Sennheiser PC37X randomly goes bad after disconnecting the cable ?
Greetings, Yesterday I was using my headset like normal with my macbook, just listening to music and on a call with people like usual, and the headset was perfectly fine. The stock wire that came with the headset is extremely long and yesterday it annoyed me very much that it kept getting tangled with itself, so I decided to see if the cable is replaceable. I pulled out the cable from the headset and saw the adapter, and looked online for a replacement. Upon plugging it back in, the audio sounded extremely muffled and washed out. Im not sure what I did wrong to make it mess up like that as I've always taken good care of it, ive had it for about 2 years and its always just been chilling on my desk, but anywho I thought the cable just went bad and ordered a replacement. The replacement came, and the issue is still persistant, so I am not sure what the issue is I've tried multiple different headsets and the issue is not with the port, and I also tried it with my windows laptop and...
Apr 23, 2024
Personally, I've done a lot of cable testing over the years on all sorts of low to high-priced gear, and here's what I can say with a fair bit of experience - depending on a number of factors, including material, gauge etc., every cable has it's own signature "sound", if you will, even if minimally audible. I've also seen situations where some cables sounded crappy with one set of gear, but amazing with other sets.
Ultimately, audio preferences are subjective, and everyone has their own. If you spend some time trying different gear combinations over a long period of time, I'm sure everyone can find a combination that they consider their pinnacle. One thing that's usually a constant, though, is that almost every decent entry-level aftermarket cable is an improvement over stock.
The "snake oil" comes into play with those who try to convince you that the most expensive, esoteric cables are the be all end all. At a certain price / performance point, diminishing returns kick in rapidly, and the difference between, say, a $1,000 cable and a $50,000 cable will be marginal vs. the jump from stock to a $200-$300 upgrade.
IMHO, the goal is to find a combination that you find most pleasing that fits your budget, and in the audio game, there's gear for every single budget out there. Forget what others say and take the time to test different gear combinations; who knows your listening preferences better than you do, after all. With a bit of patience and tinkering, you'll be surprised about the improvements you can make, even at entry-level price points. As a general guideline, for anyone who might be thinking about upgrades, a good ratio is max 10% of the cost of your gear on cables. Anymore than that and you're wasting your money.
Many cables have a "sound" grouped closely together, where differences are minimal and could be said to just be down to imagination, I'd call these "mid-fi" cables and for cost and flexibility reasons these are what manufacturers typically go for. It's also easy to establish that cables DO make an audible difference... the Philips X1 stock cable is unusually choked up and worse sounding than your average cable, while some other cables like Nordost and DanaCable make a surprisingly not-subtle improvement. Food for thought: a replacement stock cable is $194.55...
Everyone who says "snake oil" is like I used to be... I tried a Mogami star-quad silver microphone cable that was re-terminated for my AKG K712, and though it was silver and thicker than my stock cable I couldn't hear differences that I couldn't put down to imagination. It was a "side-grade," another decent mid-fi cable.
I can't promise this ZY cable isn't also a "side-grade" because I haven't heard it... I'd only buy this if I needed a different connector, wanted a different look, or needed a replacement. If it improved the sound, that would be a pleasant bonus.
I'd definitely rank this one as a winner at the drop price.