arpinnurmela
Head-Fier
I love the Verum One headphone. It is ridiculously good for the money. I didn't like the stock headphone cable for several reasons. Principally because I wanted a dedicated 6.3mm cable instead of the 3.5mm cable that it comes with, especially since the Verum One don't seem like a portable headphone to me. So I went on a long DIY journey to build a replacement cable. I unfortunately ran across an idea that advocates solid core wire air-gapped inside of Teflon. This eventually landed me working on a cable made of pure silver that runs between the AECO silver plated 6.3mm and 3.5mm plugs. It's a lovely cable. And I've had more than a few people ask me if I could make such a cable for them. After I explained that the parts cost alone ranged from $250-300, people quickly realized that they weren't interested in spending more on the cable than their headphones. But... for my personal money, the Verum One are easily worth the investment. And I can promise you that the Verum One scales so hard and so easily that improvements to cables are well resolved on the headphone.
After trying out many different types of plugs and learning the difference in sound between them I finally landed on some basic guiding principles that allowed me to build something totally awesome at a fairly reasonable price! Hopefully this post will serve to help anyone on their own headphone cable journey. So let's get into it.
After trying out many different types of plugs and learning the difference in sound between them I finally landed on some basic guiding principles that allowed me to build something totally awesome at a fairly reasonable price! Hopefully this post will serve to help anyone on their own headphone cable journey. So let's get into it.
A solid copper (99.9%) core air-gapped in Teflon, housed in Paracord, 6.3mm to 2x 3.5mm.
Parts:- Paracord 550.
- 20gauge thin walled teflon PTFE tubing. (length of cable x4)
- Thick gold-plated 6.3mm barrel connector (no tabs).
- Thick gold-plated 3.5mm barrel connector (no tabs).
- 26gauge 99.9% bare solid copper wire. (length of cable x4)
- Non-Eutectic Cardas solder.
- Cable splitter housing.
- soldering iron
- wire cutter
- tweezers
- lots of patience
- Cut Paracord 550 to 1ft less than desired length. Remove all inner nylon filaments.
- Cut 2x 1ft Paracord 550. Remove all inner nylon filaments.
- Cut 4x teflon tubing at the desired length of headphone cable.
- Insert all 4 teflon tubes together into the longer Paracord from step 1, and tediously inch that bunch of 4 cables down the Paracord until they come out the other side.
- Slide the 1ft length of Paracord onto only two of the teflon tubes, and repeat for the other teflon tubes.
- Use a flat tip soldering iron to melt the Paracord junction together.
- Slide on the cable splitter and secure over the fused junction so that it doesn't show.
- Mark one of the two teflon tubes after the junction as ground. Do this for each branch. (You'll need to know this later to prevent a wiring error.)
- Slide the 26ga copper wire into each teflon tube such that you have 5mm exposed on each side. Cut the copper only after you have run the length of the teflon tube. Work slowly and carefully so that you don't crimp the copper wire as you are inserting it. (Each crimp causes additional friction. Multiple crimps will make you sad. When you inevitably crimp the wire, gently pull it out and smooth it before reinserting.)
- Once you pass a copper wire through a ground tube after the junction, mark it as ground on the side with 4 tubes.
- Once you pass a copper wire through your first non-ground tube, mark it as left channel both after the junction and on the side with 4 tubes.
- No need to mark the last non-ground tube.
- Slide the 6.3mm housing thread side out onto the 4 wire assembly. (Otherwise you won't be able to get it on after soldering. Yeah... I make this mistake all the time.)
- Solder the left channel to the "tip" barrel, as it is the first and closest to the wiring assembly. (It will also be the smallest most inner barrel.)
- Solder the right channel to the "ring" barrel, as it is the second closest to the wiring assembly. (It will be the medium barrel next larger than the inner barrel.)
- Solder the grounds to the housing barrel below the screw threads. (This is ideal as it avoids soldering to the low metal quality tab.)
- Make sure that the Paracord is able to stretch to cover the entire tubing run. If not, then cut tubing for proper fit. (Paracord can both stretch and compress, so you have flexibility with it.)
- Slide the right angle housing parts in reverse assembly order over the 2 wire junction. (x2)
- Carefully adjust the length of the tubes and wires such that they match the sizing required for final soldering and that they will lay flat next to each other. (x2)
- Verum One is wired for the tip and ground of the 3.5mm plug. Solder the positive lead to the tip barrel of your 3.5mm plug. Solder the ground to the ground barrel of your 3.5mm plug.
- Assemble all of the housings on the 6.3mm and 3.5mm plugs.
- Plug in and have your mind blown!
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