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Originally Posted by jdandy
Serge.......An enjoyable review of the Bryston BHA-1 and the Black Dragon balanced headphone cable.
I had a quite similar experience with my Sennheiser HD800 headphone and Sennheiser HDVA 600 dual mono Class A balanced headphone amplifier. When I initially received the amp and headphone I had only the stock unbalance Sennheiser cable, which by the way is a very clean silver plated oxygen free copper cable. It sounds very good. Since my Sennheiser HDVA 600 headphone amplifier has both balanced and unbalanced outputs, I ordered the Sennheiser CH800 balanced headphone cable for the HD800. The CH800 balanced cable provides two pairs of shielded silver plated, double twisted, oxygen-free copper leads that maintain a symmetrical signal flow to each channel. Like you, I experienced a noticeable performance gain with the balanced headphone cable, particularly with a wider and deeper sound stage presentation. I also sensed an elevated purity, especially in the female voice range. The CH800 balanced cable remains on my HD800 headphone. Another nice advantage of both of the Sennheiser headphone cables is their complete immunity to microphonic vibrations transferred up the cable to the ear cups from physically touching or moving the cables. I have had other headphone cables where this was a constant nuisance.
Thanks for the interesting review. I may have to take a closer look at the Moon Audio Black Dragon balanced headphone cable.
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Dan, I am not so sure I would necessarily recommend the Black Dragon to you for a few reasons.
1. If you were bothered by the microphonic vibrations from the cables rubbing on your clothes or physically moving around, the Black Dragon's jacket is made of a stiffer material than the soft Sennheiser or Focal stock cables for that matter. It is no problem for me as I usually listen while sitting down in front of my computer and I loop the cable to the side of my chair with enough free-play so they don't rub. but for you it may be depending on your listening habits.
2. If you already have a Balanced Cable (I did not) we both know the diminishing returns of such things as cables.
I think the money you would shell out for this upgrade may not necessarily meet your expectations. I am inclined to say the biggest difference in this equation is exploiting your headphone amplifier's topology to its fullest, not necessarily the voodoo magic of cables.