4.4mm balanced cable to 3.5mm stereo adapter(s) only left channel works, why?
Jul 23, 2020 at 5:44 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 11
GrandNagus50

GrandNagus50

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I recently bought some Ultimate Melody MEST IEM's that came with a balanced cable with a 4.4 termination jack. I purchased two cable adapters, one that converts to a 2.5mm balanced jack and the other that converts to a regular 3.5mm stereo jack. The 2.5mm conversion works fine for my Astell & Kern SR15 DAP. But the 3.5mm jack only produces sound from the left channel. I communicated with the seller and arranged for a return of this adapter and replacement with one that (I hope) will work.

However, in the meantime, I went to a local electronics store and bought a cheaper 4.4mm to 3.5mm converter to tide me over and then to keep as an extra. I was disappointed to find that it, too, only produced sound out of the left channel. This problem is the same for my Dragonfly Red DAC as well as my DAP, and also when I attach my iPhone to a TEAC portable headphone amp. Left channel only.

Am I just unlucky to have gotten in succession two adapters that malfunction the same way, or could there be there something going on here that getting replacement adapter cables won't fix?

Doug Greenberg, Berkeley, CA
 
Jul 24, 2020 at 4:16 AM Post #2 of 11
That would be some bad luck. are you sure about the number or rings in the female plug of the adapter? In practice you could probably encounter 3, 4 and 5 rings, while you want the same number as on your cable, and then of course the output(male plug) of the adapter should have 3 rings for single ended use.
 
Jul 24, 2020 at 9:55 AM Post #4 of 11
Jul 24, 2020 at 4:16 PM Post #5 of 11
I know this will not be what you came here for, but now that you are here (please don't shoot the messanger, save your anger for the ones that try to deceive you):

My oh my, $87,- for a 2 inch long adapter cable... that most likely sounds exactly the same as a $3,- one.

Good thing you stumbled into the sound science forum, you might wanna do some reading here. The Sound Science subforum happens to be the only part of Head-Fi where certain well established truths can be told.

Short introduction:
Hearing perception is done mostly by the brain, and is influenced by other senses and all kinds of stuff going on in the brain. Because of this you (and also me and everyone else) can "hear" things or differences that are not audible! Placebo effect etc. van make you hear non-existent differences orders of magnitude larger than the smallest really audible differences (that can be descerned in a well controlled double blind ABX test).

So if a company sells some bull story with unsubstancited claims, and countless audiophiles repeat that story, and you believe that story, it can make one thing sound better to you than another thing even if there is no audible difference! Also many people will not even try for themselves, but just believe the story and buy the expensive item without any comparison.

Because of this many audiophile myths and claims could come into existence. Many of these myths and claims are in direct conflict with established science on the subject.

Read for example:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/testing-audiophile-claims-and-myths.486598/
 
Jul 24, 2020 at 4:19 PM Post #6 of 11
The connector was at a deep discount as part of the "package" I bought. I knew it was overpriced. I don't really believe in multi-hundred dollar cables, either. The guy at MusicTeck was really helpful to me in buying my IEM's, so I did not care that much about the overpriced-ness of the connector. I sent the connector back, by the way.

On the other hand, I wanted a connector that works. Can you recommend one that we can be sure will fit my purposes?
 
Jul 24, 2020 at 4:42 PM Post #7 of 11
Jul 24, 2020 at 6:26 PM Post #8 of 11
GrandNagus50 said:
https://shop.musicteck.com/collecti...-se-male-with-occ-wire?variant=31713564491838
Click to expand...
The description says "4.4mm Balanced Female to 3.5mm Balanced Male with OCC wire". However, the photo doesn't match the description. The photo shows a single-ended 3.5mm plug (2 black rings). Balanced 3.5mm is rare and I think the description is probably wrong. If that was the case, the adapter should have worked.
GrandNagus50 said:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KSRSV5K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Click to expand...
This one should have worked.

I'm thinking that the problem might be on the 4.4mm side. You said the 2.5mm adapter worked but perhaps the 4.4mm plug has an intermittent connection. See if it makes a difference if you jiggle the wire and reinsert 4.4mm plug a few times.
 
Last edited:
Jul 24, 2020 at 7:47 PM Post #9 of 11
rkw said:
The description says "4.4mm Balanced Female to 3.5mm Balanced Male with OCC wire". However, the photo doesn't match the description. The photo shows a single-ended 3.5mm plug (2 black rings). Balanced 3.5mm is rare and I think the description is probably wrong. If that was the case, the adapter should have worked.
Click to expand...

Title says otherwise, 3.5mm SE male.

Why do websites make it so confusing?
 
Aug 1, 2020 at 9:33 PM Post #10 of 11
Just to finish the story I started here nine days ago. It turned out that the overpriced 4.4mm balanced to 3.5mm stereo adapter I got with my IEM's had a bad 4.4mm female socket. It is being replaced. I assume all will be well. Meanwhile, I purchased another adapter, a 4.4mm balanced to 1/4 inch full-sized for use with my ifi idsd black label dac amp. I got it from Amazon; about $20, works fine. It may be $3 worth of electronics parts, but someone designed it and put it together and made some money from it, as did Amazon.

Doug Greenberg
 
Aug 2, 2020 at 8:26 AM Post #11 of 11
Hopefully replaced at no charge at that price, let us know how it goes....I just ordered a FiiO version from overseas, about $43 with shipping, hopefully it will work fine :)
 
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