[Progisus]

https://doublehelixcables.com/eidolic-connectors-accessories/

For some reason they cancelled my order and refunded for eidolic 3.5mm and 2 pin connectors. No explanation given.

 

[imas69]

For some reason they cancelled my order and refunded for eidolic 3.5mm and 2 pin connectors. No explanation given.

Yep, I've always found them incredibly slow with no communication

 

[dontfeedphils]

Norne is an option in the US too. I've never had an issue with DHC.

http://www.norneaudio.com/litzheim/...etal-barrel-plug-connector?manufacturer_id=13

 

[Progisus]

Norne is an option in the US too. I've never had an issue with DHC.

http://www.norneaudio.com/litzheim/...etal-barrel-plug-connector?manufacturer_id=13

Thanks for the link. I’ll give them a try. I did get a last set from Amazon US and delivery was quick and easy to Canada. Just got my EA Ares II repaired today. I needed a 2 pin connector.

 

[Joe Garfield]

Hi guys,
About to make my 1st cable for K712. I noticed people recommend quad mic cable even for cans with unbalanced, single entry. My question is, why doesn’t this create a ground loop?

K702/k712 use mini 3 pin xlr. A shielded 3-conductor cable would have a single ground for 2 channels, plus shield grounded at one end. Using a 4th conductor grounded at either end is just a parallel ground, so nothing but a loop it seems.

I’m thinking I might just leave one conductor disconnected, but then cable is thicker than necessary, although maybe still nice for memory properties?

I ultimately decided on mini star quad since that’s what Mogami uses in their trs headphone extensions, so “it must be right” lol. Even though I bought Canare cable

Thanks for any comments or thoughts.

 

[Joe Garfield]

I found Canare’s Star quad wiring diagram:
http://www.canare.com/UploadedDocuments/Cat11_p35.pdf

Interestingly, it looks like they use the shield as “ground”.

 

[Joe Garfield]

...it's because they're meant for balanced connections. Each twisted pair (2 cores) is designed to collect an equal amount of noise as the opposing 2 cores, to allow the 'balance' to equally filter out the noise. So the star quad is for single channel (+ -) with shield.

Mogami's 'headphone extension cable' is for balanced mono extension.

This is so screwed up - I just looked at Hosa's 'pro' headphone extension. Their cut sheet shows a 2-conductor OFC cable with a 90% OFC shield. So both channels use the lesser quality OFC braided shield as a common ground. Doesn't this defeat the whole purpose of using quality conductors? If we're going to be so picky about conductor, why on earth would we send the signal through a braided shield with different resistance properties? Audio signal is AC!

 

[Enkb]

Hi all,

Do you remember the wonderful adjustable jacks on the Sennheiser Momentum?
Anyone have an aliexpress link to those? or something on the same principle, adjustable rotation jack. I managed to find only 8 pieces in a package.

Link to the lot:
https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32833056352.html

Also can someone please link some cheap modular jack adapters? The ones where you can screw in different connectors, 2.5 3.5 etc..?

 

[BowWazoo]

i tried to build a usb-c audio cable for my px7. but unfortunately it does not work.

does anyone have any idea where the fault is?

Next try:

I can't get it to run.

 

[DecentLevi]

Resurrecting a few semi-old posts since I have a DIY pair of Neotech Nei 2001 RCA cables incoming with top RCA connectors.

Yes sorry i should have suggested these before. I have used the RCA connectors and they're quite a revelation for the price. I did some experimenting over the Xmas break trying to make cable for £50ish that could compete with £200 shop cable. Someone recomended these as being very close to KLE plugs with conductors made from the same Tellurium Copper coated with gold, silver of rhodium. I found the silver versions to sound really good with Neotech NEI 3002 mk3 copper hybrid UPOCC cable which is about 10.6mm, the combination is fantastic for the cash.

Re the AECO XLRs i think the model number only varies according the plating used, otherwise they're all the same. You can buy them on amazon in the UK.

Let me know how you get on

So is this a Neotech NEI 3002 mk3 copper hybrid UPOCC cable right, and with which Aeco RCA connectors? And is this your current favorite?

DIY cable compare time...

Thanks to @teknorob23's adventures, help and advice I made RCA interconnects for my office; Neotech NEI 3004 copper interconnect cable + Aeco silver-plated connectors. The office setup was moving from cheapo-£5-amazon-special RCAs, so I will say immediately, they were absolutely noticeably much better. They were so enjoyable at work, I felt the need to bring them home and compare vs my main interconnects; ETI Research Plugs mentioned above with NEI-1002 UP-OCC Silver Cable.

I am both sad and happy to say that after 90 minutes of A/B listening - the more expensive setup is the overall winner for me. A few summary comments from my listening notes are below. There are pretty straight themes for all songs in my comparison playlist. Given that 1 is a £300+ DIY cable and one is a £60 DIY cable, I am both happy and sad about the results, but not too surprised. Just the fact that I even thought they were worth comparing says something about how well I like the Aeco cable. Awesome value for money IMO.

These are some of the more negative comments on the Aeco/ Copper cable. There were a load of positive comments too but eliminating for post-length-sake. They are nice cables that I will use daily at my office.

• Subbass there, not crushing, but there
• Mid-bass very slight coarse in the decay of thump?
• Mid enjoyment/ engagement, a bit ’shout coarse' at times
• Slight harshness when louder many instruments playing at once?
• Thinner upper range small sounds
• Slight coarseness to vocal upper mids?
• Narrower stage on this song?

These are the more positive comments for the ETI / Silver cable. There weren't too many negative ones.

• Most repated comment: stronger enjoyment/ engagement.
• Revealed lower mids section I hadn’t yet heard
• Good bass presence relative to the rest of the sounds
• Louder/ busier guitar solo well managed and coherent, with only very slight shout once or twice
• Pretty coherent when more busy/ sounds. Well-presented whole
• No harshness when the bass gets dominant
• All sounds ‘authentic' even when 'thinner' or smaller sounds, natural presentation
• Good imaging in busier sections, clear separation in action
• Engaging bass lead section (forced head-bobbing)

(I've not used this language before, but I think when people say PRaT, they may mean what I was experiencing as 'engagement' with the ETI/ silver cables?)

From a DIY perspective, I found the Aeco connectors much more pleasant to solder than the ETIs. Perhaps I just suck less at this point.

I'd love to make pure silver Aeco + a proper Silver Neotech cable, but the fat silver neotech cable doesn't fit It could be hacked, but perhaps wouldn't be aesthetically lovely.

Finally, my ETI cables don't have the screen connected to the ground from the source. Does anything think they are worth desoldering / trimming/ adding that to the earth? I can't tell if it is a psychoacoustic ghost, but I felt the Aeco cables were every so slightly quieter and I could only attribute it to that. Very likely "in the noise of measurement" but thought I'd mention anyhow.

Best
Chris

For completeness sake, here is an odd track I have been listening to while typing this post. Not my usual cup of tea, but enjoying despite that fact, quality production in the 2nd half.

https://tidal.com/browse/track/103633273


N.B. Now that I have completed this exercise I think there is an important caveat; that the new cables have 15-20h on them, whereas the other cables have a few hundred hours probably... Hmm.

Hi again Chris, so it would seem you preferred the ETI Research Plugs with NEI-1002 UP-OCC Silver Cable, right? Have you tried the silver Neotech NEI 2001 cable?

 

[chrisdrop]

>>Resurrecting a few semi-old posts since I have a DIY pair of Neotech Nei 2001 RCA cables incoming with top RCA connectors.<<

They should be great. I haven't used Neotech NEI 2001. I forget why I didn't pick it at some point. I like the ETI Research plugs, but 1) they are expensive, 2) they are tiny/fiddly and I was a worse solderer then compared to now. I just thought the Aeco plugs were good value for performance. I also thought the NEI-3002 was good value for money. I don't think copper/silver plated is generally good TBH also, so - anomaly?

My "favourite" is still silver cables + ETI, but the cable was a lot more expensive. I made short cables, and when my setup moved around, I needed longer ones. I didn't feel like spending a boatload on more silver + ETI cables.

This is my list of Neotech 'stuff'. I just checked my hificollective orders. I think there is more for my headphone cables... I got that cable from a different vendor I think.

• Neotech NEP-3160 UP-OCC Copper Mains Cable w/ MS HD Power connectors
• Neotech NEI-1002 UP-OCC Silver Interconnect Cable (0.25m) / ETI Research Kryo RCA Plugs (pk of 4)
• Neotech NEI-3004: Copper Interconnect Cable
• Neotech NEI-3002 MKIII, UP-OCC Copper Interconnect Cable

 

[teknorob23]

Resurrecting a few semi-old posts since I have a DIY pair of Neotech Nei 2001 RCA cables incoming with top RCA connectors.

So is this a Neotech NEI 3002 mk3 copper hybrid UPOCC cable right, and with which Aeco RCA connectors? And is this your current favorite?

Hi again Chris, so it would seem you preferred the ETI Research Plugs with NEI-1002 UP-OCC Silver Cable, right? Have you tried the silver Neotech NEI 2001 cable?

Just to Chuck my 2 penneth in, IMO also
The silver upocc is a significant step up over the copper silver hybrid. The aeco connectors are a good value alternative to kle but not quite as good and the ETI kryos are better than both. They’re also one of the few connectors out there which will accommodate the Nei 1002’s ridiculously wide girth.

 

[Benny-x]

I'm hoping someone might be able to tell me the name of a custom headphone mod company/website they've had good experience with.

There was a site I found in the past 6 months, I think in Eastern Europe, that do all kinds of crazy mods, fully custom ear pads and headbands, etc. but I can't remember the name for the life of me.

What I want to do is replace all the detachable cable connectors on 4 pairs of headphones with Abyss style mini 3-pin XLR jacks. The best I like are Amphenol AG3MCC.
1. HiFiMAN - HE-6 (original, 4-screw)
2. McIntosh - MHP1000
3. Pioneer - SE Master-1
4. JVC - DX1000

Thanks for the help.

 

[barbz127]

I'm wanting to wire up a 1/4" TRS male to a 4 ping XLR.

I have 2 and 4 core wire on hand; should I:

1. Use dual core, one for tip, one for ring and use the cable shield for ground - in the xlr connector join the two ground pins together and leave the xlr shield disconnected

2. Use quad core, one for tip, one for ring and two for ground - both ground cores connect to the shield of the 1/4". XLR shield connects to the cable sheild which is disconnected at the 1/4" end.

3. Something completely different.

Thankyou

 

[Benny-x]

I'm hoping someone might be able to tell me the name of a custom headphone mod company/website they've had good experience with.

There was a site I found in the past 6 months, I think in Eastern Europe, that do all kinds of crazy mods, fully custom ear pads and headbands, etc. but I can't remember the name for the life of me.

What I want to do is replace all the detachable cable connectors on 4 pairs of headphones with Abyss style mini 3-pin XLR jacks. The best I like are Amphenol AG3MCC.
1. HiFiMAN - HE-6 (original, 4-screw)
2. McIntosh - MHP1000
3. Pioneer - SE Master-1
4. JVC - DX1000

Thanks for the help.

Crazy, custom earpads. Not too many companies that do those, which is how I found those posts I was thinking of before.

https://vesperaudio.com/ is the company I was trying to remember. Seems they're Russian, so, not really Eastern Europe, but I had the right direction going.

Still would appreciate any other recommendations from anyone about other companies I could send my headphones to.