DIY: 5ft, solid silver, HD600/650 cables, veil smashers!

NEW CABLE:

The real Veil Smashers!

These are different from the first ones, not sure if better though, there's definitely more treble and bass here but the mids feel a tad recessed on certain recordings.

Instead of using a single .65mm conductor per side, I used 5 .32mm conductors per side. 3 for the signal and 2 for the ground per side.

I twisted them using a wire twister purchased on Amazon for $8. Ten turns per foot of wire, about 50 turns per grouping.

Where the bass is controlled and detailed on the old cable, the new cable unleashes bass without becoming boomy. When there is BASS, dear god there is BASS GALORE. Where the old cable was sweetly rolled off but still extended in the treble, this one has crisp loud treble that fills out space inside the sounds of instruments, seeming to reveal loads of detail. Cymbals are very crips and more metallic sounding.

The downfall is that the mids feel a bit recessed on some recordings, strangely, voices seem more forward on most recordings.

Overall the sound character is not "typical" HD650 laid back sound, so I would call these true veil smashers.

OLD CABLE:

I built these based on a site I read regarding DIY interconnects, it's basically the same thing I guess.  One difference is that instead of weaving the 3 strands of the interconnect you obviously twist the two strands of headphone cable. 

First you will need the parts the total price is around $75-$100. I'm sure you can go forgo the Silver Solder and save $24.

"Dead Soft" 20-30ft Silver Wire:

http://www.fdjtool.com/ProductInfo/I-SRWP22.aspx

1/16" Shrink Wrap:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=082-014

1/4" Shrink Wrap:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=082-034

Neutrik 1/4" Headphone Plug:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=092-320

Silver Solder:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=093-586

HD600/650 Cardas Plugs:

http://www.dedicatedaudio.com/inc/sdetail/16501

I got this "recipe" from another site on the web that showed how to build a DIY silver interconnect. I can say with confidence that you will be happy with how this sounds compared to the stock cable, it's really uncanny how much better it is.

Key Points:

Wear latex/nitrile gloves.

Get "dead soft" 99.9% pure silver wire.

Carefully push it through the heat shrink, try not to kink it. 

On the Neutrik plug the center post is left, the outer post is right, and the sheath is ground.

On the HPSC cardas plugs, the small post is signal, and the large post is ground.

A hair dryer could work for the heat shrink, but you could also try holding the wire close to an electric stove top. 

(Sorry for the crappy iPad pics)

Step One:

Put on gloves before touching wire. Push 4 lengths of wire through 4 1/16" sections of heat shrink. The heat shrink comes in 4ft lengths. To cover the last foot or so of wire, shrink the end of the heat shrink on the wire, then push an unshrunk piece over the shrunken end and shrink it. Shrink all the 1/16" heat shrink.

Step Two:

Twist covered wire together. I guess this can be done many ways, what I did is twist each pair of wires together, then I twisted the two pairs together at the jack end. I took a section of 1/4" heat shrink and shrunk it over this end, measuring to ensure that the jack end cap would cover the end of 1/4" shrink, creating a nice seamless look.

Step Three:

Solder wires to neutrik plug. First, push rear cap of neutrick plug over the wire with section of 1/4" heat shrink. Twist the ground wires for each channel together then solder them to the inside of the gold sheath. Solder the left channel to the center post, and right channel to the outside post. Add the plastic piece as shown. Push the metal housing over the end of the plug, screw into rear cap with blue plastic piece on the inside as shown.

Step Four: 

Ensure that the rest of the wire is properly twisted together. Determine a suitable point to have channel wire diverge, approximately 14" should do. Place section of 1/4" heat shrink just before the Y split and shrink it. Take full length of 1/4" shrink and thread entire wire through. This may be difficult, I had to solder another length of cheapo speaker wire to the end of my cable, thread that through the 1/4" shrink, the pull the headphone wires through using the speaker wire. Once full length of 1/4" shrink is in place, shrink it.

Step Five:

Solder wires to HPSC Cardas HD600/650 headphone plugs. Aesthetically I prefer to leave off the 1/4" shrink on this section of wire (the top part of the "Y"). It may do to reinforce it by cutting two sections then pushing them over the wire before soldering the plugs on. Solder the plugs, signal wire solders to small post, ground wire solders to large post. Now you can push your unshrunk 1/4" heat shrink (if you chose to put it on before hand) over the end of the plugs and shrink it.

Plug into amplifier and enjoy!

Of course, if this project isn't magical enough for you, you can add one of these:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=110-450&AID=1457538&PID=2558074

Quote:

Originally Posted by liamstrain 

how flexible is the final cable, using the solid core wire like that? 

Not very flexible, which is one reason I went with only 5ft, this way it can be placed entirely on my desk and managed carefully. You would definitely not want to bend this in a circle with a diameter of less than a foot. I just ordered 64ft of .3mm silver wire for $21 (only .5 ounce this time) and will be twisting a 3 core wire that will have 12 total strands vs 4, and hopefully be more flexible. Surface area will increase, quantity of silver will be halved, and hopefully it will sound as good or even better! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Megaohmz 

Nice work bro. Looks like a good shiny solder. Silver solder is tougher for me to use. It doesn't flow as easily, but I use it sometimes. Since it is usually only 2-4% silver, it probably won't matter much since the space between wire and contact is so small. I just replaced my Koss portapro wire with some Gepco stuff. I was really surprised with the new sound. It is like my old headphones are completely different now. I posted a thread here on this page of the descriptions on how it sounds. I should take a picture and post it. I am a huge gepco fan now. You can get pretty long lenghts for cheap, and they have a multitude of different wire suitable for headphones.

 

Be careful. Some people here don't think that wire makes a difference, and they will hound you like no tomorrow, throw a fit and demand an ABX test like that will make a difference over the internet! But to us insiders, it does make a huge difference.

Thanks!

Yes, I already heard it from the anti-cable crowd in another thread, they seem convinced they can't trust their own ears. 

NEW CABLE:

The real Veil Smashers!

These are different from the first ones, not sure if better though, there's definitely more treble and bass here but the mids feel a tad recessed on certain recordings.

Instead of using a single .65mm conductor per side, I used 5 .32mm conductors per side. 3 for the signal and 2 for the ground per side.

I twisted them using a wire twister purchased on Amazon for $8. Ten turns per foot of wire, about 50 turns per grouping.

Where the bass is controlled and detailed on the old cable, the new cable unleashes bass without becoming boomy. When there is BASS, dear god there is BASS GALORE. Where the old cable was sweetly rolled off but still extended in the treble, this one has crisp loud treble that fills out space inside the sounds of instruments, seeming to reveal loads of detail. Cymbals are very crips and more metallic sounding.

The downfall is that the mids feel a bit recessed on some recordings, strangely, voices seem more forward on most recordings. The sound is not bad at all, it's just that those rich mids and sweetly rolled off treble of the solid core silver cable is kind of addictive. 

Overall the sound character is not "typical" HD650 laid back sound, so I would call these true veil smashers.