Have you used the second wire already? How do you like it compared to the first one? Was it easy to unbraid the ends?
As requested by @headjelly, the modded Awei ES10 with MX500 shells. The ES10 OOTB is one of the better sounding buds. At 16mm, it sports the largest driver amongst earbuds (correct me if i am wrong).
I used the blue pre-twisted 4-strand wire this afternoon, to rewire one set of Qian25 for Balanced use.
While it does look nicer than the stock black cable, it's not really any larger wire gauge, so there's no real performance advantage to using this particular cable. I won't buy any more of this wire.
One thing about the blue wire that's a nuisance, is that the insulation melts and shrinks away from the wire when tinning or soldering the wire. So for closely spaced connections, like on a 2.5mm TRRS plug, you have to be extra careful that adjacent terminals don't short, due to the insulation shrinkage.
I've attached a photo of the stock Qian25 (with 3.5mm TRS 3-Pole Plug), the rewired Qian25 (with Ranko 2.5mm TRRS 4-Pole Plug), and the end of the blue wire (showing the 2-pairs of twisted wires, twisted together).
With a quick comparison (using a 3.5mm TRS Plug -to- 2.5mm TRRS Jack Adapter), they sound basically the same when driven by my iFi Micro iDSD, playing FLAC files of my CDs. When the Balanced cable is connected to the Balanced output of my DP-X1, playing the same FLAC files, there is the usual slightly better Bass performance, and the more open Sound Stage.
One thing about the blue wire that's a nuisance, is that the insulation melts and shrinks away from the wire when tinning or soldering the wire. So for closely spaced connections, like on a 2.5mm TRRS plug, you have to be extra careful that adjacent terminals don't short, due to the insulation shrinkage.
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Here my input about the "Ozkan Mod" with the SHE3800s. This is just my experience.
* My SHE3800 had the "tuning foam" fixed to the housing, and not to the driver as in the original pic of the Ozkan mod.
I got confused since I didn't see the logic in replacing the "tuning foam" with cotton...or is the idea here that the cotton works better than the foam?
* The casing of my SHE3800 seemed slightly different from the one on the picture. (Aside from the fact that I needed to remove the "tuning foam" since it covered access to the casing. I first thought that the BluTac was for covering a larger hole at the bottom, but there is none, just the (tiny) hole for the wire.
What is not clear to me is the purpose of the BluTack since it's not 100% possible to "plug" the already very tiny "wire hole" since when you reassemble the earbud, you will likely slightly need to pull the wire so you end up opening up this hole again anyway..respective can't 100% "plug it shut". (Is the idea here to plug the "wire hole"?)
(Alternatively, you possibly have some other type of casing where the BluTack covers a bigger hole at the bottom but which is not visible on the picture??)
* My main "issue" with the mod..to get the cotton as neatly covering the back of the driver as in the original post. I have not the slightest idea how he did this! I merely wrapped about 1/2 or so of Q-Tip cotton around the driver, but then merely stuffed it by shutting the casing again. Not clear to me what exactly he did and especially how he got the cotton to stick flat on the driver. (Did you possibly use a thin ear bud foam for putting on the driver? And what did you do with the tuning foam which on your pic is on the driver?
* Opening the casing proved more difficult than what some said. (I opened cases in the past, like for my SONYs. They were not glued.). Here, I needed to use quite some force with my fingernails, they were glued shut, and it looks something did indeed break although the case still closes,but of course it's not "pretty" especially with some cotton still coming out on the sides. (Yeah a better description for simply saying it looks like shhh
* Subjective impression (Not meant as criticism of the mod at all! It's awesome we have people modding and sharing their experiences!). Yes the bass is less pronounced ("tamer", possibly the best word for it)...but really hard to say whether it made the sound "better", it's all subjective anyway. I am finding that I have possibly enough control using my EQ (I am on a PC with Soundblaster Z so I am using the EQ) which would outweigh what I get from modding. Or said differently, I possibly don't "need" the mod since I can do this with an EQ. Just my $0.02
I used the blue pre-twisted 4-strand wire this afternoon, to rewire one set of Qian25 for Balanced use.
While it does look nicer than the stock black cable, it's not really any larger wire gauge, so there's no real performance advantage to using this particular cable. I won't buy any more of this wire.
One thing about the blue wire that's a nuisance, is that the insulation melts and shrinks away from the wire when tinning or soldering the wire. So for closely spaced connections, like on a 2.5mm TRRS plug, you have to be extra careful that adjacent terminals don't short, due to the insulation shrinkage.
I've attached a photo of the stock Qian25 (with 3.5mm TRS 3-Pole Plug), the rewired Qian25 (with Ranko 2.5mm TRRS 4-Pole Plug), and the end of the blue wire (showing the 2-pairs of twisted wires, twisted together).
With a quick comparison (using a 3.5mm TRS Plug -to- 2.5mm TRRS Jack Adapter), they sound basically the same when driven by my iFi Micro iDSD, playing FLAC files of my CDs. When the Balanced cable is connected to the Balanced output of my DP-X1, playing the same FLAC files, there is the usual slightly better Bass performance, and the more open Sound Stage.
