I've been using IEMs for more than 20 years and when I clicked on this video I expected to be bombarded with terms like "emotion" and "explosiveness"... genuinely positively surprised to agree with what was said!
He not once mentions "sound" in his other videos so, it wasn't so surprising. He's on the "Sane" boat. There are people who unironically try to convince others how a 100-500-1500$ cable is "worth it" and your "IEMs sound change drastically". If i had to guess, they just don't want to feel alone on the Dumb Island. Let alone that for "100-500-1500$" you can actually change the sound of your IEM by...well, buying another one that suits you better.
Your channel is refreshing - no nonsense, straight to the point with a fair assessment of what you review. As far as expensive cables go, I haven’t paid more than $80 on an IEM cable and nd it has to be honest, it’s an aesthetic thing - thickness, core count, and color. And it has to be relatively relaxed and untangly. That’s it.
@@IEMCableReviews i had to look back to check but it’s the Thieaudio Smart cable v2. It’s wrapped in cloth with three different plugs and it’s $89. I really like it. I bought it a couple years ago to go with my Thieaudio Legacy 4 but I’ve used it with other IEMs. Honestly it was an impulse buy but I just thought it looked cool at the time.
This is exactly why I subscribed to you. It felt like a no bullshit channel. And I exactly need an IEM cable channel because the cable market is so full of crap. You buy cheap, you likely get shit. You buy expensive and you likely get shit too but wrapped in snake oil. I hope to find that great quality, not too expensive and perfectly aesthetic cable some day.
Thank you for your take on about cable on the beginning of this video, I strongly agree with you. That being said, I'm currently on the lookout for a IEM cable with memory wire, because way back when I used to have a (cheap) custom made cable with memory wire and, although it was thin and flimsy, it was also the most comfortable cable that I've ever owned up to this point. Sadly now the cable has been long dead and I can't get a replacement because the store that I purchased it from is no longer in business. I really wish cable with memory wire is more popular on the market. I'm subscribing to you in the hope that you find one with a more reasonable price tag. Please do share with us know if you do. Kudos, nice review, and keep up the good work. 👍
I like the idea of the memory wire as well, this cable may be worth spending the extra money on if you know you need the memory wire. Although it’s not cheap, it’s not a terrible value either. Thanks for the sub, if I come across another affordable memory wire cable I’ll try to review it for sure.
I recently got my bluecat nicehck from aliexpress for less than $8! Then I spend a little more money cause I wanted a cable with mic and controls so I got xinhs 8 core 5n silver. Got it for $23 on sale which is pretty much my upper limit for cables (now). Hope you can make a review on more cables with mics and compare them.
Seems like the cable prices have been dropping or have been on sale recently. Good job finding deals on good cables! I think I’m doing the Zombur with mic next, keep an eye out for that one in the next week or two.
Based intro. Cables are for aesthetics, yet some try to sell snake oil. Subscribed after the very first video of yours i watched, no regrets, no bullsh%t, no snake oil. Just a calming voice, nice background music and a quality review.
We do iem monitoring for concert and film recording. We have about 200 sets in the budget case alone. Every single stock cable was replaced by the Tripowin Zonie cables. For live performance or film studio, a cable Must be comfortable. The Zonie is Very comfortable. It comes in six colors, 3.5 or 4.4 , and in .78 2pin , qdc, or mmx. We have Never had even one cable go bad on us, nor have any artist or musician ever complained about the Zonie cables. We carry all the iems in stage cases, so we built a custom case for the cables; what makes it different is its cylindrical and the cables are all mounted inside lengthwise. We Never roll up our cables; no memory retention or entangled cables. Just open up, pick the color and terminations, and its immediately ready for use. I highly recommend the Zonie cable.
So glad you said this. There are way too many clowns (I'm looking at you Wavetheory) on RUclips that believe cables change the sound. Or burn in some other BS. Great review. The best feature is the bending ear hooks.
Just a quick correction in your video regarding polarity. In the 2 pin standard, the Positive Polarity Jack is actually Rearward, away from the nozzle, and the ground is the front facing pin. I would also not rely on the painted dot to determine polarity, as it has been my experience that not a single cable manufacturer adheres to any standard on where they put the dot. For a point of reference, and this is where a LOT of confusion comes from, the QDC style connecter, as defined by QDC...Does use a Positive Pin Forward design. Which is opposite of standard 2 pin. What gets complicated, is that KZ, and nearly every other manufacturer, that uses a QDC style connector, use the Standard 2 Pin Layout for their QDC/Recessed connector pin outs, with the Positive Terminal Rear Ward. And what's supremely dumb, is that on Tripowins Own IEM's that use a Recessed QDC Style connector, they use the 2 Pin standard for pin outs. Yet, if you buy a Tripowin Zonie Cable...their QDC Connectors follows the QDC Standard of inverted polarity. Sadly, the only way to test any of this is to Continuity Test all of your cables. Which is exactly what I do now. And return any that are out of phase. Sadly, I have found 2 pins that are out of phase as well. So it is never a guarantee that the cable is made right...hence the importance of a Multi Meter to Continuity test all the cables. Not trying to self promote here, but i did make a video on my channel about this issue, because no one in the IEM community seems recognize this.
I watched your video, thanks for sharing and for your thoughts. I touch on polarity more in this video than my other reviews simply because this cable has bendable earhooks, and it would be possible to upset the relative phase on one side by bending one earhook in an opposite direction, which would cause problems. I am aware that there isn’t a standard for absolute polarity on 2-pin IEMs and cables, but I do not ascribe to the theory that it matters for IEMs, as long as the relative phase is ok. I have tested with a multimeter and found similar results as you have, but I believe that as long as the relative phase is ok (i.e. both sides inverted, or both sides not inverted), after considering the research I’ve looked at, and my personal testing, I count the cable as “phase ok” and move on. I have two main reasons for this: 1. Sound waves coming from IEMs don’t mix in the air, so that cancellation between the two channels cannot occur. 2. In practice, unless you claim to have superhuman ears, or use a special audio file that is designed to highlight the difference when flipping the polarity while remaining in phase, you are not going to be able to notice any meaningful difference when listening to recorded music on an IEM. I appreciate the conversation, and I’m not trying to shoot you down, I really do thank you for the comment! But, to anyone else who may be reading, I would counter that as long as both sides are relatively in phase, I don’t buy that flipping the polarity matters for IEMs.
@@IEMCableReviews no offense taken, I appreciate the discussion. For me, I am sensitive to polarity inversion. Particularly on larger sharp bass hits, like a kick drum or taiko drum with high energy and a short decay, the initial attack feels very off. I can't describe it in practical or technical sense of a sound type, other than to say that it comes off as disorienting, and my brain finds it to be unpleasant. I have also noticed that on some stacked driver configuration IEM's, like the KZ Caster Harmon, that inverted polarity causes some weird phase delay issues that come off as sounding like bad ANC on certain harmonics. In fact, it was plugging the very Zonie QDC cable shown in my video into the Castor, that prompted me to grab my multimeter. I have also noticed some weird issues with some cross-over networks with inverted polarity. And occasionally some strange phasing that mucks with well.understood soind stage. I will say, this is primarily only an issue with DD's and some Planars. You can invert the polarity all day long on a BA, and it's unlikely you would even be able to tell one side is out of phase. Likewise, on a hybrid, it's going to be hard to really notice the DD out of phase, because most of your detail references come from the BA. Strangely enough, Tone Deaf Monk and Jaytis also claim to be somewhat polarity sensitive, and they also had a general dislike for the EW300's sound signature, like me. So read into that, what you will. We are CLEARLY in a minority. At the end of the day, sound is incredibly subjective at the best of times, and IEM's turn that subjectivity up to 11. As ear canal width, shape, length, taper, insertion depth, tip selection, nozzle angle, etc. etc. all lead to altering the sound signature in some meaningful way, for better or worse. It's part of what makes this hobby fun, but also what can make it frustrating when some people don't want to see things from someone else's perspective, and lived experience. Which is why conversions like these, are so important. Again, no harm no foul, just more data points for the archive. 🧠 Cheers!
I’ve reviewed the Moondrop Free DSP which is pretty good if you must have USB-C. Or you can get the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm for $9 and use it with whatever cable you want. The DAC in the Apple adapter is typically better than most USB-C cables.
@@IEMCableReviews i actually have both those options😭 my freedsp seems to be making my music distort and have weird high pitched noises, i also have the apple dac cable. It works fine but i need something more convenient as i usually carry my iems with me in uni. So if theres any other options like the lyre mini (the usb c dac is bought separately) please let me know!
@@saqivmalik-pf6kr Maybe you should look into Hakugei They have some cheap cables that has type C end and is modular,from what I know their type C end has a cheap dac.
I've seen IEM cables that are over £5000 which seems mental for a cable but it's not my money so hey-ho. I did look at this cable but think I'm going to go with the HAKUGEI Healer which is as high as I'll go for a really good looking cable, I don't really hear any difference in cables but I like how they look so I'll go up to £70-£80 but no more.
I've been using IEMs for more than 20 years and when I clicked on this video I expected to be bombarded with terms like "emotion" and "explosiveness"... genuinely positively surprised to agree with what was said!
He not once mentions "sound" in his other videos so, it wasn't so surprising. He's on the "Sane" boat. There are people who unironically try to convince others how a 100-500-1500$ cable is "worth it" and your "IEMs sound change drastically". If i had to guess, they just don't want to feel alone on the Dumb Island. Let alone that for "100-500-1500$" you can actually change the sound of your IEM by...well, buying another one that suits you better.
Your channel is refreshing - no nonsense, straight to the point with a fair assessment of what you review. As far as expensive cables go, I haven’t paid more than $80 on an IEM cable and nd it has to be honest, it’s an aesthetic thing - thickness, core count, and color. And it has to be relatively relaxed and untangly. That’s it.
What was the cable you got for $80? Did you end up liking it?
@@IEMCableReviews i had to look back to check but it’s the Thieaudio Smart cable v2. It’s wrapped in cloth with three different plugs and it’s $89. I really like it. I bought it a couple years ago to go with my Thieaudio Legacy 4 but I’ve used it with other IEMs. Honestly it was an impulse buy but I just thought it looked cool at the time.
I think that cable looks amazing, especially the hardware. I never pulled the trigger though because it looked like the 2 pin was too shallow.
Wait is that the brown one or the white one?
@@IEMCableReviews brown.
Really appreciate your channel and reviews 👍
Thanks!
This is exactly why I subscribed to you. It felt like a no bullshit channel.
And I exactly need an IEM cable channel because the cable market is so full of crap.
You buy cheap, you likely get shit. You buy expensive and you likely get shit too but wrapped in snake oil.
I hope to find that great quality, not too expensive and perfectly aesthetic cable some day.
That’s the goal.
Thank you for your take on about cable on the beginning of this video, I strongly agree with you. That being said, I'm currently on the lookout for a IEM cable with memory wire, because way back when I used to have a (cheap) custom made cable with memory wire and, although it was thin and flimsy, it was also the most comfortable cable that I've ever owned up to this point. Sadly now the cable has been long dead and I can't get a replacement because the store that I purchased it from is no longer in business. I really wish cable with memory wire is more popular on the market.
I'm subscribing to you in the hope that you find one with a more reasonable price tag. Please do share with us know if you do. Kudos, nice review, and keep up the good work. 👍
I like the idea of the memory wire as well, this cable may be worth spending the extra money on if you know you need the memory wire. Although it’s not cheap, it’s not a terrible value either. Thanks for the sub, if I come across another affordable memory wire cable I’ll try to review it for sure.
I recently got my bluecat nicehck from aliexpress for less than $8! Then I spend a little more money cause I wanted a cable with mic and controls so I got xinhs 8 core 5n silver. Got it for $23 on sale which is pretty much my upper limit for cables (now). Hope you can make a review on more cables with mics and compare them.
Seems like the cable prices have been dropping or have been on sale recently. Good job finding deals on good cables! I think I’m doing the Zombur with mic next, keep an eye out for that one in the next week or two.
Based intro. Cables are for aesthetics, yet some try to sell snake oil.
Subscribed after the very first video of yours i watched, no regrets, no bullsh%t, no snake oil. Just a calming voice, nice background music and a quality review.
Thanks for the support!
We do iem monitoring for concert and film recording. We have about 200 sets in the budget case alone. Every single stock cable was replaced by the Tripowin Zonie cables. For live performance or film studio, a cable Must be comfortable. The Zonie is Very comfortable.
It comes in six colors, 3.5 or 4.4 ,
and in .78 2pin , qdc, or mmx.
We have Never had even one cable go bad on us, nor have any artist or musician ever complained about the Zonie cables.
We carry all the iems in stage cases, so we built a custom case for the cables; what makes it different is its cylindrical and the cables are all mounted inside lengthwise. We Never roll up our cables; no memory retention or entangled cables. Just open up, pick the color and terminations, and its immediately ready for use.
I highly recommend the Zonie cable.
So glad you said this. There are way too many clowns (I'm looking at you Wavetheory) on RUclips that believe cables change the sound. Or burn in some other BS. Great review. The best feature is the bending ear hooks.
Maybe I’m doing it wrong, should I be burning in IEM cables before I review them? 🤣
Appreciate your take and honesty, couldn't agree more. Far as I'm concerned, the Tripowin Zonie is more than enough for a cable upgrade.
If it works, it works 🙂
@@IEMCableReviews exactly
Old kz stock cable have that kind of memory wire
Just a quick correction in your video regarding polarity. In the 2 pin standard, the Positive Polarity Jack is actually Rearward, away from the nozzle, and the ground is the front facing pin.
I would also not rely on the painted dot to determine polarity, as it has been my experience that not a single cable manufacturer adheres to any standard on where they put the dot.
For a point of reference, and this is where a LOT of confusion comes from, the QDC style connecter, as defined by QDC...Does use a Positive Pin Forward design. Which is opposite of standard 2 pin.
What gets complicated, is that KZ, and nearly every other manufacturer, that uses a QDC style connector, use the Standard 2 Pin Layout for their QDC/Recessed connector pin outs, with the Positive Terminal Rear Ward.
And what's supremely dumb, is that on Tripowins Own IEM's that use a Recessed QDC Style connector, they use the 2 Pin standard for pin outs. Yet, if you buy a Tripowin Zonie Cable...their QDC Connectors follows the QDC Standard of inverted polarity.
Sadly, the only way to test any of this is to Continuity Test all of your cables. Which is exactly what I do now. And return any that are out of phase. Sadly, I have found 2 pins that are out of phase as well. So it is never a guarantee that the cable is made right...hence the importance of a Multi Meter to Continuity test all the cables.
Not trying to self promote here, but i did make a video on my channel about this issue, because no one in the IEM community seems recognize this.
I watched your video, thanks for sharing and for your thoughts. I touch on polarity more in this video than my other reviews simply because this cable has bendable earhooks, and it would be possible to upset the relative phase on one side by bending one earhook in an opposite direction, which would cause problems. I am aware that there isn’t a standard for absolute polarity on 2-pin IEMs and cables, but I do not ascribe to the theory that it matters for IEMs, as long as the relative phase is ok. I have tested with a multimeter and found similar results as you have, but I believe that as long as the relative phase is ok (i.e. both sides inverted, or both sides not inverted), after considering the research I’ve looked at, and my personal testing, I count the cable as “phase ok” and move on.
I have two main reasons for this:
1. Sound waves coming from IEMs don’t mix in the air, so that cancellation between the two channels cannot occur.
2. In practice, unless you claim to have superhuman ears, or use a special audio file that is designed to highlight the difference when flipping the polarity while remaining in phase, you are not going to be able to notice any meaningful difference when listening to recorded music on an IEM.
I appreciate the conversation, and I’m not trying to shoot you down, I really do thank you for the comment! But, to anyone else who may be reading, I would counter that as long as both sides are relatively in phase, I don’t buy that flipping the polarity matters for IEMs.
@@IEMCableReviews no offense taken, I appreciate the discussion.
For me, I am sensitive to polarity inversion. Particularly on larger sharp bass hits, like a kick drum or taiko drum with high energy and a short decay, the initial attack feels very off. I can't describe it in practical or technical sense of a sound type, other than to say that it comes off as disorienting, and my brain finds it to be unpleasant.
I have also noticed that on some stacked driver configuration IEM's, like the KZ Caster Harmon, that inverted polarity causes some weird phase delay issues that come off as sounding like bad ANC on certain harmonics. In fact, it was plugging the very Zonie QDC cable shown in my video into the Castor, that prompted me to grab my multimeter.
I have also noticed some weird issues with some cross-over networks with inverted polarity. And occasionally some strange phasing that mucks with well.understood soind stage.
I will say, this is primarily only an issue with DD's and some Planars. You can invert the polarity all day long on a BA, and it's unlikely you would even be able to tell one side is out of phase. Likewise, on a hybrid, it's going to be hard to really notice the DD out of phase, because most of your detail references come from the BA.
Strangely enough, Tone Deaf Monk and Jaytis also claim to be somewhat polarity sensitive, and they also had a general dislike for the EW300's sound signature, like me. So read into that, what you will. We are CLEARLY in a minority.
At the end of the day, sound is incredibly subjective at the best of times, and IEM's turn that subjectivity up to 11. As ear canal width, shape, length, taper, insertion depth, tip selection, nozzle angle, etc. etc. all lead to altering the sound signature in some meaningful way, for better or worse. It's part of what makes this hobby fun, but also what can make it frustrating when some people don't want to see things from someone else's perspective, and lived experience. Which is why conversions like these, are so important.
Again, no harm no foul, just more data points for the archive. 🧠
Cheers!
Cheers!
NiceHCK cable or Tripowin Zonie?
If you don’t have a Zonie yet, just get one it’s always good. Which NiceHCK are you looking at?
@@IEMCableReviews Sorry for not specifying, it would be the FirstTouch model, I would like to know which one is more worth investing in.
@@SantLovell The Zonie is the safer bet. I like the FirstTouch, but you may not like the material or the microphonics.
@@IEMCableReviews thanks
Are there any modular or normal cables that have usb c? Below maybe 50 dollars. Or a list of some cables that are worth buying with usb c please.
I’ve reviewed the Moondrop Free DSP which is pretty good if you must have USB-C. Or you can get the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm for $9 and use it with whatever cable you want. The DAC in the Apple adapter is typically better than most USB-C cables.
@@IEMCableReviews i actually have both those options😭 my freedsp seems to be making my music distort and have weird high pitched noises, i also have the apple dac cable. It works fine but i need something more convenient as i usually carry my iems with me in uni. So if theres any other options like the lyre mini (the usb c dac is bought separately) please let me know!
I don’t have any other USB-C cables to recommend, I’ll keep an eye out for any that look promising.
@@saqivmalik-pf6kr
Maybe you should look into Hakugei
They have some cheap cables that has type C end and is modular,from what I know their type C end has a cheap dac.
I've seen IEM cables that are over £5000 which seems mental for a cable but it's not my money so hey-ho. I did look at this cable but think I'm going to go with the HAKUGEI Healer which is as high as I'll go for a really good looking cable, I don't really hear any difference in cables but I like how they look so I'll go up to £70-£80 but no more.
The Healer is a pretty cable.
Yes Cables is only for comfort and aesthetics nothing more
Agreed.