2.5mm or 4.4mm Balanced cable
Jul 5, 2020 at 8:14 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 10

Energyy

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Hello,

I'm now owning fiio m15 which have both 2.5mm and 4.4mm balanced outputs - now planning to buy some expensive IEMs - Solaris 2020 and Anole VX - and now thinking which cable should I take with them 2.5mm or 4.4mm.

In near future I was thinking to get additional players like Cayin n6 mk2+E02 or Ibasoo dx220 +amp8/amp9/max or maybe even go to Astell Kern se200 or SP2000 :wink: - so its hard to decide which cables to take for AK or other players... Maybe someone can advice - which one to take and if there is some very good convertors from 2.5mm to 4.4mm or opposite.
 
Jul 5, 2020 at 8:20 AM Post #2 of 10
4.4 is the way to go, imo.
It's more durable while on the go.
The 2.5 sometime is quite fragile and with the 4.4, you'll have a larger connection surface on the plug compared to 2.5. :wink:
 
Jul 5, 2020 at 8:54 AM Post #3 of 10
4.4mm Pentaconn is now very much an accepted standard, with more and more companies using it. It besides stronger is a design which offers more contact area. Better contact means a more accurate signal transfer. Also for once we have an agreement of sorts that works for both home desktop and mobile use. The larger size is actually more ergonomic adding to ease of placement into the sockets.

Cheers.
 
Jul 6, 2020 at 12:30 PM Post #5 of 10
I'll be devils advocate here, I never cared for 2.5mm trrs that much, but got a nice short cable that came with it and I wanted to try it out before I reterminated it to 4.4 so I reterminated a few other cables I had to 2.5 female to make an extension as well as adapter, and i have to say its really nice. The weight of the 2.5 male and females together is so light that almost don't realize that they are there. 4.4 is not a whole lot heavier, but its enough along with the extra length to make it a tad more cumbersome in my particular use. That being said, if not using short cables into extension cables, 4.4 is much superior.

BTW, soldering those tiny 2.5 connectors is an absolute pain to my old eyes, not that the 4.4 is much better...
 
Jul 6, 2020 at 10:44 PM Post #6 of 10
I've snapped a 2.5mm plug off inside my dap. That was a bad day. It is a bit fragile, and can get damaged inside a pocket. I'd say use with delicacy. 4.4mm is much more robust.
 
Jul 6, 2020 at 11:10 PM Post #8 of 10
I've snapped a 2.5mm plug off inside my dap. That was a bad day. It is a bit fragile, and can get damaged inside a pocket. I'd say use with delicacy. 4.4mm is much more robust.

DAPs should if possible never go in a pocket, with IEMs as an attachment.IMO
 
Jul 7, 2020 at 12:02 AM Post #10 of 10
Ridiculous as it may sound I leave my two DAPs at home. I use an IPod Touch when on the go. :)
 

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