[mindbomb]

I was thinking about this. So, sennheiser headphones use a 4 conductor cable, so crosstalk across the cable should be negligible. And beyerdynamic, they use a 3 conductor cable, but offer headphones in 600 ohm versions, so crosstalk across the cable should be negligible. But then what about companies like AKG? I'm looking at the k702 and k712, and they have a 3 pin connector, and the headphones are only 62 ohms. Is this an oversight? The cables would have to be under 100 milliohms to have 60db of separation with a low impedance source afaik. Is this type of cable resistance typical?
 
What is typical resistance for headphone cables? And for aftermarket cables? I read in the innerfidelity philips fidelio x1 review that the philips cable was about 2 ohms. That seems ridiculously high, but I'm not sure how accurate these cable measurements are.

 

[Speedskater]

A cable with a 2 Ohm end-to-end resistance? That must be a typo, it would be challenging to make a cable like that. Something like a 10 foot cable with 30AWG wire.

 

[sonitus mirus]

  A cable with a 2 Ohm end-to-end resistance? That must be a typo, it would be challenging to make a cable like that. Something like a 10 foot cable with 30AWG wire.

 
Maybe it is a boutique cable that costs $1000 per foot?  

 
If measuring loop resistance for a typical twin wire cable, it would need to be closer to 30 feet in length and made of something with a higher electrical resistivity than copper, like gold or aluminum.

 

[castleofargh]

  I was thinking about this. So, sennheiser headphones use a 4 conductor cable, so crosstalk across the cable should be negligible. And beyerdynamic, they use a 3 conductor cable, but offer headphones in 600 ohm versions, so crosstalk across the cable should be negligible. But then what about companies like AKG? I'm looking at the k702 and k712, and they have a 3 pin connector, and the headphones are only 62 ohms. Is this an oversight? The cables would have to be under 100 milliohms to have 60db of separation with a low impedance source afaik. Is this type of cable resistance typical?
 
What is typical resistance for headphone cables? And for aftermarket cables? I read in the innerfidelity philips fidelio x1 review that the philips cable was about 2 ohms. That seems ridiculously high, but I'm not sure how accurate these cable measurements are.

I have a feeling that nobody cares because there are little cases where it's legitimate to care. crosstalk is hard to notice unless pretty loud(above -40db for me). end even then, it sounds nice. most people actually like it AFAIK(even mono isn't that bad IMO). on some IEMs the crosstalk is probably pretty high, still most custom cables are braided and have pretty thin insulation(for practical usage, nobody wants a stiff IEM cable), while the current flow is pretty high(proportionally to voltage).
crosstalk is often showed on amp specs, and we get to feel like it matters, but even then it's BS as the values are usually given unloaded and are way worst once you plug a headphone in it. so yeah there is crosstalk, and a good deal of it in some systems. but it seldom matters as far as feeling of good music is concerned. remember how bad crosstalk is on vinyls.
 
IMO crosstalk might become a significant variable again once people get used to have convincing 3D DSP with all their headphones. then it might matter that crosstalk audibly interferes with the soundstage. but the way we use headphones nowadays with albums mastered for speakers, who cares if a badly reproduced stage is altered? high crosstalk might actually act as a glue and feel better that way.

 

[mindbomb]

Well, I suppose to boil it all down to a more practical question, for headphones like the AKG k712 and Philips Fidelio x2, low impedance headphones with a 3 pin headphone connection, can a cable upgrade actually provide a decent objective improvement in stereo separation?

 

[dprimary]

I would say no. I have attempted to measure crosstalk on a 3 wire headphone and it was beyond what I could measure on my test equipment so I figure 3 wire is more then good enough. I would have ignore it completely except Sennheiser makes 4 wire models, I guess even they are now controlled by marketing. The AKG cable is .23 ohms.

 

[dazzerfong]

The Fidelio x1 is one exceptional case: apparently it had a ludicrously high impedance for a cable (~2 ohms).