It is now way past 1 month since I owned the MA350, and I’ll say the cables are just cephalopod-y.
I’ll explain what I mean in just a moment. Firstly, I have to say that my experience with braided cables is a vast as my experience with IEMs; i.e. not huge. Of the IEMs and earphones I have, the majority of them are those plastic sheath kinds. The only experience I had with cloth-braid cables is with the V-Moda 3m cable I bought for my Nami-chan.
With that said, I have to say that the MA350’s cables are excellent. The braid is very well-done; when I pinch and ran my fingers along it to straighten out the occasional kinks, the cloth seem very tightly braided.
As you can see, the V-Moda’s one (bottom) bunch up in the end, unlike the MA350’s.
Inter-pocket tangling doesn’t seem to be a problem most of the time, but what is a problem is the way it tends to “maintain” the shape of its previous state.
As seen here, the cable seem to want to maintain this… wound up state, leading to complications if I were to just pull it straight out of the pocket. This is less prominent for those plastic cable sheath in my experience
A plus to the above point though is that the MA350 is conducive to be worn cable up and around the ears. While it’s not as good as a memory cable or a cable guide, it gets the job done when the chin slider is up.
Regardless of that though, the cable feels durable, physically. What I’m not certain though is if it’s durable against sweat. I have brought it into the gym a few times now, and I am worried that sweat soaking into the cable could damage it. It gets pretty soaky. Another positive note for the cable is cold weather reaction: it still feel as supple and soft out in the relentless Russian winter (still snowing at the time of writing, at a consistent -7°C/15°F) and in the warm embrace of indoor heating. Can’t say the same thing for my other IEMs though; they felt stiffer and more fragile in the cold.
Overall, the cable build is above par from what you can expect for the money, lending me (and you) one less thing to worry about.
Kuusou Rumba and Headphones 
I’d agree with this. The cable reminds me of some fairly hardcore cables that tend to accompany higher-end headphones (Denons, etc.). But it’s a double-edged sword right? The increased rigidity also seems to exacerbate the problem of microphonics. Still, a working IEM with microphonics is far superior to a non-working IEM with a shredded cable. :)
Posted by warrenpchi | March 26, 2013, 4:13 AMAgreed on the microphonics, something I forgot to mention. But it’s solved rather well by wearing it cable up.
Posted by fEast91 | March 26, 2013, 11:02 AMTrue dat.
Posted by warrenpchi | March 26, 2013, 2:12 PM