By: markreed1974

markreed1974 — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 09:53:57 +0000

Ok, I can leave this to someone who can add more detail and more eloquent then myself.
Short version, are these cables worth buying, YES.
So you just spent a good bit of money on a player/dac/amp, and because you are here, you must also have spent a good bit of money on some new headphones, but like when build a high end PC, the setup is as only as good as its weakest link.
Don’t get me wrong, many stock cables sound great, but most companies want max profit, no need to really push the boat out on high end cables, so even though it all sounds good, there is room for more improvement, one area is cables such as these.
A few years ago I begrudgingly paid for a so called better cable for some IEM headphones, I did wonder if I would just think/tell myself they were better to justify the cost, but when I noticed better separation and detail, I was converted.
Not long ago I bought some LCD-2f headphones, everything sounding great (small-ish ST but that’s known for these) then I saw many cables out there and people filling forums, what different cables could add.
I saw Toxic Cables/Frank, get lots of praise, may take a bit of time, but that’s due to him doing it all, also swamped with orders, and like the saying, good things come to those who wait.
I asked Frank for a cable recommendation (best for setup) to which he said the Silver Widow, I emailed the poor man so many questions, he replied to all when he could (think he works 23hrs a day lol) very helpful.
Once the cable arrived, I did wonder again, will the fact there is a cost in this, will make me imagine added quality, the whole cable burn in thing, will it only show after many hours of use.
Well the cable came, excellent build quality, shocked is not the word when it came to sound, as soon as I swapped cables there was a clear improvement, detail, separation, and even soundstage, all went up a notch, had the biggest smile on my face.
Its very much like the first time you move from good headphones to high end, at times its better, maybe not night and day difference to start with, but you use the high end ones and then go back to others, that’s when its like “oh god no, cannot use these anymore”
Cannot rate my purchase enough, the build, the personal service and advise, and of course the sound, really is a case of doing the new headphones a service by treating them to a Toxic cable.

By: Cedric

Cedric — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 00:20:51 +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.

Cedric

Comments on: Silver Widow 24 V2 OCC Silver Headphone Cable

By: markreed1974

By: Cedric