DIY Cable Questions and Comments Thread

[Allanmarcus]

 

 
I have some samples of that coming. It's not clear, though. He's talking about the Daburn 2671. Min 100' (I just added that to the sheet. Sorry)

I would definitely be interested in what you think of it.  I might be convinced to ditch the clear if the flexibility is really good.

I haven't tried it, but you might this Silicone Cover Stranded-Core Wire from AdaFruit. Pretty cheap. 2m for $1

 

[SVTong]

I haven't looked into silicone wire before - has anyone tried to braid/use it?  Would the silicone have too much memory to make it usable for IEMs?

 

[Paladin79]

  I haven't looked into silicone wire before - has anyone tried to braid/use it?  Would the silicone have too much memory to make it usable for IEMs?

I have used it and it seems to braid well, very flexible and soft to the touch. Somewhere I have a cable I made with it, I will post a photo if I can locate it.
Here is a four wire silicone braid, I have not done a y split with it so I cannot attest to how well two wires would hold but it grips well and you can make a very tight braid with it from my experience.

 

[Allanmarcus]

 got the Daburn wire in. Unfortunately I only asked for 26awg. Its very flexible and soft. I would be a little worried about longevity if the wire where bare. 24AWG threaded though paranoid might work very well. I don't know about just having two wires wound together. The wire may be too flexible. Not sure. One might be able to braid 4 trends of 26awg and feed that through paranoid to each channel, then braid the 8 strands to the plug. 

 

[Allanmarcus]

WooHoo! 16 strand cable is complete!
 
Read the saga here
 

 
Does it make my headphones sound like Focal Utopia's? YES! Of course they started as Utopia's, so no big change. I actually prefer the 8 strand individually paracord sleeved cable, as that cable is much more flexible. Still, 16 strands is cool and maybe, just maybe, it sounds better.
 
I WAY overbought wire, so I have many extra feet of 26AWG mogami wire. I will probably make another cable or two, not terminate them and sell them for cost. I really do enjoy this. 

 

[wigglepuff]

guys how do you get the proper size to fit inside the paracord? like using 3 individual gauge 22 wires will fit into what size paracord perfectly without making it too stiff or too loose.

 

[Paladin79]

In my experience paracord varies a lot depending on who made it. It is rated at how much weight it can support and not flexibility. That being said 24 awg wire with jacket is not real easy to get into 150 paracord. You best use something larger for 22 awg. It is not expensive, buy a few sizes and experiment.

 

[Paladin79]

  WooHoo! 16 strand cable is complete!
 
Read the saga here
 

 
Does it make my headphones sound like Focal Utopia's? YES! Of course they started as Utopia's, so no big change. I actually prefer the 8 strand individually paracord sleeved cable, as that cable is much more flexible. Still, 16 strands is cool and maybe, just maybe, it sounds better.
 
I WAY overbought wire, so I have many extra feet of 26AWG mogami wire. I will probably make another cable or two, not terminate them and sell them for cost. I really do enjoy this. 

I think it looks very cool, now getting into whether it sounds better can be a little tricky so adding the maybe helped I am sure. If you have a cable that accurately transports the sound that goes into said cable, that is about all you can hope for, to maintain it. In all the testing I have done, the more wires added, the trickier it gets to maintain the quality of the original sound.

 

[Allanmarcus]

guys how do you get the proper size to fit inside the paracord? like using 3 individual gauge 22 wires will fit into what size paracord perfectly without making it too stiff or too loose.

It gets even more fun. Not only is not no standard size for paracord, there is no standard size for wire insolulation. So you have to experiment to match both the specific wire into specific paracord.

I get paracord from paracordplanet.com

 

[SVTong]

 
Here is a shot of the IEMs I made with the Chinese teflon coated SPC.  That is about as tight of a coil as they will make - any tighter than that and they spring open to this size.  One advantage is that the 2-wire twist going to each channel holds very nicely.  They also seem less susceptible to RF noise compared to the cheap hookup wire I was using before.

 

[Paladin79]

 
 
Here is a shot of the IEMs I made with the Chinese teflon coated SPC.  That is about as tight of a coil as they will make - any tighter than that and they spring open to this size.  One advantage is that the 2-wire twist going to each channel holds very nicely.  They also seem less susceptible to RF noise compared to the cheap hookup wire I was using before.

Teflon can be tricky, I have to use quite a bit of it on occasion and just finding the right wire strippers for it is not always easy. It is most likely the fine job  you did with the twists that help with RF noise I would think although teflon does have some interesting properties.

 

[ForceMajeure]

 
 
Here is a shot of the IEMs I made with the Chinese teflon coated SPC.  That is about as tight of a coil as they will make - any tighter than that and they spring open to this size.  One advantage is that the 2-wire twist going to each channel holds very nicely.  They also seem less susceptible to RF noise compared to the cheap hookup wire I was using before.

Is that the Acrolink cable brand from Lunashops?

 

[SVTong]

  Is that the Acrolink cable brand from Lunashops?

 
I got it off of eBay:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/281831106775?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&var=580816709753&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

[Paladin79]

   
I got it off of eBay:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/281831106775?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&var=580816709753&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I am not so sure they say what kind of wire they are silver plating but I skimmed the add pretty quickly. You might want to read up on "skin effect" sometime. I am sure solid silver wire can have a difference in audio but the outside plating does not come into play at audible frequencies. Read up on it and form your own opinion though, I try to look at the science involved with such product and am not discouraging anyone from buying what they wish to buy. 

 

[SVTong]

  I am not so sure they say what kind of wire they are silver plating but I skimmed the add pretty quickly. You might want to read up on "skin effect" sometime. I am sure solid silver wire can have a difference in audio but the outside plating does not come into play at audible frequencies. Read up on it and form your own opinion though, I try to look at the science involved with such product and am not discouraging anyone from buying what they wish to buy. 

In all honesty, I bought it purely for appearance's sake.  It was an opportunity to make a good looking cable for not much money.  The next one I make will definitely be function over form though!