[NoPants]

Hi I haven't posted on here much so bear with me.

Looking at many grados threads, I noticed that there are some individuals who modify their headphones to terminate the cup entry with a female headphone jack, running them as dual mono. I'm wondering why more people haven't extended this idea to other models. It seems that many headphones could benefit from this, especially akgs which I have in mind. Not only would this facilitate easy cable comparisons for those who are so inclined, but on a practical level your headphones would be free from snagging on various objects. The latter has happened to me many times at the computer and I'm currently looking into this to fix both this problem and a broken cable. It seems to me that this could even be accomplished with a short segement of wire and a female connector of your choice, opening up many options for termination AND making it easier to source cables since you could use male-to-male connectors (not to up on this, but I'm thinkign of something like XLR connectors and things of that sort) to connect to components.

I'm not sure if this topic has been discussed at large, so any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[xinoxide]

some people do it, some people dont, alot of the times its fear of opening up bars of gold.

 

[NoPants]

Yea I've been thinking about it for a long time and I don't understand why people haven't jumped on it more...it makes stuff like A/B-ing cables and etc. that much easier, so why don't the afficianados do so?

 

[Trippytiger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoPants /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yea I've been thinking about it for a long time and I don't understand why people haven't jumped on it more...it makes stuff like A/B-ing cables and etc. that much easier, so why don't the afficianados do so?

Well, for one, adding another connection to your signal chain probably isn't going to be that good for the integrity of the signal itself. When people are going for absolute sound quality, they'll hardwire the cables to the headphone to avoid extra connectors that might negatively effect the sound quality.

 

[ericj]

silly, you don't a/b cables!

You save up every penny you can - sometimes as much as the headphones themselves cost - then buy one cable and believe steadfastly that it was worth every penny.

 

[NoPants]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif silly, you don't a/b cables! You save up every penny you can - sometimes as much as the headphones themselves cost - then buy one cable and believe steadfastly that it was worth every penny.

lawl funny that you should mention that, I was considering more than what I paid for my k601s to get them recabled, 30% because the cable is cut in two places (only superficially so). Seemed like a good excuse to try cabling, but I eventually choked. Whereas I was more than willing to get apuresound's sexy work done, I have to question it BEFORE my wallet starts crying. I guess since people dont' have much to say about the validity of getting a short length of wire or even a jack installed, I'd have to put myself at risk of looking stupid for not using the search function and ask whether it's justifiable spending so much on cables when your sources "can't live up to the task"... Thoughts?

 

[jonnywolfet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoPants /img/forum/go_quote.gif lawl funny that you should mention that, I was considering more than what I paid for my k601s to get them recabled, 30% because the cable is cut in two places (only superficially so). Seemed like a good excuse to try cabling, but I eventually choked. Whereas I was more than willing to get apuresound's sexy work done, I have to question it BEFORE my wallet starts crying. I guess since people dont' have much to say about the validity of getting a short length of wire or even a jack installed, I'd have to put myself at risk of looking stupid for not using the search function and ask whether it's justifiable spending so much on cables when your sources "can't live up to the task"... Thoughts?

the sound of cable is an area that is debatable. what is accepted is that a cable will only alter the sound a very small amount. with that in mind could you justify spending the cash? with the money you could get more music, or a different set of cans. that way you will DEFINITELY hear something different.

personally i couldnt justify spending money on boutique/expensive cabling. not when cat5 works fine, that way i have money for lp's, cd's, socialising, holiday, gf, ect.

my 2c? spend your money where it will be really noticable.

 

[Duggeh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif silly, you don't a/b cables! You save up every penny you can - sometimes as much as the headphones themselves cost - then buy one cable and believe steadfastly that it was worth every penny.

QFT.

 

[NoPants]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonnywolfet /img/forum/go_quote.gif personally i couldnt justify spending money on boutique/expensive cabling. not when cat5 works fine, that way i have money for lp's, cd's, socialising, holiday, gf, ect.

Yea I basically started this thread to justify copping out on full-fledged recabling, and to see if there was any interest in anyone offering such services...though I guess in a way if this sort of work was the norm recabling would be a lot more affordable. I dunno I always thought it was a lot easier to fashion interconnects rather than pop open those fukken grills on my 601 to get at the wires. Hell now that I think about it you could make different ended cables to fit (synergize? did they add that to the dictionary yet hah), i.e. mogami for balanced sources, rca out of whatevers, paper clips for your electrical outlet I don't know. Doesn't neutrik make locking connectors also? So if you're afraid that the cord coming loose will work some bad stuff across your amp, you can address that.

Sorry I'm rambling a little but as far as typing on these forums, I feel like if I don't get it out the first time I'll forget as I backspace through my spelling errors.

Anyways, I'm particularly interested in dual mono termination, similar to what (I think) I see in xinoxide's avatar, as playing with function generator software made me realize how noticeable phase change is, contrary to what I used to think. Since I own primarily akgs with single cord entry, dual termination would bypass the extra distance along the conducting headband, and the consequential phase change. Plus, I could run them from something balanced should I decide to go all fancypants.

Thanks for all the responses so far, especially ericj for mad lulz

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoPants /img/forum/go_quote.gif Since I own primarily akgs with single cord entry, dual termination would bypass the extra distance along the conducting headband, and the consequential phase change. Plus, I could run them from something balanced should I decide to go all fancypants.

Have you actually calculated how much phase offset 20 inches of wire gives you?

 

[NoPants]

yea I was thinking it was something in the ballpark of small to small, but no I never calculated it...so it'd be 2pi f l/c rad right

so ~=3*5 /10^10 * f...sigh I see your point. I guess I got ahead of myself, but my stupidity only moderately detracts from what I was I trying to say...I think heh. Is there something unwieldy about what I'm proposing that explains why people haven't done more of it yet? Or does it just more naturally lend itself to nautral dual entry heaphones like grados. I mean I'm not trying to attack whatever sort of institution that recabling has establsihed, I'm just genuinely curious.

Edit: Just saw the thread for the RP-21 and that's exactly what I was envisioning...any cable-rs with an input as to how much it would cost? I know you guys can take chunks out of earcups for dual entry already haha