Toxic Cables Black Widow XL Review

Build Quality

Both of my cables are built to perfection. While the earphone cable measures 4ft (~ 1.2m) in length, the headphone cable is six feet (~ 1.8m) long.

The braiding of the cables is just right, where the wires are twisted to still be flexible enough for portable use, but not loose enough to feel flimsy.

Due to their variation in thickness, both cables use different hardware. For example the Y-split is a lot slimmer on the earphone cable, while the headphone version just needs the extra internal space for four wires. Of course the split’s weight also factors in for a portable cable. Here you want, and need, the lightest hardware possible to enhance comfort.

The BWXL does sport quite some weight, which is given due to the nature of the cable’s thickness. This weight can be felt on the ears when I’m out and about. I imagine that people with glasses might find the BWXL somewhat uncomfortable.

The 2-pin connectors of my IEM cable are color coded to indicate which end goes to which side. Always connect the red side with the right earpiece of your IEMs and the black one with the left earpiece.

I haven’t had big issues with comfort of my IEM cable. Sure, it doesn’t disappear like lighter cables, but there wasn’t a big pulling force on my ears either. There is some friction noise going through the cables when I am moving around, but it honestly didn’t bother me much when I am listening to music.

To me, the build quality of the BWXL is absolutely top notch.

Sound

I know cable sound is a very hot topic. There’s camps of people saying that they don’t make a difference at all, and a camp where people can hear sonic differences. Personally, I don’t care if you can or cannot hear the effects of cables in your chain. If you do, enjoy the heck out of it. If you don’t, that’s cool too. I have heard many different cables over the course of my audiophile journey and can say without a doubt, that there is something happening.

Of course a cable can never change the entire sound of your IEM, headphone or speakers. So don’t expect a cable to turn your IEM into a whole new animal. That’s not how this works. With a cable you can uncover the last few drops of performance and optimize a sound.

Moving on.

Over the last few weeks I hooked up a variety of different IEMs to my BWXL as well as the HE-1000se. I used FiR Audio’s Krypton 5, Radon 6 and Electron 12 as well as 64 Audio’s Volür and A18s. I have also used the Craft Ears Omnium, Vision Ears’ Phönix and others during the review process. My main source on the go was the Lotoo PAW Gold Touch. At home I used the Matrix Audio mini-i Pro 4, Chord Hugo TT2 and my PS Audio Gain Cell DAC – the last two with a Black Widow XL adapter (4.4 to 6.35).

The key traits of the BWXL are definitely control, layering and staging. With the Black Widow XL in the chain, the most notable difference was in how it portrayed the entire scene. How well it rendered my music and how it placed every musician.

From start it felt like the whole stage got resized to a larger venue. The BWXL stretches the sound stage further into width, depth and height. Making everything appear grander and with more volume (not loudness).
Bass went a little deeper into the sub-bass region, while also enhancing the control and grip over it. Bass became tighter, faster and snappier, but didn’t lose out on gaining body and weight. The Black Widow XL gives my monitors an extra touch of flesh, where bass notes sound more organic and real.

With the BWXL I could hear more details and get a higher resolution image overall, where you can hear the decay of every string that’s being plucked. The background got considerably darker, which made instrumental separation go through the roof.

The Black Widow XL enhances resolution, layering and imaging. With monitors like the Radon 6 vocals now appeared to come out of nowhere, where instruments stand on a solid void.

I could hear the mids sounding more spacious, more emotional and richer. The BWXL adds a slight bit of body to the midrange and gives them a little more weight. It colors the mids to a slightly warmer and analogue tone.

The change in the highs was also not a drastic one, but one that I could definitely hear. Treble was softened, smoothed out but certainly not toned down or even muted. The BWXL made the highs a touch warmer and richer, giving them a bit more weight. It did calm down treble energy a little.

More on page three!