Can someone please confirm the wiring for Hifiman Sundaras balanced to XLR?

Jamie G · Sep 4, 2020

tomb said:
It sort of seems logical, but massively outside of mainstream thinking.

I suspect perhaps HiFiMan did this for two reasons:

Single channel (I guess "TS") 3.5mm connectors are not as common as 3.5mm TRS connectors, and

They probably thought (or marketed it as such) that wiring the Left vs. the Right TRS connector differently (ring on R and tip on L) provides an additional safety measure in ensuring that the Left and Right plugs don't get swapped. Plugged in reverse, the headphones would simply be dead. Swap them Left vs Right and the headphones would operate.

In either event, this is why I questioned the type of connector used at the headphone. Previous comments/pictures on the full size, 4-pin XLR on the amp end of the headphone cable are all still valid. To follow convention (it really doesn't make a difference), the sleeve wire from each headphone driver should connect to the "-" pins of the XLR jack.

All that said, buke9 is absolutely correct. You should probably not attempt any of this without a DMM. Wired incorrectly, you could easily short out the headphones or destroy an amplifier. There is no check on your work that results in a non-destructive test without a DMM.

I would have used a multimeter to check the connections before plugging the headphones in...I'm not that brave! Haha

It just simply never occurred to me that I could work it out easily using a multimeter (bit stupid I agree) but now I know which of the connections at the headphone end combine, I know that that must be "-", and means the rest is obvious.

Just to clarify, you agree that my initial layout is correct yes? I'd like a concensus here as I'm paranoid I'm missing something!

Thanks

tomb · Sep 4, 2020 at 1:12 PM

Jamie G said:
I would have used a multimeter to check the connections before plugging the headphones in...I'm not that brave! Haha

It just simply never occurred to me that I could work it out easily using a multimeter (bit stupid I agree) but now I know which of the connections at the headphone end combine, I know that that must be "-", and means the rest is obvious.

Just to clarify, you agree that my initial layout is correct yes? I'd like a concensus here as I'm paranoid I'm missing something!

Thanks

Sorry to say that your lack of specificity is a bit irritating. What are you defining as your "initial layout?"

If it's what was in your first post:

XLR Pin

1 = Left Tip

2 = Left Sleeve

3 = Right Tip

4 = Right Sleeve

Is that correct? Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Compared to the layout you posted here, the above is wrong:

The Right tip on the 3.5mm stereo plug is not used. Pin 3 on the 4-pin XLR should be Right Ring, if the diagram immediately above is correct. ;-)

Jamie G · Sep 4, 2020 at 1:41 PM

tomb said:
Sorry to say that your lack of specificity is a bit irritating. What are you defining as your "initial layout?"

If it's what was in your first post:

Compared to the layout you posted here, the above is wrong:

The Right tip on the 3.5mm stereo plug is not used. Pin 3 on the 4-pin XLR should be Right Ring, if the diagram immediately above is correct.

As is your inability to give a straight answer, but I really want to avoid this getting snarky so let's leave personal irritations there.

If you read the rest of the post you'll see that as I've measured the stock cable and found that the ring on both sides at the headphone end don't have any connection to any point at the amp end, the diagram directly about can't be correct. Or again, am I incorrect about that? And yes "initial layout" being the very first one from my first post.

I'm really simply trying to build a cable here fella, and hopefully learn something in the process, that's why I've posted in a help forum. If you want to give me something constructive I'm all ears, but if not please feel free to move on and forget about it.

tomb · Sep 4, 2020 at 2:28 PM

Jamie G said:
As is your inability to give a straight answer, but I really want to avoid this getting snarky so let's leave personal irritations there.

If you read the rest of the post you'll see that as I've measured the stock cable and found that the ring on both sides at the headphone end don't have any connection to any point at the amp end, the diagram directly about can't be correct. Or again, am I incorrect about that? And yes "initial layout" being the very first one from my first post.

I'm really simply trying to build a cable here fella, and hopefully learn something in the process, that's why I've posted in a help forum. If you want to give me something constructive I'm all ears, but if not please feel free to move on and forget about it.

You just made it snarky! From the beginning, you were asking something (in two forums) that you had the means of finding out yourself. Only, we didn't find that out until much later after your continued questions. Then after all of that, you still ask us to confirm something - without a reference - that's been shuffled throughout this thread. Just sayin' ...