Introducing Original Cable Studio (OC Studio)

We at earphonia.com are always keen to hear about new or lesser known companies, so it was a nice experience to stumble across OC Studio.

audionewbi had the honour to experience there products and shares his experience/impressions.

Over the past course of the year I have been interested in experimenting with various cables as I feel the collection of IEMs that I have collected over the period of 10 years provides me the necessarily tools I need to enjoy a wide genera of music. I am trying to see how much more I can possibly improve the sound of my favourite IEMs, extracting the so call final 10% if one can put a value on such things.

The issue is there are more cable makers now day than there are earphone makers and options are plentiful, money limited and time to hear and enjoy them all even more limited. So when I buy a cable I always make sure the product I am buying is well regarded however from time to time I come across the odd lesser known brands (in terms of head-fi popularity) which in contrast are well regarded within their own local market.  Also from time I do give such brands a go and like all risks in life it is either provides a rewarding return or leaves me to be wiser in the future.

I first heard about the OC studio when I was searching for any company who either sold or made cables using the ATL MMCX connectors. For those of you who don’t know ATL is Taiwanese company who is well regarded when it comes to their 3.5mm and MMCX  jack.

More about the brand

OC studio is a Taiwan based company established in year 2012. It is a small locally operated company who is managed by its owner David Lin in his hometown. They are not just a cable making company, they do offer services such as custom burning of cable (for those who believe in such things) using Telos Audio QBT Cable Harmoniser Run-in Machine.

I thought in order to get to know David and his brand I should ask him the set of questions that I tend to wonder when I take an interest in a product.

Please note the answers have been rephrased and are not exact quote.

• What made you start your business?

I was gifted a UE TF10 from my father for my birthday.  To my surprised there wasn’t much options for aftermarket cable which was both cheap and suited my IEM. So I decided to see if I can make some cable for myself.

In the quest of building a cable for my own usage the passion was ignited and it is still burning after so many years. Slowly I shared my work with my friends and took them to various meet. The local interest and demand and community slowly encouraged me to grow and improve my products and I decided to establish my own company.

• How do you develop your products?

Most of my work is trial and error based on using the best cable I can get from reputable cable manufactures.  Of course trial and error does play a role but that is not like I am just mixing staff in hope of coming up with a good sounding cable. I have to know the science behind the cable development, like what is the difference between Litz vs OCC. What role conductivity plays, how sound changes when different solders use, how increasing the number of cable cores alters the sound. So there is some science involved for sure but the rest is all a lot of trial and error.

Editors note: Sadly there s a general misconceptions that all cable makers also develop their own cables. This is not the case. For instance if a cable maker claims to be using an UPOCC cable they come from one of the three cable manufactures that actually who have the licences to develop such cables. Where each cable maker varies is what solders they use, what braiding they use which sometimes incorrectly is confused with cable geometry which is more to do with how the cable is braided. Justification of such different prices has to do less with the price of the raw material and more to do with the actual brand name and their own brand product valuation.

• What is your favourite way of listening to music?

Well I actually listen mostly using my speaker setup. That is my ideal way of listening to music. But on the go I’ve started using iBasso DX200.

• What is currently your flagship item?

If we are to judge it by the price tag I guess the Grace 2 and the OCAuX. But I don’t have a particular flagship; as in I don’t judge and group my cables like that.

• If you do not have flagship, as you stated earlier than what do you think of term flagship when used by various other brands?

I can’t answer that as perhaps it is best to ask them. But to me flagship means making the best of the cable you have researched. For instances first of all price plays a role. And second cable preference/synergy. There are people who only like to use copper, some who like to use only silver for their CIEM. There are some who like to experiment with various cable coating. Also most importantly there those who like a particular pairing with their gears as they find for instance a high purity copper to pair better with their IEM than let’s say my most expensive cables mentioned above. Price tag in my view should be the judge; to me it’s more complicated than that.

You might ask than why I have more expensive gear if my cheaper product will do the job? My answer is simple, the product I have made is due to the market/my customers interests.

I cannot say my OCAuX is better than let’s say my Orpheus as they both designed to be best at what they offer and they both provide a different design philosophy. More importantly your preference and how those cable pair with your gear matters more, as I stated before how you decide is based on experience/preference.
This is why I offer a cable that is arguably the cheapest after market cable one can find that actually doesn’t feel cheap in hand, the Ares. Not everyone wants to spend large sum on cash on their first after-market cable, not everyone is willing to start experimenting by purchasing expensive cables. For those people I recommend my Ares MK2.
So in short I feel based on the demand of the market I have produced a set of product that to my design philosophy among the top performers at a very competitive price.  I will never dare say I have designed the best cables but I will say my cable are purchased from the only authenticated cable manufactures who have the licences to produce the cable based on the best known main stream cable manufacturing procedures. I source my cables from NEOTECH. What I do say is I have a deep understanding about various cable making techniques such as whether cabling shielding matters, whether Litz is better or OCC. I did use Litz cables before and despite them offering great potential I found Litz is not always good for sound. They tend to make the sound bright but not extended, they can make the sound fuller but decrease the resolution. And as far as shielding I found that they make the sound darker and in short length it simply doesn’t make any difference.

• What is your take on different cores used in cables?

I’ve experimented different cable cores but the popular choice in the market are 4 and 8. I’ve tested 12 core for the fun of it just to see how things changed.  I noticed that it is much easier to see how sounds changes when going from 4 to 8 core but that improvement is not quiet noticeable when going from 8 to 12 core and not to mention how it decreases ergonomics of it for IEM usage.

• What interesting new products do you have in near future?

In my spare time I do have fun with my ideas, I am always trying various things. So to answer your question yes I do but I don’t have a timeline for it. We have just released our new product line and it is doing well.

• How can members contact you?

There are a number of ways I can be contacted:

1. FACEBOOK： https://www.facebook.com/OriginalCableStudio/
2. EMAIL：[email protected]
3. LINE ID： ocstudio
4. phone： +886973390327