[imas69]

Thank you very much for the links and the explanation, really helpful.

 

[RestlessZombi]

Just wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction regarding what might be happening. I have some cables that were working fine but due to a change in my audio kit I needed to change the Balanced connectors from Female to Male. The cable was bought as a pair of Female XLR to Stereo 1/4' (or 6.3mm) for connecting my DAC to powered speakers.

I change the connector without issue at least I thought, but now one of the cables is about half the volume of the other thus the "centre" between the two speakers is no longer correct. It feels like voices in songs are now biased to one side.

Last night I cut the connector off and reconnected it as i noticed the signal wire didn't have all the strands soldered but this made no difference and I'm certain that I know have the full wire soldered properly. I have a multi-meter that I have checked there is a signal and tried a few things to see if there might be a bad conducting point somewhere but can't find anything. Do you think the connectors might at fault or is there any test that I might try to point the source of the issue. I have swapped the cables between left and right and the change in volume follows the cable so i know its not the DAC or Speakers.

 

[mattiav]

I've just ordered myself an iBasso DX200 with an amp8 and a 4.4 -> 2.5 balanced adapter (yay!), but that means I can only test the whole thing properly with my Meze 99 classics, since they're the only headphones I have a balanced cable for (boo!). Since I've got some experience soldering smallish things (mostly guitar wiring wiring) and all the required tools save a solder pot, I thought I'd build some balanced cables for my HD6XX, HE4XX and Campfire Andro S (after I've done the bigger, easier cables first).

I'll mostly be listening on the go, so a 4ft cable will suffice, and I really, really like the look and feel of the stock Andro braided litz cable. I've been looking at basic connectors on AliExpress and eBay, and was wondering if people had specific recommendations or stores for slightly better quality connectors (primarily angled 2.5mm TRRS, straight and narrow 3.5mm TRS for the HE4XX connection, and (angled) Pentaconn jacks).

More importantly, however, does anyone have a (preferably EU) source for 24 and/or 26 AWG OCC and/or SPC wire with a clear jacket? I was all happy to have found Toxic Cables, then did some reading, discovering that the owners have sadly passed, that the company as such is functionally non-existent, and the email address on the site bounces messages due to an overfull mailbox that likely hasn't been checked in a year. So that's not an option. The various chinese suppliers seem to want me to buy 100m at a time (bit excessive), and I'm skeptical about the quality.

Anyone have sources for cabling they can share?

 

[RestlessZombi]

I have made a few balanced cables recently, it quite rewarding to finish one and have a listen to see what you made. I'm in the UK and have bought wire from OidioSound (Link) for my most recent cables. They do have SPC Clear wire on their site but its currently out of stock. You could try emailing them as they seem very helpful and see if they have any more coming in. I used the clear and the black to make my HD650 Balanced cable (Link, wire sleeves coming soon.)

I have just ordered today some cable from DesignACable (Link), they have a lot of different wires and connectors maybe you get some luck there.

Most of my Connectors are made by Neutrik which seems like a reasonable company to look out for, they can be found on a lot of sites such as the ones above and EBay. Good quality and reasonable prices.

 

[Allanmarcus]

Just wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction regarding what might be happening. I have some cables that were working fine but due to a change in my audio kit I needed to change the Balanced connectors from Female to Male. The cable was bought as a pair of Female XLR to Stereo 1/4' (or 6.3mm) for connecting my DAC to powered speakers.

I change the connector without issue at least I thought, but now one of the cables is about half the volume of the other thus the "centre" between the two speakers is no longer correct. It feels like voices in songs are now biased to one side.

Last night I cut the connector off and reconnected it as i noticed the signal wire didn't have all the strands soldered but this made no difference and I'm certain that I know have the full wire soldered properly. I have a multi-meter that I have checked there is a signal and tried a few things to see if there might be a bad conducting point somewhere but can't find anything. Do you think the connectors might at fault or is there any test that I might try to point the source of the issue. I have swapped the cables between left and right and the change in volume follows the cable so i know its not the DAC or Speakers.

Not all devices support converting from balanced out to SE. I think we would need more info, like what the equipment is, how you have it connected, how you wired the cables.

 

[carlman14]

I'm planning on making a nice cable for my LCD's and ZMF's (105 strand litz, eidolic connectors, etc), and was wondering... When building a high quality cable, how important is it that I use silver solder? Will there be a noticeable difference in sound quality if I use silver solder (3-4%) vs typical 60/40 tin/lead solder?

 

[Allanmarcus]

I'm planning on making a nice cable for my LCD's and ZMF's (105 strand litz, eidolic connectors, etc), and was wondering... When building a high quality cable, how important is it that I use silver solder? Will there be a noticeable difference in sound quality if I use silver solder (3-4%) vs typical 60/40 tin/lead solder?

No. and silver solder is hard to use. Stick with 60/40.

 

[itsikhefez]

I'm planning on making a nice cable for my LCD's and ZMF's (105 strand litz, eidolic connectors, etc), and was wondering... When building a high quality cable, how important is it that I use silver solder? Will there be a noticeable difference in sound quality if I use silver solder (3-4%) vs typical 60/40 tin/lead solder?

It will likely not make any difference at all. I have WBT 4% silver solder which works OK on some PCB's but is harder to use point-to-point (which is a similar situation with cables).
I prefer eutectic 63/37 solder

 

[carlman14]

No. and silver solder is hard to use. Stick with 60/40.

It will likely not make any difference at all. I have WBT 4% silver solder which works OK on some PCB's but is harder to use point-to-point (which is a similar situation with cables).
I prefer eutectic 63/37 solder

Awesome, thanks for the responses. I will stick to the solder I have. I didn't really want to buy silver solder anyway

 

[mattiav]

I have made a few balanced cables recently, it quite rewarding to finish one and have a listen to see what you made. I'm in the UK and have bought wire from OidioSound (Link) for my most recent cables. They do have SPC Clear wire on their site but its currently out of stock. You could try emailing them as they seem very helpful and see if they have any more coming in. I used the clear and the black to make my HD650 Balanced cable (Link, wire sleeves coming soon.)

I have just ordered today some cable from DesignACable (Link), they have a lot of different wires and connectors maybe you get some luck there.

Most of my Connectors are made by Neutrik which seems like a reasonable company to look out for, they can be found on a lot of sites such as the ones above and EBay. Good quality and reasonable prices.

Thanks for the suggestions, I’m going to send them an e-mail and see if they can help me out!

 

[Royaume]

Hi all!
I want to hardwire my HD800. 3m balanced a 4 pin xlr connector. I would prefer to sheath the braided cable with paracord. Should I use paracord on the individual wires also? Would that make it more soft and flexible? Also, its first time, so if someone can explain the differences between Mogami 2779, 2897 and 2453 that wpuld be a huge help. Sorry if I got any details wrong.
PS, what paracord would I need to sheath each wire and the braided wire?
Thanks in advance!

 

[RestlessZombi]

I had a look for those Mogami cables and I can't find any with those product numbers so I'm not sure what difference there is in those specifically but the usual things to check are:

Materials of the wire - Copper, Silver Plated Copper or Pure Silver (More Silver improves the high end or "Brightness" of the sound)
Thickness or gauge of the metal wire - Thicker gauge is better but the cable will obviously be less flexible - This is why some use two cables per Positive or Negative connection
How many strands of material - i'm not sure on the difference in sound but more strands would be more flexible and as mentioned above if its plated copper you increase the silver content with more strands
How many cores it has - though it doesn't sound like you wish to use one cable with multiple cores doing so will reduce the thickness of the cable as its bunched together more but less flexible then using multiple wires
Covering or sleeve - the covering can be different materials and with different thicknesses so this might be a difference in the wires.

Paracord comes in different types and widths so its hard to say until you know what type and how thick your cables will be. Individual wires should fit in Type 100 or 275 paracord, braided or multicore cables you would want 550 or 650 depending.

 

[tomb]

Hi all!
I want to hardwire my HD800. 3m balanced a 4 pin xlr connector. I would prefer to sheath the braided cable with paracord. Should I use paracord on the individual wires also? Would that make it more soft and flexible? Also, its first time, so if someone can explain the differences between Mogami 2779, 2897 and 2453 that wpuld be a huge help. Sorry if I got any details wrong.
PS, what paracord would I need to sheath each wire and the braided wire?
Thanks in advance!

IMHO, the only Mogami you should be using for headphones is the 2893. That's assuming you want to keep the cable intact. A lot of people around here talk about stripping the insulation from the Mogami and braiding the remaining wires individually. Personally, I think that's a waste. You want the shield. If you strip the insulation, you lose the shield and everything else that makes the Mogami an advantage.

Here's a tip on the paracord. It took me four orders and a few weeks of trial and error to figure this out, because it's not documented anywhere - at least not with keeping the Mogami cable intact. I got mine from Paracord Planet, so the naming convention may be different than Paracord Galaxy.

RCA patch cables: Mogami 2524, Paracord MAX, 5/16"
Headphone cables: Mogami 2893, Paracord MAX, 1/4", two wires at split for each channel - Paracord 650 coreless (use 1 ft. length for y-split)
Adapters, such as TRS to 4-pin XLR, Mogami 2534, Paracord MAX, 5/16" (this Mogami is nice, but it's probably way too big for headphones)

All of the above works just fine for keeping the Mogami cable intact. It works very well on my HD800, 650, 600, etc. The Paracord fits almost exactly, there is no issue with inch-worming it on the cable, even with a blunt cut on the end of the cable. You can't use the shield on the y-split, but by the time the signal is that close to your ears, it won't matter.

 

[mattiav]

Additional question for those folks making IEM cables: how best to form the termination end? I’ve got a Shure with stock cable which is stiff, thick and a bit unwieldy. I have the Campfire Andro S with the original Lit cable which itself is lovely, but the memory wire is too stiff to shape really comfortably. I also have cheap and cheerful Advanced Sound IEMs with a skinny, unbraided floppy cable with zero reinforcement which swing too far in the other direction.

What is your preference? is a braided (2 or quad) cable stiff enough to form into a bit of a hook that will retain some shape without any memory wire or heat shrink? How about just a bit of heat shrink, sans anything else?

 

[CoiL]

Haven`t noticed much self-sleeved high-core-count DIY cables, so, decided to do one because I hate microphonics caused by fabrics and similar sleeving: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/diy-cable-gallery.71148/page-1042#post-14944388

If someone has questions how to, then feel free to ask