[Dr. Hugo]

My fellow friends at Head-Fi,

It seems to me that balanced audio connector has three widely used standards right now in the market—2.5mm (Astell&Kern and many others), 4.4mm(primarily Sony), and 4pin XLR. Obviously 4 pin XLR is pretty much only for desktop and that leaves 2.5 and 4.4 as the only two major options in portable gears. My question is, which is better?

1. Which has better sound quality?
2. which is easier to use?
3. Which is more likely to become industry standard?

From my brief research both in the forum and outside, here is what I got (maybe wrong or inaccurate, please point out if you find anything wrong, greatly appreciated):

1. 4.4 has more "distance" between the channel grounds and thus should in theory have a better channel separation. But in reality the difference is generally not noticeable.

2. 4.4, due to its larger size, appears sturdier and harder to break. 2.5, because it is thinner, might be easier to bend or break. But for the same reason, i.e. being smaller and thinner, 2.5 is slightly more friendly to portable users, although 4.4 isn't bad either.

3. It seems that a lot of people think that which will become industry standard will largely due to the competition of Astell&Kern and Sony, champions of both standards. Right now in the market, it appears to me that 2.5 is used much more frequently than 4.4, as 2.5 is used in Onkyo, Hiby, Fiio, and many other popular DAPs brand other than AK.

Things I still don't know:
Why many well-respected reviewers claim that they want 4.4 to become the industry standard that replaces 3.5, 3.5 TRRS, 2.5, and 4 pin XLR in the future?

 

[tienbasse]

Endless / useless discussion incoming... Argument 2 running in circles for 12 pages (at least).

Sony as usual pushes for new connectors type because this is just lazy marketing to do when you don't have anything else to promote.
Nothing is actually wrong with 2.5mm except that Sony had favored balanced 3.5mm (ZX2 and Plenue S => dying breed), which wasn't popular enough versus 2.5mm.

crapty marketing stunt, because 2.5mm was on the verge of becoming an actual standard... but hey, why agreeing on a standard when you can generate new income by multiplying connectors. Typical Sony/Apple business model (false innovation that brings no value to customers, because actual innovation doesn't sell new models every 6 months).

 

[psikey]

Had DAP's and cables of both 2.5mm and 4.4mm.

Not too sure about technical SQ differences, but 2.5mm IMO is too thin/fragile. The 4.4mm standard just has a great feel of rigidity/durability to it, and the bigger surface area should lead to more reliable connection with a greater surface area.

I for one hope 4.4mm becomes the standard.

 

[silverfishla]

Let 4.4 replace xlr on bigger units and headphone amps. Keep the 2.5mm for DAPs.

 

[praetor47]

4.4 is better. 2.5 is waay too flimsy for portable use where abuse is frequent. hopefully 4.4 becomes the standard

 

[Victorfabius]

n00b here. Still, I have both 2.5mm and 4.4mm DAPs presently, and I find little difference in sonic quality between them from the ZX300 and iBasso DX200 with Amp1. Maybe because I am at that amateur state you should take that with a grain of salt. What I like is that the 4.4mm jack feels a bit sturdier and I'm more confident with the ZX300 in my pocket over the iBasso. That said, I've never had a problem with the 2.5mm cables I have breaking yet. Could just be a mental imagining on my part, too.

 

[Fixxer6671]

I have the Sony WM1A and prefer the 4.4mm input.

 

[silverfishla]

The only time I broke a 2.5mm plug was when I rounded a corner with my Dap in hand, scraped it against a wall and dropped it on it’s pin as my IEMs flew out of my ears. The pin bent sideways and the edge of the female socket was marred. I was actually relieved that the 2.5mm failed and not the socket. My take away is that it’s good that the pin fails before the socket. pentacon might be stronger, but to what detriment in a real world accident? It probably still would have bent with the possibility of dislodging the socket from the PCB or further damaging the socket or casing. Of course, those are just Devil’s advocate musings...

 

[lantian]

4,4 mm for sure. So far have replaced 2 2,5mm fiio balanced cables in short term of two months, the jack just is not sturdy and strong enough to handle being reinserted so many times, not to mention Fiio have some terrible material chosen for their 2,5 mm balanced cables, it deforms just from being inserted into the balanced jack, the third stripe always gets damaged. Can not wait for Fiio to release am3b module. Like who was the r****d who came up with 2,5mm size jack for balanced connections on portable devices, he should be hanged.

 

[tienbasse]

Like who was the r****d who came up with 2,5mm size jack for balanced connections on portable devices, he should be hanged.

I hope you realize that the way your express yourself does reveal a lot about you, and in this case, your brutal writing doesn't suggest you're very cautious with your gear.
And before you wish bad things to people, I kindly suggest that you get a job in R&D, if you think you can come up with better designs.

I have yet to break any connector (2.5/3.5/4.4/6.25mm), including 2.5mm FiiO ones that are over 3 years old. With one simple rule: when I'm not listening to music, I don't leave the IEM plugged to the DAP, it goes into its case for storage. This minimizes the risk of incidents.

The reason why this debate is sterile: obviously 4.4mm will take more abuse than 2.5mm, but think for a minute: if the plug doesn't fail when brutalized, the cable or the socket on the headphones/dap side will, so in the end, you will still need to repair something, whatever the plug. And I personally prefer to replace a broken plug than to change the whole cable or female sockets of DAPs/IEMs, because it's easier/cheaper.

No design will help people throwing phones/daps into jeans backpockets or into bags full of moving items, and all the more while the cable is still connected. This is just asking for disasters.

So yes, it is just another battle for standard between Korea and Japan, with no obvious benefit for customers, and good benefits for cable makers.

 

[lantian]

I hope you realize that the way your express yourself does reveal a lot about you, and in this case, your brutal writing doesn't suggest you're very cautious with your gear.
And before you wish bad things to people, I kindly suggest that you get a job in R&D, if you think you can come up with better designs.

I have yet to break any connector (2.5/3.5/4.4/6.25mm), including 2.5mm FiiO ones that are over 3 years old. With one simple rule: when I'm not listening to music, I don't leave the IEM plugged to the DAP, it goes into its case for storage. This minimizes the risk of incidents.

The reason why this debate is sterile: obviously 4.4mm will take more abuse than 2.5mm, but think for a minute: if the plug doesn't fail when brutalized, the cable or the socket on the headphones/dap side will, so in the end, you will still need to repair something, whatever the plug. And I personally prefer to replace a broken plug than to change the whole cable or female sockets of DAPs/IEMs, because it's easier/cheaper.

No design will help people throwing phones/daps into jeans backpockets or into bags full of moving items, and all the more while the cable is still connected. This is just asking for disasters.

So yes, it is just another battle for standard between Korea and Japan, with no obvious benefit for customers, and good benefits for cable makers.

Should I laugh? First plug was not even straight out of the box. So being pissed of at poor quality and being honest about it is brutal nowadays, okay...
How would you suggest i handle the cable to prevent the third ring from top from being deformed, I can not leave it pluged in forever, and do not have a place to store it with cable pluged in, also stop assuming things.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Had DAP's and cables of both 2.5mm and 4.4mm.

Not too sure about technical SQ differences, but 2.5mm IMO is too thin/fragile. The 4.4mm standard just has a great feel of rigidity/durability to it, and the bigger surface area should lead to more reliable connection with a greater surface area.

I for one hope 4.4mm becomes the standard.

UHHHHH......THIS!

 

[DONTGIVEUP]

It would be nice if the 4.4 jack could go deep into the player just exposing the wires out.

 

[Ynot1]

4.4 easier to solder safely, more metal to dissipate heat. 2.5 easier to find and cheaper.

 

[silverfishla]

4.4 easier to solder safely, more metal to dissipate heat. 2.5 easier to find and cheaper.

There are only 2 2.5mm plugs that I have seen that are easy to solder. One is an L shaped Rhodium plug that can be found on Ali that has a medium sized barrel and the one offered by Edioloc (expensive) but has a wide barrel. The scan take wires that a full sized headphone would use. The small ones are just too difficult to solder without potentially burning them up (let alone fitting everything within the barrel neatly).