ddHiFi BC125A (Air Ocean) Review

 

 

ddHiFi BC125A (Air Ocean) Review

 

  

Introduction:

ddHiFi (DD Electronics Technology Co.Ltd.) is a relative young company located in China that is specialized in the producing of Portable Audio Accessories like Protective/Storage Case’s for DAP’s, DAC/AMP Adaptors, Cables and more.

The ddHiFi BC125A aka Air Ocean is the latest member of the Air Series upgrade cable of the company. The BC125A is a 3.5mm OCC Copper (Ohno Continuous Casting) earphone upgrade cable with a special Spiral Uniform Shielding Layer and is available in different connector variants including MMCX, 2-Pin 0.78, 2-Pin QDC, Westone’s T2 that is suitable with the new MACH Series and Headphone plug options (3.5mm Straight Plug & 3.5mm L-Shaped Plug).

 

Disclaimer:

I would like to thank ddHiFi for providing me the BC125A (Air Ocean) 3.5mm OCC upgrade cable for review purposes. I am not affiliated with ddHiFi beyond this review and these words reflect my true, unaltered opinions about the product.

 

 

Price & Availability:

 The ddHiFi BC125A aka Air Ocean upgrade cable is actually available for 229.99 US$. The BC125A is a highly customizable cable, so that you have the choice of different type of connector (MMCX, 2-Pin 0.78, 2-Pin QDC, Westone T2) and headphone plug shape options (3.5mm Straight Plug & 3.5mm L-Shaped Plug), which you can chose while purchasing the product.

More information’s can be found under the link below;

 

 

Package & Accessories:

The ddHiFi BC125A Air Ocean OCC upgrade cable came inside box made from environment friendly recycled paper material.

Inside of the box are the following Items/Accessories:

  • 1x ddHiFi BC125A (Air Ocean) 3.5mm OCC Upgrade Cable
  • 1x ddHiFi Earphone Storage Case
  • 1 x Manual/Warranty Card

The ddHiFi BC125A comes bundled with one of the company’s stylish looking protective storage cases.

The case has a symmetrical flip cover is located on the side, which can be opened easily. The double-sided magnet design enables them to attract to each other regardless it’s placed above or bellow.

 

 

Design & Build Quality:

The ddHiFi BC125A is a great looking hand crafted 3.5mm OCC upgrade cable that has a nice insulation in green color, which comes with a 4x Core + 4x Cross Shielding Litz structure.

The cable has a total length of 120cm and a weight and is made from 4 cores of OCC (Ohno Continuous Cast) copper material, which is a combination of 49 stands (7×16 strand) and each strand do have a diameter of Ø0.06mm. The spiral shielding is made from 112 strands (7×16 strand) of Silver plated OFC (Oxygen Free Copper) copper material with a diameter of Ø0.05mm. Unlike the previous Nyx upgrade cables, the BC125A Air Ocean comes with a cross wrapping structure instead of helix wrapping, which takes also longer to make since this is a handcrafted cable.

The ddHiFi BC125A OCC upgrade cable is available with 4 different connector options, which are the 0.78mm diameter 2-Pin version, the QDC Style Wrapped 2-Pin connector, one with MMCX and the brand new T2 that is compatible with Westone’s latest MACH Series In-Ear Monitors.

The connectors of my review unit do have a premium looking metal housing with parts that do have a silver and gold finish.

The inner surfaces of the connectors do come with L (Left) and R (Right) markings. The 0.78mm 2-Pin connectors do look very durable. The housing of each connector does have a slightly angled profile on the top in order to shorter the heat shrink ear hook/guide and make it more comfortable.

The BC125A has a pretty stylish looking y-splitter & chin slider design. The y-splitter has a silver polishes finish, while the chin slider seems made from messing material, which is in gold color.

The cable comes with a gold plated 3.5mm Single Ended plug that you can order with a Straight profiled or with a L angled metal housing same like my review unit.

At the rear side of the L shaped headphone plug version is the ddHiFi brand logo that is printed (or laser engraved) to the faceplate in gold color, which gives the overall appearance a premium look and feel.

The overall build quality of the upgrade cable is “excellent” same like all the other cables I have tested before.

 

 

Technical Specifications: 

ModelBC125A aka Air Ocean
Core4 Cores
Conductor Diameter25.6AWG (core) + 22AWG (spiral shielding)
Conductor Material (Core)Litz High-Purity OCC (Ohno Continuous Cast Copper)
Conductor Matrial (Shielding)Litz High-Purity Silver Plated OFC (Oxygen-Free Copper)
Cable StructureØ0.05mm x 7×7 strands x 4 strands (core)
Ø0.05mm x 7×16 strands x 4 strands (shielding)
Plug3.5 mm SE 24K Gold-Plated Copper material
Connector Type2-pin 0.78mm, 2-Pin QDC, MMCX, Westone T2
Cable Length120cm

 

 

Equipment’s used for this review: 

  • IEM’s                          : ddHiFi JANUS 2, QoA Margarita, Westone Audio MACH80
  • DAP/DAC/AMP         : FiiO M11 Plus, ddHiFi TC35C

 

  

 

Albums & tracks used for this review:

  • Adele – My Little Love (Spotify)
  • Randy Crawford – On Day I Will Fly Away (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
  • Hayley Westenra – Odyssey Album (Dezzer HiFi)
  • Dionne Warwick – Walk On By (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
  • Sarah McLachlan – Angel (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
  • Sertap Erener – Aşk (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
  • Edith Piaf – Non Je Ne Regrette Rien (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
  • Diana Krall – So Wonderful (DSF)
  • Aretha Franklin – I Say A Little Payer (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
  • Sonya Yoncheva – (Giuseppe Verdi) II Trovatore, ActI (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
  • George Michael – Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
  • David Bowie – Heroes (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
  • Elton John – Rocket Man ((Flac 24bit/96kHz)
  • Barry White – Just The Way You Are (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
  • Isaac Hayes – Walk On By (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
  • Sting – Englishman in New York – (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
  • Eric Clapton – Wonderful Tonight (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
  • B.B. King – Riding With The King (Tidal Hi-Fi)
  • Dave Gahan – Kingdom (Tidal Hi-Fi)
  • U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
  • Bro Safari, UFO! – Drama (Deezer HiFi)
  • Armin Van Buuren – Vini Vici (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
  • Daft Punk – Doin’ it Right (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
  • Jo Blankenburg – Meraki (Spotify)
  • Lorde – Royals (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
  • Massive Attack – Angel (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
  • Toutant – Rebirth (Deezer HiFi)
  • Gogo Penguin – Raven (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
  • Gogo Penguin – Murmuration (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
  • Portishead – It Could Be Sweet (Spotify)
  • Max Richter – On the Nature of Daylight (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
  • Charly Antolini – Duwadjuwandadu (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
  • Ferit Odman – Look, Stop & Listen (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
  • Chopin – Nocturn No. 20 In C-Sharp Minor (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
  • Fazıl Say – Nazım Oratoryosu (Live) (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
  • Vivaldi – Le QuarttroStagioni “The Four Season” (Deezer HiFi)
  • Otto Liebert & Luna Negra – The River (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
  • Lunatic Soul – The Passage (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
  • Deftones – My Own Summer (Shove it) (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
  • Metallica – Sad but True (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
  • Metallica – Master of Puppets (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
  • Opeth – Windowpane (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
  • Megadeth – Sweating Bullets (Tidal Hi-Fi)
  • Rush’s – Leave That Thing Alone (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
  • Slayer – Angel of Death (Spotify)
  • Liquid Tension Experiment 2 – Acid Rain (Spotify)
  • Yosi Horikawa – Bubbles (Spotify)

 

 

 

The Sound:

This review has been written after a burn-in period of about 60 hours. I have paired the cable mainly with IEM’s like the ddHiFi Janus 2, QoA Margarita and Westone Audio MACH80

 

ddHiFi Janus 2 + ddHiFi BC125A OCC Cable:

The ddHiFi Janus comes bundled with the BC110A cable that I really liked both in terms of sonic performance and visual appearance. The BC125A is an upgrade cable on another level that shows an excellent synergy with the Janus 2.

The bass especially the midbass gains a bit more body and fullness that I was missing when I have listened to the Janus 2 + BC110A combination. Another improvement is the audible improvement in terms of resolution and layering of this area. The midrange gains slightly more transparency especially in the upper midrange register. The lower midrange shows a bit more depth without to loose its clarity. The treble region of the ddHiFi Janus 2 sounded a little bit hot and thin for my taste especially while listen to instruments such like percussions and soprano voices. The BC125A offer some audible improvements in this area. The lower treble range of for example shows a better level of authority and higher grade of note weight when I do pair the Janus 2 with the BC125A upgrades cable. The soundstage depth and the wideness remains relative similar, while the Janus 2+ BC125A combination offers a slightly better sense of separation, both between instruments and vocals.


 

QoA Margarita + ddHiFi BC125A OCC Cable:

The QoA Margarita is a Hybrid In-Ear Monitor that comes bundled with a 6N High Purity Silvered Coated Copper cable, which is a good stock cable with a modular design.

The QoA Margarita+BC125A combination that I have selected for comparison shows a great synergy. The background is slightly cleaner/darker that helps to focus more to the micro detail. The subbass region is produced with a better level of authority and extension, while the midbass area is reproduced with higher sense of clarity and resolution compared to the stock cable of the Margarita. The midrange sounds a bit more natural when I do listen to instruments and vocals, especially male voices. The upper midrange is produced with a higher grade of extension and resolution that was immediately audible when I have switched to the BC125A upgrade cable. The transitions form the upper midrange towards the lower treble do sound a tad smother and controlled compared to the stock cable. The soundstage gains just a tad more depth and wideness, which is a small but audible improvement.

 

Westone Audio MACH80 + ddHiFi BC125A OCC Cable:

The Westone Audio MACH80 comes with the UltraBaX from Linum Estron, which is a pretty decent stock cable. However, I do prefer the synergy of the Westone Audio MACH80+ddHiFi BC125A over the UltraBaX cable. The MACH80 is an In-Ear Monitor with a quite neutral presentation. The BC125A adds some coloration to the lows, mids and highs that is not overdone. The subbass region for example gains some depth and is produced with a better grade of decay and extension, while the midbass area is show with a higher level of authority, clarity and speed when I do listen to complex songs like Gogo Penguin’s “Murmuration” or to Charly Antolini’s “Duwadjuwandadu”. The MACH80+BC125A combination shows a slightly more airy and lively midrange atmosphere, while the treble region is produced with a bit more presence and brilliance when I do listen to woodwinds and percussions. The soundstage presentation with the stock Linum UltraBaX cable and the ddHiFi BC125A is relative similar.

 

Conclusion:

The ddHiFi BC125A is a very esthetic looking upgrade cable with an impressive craftsmanship, which is also a highly customizable product thanks to the wide variety of connector options that can be selected while placing your order. The BC125A doesn’t change the nature of your In-Ear Monitor by adding some sort of coloration. The main benefits of this upgrade cable are some pretty audible improvements in terms of sonic technical performance that you may get with products double the price of the ddHiFi BC125A.

 

 

Pros & Cons: 

  • + Audible improvements, especially in terms of sonic technical performance
  • + Eye-catching design
  • + Excellent craftsmanship
  • + Wide variety of connector options such like T2 and QDC 2-Pin connectors
  • + Nice ddHiFi Storage Case

 

  • – Only available with 3.5mm Single-Ended headphone plug interface
  • – A bit heavier compared to your standard stock cable

 

Thank you for the Read!

 

 

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