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Good cable for ATH-M50s?

post #1 of 10
12/20/10 at 9:28pm
Thread Starter 

Hi guys, I broke the plug off my ATH-M50 cable not too long ago, and spent a noobish amount of time trying to attach a new 3.5mm plug onto the cable end.

 

But being inexperienced at soldering and stuff I found it extremely hard to attach the ends of the cable where they're supposed to... especially because the ends of the cables had a lot of insulation that I burned off, resulting in frayed ends that were a huge pain to solder.  Perhaps I was doing something wrong.  But anyhow, I've given up on attaching another plug... and I've already lost some 4 feet of stock cable from repeated soldering failures.

 

I'm now on the look for a new cable I can refit onto my ATH-M50s, so that I can make a WTB thread asking for that cable with a plug preattached.  I would attach this to the headphone cup, which is much easier for me.

 

What cable is good for the M50s?

I've heard the Mogami W2893 works, what else?  I would like one that fits snugly into the hole in the earcup on the headphone.  And if it exists, one that doesn't have frayed ends when you cut it open...

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post #2 of 10
12/21/10 at 8:25am
I've been eyeing this pair of cans and have been considering replacing the stock cable with Canare's L-4E6S or maybe the thinner L-4E5C.

Love the tough yet smooth feel of the cables' jacket along with the tight braided shielding.
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post #3 of 10
12/21/10 at 11:21am
Thread Starter 

dont the Canare star quads you mentioned have 4 connects instead of the stock cable's 3 connections?

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post #4 of 10
12/21/10 at 1:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hayang View Post

dont the Canare star quads you mentioned have 4 connects instead of the stock cable's 3 connections?



Most people use 4-conductor cable. 1 = Left Positive, 2 = Right Positive, 3 + 4 = Ground

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post #5 of 10
12/21/10 at 3:27pm

If you're going to recable the M50s you might as well do the 4-wire mod while you're at it. It reduces stereo crosstalk. In my experience that will give you bragging rights more than any perceptible sonic improvement at normal listening levels. But it's not any harder to do than a normal 3-wire recable, so it would be a shame not to do it.

 

The Mogami and Canare cables mentioned will do work nicely for this. The Canare won't fit through the M50's strain relief tube unless you strip off the outer rubber insulation first. The Mogami is more expensive but slightly thinner. I haven't actually tried fitting this one into the M50 so it may also need to be stripped first.

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post #6 of 10
12/22/10 at 7:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yoga Flame View Post
 The Mogami is more expensive but slightly thinner. 


Are we talking cents? Mogami is pretty cheap at $1 or less per foot usually.

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post #7 of 10
12/22/10 at 10:26am
Thread Starter 

thanks a bunch guys.  I posted a thread in the buy and sell section.

 

HOWEVER. You guys sound like you know a lot about these particular cables... if you have any wouldn't you consider selling me some with a plug attached? biggrin.gif

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post #8 of 10
12/22/10 at 5:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by drew.haynes View Post



Quote:
Originally Posted by Hayang View Post

dont the Canare star quads you mentioned have 4 connects instead of the stock cable's 3 connections?



Most people use 4-conductor cable. 1 = Left Positive, 2 = Right Positive, 3 + 4 = Ground


Ooh, that's an interesting concept. I usually put 2 conductors per channel then use the shield for ground.

What are the advantages to putting more wires to ground?
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post #9 of 10
12/23/10 at 12:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ph33lix View Post

 

Ooh, that's an interesting concept. I usually put 2 conductors per channel then use the shield for ground.What are the advantages to putting more wires to ground?


Using separate conductors for each ground channel reduces stereo crosstalk. In normal stereo headphones with a TRS jack, there will always be some small level of crosstalk. Meaning that a very small percentage of the left channel sound will end up on the right, and vice versa. The only way to completely eliminate this is by going dual-mono or balanced, which would require a special amp.

 

The next best thing is to reduce the amount of ground channel conductor being shared by the L and R sides. In normal stereo headphones, you will always have shared ground in the TRS jach and plug. But a 4-conductor cable will have less crosstalk than a 3-conductor one. Someone did a test comparing crosstalk on a stock M50 and a 4-wire M50:

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/484744/crosstalk-on-audio-technica-m50#post_6601078

 

Still, you will need to turn up the volume quite loud before any crosstalk gets to an audible level. So generally it's nothing to worry about. My Shure IEMs use the cable shield as the common ground channel, for example.

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post #10 of 10
12/23/10 at 12:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by drew.haynes View Post

Are we talking cents? Mogami is pretty cheap at $1 or less per foot usually.


You are right. From what I recall Mogami costs about twice as much as Canare, but 50 cents more per foot is still really nothing much.

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