DIY Cable Questions and Comments Thread

[mattiav]

Paracord.eu has paramax type V cord, which is 6mm o.d.

 

[Allanmarcus]

quick question can anyone point me in the direction of thick pararcord or sleeving made from similar soft material 6mm+ in diameter. I've found both silk and cotton sleeve but only in raw colour and i'm looking for black. thanks

Raw sounds better. Ink disturbs or can interfere with or collect sub-magnetic photons and cause coloration.

 

[gwertheim]

Anyone know where to get a thin 3.5 mm trrs connector, got a pair of fostex t60rp headphones and looking to make a longer cable

 

[mattiav]

Anyone know where to get a thin 3.5 mm trrs connector, got a pair of fostex t60rp headphones and looking to make a longer cable

Would one of these extended tip plugs work?

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/cKM8Cr44
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/c9bJSj1Q
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/bkwKBvWC

I’m still looking for a really long extended tip jack to make a new Meze 99 classics cable - the shape of the socket means it needs to be either very long or very narrow, neither of which the above seem to fit. Meze sells OEM connectors for 20 bucks, but that’s a bit rich for me. On the other hand I can then use the same cable with my He4XX...

 

[teknorob23]

Paracord.eu has paramax type V cord, which is 6mm o.d.

brilliant thanks, just ordered some for next HP cable using neotech and sliver/gold up-occ which i want to treat the best sleeving i can find

Raw sounds better. Ink disturbs or can interfere with or collect sub-magnetic photons and cause coloration.

thanks for the heads up, last thing i wanted to get involved with is irritated photons!

 

[gwertheim]

Would one of these extended tip plugs work?

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/cKM8Cr44
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/c9bJSj1Q
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/bkwKBvWC

I’m still looking for a really long extended tip jack to make a new Meze 99 classics cable - the shape of the socket means it needs to be either very long or very narrow, neither of which the above seem to fit. Meze sells OEM connectors for 20 bucks, but that’s a bit rich for me. On the other hand I can then use the same cable with my He4XX...

The problem I ran into was that the jack is recessed so you need a thin 3.5 mm trrs barrel to get past the wood. I have a caliper on order to try and figure out the diameter of the opening

 

[mattiav]

I see the links don’t all work very well..

EDIT: new links added that do work...

€ 2,75 | Areyourshop Audio Connector 3.5mm Stereo 3 Pole Male Jack Plug Jack Repair Earphones Audio Adapter S
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33009668874.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.38192e0erQ10Nv

€ 1,68 21％ Off | QYFANG 3.5mm 3 Pole Earphone Audio Jack DIY HiFi Headphone Plug Metal Alloy Splice Adapter Gold Plated Solder Wire Connector
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32963052596.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.66f42e0ePERQ4X

That should do the trick. The plug body on both is narrow and there’s an extended collar that should certainly fit. Measure to check. Meze is a far trickier shape and requires an even thinner jack.
For a slightly more upmarket option there are the extended jacks from PlusSound which may well work:

http://www.plussoundaudio.com/diy/connectors.html

 

[Cantrell]

cable using neotech and sliver/gold up-occ

Have you used solid core pure silver or Neotech gold plated Cu wire for anything?

In any case let us know how the AG/Gold cable sounds if you can

 

[teknorob23]

Have you used solid core pure silver or Neotech gold plated Cu wire for anything?

In any case let us know how the AG/Gold cable sounds if you can

So far I’ve made 2 neotech hp cables:

8 core (8 x awg 24 solid copper)
Has to be the best value vs performance I’ve ever come across in hifi because with sleeving, solder etc it cost about £60 and sounds as good if not better than any shop bought copper cable I’ve bought.

8 core (4 x 26 awg solid silver & 4 x 24 awg)
A lot more expensive, at about £245 for the wire and other parts, but considerable leap in performance. Amazing detail retrieval and extension top and and bottom. Guitars sound amazing - a real textured crunch, the bass is really nice to, deep, layered and perfectly controlled. Overall it’s added a real 3D depth to the soundstage.

I’ve experimented with so-occ acrolink multistrand from Japanese ebayer who was recommended to me. I made and 8 and 4 core versions with 23 awg/ 10 strand wire. Very good on the value front and performance is good too. The 4 core sounds slightly more defined and precise than the 8 core which was surprising. The 8 has more low end but it’s slightly less controlled than the 4. Cables cost about 60-75 each. Oh and they’re a lot more flexible than the neotech which I guess is unsurprising what with being multi-strand.

I’ve not really been tempted by the gold coated neotech copper, but I will make a short pure UP-OCC silver at some point so I have a proper reference on the silver sound, but first the silver/gold. I’m going with a 4 core of 28awg which is quite punchy at £270 for 10 metres. I have higher hopes though because so far every step up in neotech range has come with disproportionate returns vs investment, but when funds permit, i'll probably try making it up to and 8 core.

I can’t believe I’ve spent 20 years lining the cable makers pockets. I should mention the star of my set up the pure silver occ nei 1002 rca cable with eti cryo plugs, not cheap at £350 for the finished cable but wow, its a big leap up from £500 tellurium Q black ultra 2 rca which itself was a very impressive cable. I don’t know but I suspect it will give any cable up to £1k a run for its money and i think this is solely down to how far ahead Neotech are with their cable tech.. probably why they supply most high end cable makers.

Just need to try and sell some of my creations, that or work out how i can feed the family on mono crystal copper

 

[assassinloki]

Hi Everyone, is there a tutorial for replacing IEM cables for super newbs? I've never done any soldering before and I'd like to know. the IEM in question is Mi Hybrid Pro HD

 

[mattiav]

Hi Everyone, is there a tutorial for replacing IEM cables for super newbs? I've never done any soldering before and I'd like to know. the IEM in question is Mi Hybrid Pro HD

Looking at those, replacing the cable in the housing looks like it would be very, very challenging to do nicely since cables are non-removable. If the wiring connecting to the earpieces is intact, you could consider splicing connectors to the cable and building an additional cable. But in terms of cost, you’re probably best off buying a new one for the 10-15 bucks they cost on AliExpress....

 

[Allanmarcus]

Would one of these extended tip plugs work?

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/cKM8Cr44
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/c9bJSj1Q
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/bkwKBvWC

I’m still looking for a really long extended tip jack to make a new Meze 99 classics cable - the shape of the socket means it needs to be either very long or very narrow, neither of which the above seem to fit. Meze sells OEM connectors for 20 bucks, but that’s a bit rich for me. On the other hand I can then use the same cable with my He4XX...

Those three plugs from Ali are TRS, not TRRS. gwertheim was asking about TRRS.

For an extended TRS plug, try the PLUSSOUND Cryo Treated Extended 3.5mm Connector.

For some incomprehensible reason, @PLUSSOUND doesn't have an obvious way to direct link to their products (hint @PLUSSOUND, add one).
http://www.plussoundaudio.com/diy/connectors.html

 

[PLUSSOUND]

For an extended TRS plug, try the PLUSSOUND Cryo Treated Extended 3.5mm Connector.

For some incomprehensible reason, @PLUSSOUND doesn't have an obvious way to direct link to their products (hint @PLUSSOUND, add one).
http://www.plussoundaudio.com/diy/connectors.html

Click on any product, find the Share option below "add to cart", click on the icon "+ more", and you'll see the link (or you can type in copy link). Here's what you were looking for:
http://www.plussoundaudio.com/diy/connectors.html#plussound-cryo-treated-extended-3-5mm-connector

 

[viivo]

Is there a trick to removing the plugs from the Sony MDR-z7 Kimber Kable, or is cutting the wire and resoldering my only option?

I once tried to coat my cable with plastidip which ended in an ugly, globby mess, and I'm sick of looking at my mistake. I'd like to either clean it or paracord it, both of which require de-braiding.

For reference (not my picture): https://cdn.head-fi.org/a/10202794.jpg

 

[BiggieBig]

sorry to interrupt, but i'm trying to find a wiring diagram for a 4.4MM 4.4MM Pentaconn balance connector and wandered if any of you have one. Apologies if its already in the thread but i cant find it. Also if anyone has any recommendations on easy to work with plugs, any suggestions would be gratefully received. thanks Rob

Just seen this , see below for a good reference for wiring.
http://www.diyaudioblog.com/2016/02/headphone-connectors-pins-pinouts-for.html

Least I can do after all your help