with ease but alas …
I have found a local pro audio company who will produce me a custom cable , I just need to specify the pin orientation on both ends and what cable (that could be the pitfall , getting the right cable)
Mobility and dexterity is something many of us take for granted.
As for specific cable recommendations, I’m probably the last person you’d want to ask!
I’d try asking them if there’s anything they’d particularly recommend from their inventory for your application. As a pro audio company, I expect that they’ll have a range of offerings with relatively benign characteristics which shouldn’t noticeably impact the sound signature of your headphones.
Relative to the 35 ohm impedance of your cans, a cable would need to have some lairy electrical properties to materially affect the sound.
We are lucky to see many of the brands discussed here, we get the big stuff like Yamaha, Denon , Cambridge Audio but when you get to some stuff. Eg Hi Fi Man has one agent here, Focal similar. Quad pulled out years back
)
