Dragon Cables
Black Dragon Premium Cable for Grado Headphones
$495.00 USDThe Black Dragon Premium Cable will elevate the sonic performance of your Grado Signature HP100 SE headphones, providing a warmer tonality, more musical presentation, and improved bass performance. The Black Dragon adds warmth and musicality to the HP100 SE's impressive soundstage. The HP100 SE stands out with its exceptional detail, resolution, and airiness – characteristics that the Black Dragon Cable enhances while smoothing out higher frequencies without sacrificing detail or character. It adds body to the overall presentation, delivering a fuller sound with enhanced bottom-end weight – perfect for those seeking a more robust listening experience.
Grado headphones are celebrated for their open, expansive soundstage and remarkable detail resolution. The Black Dragon Premium Cable complements these characteristics perfectly, especially when paired with tube amplifiers. We've found this combination particularly impressive with our Dragon Inspire IHA-1 Tube Headphone Amplifier, creating a synergy that brings out the best in Grado's legendary Brooklyn House Sound.
With premium connectors and the best solder available from Mundorf, the Black Dragon Premium Cable delivers the highest possible sonic improvements. In Hi-Fi Audio, materials matter –everything in the signal path makes a difference. Reducing transfer resistance at solder joints significantly improves signal integrity, similar to how fresh asphalt smooths out a potholed street. Our high-quality solder and premium connector materials provide the clearest possible path for your audio signal.
Compatible with these Grado headphones: Signature HP100 SE (and future detachable headphones from Grado using 4-pin mini-XLR connectors).
The Premium Difference
What is the difference between the Premium and Standard Dragon Cable? Our Premium Cable offers the same quality construction as the standard line, featuring UP-OCC 99.99998% pure conductors and matching cable designs with a few upgrades. Cardas Silver Solder is replaced with Mundorf MSolder SUPREME SilverGold mix at every connection point, and premium Furutech Rhodium connectors are included to enhance the look, feel, and listening pleasure of all your hi-fi music sessions. The Furutech Top Line connectors are quite simply the best made, and every point of signal saturation makes a difference.
Quality You Can Trust
Most stock headphone cables are made of poor, ultra-thin conductors that work as a bottleneck for sound. Poor geometries, no shielding, rubber jackets, and a whole host of other issues in OEM cables can limit the performance of the headphone driver in terms of clarity and definition.
Dragon Cables are handcrafted from quality materials in Moon Audio's headquarters in Cary, North Carolina. All of our cables are created with ultra-pure, single-crystal silver and copper strands and engineered to provide the cleanest, most musical presentation. Our wire is void of impurities and crystalline boundaries, leaving nothing between you and your music.
Black Dragon Sound Signature
The Black Dragon is our top-of-the-line flagship cable designed to increase musicality and provide a warmer tonality with amazing bass performance. Copper strands increase the boldness by providing more slam and attack. It smooths out and provides a more romantic sound signature. A great way to get lost in the music.
The Black Dragon pairs well with all genres, especially Classical, Blues, Rock & Roll, R&B, and anything with a toe-tapping beat like EDM and Dance music. That being said, the Black Dragon can be paired with many other genres as well. If you love to get lost in the music and want to feel like you are at the performance, then this is the cable for you. Are your headphones a little thin sounding and need more meat on the bones, give the Black Dragon a try. Hear those subsonic frequencies like never before.
Black Dragon Cable Design
The Black Dragon Headphone Cable is built using high-quality materials and handcrafted in our Cary, NC Headquarters. Using 4 x2.15AWG Teflon insulated stranded conductors and pure single crystallized UP-OCC pure copper with 7N purity 99.99998%, the Black Dragon Headphone Cable delivers an incredible amount of music and clarity to your ears. Each conductor is made up of a special varying size stranding geometry. The copper stranding is mixed with Kevlar stranding to reinforce the conductor. Making it stronger overall and less prone to failure due to the harsh constant flexing a headphone cable receives.
The headphone conductors are then surrounded by cotton and a layer of Teflon tubing. The new v2 version is now also double shielded and placed in a polyethylene jacket for further protection. The wire is soldered to the connector with Cardas silver solder.
What is UP-OCC?
UP-OCC stands for Ultra-Pure Ohno Continuous Casting (OCC). This is not a material, but a way of extruding silver and copper to prevent any impurities and fractures in the crystalline structure of the wire. The wire is drawn very slowly to cast as an almost perfect single crystal small-diameter conductor. The resulting purity and the size of the cast wire make a tremendous difference and there is less damage to the near-perfect cast state. We find this UP-OCC process produces a very clean and close to neutral sound in our copper-based and silver-based cables.
Tailored Cables for Any Setup
If you have any questions about the right terminations for your setup, don't hesitate to reach out via our Contact Us page. When purchasing, be sure to fill out the 'List your devices to ensure compatibility' field, as this helps us match your gear with the perfect connection. Whether you're using standard equipment or have a unique configuration, we've got you covered. We specialize in creating custom cables for almost any setup you can imagine. Have a rare or unusual connector? Chances are, we can build exactly what you need. Let us know your requirements, and we’ll take care of the rest.
Pick Your Dragon
Clear | Detailed
- 4 x 24 AWG Teflon-insulated 99.99998% UP-OCC Stranded Silver Conductors
- The Silver Dragon maximizes the amount of detail, clarity, and instrument separation you get from your music.
Full | Balanced
- 4 x 24 AWG Teflon-Insulated 99.99998% GUP-OCC Stranded Graphene and Copper Conductors
- The Bronze Dragon improves dynamics while maintaining musicality and detail.
Warm | Flexible
- 4 x 24 AWG Teflon-insulated 99.99998% UP-OCC Stranded Copper Conductors
- The Black Dragon provides a warmer tonality, more musical presentation, and improved bass performance.
Neutral | Uncolored
- 4 x 24 AWG Teflon-insulated 99.99998% UP-OCC Stranded Copper Conductors
- The Blue Dragon adds detail and resolution, improving dynamics without changing the coloration.
For more information on finding your signature sound, visit our Sound Signature Guide.
Press and Reviews
HiFi+
by Chris Martens
Jun. 2017
FAQ
What makes the Black Dragon Cable different from stock headphone cables?
The Black Dragon Cable is crafted using high-quality materials such as stranded copper conductors and a unique insulation design. It aims to reduce interference and improve signal clarity compared to standard cables.
Which headphones are compatible with the Black Dragon Cable?
The Black Dragon Cable is compatible with a wide range of headphones, including popular models from brands like Audeze, Sennheiser, Focal, and more. It's often customized to fit specific headphone connectors.
How does the Black Dragon Cable enhance audio quality?
It enhances audio quality by improving dynamics, clarity, and bass response. The cable's construction minimizes signal loss and distortion, resulting in a more detailed and immersive listening experience.
Is the Black Dragon Cable available in different configurations?
Yes, Moon Audio offers the Black Dragon Cable in various configurations, including different lengths and connector types (e.g., 3.5mm, 1/4 inch, balanced XLR). Customizations are also available to suit specific audio setups.
Does the Black Dragon Cable require burn-in time?
Some users report that the Black Dragon Cable benefits from a burn-in period to optimize its performance fully. This process allows the cable's materials to settle and the sound signature to stabilize over time.
Can the Black Dragon Cable be used with portable audio devices?
Yes, depending on the configuration chosen (e.g., shorter lengths, mobile-friendly connectors like 3.5mm), the Black Dragon Cable can be used with portable audio devices such as smartphones, portable DACs, and headphone amplifiers.
What are the main advantages of upgrading to the Black Dragon Cable?
Upgrading to the Black Dragon Cable typically results in improved resolution, tighter bass, and a smoother overall sound. It's favored by audiophiles looking to maximize the performance of their high-end headphones.
Is the Black Dragon Cable durable?
Yes, Moon Audio constructs the Black Dragon Cable with durability in mind, using robust materials and meticulous craftsmanship to ensure longevity and reliability even with regular use.
Do high-end cables make a difference?
High-end audio cables use higher-quality materials. Materials matter. Better materials mean better performance and longer life. The materials used in premium headphones and audio cables are irrefutably better quality than the materials used in OEM cables. This can translate to a number of improvements including better shielding, lower noise floor, natural dB boost, and overall improvement in clarity, soundstage, and definition of audio.
Do cables affect sound quality?
They can, depending on the types of materials they use. Factors like shielding can legitimately affect the amount of interference and noise that the audio signal will be subjected to. Long cable runs can act as antennas and shielding is quite important. Materials like copper and silver conductors and the quality of those conductors will affect the sound signature of the audio. Oxygen-free conductors also sound different from cables with oxygen-laden conductors. There are many factors that can affect the overall audio quality of your cable.
We use what is called UP-OCC. This stands for Ultra Pure Ohno Continuous casting. This is a process developed by Dr. Ohno of Japan. Conventional methods of extruding copper result in multiple and fractionated crystalline structures. Oxygen-free Free Copper (OFC) has a distinctive effect on your audio quality that some might find lacking. The OCC process uses a heated mold for extruding, whereas other processes involve a cooled mold. The cooling process in OCC takes place separately, resulting in larger crystal sizes and increased purity. So, from a materials perspective, the OCC process is far superior to OFC.
Are good audio cables important?
Cables are the connection to your music, so having good audio cables is especially important to improve sound quality. Poor quality cables and poor connections can lead to noise, static, audio cutout, and much more, negatively affecting the quality of your music.
Why are there different Dragon Cable variants?
Our Dragon Cables feature different metal configurations, each having different audio sound signatures when paired with your speakers or headphones. The Silver Dragon lends more detail and soundstage, making it a great pairing for warmer headphones. Black Dragon cables add more warmth and body to make them a great pairing for forward-sounding and analytical headphones. Blue Dragon cables are a great value, improving the clarity, staging, and detail on any headphones. Lastly, the Bronze Dragon improves thin-sounding headphones and IEMs, warming and rounding out a flat signature.
There are also USB, digital, interconnects, speaker, and power cables that are also handcrafted to your specifications. Each of these cable types has specific audio signature properties that can help to lift the veil of your music on any device and connection type.
Is copper or silver better when choosing an audio cable?
Each has its own sonic properties that can positively or adversely affect your music, depending on the genre, headphones, or amplifier you are listening to. Silver is more conductive than copper but can also thin out your music if paired with a forward-sounding headphone. Likewise, copper can fill out the low end and create a warmer and more musical presentation, which is great for non-bass-heavy genres. One is not necessarily better than the other, but there is a better option (of the two) depending on your system and the type of music you like to listen to.
Cable Design
- Conductors
- 4 x 2.15AWG
- Material
- 99.99998% UP-OCC Copper
- Construction
- Varying Size Stranding
- Solder
- Cardas Silver Solder
- Shielding
- Teflon, Foil, Braided Wire Shield
- Jacket
- Black Polyethylene
Features
- Application
- Fullsize Headphone
- Sound Signature
- Warm and Musical
- Break-In Time
- 40 Hours
Dragon Audio Cables are covered by a one-year limited warranty against material or manufacturing defects. For more information, visit our Warranty Terms page.