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Confused with XLR cables...

post #1 of 14
7/31/08 at 3:15am
Thread Starter 
I plan on making another purchase sometime soon which will be the V3 cans from headphile.com ...And I am trying to figure out which options to go with.

I see option for 1/4, 4-pin XLR, or XLR. I see a 4-pin XLR option and just plain XLR? What is the difference?

What do most common amps accept?

Since my amp only supports 1/4, would XLR make a difference? I also know that there are special adapters converting XLR to 1/4 plug.

I am kind of confused here guys, any help would be great!
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post #2 of 14
7/31/08 at 4:25am
XLR connectors are used, in this case, for balanced headphones. It won't do anything for you unless you have a balanced amp. If you're planning to go balanced in the future you could get an XLR terminated headphone cable with an XLR to 1/4" adapter to use in the meantime, but that's up to you.

As for the different kinds, most balanced amps connect to headphones with a pair of three pin XLR jacks. However, since only two of the three pins on each is active in such cases, a single four pin XLR can do it as well. It's less common, but some people prefer it (it certainly looks better).

Here's a picture of the former case I dug up from Google (ie. a headphone cable terminated in a pair of three pin XLRs connected to a balanced amp)



On the other hand, here's an amp with a four pin XLR jack:



Hope that helped.
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post #3 of 14
7/31/08 at 7:26am
Thread Starter 
Thanks, that did clear some things up for me.

I am sure you already answered this, but I just wanted to make sure.

When I have an amp which accepts a 1/4 input connection, and when I order a headphone from headphile, it would be a waste to make them XLR? Since there are XLR adapters which will convert it to 1/4, it would be a waste then for me to use XLR or it would be better to get that for my future amps when I go balanced? Thanks for the help!
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post #4 of 14
7/31/08 at 9:41am
You basically answered your own question. As monolith stated, it really depends if you plan on going balanced in the future. Though another option is to have the cable terminated with a 1/4" and then if you do go balanced at some point, you can have it converted to a balanced configuration. It is a question of convenience. Deal with balanced termination and a balanced to SE adapter till you get a balanced set-up or just go SE (1/4") and deal with balanced (if you ever go that direction) later.
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post #5 of 14
7/31/08 at 10:09am
My preference is to have my headphones terminated with 4pin xlr conneenctors. That way the connector bulk is minimized, and it's easy to have adapter cables from the 4pin to whichever connector you need. I've got 4pin to mini, 1/4", 2x XLR-F, and 2x XLR-M. You can also easily have extension cables using 4pin to 4pin.
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post #6 of 14
7/31/08 at 7:30pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the help guys, it helped alot...Now if I do decide to go with 4-pin XLR, and plan on using adapters....Where do they sell these? I have googled everywhere for them with no luck. Do these have to be custom-made?

EDIT: What I would need since the headphone will have to XLR cables out, they both would go into an adaptor and it would become 1/4". I am seeing a bunch of single ended xlr adaptors but not double-ended. Am I missing something?
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post #7 of 14
7/31/08 at 7:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solid Snake View Post
Thanks for the help guys, it helped alot...Now if I do decide to go with 4-pin XLR, and plan on using adapters....Where do they sell these? I have googled everywhere for them with no luck. Do these have to be custom-made?
I'm sure some places here and there sell them, but you'd most likely have to have them made special to get exactly what you want.

Also remember that since most balanced amps have dual 3-pin jacks, you'll need a 4-pin to dual 3-pin adapter in order to use those balanced amps in the future, should you ever decide to get one.

Your immediate need would be a 4-pin XLR to 1/4" adapter, obviously. Something like this:



Moon Audio sells them, but you'll probably want to go with something more reasonably priced, which will probably mean getting a cable maker from these forums to make you one.

From the same page, here's an example of a dual 3-pin XLR to 1/4" adapter cable:



From that picture, the advantages of the 4-pin termination should be pretty obvious. It'd be pretty annoying having the two big cylinders in the middle of the cable which you'd get using a dual 3-pin termination with one of those adapters.


You should bear in mind that all of this discussion hinges on whether you think you'll go balanced in the future. Read up on it and look into the costs of doing this, and see if you'll be willing to spend the money on the gear you'll need later. I've certainly considered going balanced in the future, but I figure by the time I have a couple thousand to spend on a balanced source and amp, I can afford to sell my single-ended headphones and get balanced replacements, or have them reterminated.
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post #8 of 14
7/31/08 at 8:06pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks monolith, I kind of understand how it works now. I will probably just stick with 1/4" output when I get my headphones made because it does seem like an expensive route just for going with XLR. Thanks!
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post #9 of 14
7/31/08 at 8:13pm
Thread Starter 
AHHH!! NOW I GET IT

The 4-pin is a single ended cable!

The balanced 3-pin are with two cables coming out of the headphones!

Now I understand! Jeez, I was so confused there because I kept seeing these cables with only one end and I was trying to figure out how the dual 3-pin cables would go into one. lol Thanks guys!
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post #10 of 14
7/31/08 at 9:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solid Snake View Post
AHHH!! NOW I GET IT

The 4-pin is a single ended cable!

The balanced 3-pin are with two cables coming out of the headphones!

Now I understand! Jeez, I was so confused there because I kept seeing these cables with only one end and I was trying to figure out how the dual 3-pin cables would go into one. lol Thanks guys!
I sort of explained some of that in my first post. A "single ended" headphone has three wires leading up to the headphones. Left and right channels and a common ground.

Balanced headphones have four wires, on the other hand. Left and right channels and separate ground for each. Thus, you can use a single four pin XLR, or you can use two 3-pin XLRs, but one pin in each won't be doing anything (for a total of four pins in use). The latter is the more common way.

You can conceivably use other things two, like a pair of mono 1/4" jacks or something, but people don't do that.
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post #11 of 14
8/1/08 at 9:05am

confused with XLR cables

thanks for your help Monolith as I also was a bit confused. I have the Senn HD650 and was thinking if it would be a big difference to change, [as many have posted], but the cost of the amp, cables, and all the rest is a bit much for me right now.
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post #12 of 14
9/19/08 at 2:41pm

unisex xlr 4-pin

Neutrik - Updates

it shows female with 4 and male with 3. I don't understand why.
if I connect it to a dac i need 1 but if I connect it to a amp I need 2?
I want to mod dt880 to have xlr next to the headphones I want to recable my headphones in the future but in the near future I will not have a ballanced amp. It's only for eaxy exchange of cables if i'll be into this in the future or just for being able to listen to everything.

dt880 - xlr ---> unisex xlr to unisex xlr --> adapter
any recommendation?
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post #13 of 14
9/19/08 at 2:51pm
4 pin xlrs are typically used for power, outside the headphone world. So any 4pin conversion cable sold by a store that isn't specifically saying it's for headphones wont be what you want.

The benefit from terminating headphones in 4pin is you can have an amp with a 4pin connector, or you can have adapters to anything you need, without having the bulk of 2x3pin connectors when you dont' need them.

So for a typical setup you'd go:

dt880 with 4pin xlr ->
2x3pin XLR Female connectors to go out of a dac directly
2x3pin XLR Male connectors to go out of a commercial balanced headphpone amp
1/4" connector to go to a single ended home amp
1/8" mini connector to go to a single ended portable amp or ipod, etc
directly to amp designed to power K1000s or other 4pin terminated headphones.
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post #14 of 14
9/19/08 at 7:01pm
i searched for an adapter 4-pin to 2 xlr 3pin and I didn't found anything. anyway I don't think I have chances to find one locally. i'll buy parts from farnell.
should i try a cheaper balanced amp (maybe diy) to use with my dr. dac2[unbalanced] as source or I should stay away from balanced until I afford something headroom level?
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