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Question about 3.5mm plugs (neutrik vs viablue re: size)

post #1 of 17
1/11/12 at 1:32am
Thread Starter 

I'm going to be recabling my Shure E2C IEMs as soon as my 28awg 19 strand silver teflon wire comes in the mail from Navships. I'm currently looking for a 3.5mm stereo mini cable end to use with them. I have use neutrik/reans before and i like them, but i recently came across the super slim Viablues, but theyre extremely hard to find a source of online. Should i just stick with a basic neutrik stereo mini? i know the viablue is much higher build quality, and it looks like it could possible be lower profile than the neutriks. i want something slim and small for portable use. 

 

the viablue in question (where the hell would i find one here in the states?)

uNM6u.jpg

 

and the neutrik everyone knows and loves. 

 

nys231.jpg

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post #2 of 17
1/11/12 at 2:04am

You can get both sizes of the viablues from ebay

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2pcs-ViaBlue-T6S-phono-stereo-jack-plug-3-5mm-1-8-audiophile-high-end-diy-ipod-/190625660666?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c622cbefa

 

cheers

FRED

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post #3 of 17
1/11/12 at 10:20am

You can get them from AV Outlet, just search Viablue 3.5mm. It's a weird site though, I have to use IE8 to checkout because the shopping cart won't open in Chrome. You get free shipping if you buy 3 or more plugs.

 

As for dimensions, they're almost identical to the Neutriks. 

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post #4 of 17
1/11/12 at 1:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon C View Post

I'm going to be recabling my Shure E2C IEMs as soon as my 28awg 19 strand silver teflon wire comes in the mail from Navships.


To be precise it's silver plated OFC copper not silver alone.
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post #5 of 17
1/11/12 at 3:17pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks guys, i think ill stick with the Rean connectors, i dont think the viablues are worth the price premium if they arent any smaller. yeah theyre very well built, but not really worth it to me. 

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post #6 of 17
1/11/12 at 9:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CrucifixationOfFaith View Post


To be precise it's silver plated OFC copper not silver alone.


yes, this is a misnomer that he himself does not do much to combat. recabling your iems with this stuff i not going to be very useful, the teflon coat he uses makes his wire the most microphonic wire ive ever come across

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post #7 of 17
1/11/12 at 10:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by qusp View Post



yes, this is a misnomer that he himself does not do much to combat. recabling your iems with this stuff i not going to be very useful, the teflon coat he uses makes his wire the most microphonic wire ive ever come across



Whyso? From what I've seen, it seems like people around the forums here cant recommend it enough. Either way, its going to be a major improvement over the cracked, stiff, and fraying stock cable on my Shures. 

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post #8 of 17
1/11/12 at 11:19pm

yes and any time i see it recommended i try to warn people, i cant believe how much it gets recommended, imo the only thing is has going for it is its cheap, it has a THICK teflon coat that makes it quite stiff and thats about the most microphonic thing around. its less of a problem with fullsize over the ear headphones, but iems are literally plugged into your ears and sealed, so any vibration is accentuated. if you must do it, make sure you sleeve the cable with something soft like paracord or 1/8" soft multifilament (not monofilament) techflex. if you dont sleeve it or sleeve it with normal PET techflex it will be VERY bad.


Edited by qusp - 1/11/12 at 11:22pm
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post #9 of 17
1/12/12 at 12:10am
Thread Starter 

i had actually planned on sleeving it with a shoelace. so ive got that covered i guess. its the really thin 19 strand stuff too, instead of the 7 strand so it should be a little more flexible. We'll see then. What would you recommend instead for a set of IEMs?

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post #10 of 17
1/12/12 at 7:40am

yeah it might help, i still wouldnt be that confident, its that bad imo. thin or not, the teflon coat is thicker than normal and the stuff i have, which is probably the same as what you are getting, is still stiff as hell even though its stranded thin gauge. .wire for iem cables is a tough ask, the stuff i would recommend i cant while staying within the rules. you might check out the fine stranded silver coax at vt4c.com if they have any left. they call it 'silver arm wire' lol in reference to tonearm wire i guess.

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post #11 of 17
1/12/12 at 11:25am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by qusp View Post

yeah it might help, i still wouldnt be that confident, its that bad imo. thin or not, the teflon coat is thicker than normal and the stuff i have, which is probably the same as what you are getting, is still stiff as hell even though its stranded thin gauge. .wire for iem cables is a tough ask, the stuff i would recommend i cant while staying within the rules. you might check out the fine stranded silver coax at vt4c.com if they have any left. they call it 'silver arm wire' lol in reference to tonearm wire i guess.


Ill look into it if the navships stuff doesnt work out for me, but its a little more than i would like to spend on these IEMs. Budget is pretty tight.

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post #12 of 17
1/13/12 at 2:56pm
Thread Starter 

Well, qusp, you were entirely right. It is pretty darn stiff wire. im going to build a stereo mini interconnect with it once my new order of Rean connectors comes in, as a test. I'm not looking forward to spending almost 40$ more on wire though just for these Shures (yeah i'm poor). I'm not looking for insane sound quality, do you have any other recommendations for decent wire? ill keep looking around myself. 

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post #13 of 17
1/13/12 at 8:32pm

Hi, yeah i know =) i cannot believe how often its recommended across the board! its not cheap if its useless. its ok for interconnects and for fullsize headphones if you add damping and sleeving to try to avoid the microphonics, but for stranded its stiffer than most suitably sized solid core, so i wouldnt use it for that either. for ICs its ok.

 

sorry no that stuff from VT4C is the most suitable i know of for a reasonable sum. There is one other, Mogami W2444-0X or W2943, which are 32awg and 28awg ultra mini coax shielded copper cables, but good luck finding it in small quantities. you might be able to get a smallish amount at Markertek.com, but their site is undergoing maintenance so i cant check. you also only need to use 2 lengths as its coax, so use the stranded copper shield for ground. its as flexible, or more-so than the stock cable, shielded and copper rather than tinned copper tinsel wire. but yeah most places only sell it in 1000' rolls. you could also look at their 2 conductor shielded twinax W2490-08 (32awg 1.7mm diameter) and W2794-00 (28awg 2.3mm diameter) which is just enough conductors, but really i would recommend either 2 x coax or W2769-0X (32awg and 2mm diameter) or W2929-00 (28awg and 2.7mm diameter) shielded ultramini quad from the same series as its best to maintain a separate ground/return for each channel. not the mogami mini star quad that gets recommended here a bit, thats too thick for iems imo.

 

good luck!!

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post #14 of 17
1/13/12 at 11:36pm
Thread Starter 

sounds good, ill look to see what i can find

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post #15 of 17
1/14/12 at 11:46pm
Thread Starter 

I'm going to order some Mogami W2929 cable from Markertek. 2.7mm overall dia. and 4conductor 28awg. seems like its the stuff i need. Considering its about the same size as the stock Shure cable.

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