Story of a Cable: NAiF SignaturE

Hey everyone,

NAiF SignaturE
https://iem-world.com/ar/oZDBraQ

Contents

The dream

Ever since I started out with cables, I dreamed of designing and building my own headphone cable,
one that gives me the sound I love, lifts any headphone I plug into it,
and carries the best the rest of the chain has to give.

I set an open budget to get to the cable I wanted,
and started a series of experiments, so many I stopped counting, some successful and some not.

Finally, after 8 months of testing and tweaking,
I got to the point where I’m completely happy with how this cable performs,
and it’s time to put it out into the world.

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Note:
This is a long article, with explanations and analysis you won’t find anywhere online,
all of it learned over time working in this field.
The reason I’m going to cover everything about this cable
is that I want anyone thinking of buying it to know
everything I went through and every step I’ll take with the cable they order.

As for how to order:
I’ll cover that at the end of the article

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The metals

After trying most of the metals used in audio cables of every kind,
I mean headphone cables, iem, XLR or RCA,
and getting a full picture of how each metal affects the sound,
I started mixing metals and writing down the results.

Some metals are really expensive, so every so often I’d order a small amount, try it, test it and note the results,
until I got to the combination that gave me excellent performance and, most importantly, the tonal texture I want.
Here are some photos from the assembly and the early tests.
I cut the wires to equal lengths, 2 meters and 20 cm, because braiding takes off between 10 and 15 cm.
The cable has 4 conductors, or signal lines,
and each conductor has three wires of different metals inside:
– First: UP-OCC Pure Silver, single crystal, the purest silver used in cables anywhere, and the most expensive of the three.
– Second: UP-OCC Pure Copper, single crystal, the purest copper on earth
– Third: OFHC, one of the rarest metals and one of the most beautiful in what it does to the sound. I’m proud to say NAiF Signature is the only headphone cable in the world that uses it.

The plugs

Then another search started, this time for the plugs, both on the amp side, which is XLR 4Pin,
and on the headphone side, which is 3.5mm.

First, the 3.5mm headphone plugs.
I focused my search on mono plugs like the one in the photo, a TS Plug

Sadly the options are really, really limited,
but I found a really good option at a very reasonable price from a specialist company,
REAN , part of the Swiss NEUTRIK , which needs no introduction.
I use them on most of the cables I make,
but I wasn’t convinced they were right for this cable in particular. I did fit them and try them, but I felt they were holding the performance back.

So the only way was TRS plugs,
because there are tons of options, and a lot of companies known for quality make them.
What bothered me was that they’re made to carry Stereo and my goal was Mono.
To show you what I mean, look at the photo:

Two things bothered me:
First: the separator between the (-) and the (G),
because I’ll use both of those lines to carry only the (-) signal from the plug that connects to the amp

Second: inside the plug, at the solder point, each line is separate from the other, so I’d have to use an extra jumper to join the (-) and (G), and I didn’t want to do that so it wouldn’t affect the sound in any way.

This sent me down a maze trying to figure out the best way to join the two points.
Thank God, I found the best solution possible: joining them with the solder itself, without adding any jumper or extra metal.
I was confident the result would satisfy me, because I use the best solder in the world,
from the German beast MUNDORF® MSolder SUPREME

It contains: gold + silver + copper + tin.
Having tried a lot of solders, it’s the best at carrying sound, hands down.
Its downside is the crazy price. A 100 gram roll cost me nearly 200$ delivered 😓 so 400$ for two.
But that doesn’t matter, because my goal is for my work to be the best by every measure.

This is how I joined the two points.

aeco plugs

Once I’d solved everything that had been puzzling me,

I decided to go with plugs from the Taiwanese company aeco @aeco_tw
https://www.aeco.tw/
who need no introduction. Any DIYer has heard of them or tried their plugs.

I can say with confidence, after trying them, that no company reaches the quality of their plugs, in build quality or in what they do to the sound.
I want to give them all my thanks and respect for their cooperation and support. Honestly, the way they treated me was humbling.
I decided to use their plugs on my entire Hi-End line.
I started ordering from them in big quantities and big amounts. Right now there’s an order in production worth nearly 3000$, all plugs, due to be ready on April 1, God willing.

And this is one of the earlier orders

The other plugs, on the Amp side:
because of how thick the cable is, it only fits an XLR plug.
As for using it with other plugs,
thank God I found a solution with adapters that connect straight to the plug, with no extra cables.

XLR plugs: gold, silver or rhodium

Back to the XLR plugs.
I tried plugs from different companies, and sadly, even with their high prices, I felt they held the performance back,
until I got the aeco plugs.
Every metal has its own sound character.
I tried all three: gold, silver and rhodium.

Gold: purely musical, and it brings out the low end like nothing I’ve heard before.
In my view it suits headphones that are completely neutral or bright.
Model: AX4-1611G
https://www.aeco.tw/products/ax4-1611g?_pos=10&_fid=e09b9768d&_ss=c

Silver: leans technical, bringing out things like detail, separation and layering, lifts the highs a little, and doesn’t sacrifice the beauty of the bass at all. The sound opens up and gets more air.
In my view it suits headphones that are dark or too warm, or headphones that are weak technically in general.
Model: AX4-1611S
https://www.aeco.tw/products/ax4-1611s?_pos=12&_fid=e09b9768d&_ss=c

Rhodium: I started calling it the king of metals after trying this company’s plugs. My earlier experiences with this metal from other companies were almost all bad, except Viborg plugs, which were excellent. But aeco plugs beat all my expectations, and it’s what I chose for the NAiF Signature cable.
Its sound combines gold and silver in one plug and beats both on stage size + depth + imaging.
In my view it suits any headphone with any sound signature.
Model: AX4-1611R
https://www.aeco.tw/products/ax4-1611r?_pos=11&_fid=e09b9768d&_ss=c

As for the 3.5mm

I went with gold as a test, and I don’t think I’ll change it soon. If I do, I’ll fit rhodium like the XLR.
Model (gold): AT3-1351G
https://www.aeco.tw/products/at3-1351g?_pos=1&_fid=b8b3fc0f4&_ss=c

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Now I’ll leave you with some photos of the cable

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Dual 3Pin XLR

As you saw in the photos, the cable is XLR 4pin.

Even though my favorite way to connect is Dual 3Pin XLR, Mono Balanced,
I didn’t put it directly on the cable, for a reason I’ll explain in a bit.
Not many devices support this connection, but believe me, if you try it even once, you’ll know how much better it performs than any 4Pin XLR output.
My devices that have it:
Secondary: Cayin iHA-6
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c4KsZo5h

And my main amp:
the beast, HIFIMAN x GoldenWave PRELUDE
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3VQxm9D

The reason is that with any order, before I start building the cable, I’ll send my own unit to the customer to try (only for customers in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf), and few people own either of those two amps. I don’t want anyone buying this cable in particular unless they’re completely convinced.
The terms are below.

The solution: an extra adapter cable of the same quality, using the same materials, so there’s no change in the sound at all.

And even this adapter got a build that made the cable sound even better.
On the cable side it has an XLR 4Pin Female plug, and I chose gold for it.
Model: AX4-1623G
https://www.aeco.tw/products/ax4-1623g?_pos=19&_fid=80602c3d7&_ss=c

On the amp side I used two XLR 3Pin Male plugs, and I chose silver.
Model: AMI-1040G
I wanted to add a photo of them, but I hit the maximum number of photos for the article. You can see them in the earlier photos though.

So thank God, I got past every obstacle I hit while working on the NAiF Signature cable.

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Testing

Before finishing it, I did one thing I can’t talk about, because it’s a trade secret 🙂
Only one person knows about it, and I trust him completely not to tell anyone, otherwise I wouldn’t have told him.
That one thing improved the cable’s performance in a scary way. I’ve never done it before, never seen anyone do it, and for now I’ll only do it on this model.

Once the cable was done, it was time for the real test.
Because I made it, I was worried I’d be biased if I shared my own impressions,
so I sent it to 5 guys whose opinions I trust. I know their chains, and I’m completely sure none of them would flatter me, and I stressed that to them. Their testing lasted about two months,
and thank God, they were all blown away by how it performed after their long testing.
After hearing from them, I decided it was time to put it out into the world 🙂

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How to order

Now, how to order if you want to buy. Please read all the terms:
– First: the price starts from 1413$ = 5299 Saudi riyals.

– When you order, there’s a trial period for the cable (for a fee), only for customers in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. You pay the full amount by bank transfer to my account, the order is registered in the store so the buyer’s rights are fully protected, and I’ll send you my own unit to try for 3 days before the order is confirmed.
I chose bank transfer because paying by visa, mada, tabby or tamara comes with mandatory fees for me as a merchant. So nobody loses out, me or the customer, I went with bank transfer.

– After the trial, if you like the cable and want to go ahead, the order is confirmed, and it takes about 5 weeks. It could be less, but not more.

– If after the trial the cable isn’t for you and you want to cancel, we charge a 200 riyal (= $53) trial fee + shipping, and refund the rest of what you paid,
of course after the cable comes back and we confirm it’s in the condition you received it. If the cable is damaged or changed from its original condition in any way during the trial, the customer covers the full repair cost, whatever it is.

– The cable has a two-year warranty (24 months) on the internal wires + plugs + solder. The sleeve (the fabric covering the wires) has a one-year warranty. The warranty doesn’t cover misuse.

– Opening the cable or any of the plugs voids the warranty completely.

– You can ask to change the sleeve (fabric) for free before we start building. If you want to change it at any time after that, we’ll do it for a fee we agree on.

Here’s the order link:
https://iem-world.com/ar/oZDBraQ
Shipping is available to most countries in the world, including all Arab countries.

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And that brings us to the end of this article.
Best regards,
IEM World

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