NICEHCK 4N Litz Pure Silver Earphone Cable

Disclaimer:  I was recently offered the 4N pure silver upgrade cable by NiceHCK for review.  I have reviewed more than a few items from NiceHCK over the years and while I usually shy from cable reviews, I agreed based on that history and the enthusiasm of the representative regarding this particular cable.    I have no financial interest in NiceHCK, nor was I compensated for this review in any form other than the cable itself (a $20 value).   If you have an interest in this cable, it can be purchased from NiceHCK here.

Build

The south end of my sample comes with a straight 3.5mm jack in a silver/carbon fiber ringed housing with a short strain relief before the cable exits as a litz braid of 4 strands.  Each strand uses ten (10) .08mm (28awg) 4N silver wires encased in PVC.   Worth noting is all solder joints are listed as using silver solder as well so with the exception of the fixtures at the termini the cable is devoid of copper.   Also of note, I’ve had this cable for about 2 months as I write this (yes, I’m overdue) and it is still just as pretty as the day it arrived.  That is a good sign as most silver plated cables in this style housing turn green fairly quickly as air reaches the copper cores.  Not so here.  The silver is still bright and no hint of tarnishing or discoloration is present.    The splitter matches the jack in style with a barrel shape and silver/carbon fiber ring design.  A glass bead chin slider sits immediately above the splitter as well.    Above the splitter the wires become two strand twists on either side.   My sample terminates with .78mm bi-pin connectors of the older non-hooded style in matching polished metal housings.  The base of the pins is red to identify the Right side but R/L are not marked on the housings.   The cable is very pliable with good comfort and no tendency to tangle up or kink.  I also found it had little to no cable memory after being coiled for storage.

Options:

In addition to the 3.5mm single ended jack, the same cable is offered with 2.5mm balanced and 4.4mm balanced jacks.   Connectors at the north end can be QDC style (hooded pin with rounded edges),  NX7 (hooded pin with square edges),  and mmcx in addition to the .78mm pins on my sample.

Sound

I will be the first to tell you that I trade cables mostly for comfort, connector type, and aesthetics as any changes in sound are usually obscured unless you have a near perfect listening environment and most of us simply do not.     I did find some time to listen in a near silent environment using the DD Hifi Janus Beta test, and a couple other models to test with.    On the Janus, the sound was clean with good definition throughout and trading from the copper forest cable that came with the Janus was an immediate improvement in comfort as the NiceHCK is roughly half the weight of the Forest.   Highs were well defined and extension seemed improved at the top end compared to the factory offering.   The same basic pattern held true on the other models I tried with single dynamics showing a bit more clearly the differences in sound than the multi-driver balanced armature models where changes were harder to isolate.

Overall

I had my doubts when the enthusiast sales person told me they had a pure silver cable that would retail for less than 50 USD.   My first thought was you’d have more than $50 worth of silver in it if it was any good and my second was if it has less than that, it may be a bit fragile.   I was wrong on both counts.   This is a great replacement cable, every indication is that the wire is 4N pure silver as claimed (no tarnish or green and I soaked it overnight in salt water to try and force the issue) and it is solid.  Fixtures are well done and show no signs of fragility, earhooks are not so tight as to be uncomfortable, and sound gets the benefits of pure silver.    Its hard not to give this a hearty recommendation at $25 for your choice of single ended or balanced and with all the options for connectors at the earpiece as well.   If you are in the market for replacement cables, you could do a lot worse than this and pay a lot more in the process.   Grab a couple of these instead and save a few bucks.