# Kimber Kable Axios Headphone Cable



## zappazappazappa

Hi,
      has anyone tried this new and very expensive headphone cable yet? If so what are your impressions with regard to sound quality and physical build? Any opinions on performance/value compared to other headphone cables? I'm particularly interested in its performance with Sennheiser HD800's in both single ended and balanced mode. I look forward to reading your posts.


----------



## spiderking31

hi. I am the proud owner of an Axios cable, and can tell you that this cable has severely upped the performance of my system! I have the Bifrost Über, and I'm so amazed with the performance output, that I don't have a real desire to upgrade to the MultiBit option with my DAC. It's that incredible! IMHO?? If you have the cash to purchase one of these beautiful hand made cables, by all means. Please do! You will not regret the purchase. You will thank me, and thank yourself my friend  look at my profile to see my entire list of equipment I'm using. And you won't believe the claims I'm making. Especially with my Sennheiser HD650's!  I'll tell you, and everyone else. I never believed in cables. No one believed that the HD650 is a true reference headphone. Plug in an Axios! Run a decent DAC! Then see what people have to say  just buy this cable, and don't look back. Pricey?!? Oh yes! Worth the money?!? HELL YES!  hope my impressions help you. Here's some photos of my system, and photos of my Axios


----------



## lextek

I've always run Kimbers in my systems. Nice to them offer a headphone cable.


----------



## cuiter23

spiderking31 said:


> _[Mod edit: Please don't quote entire long posts.]_


 
  
 That cable looks gorgeous. Mind sharing what you paid for them?


----------



## spiderking31

$800 USD


----------



## lextek

Ouch. I believe in cable upgrades. That's stiff. Love to compare them.


----------



## spiderking31

Definitely look into it. It's worth demoing for sure!


----------



## spiderking31

Oh yes!


----------



## zappazappazappa

Hi Spiderking,
                        thanks for getting the thread going. Just a couple of points. I don't find it hard to believe that some people are happy with the HD650  as an end game product, the fit and comfort are superb, it has great bass and is very easy to live with - I used to own a pair myself, however I think the HD800 offers all round better performance - in fact I haven't heard a headphone which I prefer overall. Second point, saying that the Axios cable has severely upped the performance of your system really doesn't really help anybody make a decision on whether it is a worthwhile upgrade - it  just says you're happy with it but without any detailed reasons.  Some AB comments on the performance compared with with the standard cable would be helpful.


----------



## spiderking31

I apologise for not giving the nitty and gritty  what's improved with the Axios addition without a doubt is the detail. When listening to The Beatles, my Floyd albums, Rage Against The Machine, etc etc, I'm able to hear the music in a whole different way now. I'm able to pick up those small details that were formerly hidden in the track. Those details were revealed, as well as the vocals being more coherent to my ears. Separation has improved, soundstage is about the same. Very little improvement at most. Imaging is very sweet. Transparency is amazing IMHO. I really love the fact that this cable has brought the best out of my equipment! In other words. I don't think anyone can judge the HD650's without having them plugged into a nice rig, with an Axios hooked up to your headphones  but hey, these are just my impressions


----------



## zappazappazappa

spiderking31 said:


> I apologise for not giving the nitty and gritty  what's improved with the Axios addition without a doubt is the detail. When listening to The Beatles, my Floyd albums, Rage Against The Machine, etc etc, I'm able to hear the music in a whole different way now. I'm able to pick up those small details that were formerly hidden in the track. Those details were revealed, as well as the vocals being more coherent to my ears. Separation has improved, soundstage is about the same. Very little improvement at most. Imaging is very sweet. Transparency is amazing IMHO. I really love the fact that this cable has brought the best out of my equipment! In other words. I don't think anyone can judge the HD650's without having them plugged into a nice rig, with an Axios hooked up to your headphones  but hey, these are just my impressions.​





> Thanks for the update!


----------



## spiderking31

No worries! I'm hoping that my impressions will help fellow Head-Fi'ers make their decision on the purchase of the Axios


----------



## jgwtriode

Really!!!!!
  
 Are you fricking kidding.  This is rebadged 4PR/8PR,  Its nicely packaged teflon coated 5 or 6 9's copper which is good stuff but not at $700 starting point.   DHC and Norne have OCC Silver for this price or less in real geometries that make a difference.  Go look at their pages and compare some real technology and a much fairer price.  I have 7 9"s occ copper litz headphone cable using
 Neotechs insane 1000 strand litz  with pure cotton insulators in Zenwaves custom geometry using seriously good Eidolic rhodium plated berylium copper.  What are the connectors on this stuff!
  
 Hell you could buy 8 pr from kimber get some eidolic connectors and get the same or better sound for about a third of that price or go buy some real headphone or take a look at any of the three companies I mentioned.  There also a number of other custom builders on line that can give you an equivalent or better sounding cable for less.   
  
 What have you previously used to compare this wire with.    Did you actually buy this cable or is something else afoot here?
  
  
 ?????????????????????????????
  
 jgwtriode


----------



## zappazappazappa

jgwtriode said:


> Really!!!!!
> 
> Are you fricking kidding.  This is rebadged 4PR/8PR,  Its nicely packaged teflon coated 5 or 6 9's copper which is good stuff but not at $700 starting point.   DHC and Norne have OCC Silver for this price or less in real geometries that make a difference.  Go look at their pages and compare some real technology and a much fairer price.  I have 7 9"s occ copper litz headphone cable using
> Neotechs insane 1000 strand litz  with pure cotton insulators in Zenwaves custom geometry using seriously good Eidolic rhodium plated berylium copper.  What are the connectors on this stuff!
> ...


 
 Hi,
     how do you know this is 4PR/8PR rebadged? Have you actually heard the cable? Do you work for DHC and Norne? You said you worked for Kimber Cable for a few years in technical support - is something else afoot here?


----------



## jgwtriode

I used to work for Kimber Kable a number of years ago.  Just look at the cable in the video on you tube.  Hell they don't even try to hide the fact that it is 8pr. I know Nate in the you tube video.  8pr split to two 4 PR runs.  Their big fuss is the split.  Which really is ludicrous.  I would rather just do seperate runs as I did in the custom zenwave cable for my Paradox Slants.  No its just that Norne and DNC have some really good well designed cables if your willing to spend the kind of money Kimber charges.  $700.00 plus.  The insanity is you can buy a single 6ft run of basic terminated 8pr for somewhere in the neighborhood of $ 100 to $125.  They make a fuss but go to their site.  This may be silver plated ofc copper, based on some Sony upper end headphone collaboration stuff I saw.  but so what.  So bump the price a bit more. But they aren't suggesting it is.  The TC is a varistrand ofc 5 or 6 9's copper in teflon. I am willing to bet the standard connectors are just nickel. Most likely extra for rhodium plated copper etc.  I ran 4 TC on a mobile sound system 30 years ago in college. Its good basic cable but nothing particularly spectacular.  Okay lets be absolutely correct just priced a 6ft run of 8tc from Audio Advisor.  Bare Wire.  160.00 dollars  Just purchase two runs of 4tc. $168.00 probably could even get that in clear and black wire like what is shown.  Anyway get std connectors from Switchcraft for about $20.00 or go nuts like me and get Eidolics.  Rhodium plated Berylium Copper.  I spent about
 $75.00 with some discount for mini xlr's and 1/4" plug.   So spend $700 for that from Kimber with some nice wood and labeling or make it.  Or spend about $ 300 getting Norne or a bit more for DNC; and have them build you an OCC copper cable. They both do very nice work and get very good reviews and looking at their metalurgy, insulation and geometry.  You no doubt get substantially more for your money.  For perspective I got Dave Cahoon at Zenwave to build me my headphone cable using two 5 ft runs of 4 strand braided wire.  Those runs are each 20awg 7 9's OCC copper in a 1000 wire strands in each 20 gauge strand.  It is an 80% cotton blend with some polyester to seal it.  I spent $300 approximately and I sent Dave the connectors.  I believe it is better than the Norne and more than likey the lesser expensive DNC stuff.  DNC has some crazy stuff...it may not be that good.  But it works amazingly well over the basic ofc cable that was on my first set ofhardwired Paradox Slants.  And that is taking into acount another connection layer and solder points with the mini XLR equipment jacks.   My point is simply this is overprice hype.  Your spending $700 plus for a product that while good is no where near that kind of a price...fancy or not it isn't any better than a $ 300 dollar cable you can buy or build.  If you want to throw a bit in the equation for
 cosmetics thats cool.  But not $350 for some matching wood and CNC milled logos.  Kimber does nice work and their quality control is excellent.  My issue is the level of technology and performance they offer for your hard earned dollar.   Nuff said.
  
 Done and I suspect the guy who started this thread has less than pure motives...I could be wrong.  But in checking out his statements review of HD650 before and after the cable and some of his refrences...lets just say I found glaring inconsistency and a real lack of clearly explaining why the cable was really better.  And then he apparently tried to sell it at only a very slight reduction.
 That is his 650's and the cable for $1300 plus.
  
 I leave to you.
 Get a really good cable at reasonable price and improve your headphone performance.
  
 Happy Listening,
 jgwtriode


----------



## zappazappazappa

I think that its safe to say that this thread has not been a resounding success in getting much useful feedback from Axios users. I am therefore unsubscribing from my own thread! Before I go I have found a proper review from someone who has actually used it - Paul Rigby: audiophileman is his site. He comes to the conclusion that although it is a good cable its not worth the money, echoing the view of jgwtriode above. Still I think its a review well worth reading for anyone considering the Axios cable. http://www.theaudiophileman.com/#!Kimber AXIOS/zoom/ckgg/c1d6


----------



## David B

Question for LCD-4 owners:

I drive my LCD-4s with the Headamp LS-X Mk ii and balanced cables. I'm considering an upgrade to 3 meter runs (Balanced) of either the new Kimber Axios or the Moon Audio Silver Dragon Premium. Is anybody familiar with these with the LCD-4 and is one better than the other?

Thanks


----------



## CorvetteGarage (Nov 9, 2017)

jgwtriode said:


> This is rebadged 4PR/8PR,  Its nicely packaged teflon coated 5 or 6 9's copper which is good stuff but not at $700 starting point.   DHC and Norne have OCC Silver for this price or less in real geometries that make a difference.  Go look at their pages and compare some real technology and a much fairer price.



What he said.

If you want nice looking, ok sounding cable and have lots of cash to burn- Kimber Axios is your cable!

One of my best friends was in the home audio business for over 15 years and sold Kimber and Tara Labs. I know a little bit about these brands... still, doesn't mean I'm an expert. Just my opinion.


----------



## spiderking31 (Jul 1, 2017)

CorvetteGarage said:


> What he said.
> 
> If looking for nice looking, mediocre sound and lots of cash to burn, Kimber Axios is your cable!


One thing to ask you....do you own one?? Cuz I sure hell do!


----------



## CorvetteGarage (Nov 9, 2017)

Yes Ive owned it, tried it a while and sold it.

Is it terrible? No. Is there much better for half the price? Yes.

Its a nicely made good looking cable, I will agree to that.


----------



## spiderking31

CorvetteGarage said:


> Yes Ive owned it, used it, and sold it.
> 
> Is it terrible? No. Is there much better for half the price? Yes.
> 
> Its a nicely made good looking cable, I will agree to that.


This is currently what I'm using now. Those Telefunkens?? They're the real deal. Diamond etched bottom, E88CC's my friend and 99% of the time I'm listening to SACD's with the OPPO UDP-203


----------



## Jozurr

CorvetteGarage said:


> Yes Ive owned it, used it, and sold it.
> 
> Is it terrible? No. Is there much better for half the price? Yes.
> 
> Its a nicely made good looking cable, I will agree to that.




Out of curiosity, what cables do you think sound better?


----------



## CorvetteGarage

Jozurr said:


> Out of curiosity, what cables do you think sound better?



Cable offerings from DHC, Toxic, Moon Audio to name a few. 

Again, the Axios is a nice well made cable- just not worth the asking price, nor the hype. 

Just my opinion. Its all subjective. YMMV.


----------



## Earbones (Sep 12, 2020)

I've enjoyed my Sony Kimber cables (which I know are not actually built by Kimber, just constructed from their cable), so while investigating options for my Focal Clear, I looked into Kimber cables proper, and found the page for their Axios line...

$800 for the least expensive cable they make... a 1.2m run of their basic copper. I found that so outrageous, I googled "Kimber Axios overpriced".

What I've discovered is that Kimber wastes their time actively manufacturing and marketing a headphone cable line so staggeringly unsuccessful, that there are basically no Google results other than single four-year-old thread on head-fi... A thread that is equal parts people expressing outrage at the cost, and wondering how the cables perform, since apparently only a single person has actually purchased them.

I emailed them this thread. Maybe they'll listen and re-price. Who knows.

EDIT UPDATE: 9 months later, and they haven’t responded to two emails nor made any changes to their line up. So now, I’m fairly certain the Sony Kimber cables are all Sony, and merely utilize the same third-party wire  Kimber uses... Because the Sony “Kimber” cable is actually good, and I honestly just can’t imagine that a group of clowns who can so wildly misjudge the market are capable of designing a good cable. It just speaks to a deep, deep stupidity. I mean, even a three-year old with a lemonade stand understands the market won’t bear $200 a glass.


----------



## VladYR

Earbones said:


> I've enjoyed my Sony Kimber cables (which I know are not actually built by Kimber, just constructed from their cable), so while investigating options for my Focal Clear, I looked into Kimber cables proper, and found the page for their Axios line...
> 
> $800 for the least expensive cable they make... a 1.2m run of their basic copper. I found that so outrageous, I googled "Kimber Axios overpriced".
> 
> ...




The Sony branded Kimber cables are good until you wear off the gold plating on the connector, which is incredibly easy to do given how the plug twists whether you use it with a Walkman or an amplifier. The connectors on the headphone side are not particularly sturdy either. I owned the cable you mention for under a year when the gold plating started to go on the amp side. I was rather annoyed when the sound crackled when the cable moved slightly. Then at 2 year mark the connectors on the ear cups started to deteriorate. Don't get me wrong, the cables are a real improvement over standard silver plated Sony cables for either Z7 or Z1R headphones but you are basically throwing away $250-300. I recently bought some Nordost Heimdall 2 headphone cables and they are significantly better than anything that Kimber makes. It's just too bad that Nordost decided to discontinue making that particular cable because of cost.


----------



## Earbones (Jan 17, 2021)

VladYR said:


> The Sony branded Kimber cables are good until you wear off the gold plating on the connector, which is incredibly easy to do given how the plug twists whether you use it with a Walkman or an amplifier. The connectors on the headphone side are not particularly sturdy either. I owned the cable you mention for under a year when the gold plating started to go on the amp side. I was rather annoyed when the sound crackled when the cable moved slightly. Then at 2 year mark the connectors on the ear cups started to deteriorate. Don't get me wrong, the cables are a real improvement over standard silver plated Sony cables for either Z7 or Z1R headphones but you are basically throwing away $250-300. I recently bought some Nordost Heimdall 2 headphone cables and they are significantly better than anything that Kimber makes. It's just too bad that Nordost decided to discontinue making that particular cable because of cost.


That sucks to hear... Mine have been perfect, going on 3+ years. I will ask, where did you buy yours? Are you sure they are authentic? There were some fakes floating around ebay for a minute there.

I can’t speak to the finish coming off the amp-side connector, as that can happen with any cable, if either the amp’s port or the cable’s connector tolerances are off even a fraction of a millimeter. Very common issue, there are even fix-it products available to combat this.

It’s the issue with your headphone’s connectors not being sturdy that strikes me as odd. These are thick machined aluminum that thread onto the headphone. They should be about as bomb-proof as connectors get. Mine certainly are...


----------



## Mediahound (Jan 18, 2021)

VladYR said:


> The Sony branded Kimber cables are good until you wear off the gold plating on the connector, which is incredibly easy to do given how the plug twists whether you use it with a Walkman or an amplifier.



DeOxit Gold is what you need to prevent that. It makes the plug connection more smooth, etc.:


----------



## VladYR

Earbones said:


> That sucks to hear... Mine have been perfect, going on 3+ years. I will ask, where did you buy yours? Are you sure they are authentic? There were some fakes floating around ebay for a minute there.
> 
> I can’t speak to the finish coming off the amp-side connector, as that can happen with any cable, if either the amp’s port or the cable’s connector tolerances are off even a fraction of a millimeter. Very common issue, there are even fix-it products available to combat this.
> 
> It’s the issue with your headphone’s connectors not being sturdy that strikes me as odd. These are thick machined aluminum that thread onto the headphone. They should be about as bomb-proof as connectors get. Mine certainly are...




While I'm well aware that there are plenty of fakes floating around the web, mine are authentic. Still, these are not exactly premium cables but are priced as such. I think this whole problem could have been avoided if Sony did not include that idiotic L shaped connector and gone with a straight 4.4 mm plug like most headphone cables have these days. Concerning the connectors at the ear cup level, I believe the connection between the plug and the wires is getting loose. Personally, I think it's odd that Sony would partner with someone who produces such sub par products. I mean, they put Kimber wiring in distinctly premium products such as their top of the line Walkman players that retail from 3k all the way up to 9k. There are better cable producers to choose from when partnering on such projects. At any rate, it was a valuable experience.


----------

