Detachable vs Fixed headphone cables

 

Heya,

 

I have Brian over at BTG Audio re-cable all my permanent headphones in my collection to have locking/detachable cables with sheaths (no rubber) that are shorter, with XLR and 3.5mm terminations, with extensions, and universal adapters for use with nearly anything (speaker amp, headphone amp, etc). Cables are the weakest point of all headphones I find. Even an expensive flagship comes with what I consider basically a really poor rendition of cabling. They always provide a junk rubber looking cable that is too long with no options. Some provide nicer cables, but they are still either too long, or they are permanent and are not detachable. It's annoying. So I pay the premium to have my permanent headphones re-cabled so that they're perfect (detachable cable, locking mechanism, the length of my choice, with termination of my choice, adapters, and mesh sheath over the cable, light weight too).

 

I figure any mid-fi and all high-ends should have:

 

Detachable cables

Sheaths over cables

Shorter cables, but with an extension included

Adapters included (like XLR, 6.3mm, 3.5mm, and speaker tap options; this at least for higher end headphones that are flagship level)

 

Some of the work I've had done:

 

 

Very best,

I'd agree with this for the most part (and I say that while wearing headphones with a hard-wired garden hose from the factory ). I like the replaceable and safety bits especially, but remember that many removable designs have interlocking mechanisms that will usually still rip the cans (and your ears/face) off if you snag the cable (I'm thinking of my Ultrasones with the threaded connectors, for example).

My favorite cable+headphone scheme is the Tony Bennett Signature Edition from Koss - 3.5mm female on the headphone, and a 3.5mm male to male cable in the box (that you can replace with anything you want - I could put a 50' cable on these just by going down to ratshack and buying one). I've seen a few other headphones follow that (it isn't the sole domain of Koss), they're just the only cans I own that do that.

Yet another reason to love my Superlux HD669. The scheme is similar to the Koss. There's a 3.5mm female on the headphone and it uses the standard 3.5mm male-to-female extension cable. It even comes with two such cables, 1m and 3m long... which you can use both together if you need such a length.

I think we have a handy guide or two on re-cabling here. If not, maybe wje could help you out.

Got to admit removable cables is a deal breaker for me, as I could not face destroying expensive headphones over a <$20 stock cable, then again as stated it makes no difference as locking thing on them means they still get broken, if I had a headphone company is make sure all ,y headphones came shipped with a non locking standard 3.5mm jack...not one of those silly 2.5mm ones on the likes of the HD 598 and also only use single sided, as this males it dead easy to replace, you could use any aftermarket cable and it won't destroy the can when you pull on the wire by mistake.....hopeing when I get my new KRK KNS I can just not lock them, many might even see if I can use a normal non locking cable....dose anyone know if this is possible.

Quote:

 

You can leave them unlocked. They use a twist to lock 2.5mm cable like Shure. You can also make a custom cable if you want(which I plan on doing as the stock cable is terrible).

Edited by Tangster - 11/29/12 at 2:58pm

 

Heya,

 

You could do it yourself. Sending it to someone is of course an option, depends if you want it done absolutely professionally or by someone who kind of dabbles in that sort of stuff.

 

As for worth it, well, that's up to you. If it's a headphone you adore, it doesn't matter if it was an inexpensive headphone, making it even more perfect for you makes sense. What I had done to my DT770 almost cost as much as the headphone did. Worth it? To most people, not at all. To me? Yes, because I adore the DT770 (premium) and the re-cable made it perfect for me.

 

Very best,

Detachable cables let me change the length of my cables, a surprising useful feature for use with my monitor.

Sound quality will probably suffer, you lose the ability to use amps or similar, you're tied to a PC as a source, and you still have whatever cable hooked up to the headphones to deal with. Still, if you had to move around your work area and could clip that somewhere like a bodypack, it would probably be invaluable.

 

Heya,

Wireless is ok for very efficient headphones. But it's terrible for inefficient headphones, and impossible for most in this category. There's just not enough power on the headphone end to result in potent enough amplification for duration of use and the battery load needed would make the headphone really bulky, and heavy. The wireless signal itself is not really that big of a problem. We can transmit unholy high levels of detail without much loss, but it's costly, and they often cheap out with radio frequency crap that is low powered. If they put enough power into the transmitter, and enough power into the receiver and battery and amplification unit to the headphone, it would work fine. But this isn't available at this time, for a headphone like a planar magnetic, for example. Currently it has to be done with efficient headphones. Sennheiser's latest offering is a start. (with mid-fi level quality).

 

Very best,

Quick question, does anyone have some resource on recabling headphones?

 

Really enjoying my DT880s and was considering recabling.
 

 

Look for guides from fellow head-fier's. Like this one:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/172825/beyerdynamic-dt880-re-cable-guide-in-progress

 

Or alternatively, from external sites: 

http://www.diyaudioblog.com/2011/12/recabling-pair-of-beyerdynamic-dt880.html

 

Do a quick search, tons of info. 

Nice an simple, were can I order god quality cables that fit 2.5mm headphone sockets but have a 3.5mm jack on the other end, want a varity of sizes or coiled and straight, as these seem to be hard to find!

 

or could I use something Like this:

 

http://uk.cellphoneshop.net/un2to3hespad.html?adtype=pla&cagpspn=pla&gclid=CObdrfaj-bMCFctQ3godSiMAyw

 

But were can I find a good quality one.

 

as I like the idea of removeable cables but hate the idea of the smaller non standerd jacks.

 

OR IS IT EASER TO GET WIRED HEADPHONES REWIRED, IS IT POSSABLE TO GET WIRED HEADPHONES WIRED TO REMOVABLE 3.5MM JACK.

 

WERE IN THE UK CAN I GET THIS DONE, ANY SHOPS DO IT? OR IS IT AN ONLINE SERVCE?