Why Even Change Your Headphone Cable?

By zikman.audio
August 25, 2025

Not long ago, someone asked me point-blank:
“Why pay extra for a cable when the headphones already come with one?”
At first glance, it makes sense — plug it in, listen, done. But if you dig deeper, the picture changes. This article is for regular music lovers (including me). No audiophile fairy tales — just specifics.

Hearing is not “given,” it’s trained

Some people have perfect pitch and can hear everything — cables, solder, the tiniest changes in the chain. But most of us have normal hearing. And hearing can (and should) be trained:

Learn to separate instruments;
Notice decays and reverbs;
Tell highs, mids, and lows apart with confidence;
Perceive soundstage width and depth;
Sense tone color: darker/lighter, more “body” vs. more “air.”

Over time, you build a solid setup — player/DAC, amp, several pairs of good headphones. And… often keep listening on the stock cable. That’s where the hidden issues begin.

What can go wrong with a stock cable

I’m mostly talking about headphones under ~$1000. In this segment, the manufacturer’s priority is to put the money into the headphones themselves and keep margins healthy. A high-end cable costs money, and there’s no guarantee everyone will like its sound. So they usually include something very basic.

From my own experience, here are real issues I’ve seen:

Not enough conductors
Example: for harder-to-drive IEMs, you really want at least 100 strands per channel at 0.05 mm each. Many stock cables have ~30 strands. The material might be okay, but the cross-section and total resistance are not. The result — signal is choked, dynamics drop.
Channel resistance mismatch
A balanced cable has at least 8 solder joints. A single bad joint can throw off the channel balance. Typical milli-ohmmeter readings:
– 3 conductors at 90–100 mΩ (spec: up to ~150 mΩ),
– 1 conductor at ~250 mΩ (tiny contact area, poor solder).
It won’t destroy the sound, but it will slightly skew the stage and imaging. The trick: you might never notice if you only own one pair of headphones — and could be listening for years with this flaw.
Swapped channels
Rare, but I’ve seen:
– Obvious L↔R swap — you notice on familiar tracks (e.g., a cymbal that’s always right suddenly plays left).
– More subtle: L− and R− swapped while L+ and R+ are correct. This is almost impossible to hear directly, but it’s still wrong.
Polarity inversion
Sometimes plus and minus are swapped on one side (or both). This doesn’t destroy the sound but adds a certain “off” feeling to attacks, micro-dynamics, and space.
Material and conductor design
On large speaker systems, copper vs. silver is night-and-day. On IEMs, the difference is subtler — but it’s there:
– Low-grade copper vs. OCC copper — different attack, clarity, noise floor.
– Litz wire (each strand in its own enamel coating) gives tighter transients, cleaner highs, darker bass.
– Silver in meaningful amounts — brighter, airier, more micro-detail. Not the same as “lightly silver-plated” copper; I’m talking real hybrids.

Can a cable improve sound?

Yes. But while a bad cable can easily make things worse, making it better is harder — you need the right combination of materials, geometry, gauge, solder, connectors.

Example from our lineup:
Zikman Tybre — about 130 strands of copper plus ~60 strands of pure silver. Audible result: cleaner highs, darker/punchier lows, more transparency. This is engineering plus careful listening tests — not voodoo.

How much does a cable matter compared to the rest of your chain?

Honestly: less than your DAC/amp/source/recording quality. But once your gear is solid and your ear is trained, a cable is a fine-tuning tool. It can smooth sharp highs, add body, tame dryness — that’s its lane.

How to check if your cable is the weak link

At the very least, you should:

Continuity test every conductor (“buzz it out” with a multimeter) to make sure signal flows where it should.
Verify polarity is correct — no swapped plus/minus anywhere.
Check pinouts both at the main plug and at the IEM connectors, confirming they match the standard for your gear.
Look for channel balance issues (resistance readings within normal range: ~90–150 mΩ per conductor for most IEM cables).
Listen for stage shifts or unstable imaging compared to another cable.

What a cable actually changes — point by point

Conductor resistance / cross-section → dynamics, bass control, micro-contrast.
Inductance / capacitance → attack sharpness, treble air, openness.
Litz structure → less strand-to-strand interference, tighter transients.
Metal purity / type → tonal balance, overtones, “dry” vs. “full” feel.
Solder joints → channel symmetry, imaging stability.
Connector material & plating → contact resistance, long-term stability.

Why “doing it right” is harder than “not screwing it up”

Because tuning a cable’s sound is not just “copper vs. silver.” It’s:

What alloy/purity;
What geometry and strand count;
Strand diameter, twist pitch;
Which solder and how it’s applied;
What connector material and plating;
And how all of it works together (copper + silver, silver-plated copper, hybrids with palladium, etc.).

We audition dozens of variations, cut the weak ones, and lock in a model’s consistent sonic fingerprint — so you don’t swap one “meh” cable for another.

Our quality control (and how you can confirm it)

At Zikman, we guarantee:

Correct materials and design for the intended sonic goal (taming highs, adding body, etc.);
Proper soldering and contact resistance;
Verified continuity and polarity on every conductor;
Pinout checked at both ends — main plug and IEM connectors;
Full resistance measurements logged.

You can look up any Zikman cable on Cable ID page by its serial number: see solder joint photos, per-conductor resistance, and all passed checks — so you know 100% your cable is built right.

Bottom line

A stock cable can quietly degrade your sound for years — usually because of build shortcuts.
A well-made cable can improve it — but only with proper materials, design, and QC.
A cable’s role is micro-tuning in a good system. Once your chain and ears are ready, it’s the last click that makes everything come together.

If you want softer highs and more body, we have solutions — off the shelf or custom. If you want more air and clarity, same story. Just make sure it’s done consciously and without wiring mistakes — that’s our job.