# Looking for inexpensive replacement cable for Focal Elear ???



## John2e

Elear cable is like a huge heavy extension cord.
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




  
 Looking for something of equal quality or better but lighter and shorter
  
 Without a 2 month build time 
  
 Thanks


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## John2e

Found these guys silver/cooper option 
  
 https://www.mimic-cables.com


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## tkteo

may take a while for more third party cable companies to come onboard.
  
 Here is InnerFidelity providing the measurements for DIYers and third parties by extension:
 http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/dimensions-elear-diy-cable-builders#f56QFvXQi23IABuS.97


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## John2e

tkteo
  
 The link referenced has the Elear as an option.  Moon audio also is making one. I paid $110 with Kevlar sleving and silver/cooper OCC.  I need a 3.5 input for the Mojo and shorter length.  The stock cable is ridiculously heavy and long when used with the Mojo


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## PLUSSOUND

john2e said:


> I need a 3.5 input for the Mojo and shorter length.  The stock cable is ridiculously heavy and long when used with the Mojo


 
  
 We are able to build Elear cables with 3.5mm termination + lead time has shortened to roughly 6 weeks. If you have any questions, hit us up.
 http://www.plussoundaudio.com/customcables/headphone.html


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## MarkF786

Hopefully some good, light cable options come along.  The stock cable seems to be a beast, and I'd want something light and short (4 ft maybe) - and not crazy expensive.


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## John2e

markf786 said:


> Hopefully some good, light cable options come along.  The stock cable seems to be a beast, and I'd want something light and short (4 ft maybe) - and not crazy expensive.


 

 yeah thats exactly what I ordered
  
 Connecting the stock cable to the mojo with a converter and the cable and converter weights more than the Plenue and Mojo


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## tkteo

https://www.facebook.com/HeadphoneLounge/photos/a.246011622111172.61792.181899061855762/1190891170956541/?type=3&theater


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## MarkF786

If you're looking for an inexpensive cables for the Elear, check out my post about a $16 cable available from Amazon that works and sounds great!
  
http://www.head-fi.org/t/811961/focal-elear-impressions-thread/615#post_12885364


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## Mediahound

You might check out the Audioquest Nighthawk cable. Excellent cable (solid copper cores). I adapted it to my Elear's with these adapters: http://amzn.to/2dzXYlA
  
 Audioquest also can make it balanced for you or you can order one balanced from any dealer. (cost about $100).  This is what I'm using but I also use the one that came with my Nighthawk's (single ended) when I play from my Chord Mojo. 
  
 This is one of the best headphone cables I've heard for the price. It's basically a mini castle rock: http://personal.audioquest.com/nighthawk-cable
  
 I definitely notice the improvement between it and a stranded cable in terms of the overall purity of the music to my ears.
  
 The only negative is solid core conductors are more fragile so you have to handle the cable gently and not wrap it too tightly.


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## frigginloony

I have one coming from Impact Audio.  6  footer with all the "bangles,
  beads and purdy colors"  not to mention the "extra primo good" wire. . Sorry no scoop on the sound yet cause of a delay in getting my elears due to back order. But they are now on their way thanks to a Head-Fi sponsor vendor.  Lead time is running three weeks and gotta tell ya, the deal is simply too good to pass up if you are in the market for reasonably priced cables with good workmanship.  I'll try to post a pic of he concept cable. Lindsay is the owner and he's a great guy to steer you in the right direction
  
IMPACT AUDIO
  
 THIS IS THE CABLE, MINE WILL BE IN BLACK AND GREY WITH THE CORRECT 3.5 DOUBLE ENDED ELEAR CONNECTORS


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## frigginloony

plussound said:


> We are able to build Elear cables with 3.5mm termination + lead time has shortened to roughly 6 weeks. If you have any questions, hit us up.
> http://www.plussoundaudio.com/customcables/headphone.html


 
 I have also done business with PLUSSOUND for my high end Alpha Dog cable  ( love it) and his cables are right up there with the top in the business. Might want to give them a call also.  Maybe he has a reasonable option.


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## frigginloony

Got my impact audio cable for the elear. 7 foot with all the goodies, bells and whistles.  Not one to usually fall into that whole cable rolling thing here, but i have to say, it does seems to ever so minutely increase the dynamics of the elear including the bass.  The length is perfect. Awesome cable!


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## MarkF786

frigginloony said:


> Got my impact audio cable for the elear. 7 foot with all the goodies, bells and whistles.  Not one to usually fall into that whole cable rolling thing here, but i have to say, it does seems to ever so minutely increase the dynamics of the elear including the bass.  The length is perfect. Awesome cable!


 
  
 It looks great!  Did you go with the Litz wire option?
  
 I was considering getting one until I was told the standard cable was 26AWG OFC wire (maybe just a gutted Mogami microphone cable at 80 cents a foot), and that the Litz option was another $35.  I realize most of the cost of the cable is paying for labor, but the $130 base price for the non-Litz cable seemed a bit high.


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## frigginloony

markf786 said:


> It looks great!  Did you go with the Litz wire option?
> 
> I was considering getting one until I was told the standard cable was 26AWG OFC wire (maybe just a gutted Mogami microphone cable at 80 cents a foot), and that the Litz option was another $35.  I realize most of the cost of the cable is paying for labor, but the $130 base price for the non-Litz cable seemed a bit high.


 
 Nope Mark, just the stock wire option with requested silver plating. Both cables sound exceedingly good with the cans but damn, you need a hose reel to use the stock cable for anything but sitting across a room from your amp.  More than likely, if were to go with the premium cable upgrade route, I would have gone with Plussound as their cables are top notch. But you do pay for what you get. They did my alpha dog cable and it was a true upgrade for the stock on that can. 
  
 The quality of workmanship and material for the impact cable was well worth the price. However gotta say... you could use three soup cans and butchers twine and i'd bet the Elear would still sound good


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## stephanemtl

john2e said:


> tkteo
> 
> The link referenced has the Elear as an option.  Moon audio also is making one. I paid $110 with Kevlar sleving and silver/cooper OCC.  I need a 3.5 input for the Mojo and shorter length.  The stock cable is ridiculously heavy and long when used with the Mojo


 
 John2e, Can you tell where you got your $110 cable? tks!


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## The Walrus

Just get the short (or long, whichever) cable for Beyer T1 G2. It works perfectly, and the quality of the cable is indisputable.


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## argNS

the walrus said:


> Just get the short (or long, whichever) cable for Beyer T1 G2. It works perfectly, and the quality of the cable is indisputable.


 
 The Beyer T1 G2 cables are a match for the Elear?  Does the 3.5mm have to be mono or does that matter?


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## Shooter41

john2e said:


> Found these guys silver/cooper option
> 
> https://www.mimic-cables.com


 

 Just ordered one from these guys and upgraded to the OCC copper.  Unlike most folks, I actually need the length of the stock Elear cable, and I'm not unhappy with the sound that I'm hearing from it, either.  I just wanted a balanced connector and was actually just about to cut the connector off the stock cable and solder on a new Eidolic XLR that I bought when I saw this thread.  Would rather leave the stock cable intact now that there are some not-so-expensive aftermarket options. 
  
 I also have a very expensive "Statement" cable from Audio Sensibility for my LCD-2's.  Pure silver, Furutech connectors at both ends, etc.  About a $500 cable, and I don't really care for it with the Audeze's.  I'm sure I didn't give it nearly enough burn-in time, but that was about the same time that I got turned on to the Elears, so I lost interest.  I just ordered some new Eidolic 3.5mm connectors to replace the mini-xlr's, so I can try that cable with the Elears, too.  Might be interesting to A/B a good quality copper cable with a silver one.


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## The Walrus

argns said:


> The Beyer T1 G2 cables are a match for the Elear?  Does the 3.5mm have to be mono or does that matter?


 
 It doesn't matter. I'm using my Elear with the T1.2 cable since got it. But I can't speak for all the third party T1.2 replacement cables on the market.


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## Shooter41

shooter41 said:


> Just ordered one from these guys and upgraded to the OCC copper.  Unlike most folks, I actually need the length of the stock Elear cable, and I'm not unhappy with the sound that I'm hearing from it, either.  I just wanted a balanced connector and was actually just about to cut the connector off the stock cable and solder on a new Eidolic XLR that I bought when I saw this thread.  Would rather leave the stock cable intact now that there are some not-so-expensive aftermarket options.
> 
> I also have a very expensive "Statement" cable from Audio Sensibility for my LCD-2's.  Pure silver, Furutech connectors at both ends, etc.  About a $500 cable, and I don't really care for it with the Audeze's.  I'm sure I didn't give it nearly enough burn-in time, but that was about the same time that I got turned on to the Elears, so I lost interest.  I just ordered some new Eidolic 3.5mm connectors to replace the mini-xlr's, so I can try that cable with the Elears, too.  Might be interesting to A/B a good quality copper cable with a silver one.


 

 So, I got my custom cable from mimic-cables.com and I have to say that I'm very pleased!  Build quality obviously can't compete with my Audio Sensibility cable, but for 1/3 the investment, you'd be crazy to expect it to.  As I said above, I upgraded to the OCC copper option for a reasonable fee ($60, I think.  I got the 10-12' length).  Plugging it in cold it sounded a bit muddy and uncontrolled, but after only 5 hrs or so of burn-in it blossomed into the best sound I've heard yet from my Elears.  I've only had the stock cable before and wanted to try a balanced cable as I can certainly tell a difference on my LCD-2's between balanced and single-ended, strongly favoring the balanced. 
  
 I've read somewhere here on the site that there should be no sound difference between balanced and single-ended cable unless the cable is very long, but that's just not been my experience.  Now, it is true that I cannot say unequivocally that it is the connection method that is making the difference, but I can come close.  On the LCD-2's, I have used both the stock single-ended and the stock balanced cables.  The difference between the two is not as pronounced as I'm experiencing now with this new Elear cable vs. the stocker,  but I still very clearly prefer the balanced.  So, I'll concede that the rest of the cable construction may account for some of the gains I'm hearing now, but the balanced connector is definitely part of it.  I should note that I also have balanced connections from my DAC to my amp, and I'm sure that's a factor in my feelings about what I'm hearing.  Frankly, this is one of those things where I just don't care to debate the issue.  If I hear a difference, that's all that matters to me. Not gonna call anybody wrong or even crazy to believe otherwise, all I can say is that this has been my experience, twice now.
  
 Now, back to this cable.  Perhaps the best indicator of the gains I'm hearing is the fact that I no longer feel the need to use EQ on most recordings that I listen to.  I make no apologies for using EQ, the object is to get the best musical experience possible, and for me, many times that means using some degree of EQ.  But those days may be behind me.  I'm at about 56 hrs of break-in on my Elears, so still short of the Focal-recommended 60-100, and I'm hoping that as they get fully broken-in I may not need EQ on anything anymore, but this cable has instantly reduced my usage from about 95% to maybe 25%.  That's huge and, I think, very telling.  The bass is that much more plentiful and defined, the upper-mids that much sweeter, and the overall sound is just that much more involving.  The reason I still have the LCD-2's is because the Elears have never been able to deliver the kind of "immersion" that I experience with them when I listen to harder rock.  That, too, may no longer be the case.  I'm not ready to say that definitely yet, but the Elears are definitely closing the gap.


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## Otter7

I recently decided to compare three different low cost DIY cable replacements for the Elear.  Here are the three configurations I tried:


Blue Jeans Cable MSA-1 (this is the cable BJC uses for headphone cables).  It is a pair of coax cables in a single jacket.  The coax cables are small versions of their LC-1 interconnect which I use for all of unbalanced interconnects in my systems.  Each coax a solid copper core and thick braid. (This is not strictly DIY since they come assembled.)
DIY made with Belden 1800F balanced cable.  This cable is used for BJC’s balanced cables.  This cable is also referenced for other replacement cables on Head-Fi.
DIY made with Moon Audio Black Dragon cable.

Connectors: the BJC cable came with Canare 1/8 inch TS  connectors.  These fit perfectly in the Elear sockets.  All amp ends were Neutrik NC4MX-B 4-pin male connectors.  The DIY 1/8 inch connectors were Rean NYS226BG 3.5mm mono TS plugs.  These are a loose fit in the Elears so I added a coating of heat-shrink to the connector barrel that made for a more secure fit.  MarkerTek.com is a good supplier for the DIY parts including 1800F cable by the foot.  An unbalanced version of the BJC cable can be ordered directly from the MSA-1 Special Applications Page.  Balanced versions must be separately quoted.

Impressions:

All three cables were significantly superior to the stock cable.  The stock cable sounded muddy and flat in comparison.  Note however that all of the test cables were much shorter - 4 to 6 feet compared to the 15 foot stock cable.

The differences between the three cables were modest but noticable.

 All three produced a pleasant soundstage.  The soundstage from the Black Dragon cable was the most forward but was uneven.  The MSA-1 lacked any soundstage depth but width and focus were OK.  The 1800F had the most depth  and felt most natural of the three.  

The MSA-1 had a slightly forward upper midrange.   It also had the best bass definition of the group.  For people that like forward upper midrange for female voice or guitar and tight bass (not enough for bass heads) this may well be to their liking.

The Black Dragon had an oddly uneven presentation over the frequency range with some frequencies being accentuated and others being recessed.  Of the three, I thought this cable to be the least satisfying and most fatiguing.  

The 1800F had the smoothest signature top to bottom.  I was a little rolled off at the top end.  Its bass was a bit recessed but reasonably well defined, though not as tight as the MSA-1. The bass presentation of an acoustic double bass in jazz recordings was very satisfying. The overall balance of tonality left me with that “ahh…” feeling as I listened.  This was the only cable where I found myself forgetting that I was evaluating cables and just fell into listening to the music.

In conclusion, the 1800F is my first preference followed by the MSA-1.  I will probably not use the Black Dragon again.  The 1800F will be my primary cable and perhaps use the MSA-1 for some content.  The 1800F is the least expensive followed closely by the MSA-1 and then a jump to the Black Dragon.  This proves (to me at least) that you can get fine sound with inexpensive cables.

My listening biases: I listen to predominately classical music along with some jazz - almost exclusively acoustic music.  I very rarely listen to rock.  I hate bright cables and have very low tolerance for anything glassy, harsh or sibilant.  I have strong preference for overall tonal balance even at the expense of frequency extremes.

Equipment used: Oppo BDP-93 > Yggdrasil > Ragnarok.  I also briefly used the Musical Fidelity M1 HPA for unbalanced testing.


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## kenshinesca

Anyone try the HM5 headphone cable?  I think it would work just don't know if it would fit in the elear? Pretty cheap cable like 14.50 through https://www.brainwavzaudio.com/collections/accessories/products/hm5-replacement-cables


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