DIY Cable Questions and Comments Thread
Sep 20, 2016 at 9:29 AM Post #5,866 of 10,535
  Here's my DIY cable after the RHA750's I had an accident getting caught up in my bike, rather than throwing them away or buying new ones, I decided to make them modular, now if the cable gets damaged again or I want a different length I can just switch it out.
 
http://i.imgur.com/woJpOj7.jpg
 
Could've been done cleaner but I'm happy with the result and they still sound great.


Good job. Especially if those TRRS connectors use the round cylinder that you are supposed to solder onto. The hotglue makes for a pretty good seal, if you ever need to take them apart you can remelt it using a heat gun or hand-held hairdryer.
 
Sep 21, 2016 at 10:54 AM Post #5,867 of 10,535
Just made my first cable for my HD580's and honestly it came out pretty great!  The Y-Split was a lot easier than I expected to tackle.
 
I ended up using some spare Canare CA-L-2T2S (2 conductor with shield).  I used the shield as the common return path.  Unfortuantely with Paracord 550 covering it, it's pretty stiff.  I'm not sure if it's the shield that's causing it or that the Paracord is stretched out to its max.
 
I'm looking at re-doing the cable using the Canare Quad-cable.  If I opt for that, should I keep the fibre with the conductors or would that give me the same issue of stretching out the paracord and making it stiff again?
 
Sep 21, 2016 at 11:08 AM Post #5,868 of 10,535
  Just made my first cable for my HD580's and honestly it came out pretty great!  The Y-Split was a lot easier than I expected to tackle.
 
I ended up using some spare Canare CA-L-2T2S (2 conductor with shield).  I used the shield as the common return path.  Unfortuantely with Paracord 550 covering it, it's pretty stiff.  I'm not sure if it's the shield that's causing it or that the Paracord is stretched out to its max.
 
I'm looking at re-doing the cable using the Canare Quad-cable.  If I opt for that, should I keep the fibre with the conductors or would that give me the same issue of stretching out the paracord and making it stiff again?


The star quad is right at 1/4" outside diameter so it may well be a tighter fit than the two conductor with shield. There are larger sizes of paracord of course. I got some combo cotton and nylon sheathing that stretches more than paracord but less than techflex, I believe it was four and six mm wide measured flat but I would have to look up the exact sizes.  It is better in regards to microphonics IMHO.  Correction, the cotton and nylon is available in 4, 8, and 12 mm widths (measured flat as best I can tell.)
 
Sep 21, 2016 at 11:14 AM Post #5,869 of 10,535
 
The star quad is right at 1/4" outside diameter so it may well be a tighter fit than the two conductor with shield. There are larger sizes of paracord of course. I got some combo cotton and nylon sheathing that stretches more than paracord but less than techflex, I believe it was four and six mm wide measured flat but I would have to look up the exact sizes.  It is better in regards to microphonics IMHO.

I would be removing the PVC jacket.  The actual cable bundles internally are about the same size.  I guess my question is if the lack of shield would make the quad cable more flexible or is the paracord likely the cause of the stiffness?
 
Sep 21, 2016 at 11:17 AM Post #5,870 of 10,535
  I would be removing the PVC jacket.  The actual cable bundles internally are about the same size.  I guess my question is if the lack of shield would make the quad cable more flexible or is the paracord likely the cause of the stiffness?


it is probably the french braid and filler that stiffens the quad cable. Adding paracord does not help. The cotton/nylon is more flexible usually.
 
Sep 21, 2016 at 11:19 AM Post #5,871 of 10,535
 
it is probably the french braid and filler that stiffens the quad cable. Adding paracord does not help. The cotton/nylon is more flexible usually.

Where can I find this cotton/nylon material?  What I'll probably do is open the braid up and take some of the cotton filler out.  I'll get it to a thickness that fits well into whatever covering material I choose to use.

Thanks for the advice :)
 
Sep 21, 2016 at 11:27 AM Post #5,872 of 10,535
http://www.ebay.com/itm/231391753695?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=530652124610&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
 
Just be careful if removing the braid. Star Quad cable as it sits has some excellent properties. If you remove the braid and do not keep the integrity of the twisted wires you would be giving up two forms of shielding. Go too far and you would be better off removing the internal wires and braiding them.
 
Sep 21, 2016 at 2:33 PM Post #5,873 of 10,535
  Just made my first cable for my HD580's and honestly it came out pretty great!  The Y-Split was a lot easier than I expected to tackle.
 
I ended up using some spare Canare CA-L-2T2S (2 conductor with shield).  I used the shield as the common return path.  Unfortuantely with Paracord 550 covering it, it's pretty stiff.  I'm not sure if it's the shield that's causing it or that the Paracord is stretched out to its max.
 
I'm looking at re-doing the cable using the Canare Quad-cable.  If I opt for that, should I keep the fibre with the conductors or would that give me the same issue of stretching out the paracord and making it stiff again?


Try loosening the sleeving. That can make a huge difference. 
 
Sep 21, 2016 at 3:01 PM Post #5,874 of 10,535
  http://www.ebay.com/itm/231391753695?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=530652124610&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
 
Just be careful if removing the braid. Star Quad cable as it sits has some excellent properties. If you remove the braid and do not keep the integrity of the twisted wires you would be giving up two forms of shielding. Go too far and you would be better off removing the internal wires and braiding them.

 
I was considering removing the 4th conductor but that would probably ruin the braid.  I just checked out the diagram of the Star Quad and there's a shield on top of the quad cables.  I think if I remove that shield, I'll have enough space to fit everything into 550-size paracord without it getting all bound up. That's quite a bit of cross-sectional area that I relieve.
 
Try loosening the sleeving. That can make a huge difference. 

 
Unfortuantely the cable I'm using pretty much expands the paracord to the max.  There would've been a little slack but I've already heat sealed the ends and I used superglue to keep everything neat and tidy.  Whoops. 

Learning experience for next time!
 
Sep 21, 2016 at 3:15 PM Post #5,875 of 10,535
   
I was considering removing the 4th conductor but that would probably ruin the braid.  I just checked out the diagram of the Star Quad and there's a shield on top of the quad cables.  I think if I remove that shield, I'll have enough space to fit everything into 550-size paracord without it getting all bound up. That's quite a bit of cross-sectional area that I relieve.
 
Unfortuantely the cable I'm using pretty much expands the paracord to the max.  There would've been a little slack but I've already heat sealed the ends and I used superglue to keep everything neat and tidy.  Whoops. 

Learning experience for next time!


if I get a chance I will see how the cotton/nylon fits on the star quad. I was experimenting with my own mesh at home and need to bring some into work to access some of the star quad. I keep Belden, Mogami, and Canare but they are all fairly close in size as I recall. I doubt it will give a looser fit since it has the nylon mesh structure but the cotton helps.
 
Sep 21, 2016 at 3:23 PM Post #5,876 of 10,535


Here is a photo of the cotton and nylon mesh. The purple portion is the cotton and the black is the nylon (PET actually). It does shrink down pretty tight but I prefer the cleaner appearance as well as the lessened microphonics. This will easily expand to fit star quad.
 
Sep 21, 2016 at 5:52 PM Post #5,877 of 10,535
Looks like good quality cable. It's the soldier joints and the plugs that really make a difference. I have no skill is this regard so I paid $160 for the cable on my $300 HiFiMAN HE-300's.(CablePros) Just make sure you burn them in with pink and brown noise and a recording with serious transient response. I use Zappa's G-Spot Tornado off The Yellow Shark CD. The last disc he did before he died of prostate cancer at age 53. I am a survivor of that disease...
 
Sep 22, 2016 at 8:57 AM Post #5,879 of 10,535
  Looks like good quality cable. It's the soldier joints and the plugs that really make a difference. I have no skill is this regard so I paid $160 for the cable on my $300 HiFiMAN HE-300's.(CablePros) Just make sure you burn them in with pink and brown noise and a recording with serious transient response. I use Zappa's G-Spot Tornado off The Yellow Shark CD. The last disc he did before he died of prostate cancer at age 53. I am a survivor of that disease...


I believe in using quality connectors so that they hold up well and use those with solder lugs whenever possible but when you are using wire at say 5 feet in length and it is looped through a solder lug and a mere fraction of solder lies between it and the lug, I would be hard pressed to see how that could make as much difference as the wire itself.  I know about soldering and have been through a six week course on just that and yes silver is a better conductor than tin and lead but I am hard pressed to believe that that tiny junction or the junction between where a plug makes contact with a jack would be of more significance than five feet of wire. Source music is important but after that I would personally rate importance as headphones, amp, wire, connectors, then solder but that is just my opinion. I am glad to hear you are a survivor.
 
Sep 22, 2016 at 10:26 AM Post #5,880 of 10,535
 
I believe in using quality connectors so that they hold up well and use those with solder lugs whenever possible but when you are using wire at say 5 feet in length and it is looped through a solder lug and a mere fraction of solder lies between it and the lug, I would be hard pressed to see how that could make as much difference as the wire itself.  I know about soldering and have been through a six week course on just that and yes silver is a better conductor than tin and lead but I am hard pressed to believe that that tiny junction or the junction between where a plug makes contact with a jack would be of more significance than five feet of wire. Source music is important but after that I would personally rate importance as headphones, amp, wire, connectors, then solder but that is just my opinion. I am glad to hear you are a survivor.


Think weakest link in a chain.
It's like a choke point at the solder joint.
I don't even think that cables make a hill of beans difference myself unless you got silver wire, but getting some solder with silver content wasn't that expensive so I did. It does make soldering more of a challenge due to the higher temperature required, but nothing some practice can't fix.
 

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