Transparent , Kubala , Luminous , or RS Poiema

I find the Kubala Emotion cables awesome on my 2 headphone systems (Stax Omega/007t & Sennheiser 650/Headroom Max). I did an A/B comparison with Cardas (G. Ref & G. Crosses) and PAD Audio Dominus (B) & the Kubalas left them all in the dust: less grain, much tighter bass, a more open & spacious sound. I never intended to spend what I did on Interconnects (especially for headphones) but the Kubalas were worth it. I'm just an ordinary user, not connected with anyone in the audio business.

Jafox, very insightful comments; I did hear many of the same things you mention. (By the way, I also used Carly Simon to test out the cables--her voice is an excellent measure of performance with vocals, male or female, as it is has a deep resonance & some roughness & grain, and is very distinctive. Her boxed set, Clouds in my Coffee, is my favorite.)

Yep, I admit my speakers were not broken in much at the time I tried the cables, so you may be right. Also, my speaker cables are *only* Cardas GRs, so this also affected things.

I did find that the PAD (Rev Bs) did immediately stand out as involving and drew me in, but it was almost too much of a good thing, a kind of larger-than-life, extra-saturated, super-sonorous sound that grew tiring after a while.

The Kubala Emotions produce a smaller, leaner, but, to my ears, a more honest sound.

(To restate, I strongly recommend trying the Kubalas with headphones.)

I also think you would enjoy give Stelth Indras (ICs) a try. They seem to have no signature sound at all.

Thanks for reading.

Rich

I also have had extremely good results with the Kubala Emotion ICs, especially with my Sennheiser 650/Headroom Max headphone rig. It made the Cardas GR & GC sound slow and gritty by comparison. The Kubalas have an astoundingly controlled bass & a well balanced midrange and sweet highs.