Low end. Cheap. Generic. Otherwise bang for buck cable thread!
Apr 18, 2019 at 11:43 PM Post #1,216 of 9,460
And the red on the pin would indicate + but they are on the same side. Confusing.
On the cables i have ordered the blue dot denotes +ve.. these are the ones without preformed ear guides.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/NIC...911.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.56ac4c4dkDQyDF
upload_2019-4-19_9-14-25.png
 
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Apr 19, 2019 at 12:08 AM Post #1,217 of 9,460
Look at my other post. For a little more you get the best bar none. So why not spend a bit more? I mean not much more than these. Also Dyson Audio on Ebay will build you anything you want for dirt cheap. Cables in the store have crazy mark ups.
 
Apr 19, 2019 at 8:13 AM Post #1,218 of 9,460
Do you have a multimeter handy? That would determine the correct orientation in under 10 seconds.

If I saw that cable, I would assume red=right. So in other words:

Red plug=right, with blue dot facing the flat part (—) of the CCA 2-pin socket

Clear plug=left, with blue dot facing the flat part (—) of the CCA 2-pin socket

But some manufacturers do the opposite for some strange reason, so who knows. That’s why a multimeter check would remove all guesswork.

yea I have a multimeter.
On the cables i have ordered the blue dot denotes +ve.. these are the ones without preformed ear guides.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/NIC...911.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.56ac4c4dkDQyDF

Those are what I have. Very soft and flexable. Just confused by them.
 
Apr 19, 2019 at 9:02 AM Post #1,220 of 9,460
By the way thanks guys :]

So if Im understanding correctly. The blue line is + and should plug into the rounded part of the c10? I was just cornfused because the blue line is on the same side as the red pin so I was wondering if its + or -
Does it really matter though? It should only affect polarity, which makes no real difference, right? The drivers are pretty much "symmetrical" aren't they?
 
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Apr 19, 2019 at 9:52 AM Post #1,221 of 9,460
Does it really matter though? It should only affect polarity, which makes no real difference, right? The drivers are pretty much "symmetrical" aren't they?

If the earphone has a crossover, it does matter. The crossover components (such as capacitors) can be permanently destroyed by reversing + and —.

I’ve never personally had it happen to me, but I talked to a guy who knew the owner of a CIEM shop who did have 2-pin CIEMs returned because of destroyed crossover components. The reason? Plugging it in backwards.

Obviously, it’s not an issue with mmcx.
 
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Apr 19, 2019 at 10:39 AM Post #1,222 of 9,460
If the earphone has a crossover, it does matter. The crossover components (such as capacitors) can be permanently destroyed by reversing + and —.

I’ve never personally had it happen to me, but I talked to a guy who knew the owner of a CIEM shop who did have 2-pin CIEMs returned because of destroyed crossover components. The reason? Plugging it in backwards.

Obviously, it’s not an issue with mmcx.
Then probably my understanding is lacking here (never was much of an electrical/electronics engineer). Because the way I see it, it's not that + signal is always greater than -, but that - is "ground", so a stable reference, while + is an oscillating signal that goes above and below the value of -. In the graph of a sine wave, the x axis would be the -, and the sine curve itself would be the +.

Did a quick google search and capacitors can be symmetrical or asymmetrical, but when using asymmetrical capacitors I would imagine there are some diodes or something that ensure the correct polarity at that point in the electrical circuit.

So you and I cannot be correct at the same time. If you are right, then what am I missing?
 
Apr 19, 2019 at 12:02 PM Post #1,223 of 9,460
@Slater @candlejack I'm even less of a electrical guy than Candlejack, myself - I plug things in, they work (or not :)) - that's about it for me:), but on the IMR R1 thread there was a long discussion about the first batch of R1 Zeniths having some problems with the right piece being wired reversed. This led, in turn, to a situation in which, when ordinary 2-pin wires were being plugged in normally, the IEMs were out of phase, and this was audible, while if you reversed the right wire (only), things were fine (as it matched the the wiring of the right piece) - you can test that online, for instance here: https://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_polaritycheck.php .

So I imagine that crossover destruction is not the only one problem you can get (though maybe the only permanent one?), by reversing polarity.
 
Apr 19, 2019 at 1:18 PM Post #1,224 of 9,460
Then probably my understanding is lacking here (never was much of an electrical/electronics engineer). Because the way I see it, it's not that + signal is always greater than -, but that - is "ground", so a stable reference, while + is an oscillating signal that goes above and below the value of -. In the graph of a sine wave, the x axis would be the -, and the sine curve itself would be the +.

Did a quick google search and capacitors can be symmetrical or asymmetrical, but when using asymmetrical capacitors I would imagine there are some diodes or something that ensure the correct polarity at that point in the electrical circuit.

So you and I cannot be correct at the same time. If you are right, then what am I missing?

Well, I am not an EE either (just a hobbyist), so I am certainly no expert on the subject.

But I do know that it all depends on how the particular manufacturer designs the crossover circuit, what exact type of components (such as capacitors) are used, etc.

I have personally never seen an IEM crossover with a diode. That would be a great way to add protection to the circuit though. I suspect they’re not used because they must add some sort of unwanted characteristic (perhaps affecting the sound in some negative way).

Also, some capacitors are more forgiving than others. Tantalum capacitors (the kind used in most IEM crossovers) are, I believe, particularly sensitive to reverse polarity. Some go into a degraded state that they can recover from, similar to a circuit breaker tripping. Others can actually blow open like a fuse, and be permanently damaged. In the case of the CIEM manufacturer I mentioned, that is apparently what happened and they sounded extremely bad. They had to be sent back to the manufacturer for replacement of the damaged components.

Also, from the research I did previously when looking into this exact topic, I seem to remember one of the defining differences when considering the capacitor damage risk was the fact that audio voltages use AC not DC. I don’t remember the exact specifics of why that mattered, but the articles I found on the topic had an explanation that made perfect sense at the time.

Before that, I never really cared too much about it because I never seemed to have any problems. But ever since reading that information, I am anal about determining the correct polarity of cables and IEMs before I even use them for the 1st time. So much so that I usually engrave a very small dot or mark (to indicate +) on the cable and IEM itself so I don’t screw it up down the road. Since doing that, it makes it idiot proof and easy to keep it all straight, especially since I’m always swapping around aftermarket cables a lot.

If you search Google for capacitor polarity and tantalum capacitor information, there was quite a bit of information on the topic and I’m sure you’ll run into many of the same resources I found.
 
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Apr 19, 2019 at 1:34 PM Post #1,225 of 9,460
@Slater @candlejack I'm even less of a electrical guy than Candlejack, myself - I plug things in, they work (or not :)) - that's about it for me:), but on the IMR R1 thread there was a long discussion about the first batch of R1 Zeniths having some problems with the right piece being wired reversed. This led, in turn, to a situation in which, when ordinary 2-pin wires were being plugged in normally, the IEMs were out of phase, and this was audible, while if you reversed the right wire (only), things were fine (as it matched the the wiring of the right piece) - you can test that online, for instance here: https://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_polaritycheck.php .

So I imagine that crossover destruction is not the only one problem you can get (though maybe the only permanent one?), by reversing polarity.

So that audiocheck thing is actually testing phase, which is different from polarity.

I know the terms are sometimes used interchangeably in the audio world, and even that site uses it wrong. But they are 2 different things.

Phase would be when 1 of the 2 speakers are wired opposite of one another. In other words, if your left side had the + pin of the cable plugged into the - of the IEM socket. And the Right side was correctly plugged in (ie + pin of the cable plugged into the + of the IEM socket).

Reverse polarity would be both plugged in backwards. In that case you could be in phase but your have reverse polarity.

So basically you always want to be in phase and have correct polarity.

If you are out of phase, then at least 1 side has reverse polarity.

I will also mention that polarity does not matter on single dynamic driver IEMs as long as they are wired in phase with one another. It’s only when you have multi-driver IEMs when it is important to ensure correct polarity.
 
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Apr 19, 2019 at 2:49 PM Post #1,226 of 9,460
Ok. Big dum dum question here. I just got the NiceHCK 16 core copper 2 pin cable. Its for my C10. Obviously the red side is Right and the white side is Left. Where the confusion lies is that there is a small blue mark on the bottom pad and a red tip on the pin directly above the blue mark. LOL. What to do? Im confused on how to connect the cable. Any help in this area is most needed.
blue mark was negative signal (balanced) / ground (single end) in every unit of that kind of cable i purchased (nicehck 16 cores copper, 16 cores spc, 8 cores copper, 8 cores spc).
but @superuser1 unit is different (blue mark is +).
so better use your multimeter to ensure polarity of yours.
 
Apr 19, 2019 at 3:12 PM Post #1,227 of 9,460
By the way thanks guys :]

So if Im understanding correctly. The blue line is + and should plug into the rounded part of the c10? I was just cornfused because the blue line is on the same side as the red pin so I was wondering if its + or -

I am not sure if it will help or will add to more confusion: on my preformed similar cables - the blue dot is outside (away from the nozzle). It is actually a rounded side in my KZ AS10, & CCAs C10 & C16.
 
Apr 19, 2019 at 4:39 PM Post #1,228 of 9,460
blue mark was negative signal (balanced) / ground (single end) in every unit of that kind of cable i purchased (nicehck 16 cores copper, 16 cores spc, 8 cores copper, 8 cores spc).
but @superuser1 unit is different (blue mark is +).
so better use your multimeter to ensure polarity of yours.

I have the black 16 core spc of NiceHck and the blue dot is found negative when I got it multi-meter tested.
 
Apr 19, 2019 at 7:12 PM Post #1,229 of 9,460
So whats up with the red pins? The red pins suggest +, but the red pins on both sides are on the same side as the blue marks. Clearly you can see even on their stock photos, so I am assuming all of them are exactly the same.
hhhjj.jpg

Weird. Seems like they need instructions or Im overthinking it too much. Unfortunately my Multimeter is one of those free ones from harbor freight, and I have no idea how to test this. there is no beep/continuity and don't know what else to do. Checking resistance doesn't give me anything either.
 

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