Comments on: Silver Widow 22 V2 OCC Silver Headphone Cable

By: Cedric

Cedric — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 23:50:27 +0000

Here a very quick review of the “Silver Widow 24”, from the perspective of a non-expert
audiophile. I might start by commenting that it took me more than a year of hesitation to
bit the bullet and order a new cable. I was scared to waste my limited budget and tricked
into buying snake oil which wouldn’t improve my listening experience.

Despite the consensus that copper cables would fit better with the Audeze LCD series,
I went for the silver widow from toxic-cable (I can’t praise enough Frank’s remarkable help
for buying the cable).

I am now experimenting the cable with my Audeze LCD-XC. The reason why I wanted to go
down the silver route is that (despite being a closed-back headphone)
the XC has a very decent soundstage, but felt it was sometimes under-performing
and could use some more refined treble, instrument separation,
and soundstage. All of them improved with the silver widow ! The bass surprisingly became also tighter,
which I didn’t expect, and the XC just more fun and more agile. The HD800 will still have the edge of
course for soundstage, but actually I quite like the combination of the more groovy sound of the XC and
now the added air, maybe closer now to a Audeze/HD hybrid sound.

Now I am aware of the old war regarding cables in HiFi, and I won’t comment too much on that.
I am myself an engineer (physics), and I couldn’t tell you how the electro-magnetic coherence
and phasing is affected by the cable design, but experiments always have the last word on the theory,
and A/B testing clearly showed a significant improvement over the standard cable.

By: sludgeswan

sludgeswan — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 12:01:56 +0000

For quite some time now I am using a Silver Widow 24 for my Audeze LCD-2, and while I haven’t tried many other cables with these headphones, what I can say for sure is that the Silver Widow significantly improves the sound across the whole frequency band when compared with the standard cable. Especially the bass, a well-known core strength of the LCD-2, becomes more nuanced, punchy, and clear. The sweetness of the mids gets highlighted a bit more as well, if you ask me, and the highs extend upwards just a bit more, without becoming sibilant. Due to a longer-than-expected waiting time for my cable, Frank kindly offered me a great price for an upgrade from the Silver Poison, which I initially wanted to order, to the Silver Widow, and I don’t regret accepting his offer. Contact has always been nice and friendly, and the craftsmanship of the cable is unrivalled. Elsewhere one would have to pay a lot more for the same standard. All in all, definitely recommended!

By: leopoldgreen

leopoldgreen — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 19:36:49 +0000

This is a review for the ‘cheaper’ Silver Widow 24 but I expect all of what I say will be magnified by the 22. I ordered the cable to go between my LCD-X and my (not well known Korean DAP) Plenue S and compared with the cable Audeze provide (which I reckon is not bad at all) the sound was clearer as if it had been congested (especially in lower mids and upper bass – sorry if wrong terms) and the treble so much easier and natural. I know some folks say cables make no difference and I do think there are somethings in ‘hi-fi’ which are not the easiest to prove but getting back to cables well if you want to tell if there is a difference go back to the stock cable, then back to the custom one as many times as you like – the change isn’t subjective or subtle! I then asked Frank if he could re-terminate the cable for balanced connection and that was another ‘step change’ as the soundstage markedly widened – no really!

Since buying this I have been back to buy a second cable from Frank for my se846 IEMs – another winner!

Frank is great to deal with and if you read the thread (600+ pages of it) on Head-Fi you will hear from hundreds of satisfied customers. You can also read a longer version of this as well as see a couple of photographs of my two Toxic Cables…

http://www.head-fi.org/t/609155/toxic-cables-impressions-and-discussion-thread/8820#post_12696230

By: budtsui

budtsui — Sat, 03 Sep 2016 22:37:24 +0000

One of the most beautiful cable I’ve owned, and I’ve owned quite a few (Toxic cables and other manufacturers). Usual top notch build quality from Toxic cables. If I had to give the sound one word… clean. It will make a difference, you will hear a difference. A lot of people say silver makes treble sparkly? I disagree, well unless of course your headphone/earphone is of that signature. So don’t be afraid, get ready for a “clean” experience in sound 😉

By: pauloacoelho

pauloacoelho — Sat, 03 Sep 2016 13:00:09 +0000

http://www.head-fi.org/t/609155/toxic-cables-impressions-and-discussion-thread/8160#post_11624037