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quick question: building 4-wire headphone cable

post #1 of 12
3/2/10 at 5:18am
Thread Starter 
I'm about to build my first headphone cable and have a quick question. If using a 4-wire, I want to connect one wire to the tip (left), one to the ring (right), and two to the sleeve (ground) right?



and for a 3-wire, I could essentially do the same except connect only one to the sleeve (ground) and split the ground for right and left?

thanks in advance!
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post #2 of 12
3/2/10 at 5:24am
That is correct. The "advantage" to using 4 wires is that you keep the ground separate for each channel until you absolutely must combine (at jack).
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post #3 of 12
3/2/10 at 12:23pm
I admit I'm both lazy and cheap, since I don't want to spend a handsome of money to test this out: dual cables to ground induces a thicker sound / heavier bass. Sb told me this. Is this true?
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post #4 of 12
3/2/10 at 12:31pm
i have recabled over 20 phones (all 4 wire, spc, spofhc, upocc silver etc), and have honestly not noticed a difference in any of them, your experience may vary, but there are cable believers and non believers, so you will have to pick a side eventually haha
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post #5 of 12
3/2/10 at 5:03pm
Cable believer or not, having a HUGE ground point vs a single one is not a matter of belief, it's a basic electronics rule.
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post #6 of 12
3/2/10 at 5:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dumbears View Post
I admit I'm both lazy and cheap, since I don't want to spend a handsome of money to test this out: dual cables to ground induces a thicker sound / heavier bass. Sb told me this. Is this true?
Each + wire carries a certain amount of current... current which has to return back along the - or ground wire(s). If you use a single ground wire, it will be carrying double the current on the + wires. Granted, the currents involved in headphones are pretty small and a normal 24ga or up conductor can handle this easily, but in theory going double isn't going to hurt you. Plus it makes it much easier to convert to balanced (or bridged, whatever you want to call it) in the future.
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post #7 of 12
3/3/10 at 7:59pm
or, use a larger wire for the ground, than you use for the left and right "hots"
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post #8 of 12
3/3/10 at 8:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pars View Post
Plus it makes it much easier to convert to balanced (or bridged, whatever you want to call it) in the future.
YESSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! biggest advantage in my opinion.
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post #9 of 12
3/6/10 at 4:55pm
Thread Starter 
I bought a Neutrik NYS228BG TRS plug and there is this thin piece of carbon-like paper where the sleeve is. Is it OK to solder on it or should I remove it first? I don't see it on any of the other plugs.



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post #10 of 12
3/6/10 at 5:14pm
don't remove it; its there to help insulate between gnd and the other 2.
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post #11 of 12
5/1/10 at 3:25am
Thread Starter 


i'm confused with this one. tip should be the one in the middle right? and ring on the bottom?
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post #12 of 12
5/1/10 at 3:39am
Yes. Tip is the center pin, ring is the tab protruding out.
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