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GSP cable for LCD-2

Printed From: Graham Slee Hifi System Components
Category: Headphone Audio
Forum Name: Write A Review
Forum Description: Satisfied with your Graham Slee headphone amp? - share your experiences here
URL: https://www.hifisystemcomponents.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1943
Printed Date: 28 Mar 2024 at 11:14am
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Topic: GSP cable for LCD-2
Posted By: Fatmangolf
Subject: GSP cable for LCD-2
Date Posted: 31 Jul 2013 at 10:44pm
The back story is that Morris Minor (Bob) kindly loaned me a cable for his LCD-2's which John and Graham had custom made.

Frankly the cable is an excellent upgrade which I will be looking at in the Autumn. I used a number of tracks and compared to the stock cable and my DIY 5m cable. These were not blind tests as I would have tripped up when stepping back and forth from the sofa to the hi-fi...

My listening comments can be summarised as follows:

- I was stunned by the HF clarity. It is detailed without brightness. Cymbals, finger noises on strings, breathing are all audible if picked out, without being obtrusive. This made the HD Bach Harpsichord Concerto and REM's Out of Time come to life, and ripped CD's of Dislocated Boy and Killing in the Name were dynamic, instruments clear in the mix, and exciting to listen to.
- The bass is deeper so kick drums were tight thumps, double bass was present in the orchestra. The Massive Attack tracks I tried were awesome.
- The midrange of the LCD-2's seems to be slightly more detailed than with my cables, the phrasing of the backing vocals on the REM tracks could be easily picked out.
- I think the stereo image is a bit wider with the sense that tracks on the far left or right were well outside my head.

The overall impression is a musical and natural reproduction of the music. It is what the LCD-2's do, done even better.

Thanks to John and Graham for their R&D. Bob for lending me something he must be missing!


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Jon

Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC.



Replies:
Posted By: morris_minor
Date Posted: 01 Aug 2013 at 9:17am
Thanks for your thoughts on this cable Jon! They thankfully echo mine, and your conclusion "It is what the LCD-2's do, done even better" seems a perfect summing up. I'll post further comments when the cable's back with me in a few days, but in the meantime here's some technical info that Graham sent me, along with a picture of the GSP cable, and for comparison (visually) the stock ribbon cable.

Originally posted by Graham Slee Graham Slee wrote:

It's a tinned copper wire cable. It exhibits a similar capacitance to the Sennheiser cables. It's around 600pf. I don't believe these make the difference. It is more likely the insulation (as I keep preaching).

The inner insulation is polypropylene. The shield is mylar/aluminium foil, with the mylar touching the polypropylene and there is a tinned copper drain wire outside the shield. Overall jacket is PVC.

The drain wire is used as the "returns" (commons/0V).

What I found when I used to screen print (when I made printed circuits many years ago) is polypropylene would not print - it doesn't like stuff in contact with it. You have to oxidize it (flame torch it - a bit dangerous in a fume ridden screen print area) for anything to stick to it.

Therefore I'm just assuming (like I always do...) that wire and polypropylene extruded over it don't get on mutually and they are unstuck...

Other insulators stick to the wire (apart from Teflon which is PTFE).

As there is no such thing as an insulator - just poor conductors - therefore there is electromagnetic wave movement in insulation and if stuck to wire, the skin effect is stalled by a slower moving electromagnetic wave. If the insulation isn't stuck to the wire the skin effect works - the electromagnetic wave is allowed to propagate at higher speed.

The above is the way I understand it, but you may wish to read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_electricity - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_electricity
regarding electromagnetic waves.



http://audio-forum.gspaudio.co.uk/topic1938_post19783.html#19783 - Another picture on an earlier thread.

The LCD2 with the stock cable:




-------------
Bob

Majestic DAC/pre-amp
Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V
Solo ULDE, Novo, Lautus USB and digital, Libran balanced, CuSat50
2 x Proprius + Spatia/Spatia Links


Posted By: morris_minor
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2013 at 9:21am
Ok. Having got reacquainted with the GSP cable I find it hard to add to the excellent comments Jon made earlier. 

Detail, especially in highs and mids, is more apparent and the soundstage is wider and deeper. Bass remains fullsome but not overblown, and I thought it was slightly more controlled than the stock cable. This seems "boring" now in comparison to this offering from Graham and John.

I could go over the top and describe the listening experience with many albums, but I'll confine myself to two. The Florilegium LP of Vivaldi's Gloria in D (Christopher Hogwood) now had a stunning clarity (as opposed to just 'good') in both vocal and instrumental lines, and the acoustic now gave an almost holographic feeling to the music. World Circuit's Orchestra Baobab album 'Made in Dakar' exhibited all the exuberance present with the stock cable but added a discernable upping of the toe tapping quotient with improvements in dynamics, detail and depth.

I should think there's undoubted "synergy" going on here with the Solo ULDE, and in the case of the Vivaldi LP also the Reflex M and connecting CuSat50s.

This prototype cable is a lot less flexible than the standard cable but I didn't find this a problem. LCDs aren't a headphone for mobile use IMO, they're too big and heavy. A benefit though is that it doesn't get tangled and twisted like the stock cable.

I've no idea if Graham will add this cable to the growing range of GSP cables, or even if versions for other headphones (Sennheiser?) are possible. The Audeze 'phones use standard mini-XLRs so this simplified the connections.

I'll have to echo Jon's conclusion about this cable. It takes everything we like about the LCD2s and just makes it better.  

Thumbs Up Beer


-------------
Bob

Majestic DAC/pre-amp
Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V
Solo ULDE, Novo, Lautus USB and digital, Libran balanced, CuSat50
2 x Proprius + Spatia/Spatia Links


Posted By: suede
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2013 at 2:53pm
Any chance of having a HD250 replacement cable made at a reasonable cost? Smile
I bought an original replacement cable from Sennheiser but it didn't sound the same to me. The soundstage and dynamics got much more cramped and listening got dull in comparison and despite myself I tried to have it burn in by using it for a month or more but no luck. So now I use the old cable although it sometimes loses connection with the left driver if the cord gets pulled. I dread the day this becomes too bad and I have to return to the inferior new cable.
Perhaps there are more people on this very forum who'd be interested in the possible upgrade this might bring to already one of the greatest headphones not currently on the market. Tongue


Posted By: Graham Slee
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2013 at 4:53pm
OK, I'll try and find some plugs for them... Cry

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That none should be able to buy or sell without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps


Posted By: morris_minor
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2013 at 5:04pm
Senny owners: please form an orderly queue behind suede . . .  LOL

-------------
Bob

Majestic DAC/pre-amp
Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V
Solo ULDE, Novo, Lautus USB and digital, Libran balanced, CuSat50
2 x Proprius + Spatia/Spatia Links


Posted By: Drewan77
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2013 at 5:49pm
If HD250/650's share the same cable connector, then I'm in....Smile

My employers have been using 3D printing for a while now and it is definitely the future…send off your bespoke design and hey presto, a little while later a working model arrives. Mr Graham Slee is the first living, breathing iteration of this. Where else would anyone get such responsiveness? Highly impressive

 

Let’s just hope that when he receives his 60,000 service they don’t turn down the gripe-ometer, we all enjoy that part of the current version!




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Older than I once was, younger than I'll be
.............................
Andrew


Posted By: iamalexis
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2013 at 7:49pm
Graham, are you planning on making a GSP cable for the LCD2s? I'd be interested in trying it out...

Bob & Jon thanks for sharing this with us!


Posted By: morris_minor
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2013 at 8:10pm
Alexis - PM sent ...

-------------
Bob

Majestic DAC/pre-amp
Accession MC/Enigma, Accession MM, Reflex M, Elevator EXP, Era Gold V
Solo ULDE, Novo, Lautus USB and digital, Libran balanced, CuSat50
2 x Proprius + Spatia/Spatia Links


Posted By: Ash
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2013 at 8:41pm
I've already asked Graham about a GSP cable for the HD250. He has warned that it is a path that we probably would not want to go down... Geek

By the way, in my experience with the HD250 and HD600, their cable plugs are NOT exactly the same. From a distance, they look the same but they have very subtle differences... I remember trying to plug my HD600 cable into the HD250 and the plug tip did not quite fit properly into the socket (not as snug/secure fit as you'd hope...) The plug tip of the HD250 cable is slightly narrower allowing it to be pushed further up into the socket.


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We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.


Posted By: suede
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2013 at 8:58pm
The cable I bought was one that Sennheiser themselves claimed was for HD250 and it fit perfectly but alas sounded Thumbs Down


Posted By: Ash
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2013 at 9:04pm
That's odd Suede. The replacement cable that I bought for my very first HD250II was ordered from the Sennheiser spares website and I don't feel that it changed the sound presentation at all. The only difference between the cables was what I could see; the new cable had a silver coloured plug instead of gold coloured. I discarded the old cable as there seemed to be a fracture in the wiring which caused cut-outs.

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We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.



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