UnReviews:FSI Jiangyi headphone cable
In the wee hours of June 21, 2025, shortly after a 50th anniversary NBC airing of Jaws, an audiophile tragedy struck - I accidentally stepped on my headphone (stock) cable and broke the tip off. It was three years old. I was trying to pick up the CD-Rs that my damn cat knocked all over the floor. There's no space in my house, everything's cramped, and everything looks like a fucking war zone. Luckily, I was smart enough to buy an audiophile pair of headphones with detachable cable. Finding a replacement cable was actually harder than I thought. You can't just pick up a random cable - You have to find something compatible with your specific headphones, as decreed by the headphone gods. It's all due to the bright idea that headphones need proprietary connections. Again, as decreed by the headphone gods.[1] I went straight to Amazon and punched in "Audio-Technica MSR7b[2] replacement cable," as this is my specific pair of headphones. I found a nice cable from a Chinese hi-fi (Chi-fi) company called FSI Jiangyi [3], which I'd never heard of. $178. Usually ships in 2-3 days. It actually took 7 business days to arrive. But... it was the wrong cable. It was the 4.4mm balanced cable instead of the 3.5mm I needed.[4] I don't have any balanced equipment, so such a cable would have been useless. Besides, my headphones already came with a stock 4.4mm cable anyway, in addition to the stock 3.5mm cable.
Information about FSI Jiangyi is scarce on the internet, and I challenge you to find much of anything. Hell, you're more likely to find Jimmy Hoffa or the lost city of Atlantis or Al Capone's vault. Or Waldo, or Carmen Sandiego. But I read a few articles during the waiting period about how good Chi-fi had all of a sudden become. Like it can beat the shit out of the big boys in the hi-fi/audiophile world[5] for a fraction of the cost, because labor and R&D are so cheap in China, and because most of these companies started out as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of these same big boys.
It took 9 business days for the correct (3.5mm) cable to arrive - for a grand total of 24 days, nearly a month! That's 24 days without headphones or any kind of hi-fi. I watched episodes of David Letterman and John Oliver using - shudder - the TV speakers! Forgive me, audiophile gods, for I have sinned! I put the tea in the microwave! I wore the white pants after Labor Day! I had the wire hangers in my closet! I dropped the screw in the tuna! I shot the sheriff... but I didn't shoot the deputy! I put the bomp in the bomp-bomp-bomp! I let the dogs out! I can't even look at myself in the mirror! What kind of monster have I become?
When the cable finally arrived that Monday, July 14, 2025, I checked to make sure it was the correct one. Duh! I didn't even noticed it said "3.5mm" right there on the box. I checked the plug to make sure it was a simple tip-ring-sleeve (TRS). It was. Plus, it even came with a 6.35mm (1/4 inch) adapter[6] I plugged it all in right away. After testing an episode of Friends that happened to be on, I noticed Dolby Digital 5.1 still needed to be turned up a ways due to being mixed down to stereo. For my first real test, I went to YouTube and played the classic album The Wit and Wisdom of Ronald Reagan. The soundstage was impressive already.
When the night wound down and I had the night to myself and I could finally watch a movie, I decided to watch Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush - the original (and superior) 1925 cut. It's never sounded better. I discovered a really good burn-in disc from Tara Labs that I let run a couple times. It really improved the sound. When I went to watch A Quiet Place, my FSI Jiangyi headphone cable, after burning in, really opened up the sound of my headphones. It's like I was right there in the room.
When I had some more privacy, I grabbed my Yamaha keyboard and played one of my favorite classical pieces, an old favorite I knew intimately - John Cage's classic "4'33"." It was so rich, musical and detailed it felt like Cage was right there in the room pounding on his piano.
Then I removed the adapter and tested my Zoom sound recorder, which takes 3.5mm. I recorded myself doing a pretty convincing impression of Marcel Marceau. It sounded crystal clear, like Monsieur Marceau was right there in the room, orating his craft.
My stock cable was fairly good, but this baby really sings. The bass digs deeper, the mids are nice and warm, and the highs soar. The soundstage and imaging are phenomenal. FSI Jiangyi have hit a home run here. It looks beautiful, it sounds beautiful, it feels beautiful. It's long enough for my needs. I will note, though, that just like my stock cable, it does kind of get in the way while playing my keyboard, but I've long been used to it.
Footnotes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Audio-Technica MSR7b headphones and a few other models use A2DC connections to the earcups. Not to be confused with AC/DC, though the band sounds beautiful and epic through my new cable.
- ↑ Sexy name, isn't it? MSR7b. Just rolls off the tongue.
- ↑ May or may not be one word
- ↑ I know all this technobabble bullshit means nothing to you, but please just humor me here.
- ↑ Think brands like Onkyo, Denon, Marantz, Pioneer/Elite, Harman Kardon, Klipsch, Jamo, Bowers & Wilkins, Audio-Technica, Sennheiser, Sony and a host of other famous names
- ↑ For connecting to serious equipment such as $600 AV receivers or musical instruments