[Dibster]

I'm looking at one thick silver strand on the outside and two very tiny strands in the middle, isolated from everything else and colored white and red. If any of the three are disconnected, there's no audio whatsoever. What do you think is the function of each strand?

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Quote:

If any of the three are disconnected, there's no audio whatsoever.

A pic ?
 
Normally only two "strands" are necessary to carry left & right signal.
But I  was always wondering if the hd800 didn't perform internally some kind of crossfeeding , to get that particular soundstage.
 
Scratch that, even common headphone connectors seem to  have three signals, just by looking at them. I  guess the third one is neutral, used as a reference. Like ground for electricity.

 

[Dibster]

I forgot to clarify that each headphone receives this set of three wires separately.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Well, I'm still wondering if the hd800 doesn't perform some hidden crossfeed,
if the three wires comes to each phone (and not just two), then it might confirm my theory.
Then it would be a kind of  "sound processing" that people are unaware, and lot of people would be annoyed by realizing this.
A pic ?

 

[Dibster]

Actually, after researching it a bit, it seems like it's a bog-standard balanced cable design with two leads and a shield. I don't have equipment to take a picture at my current location but it's identical to this:
 

 
Should I have audio just connecting Line 1 and Line 2?

 

[Dibster]

Answering myself: Yes, just connecting the two leads will get me audio. I connected the lines, which are really, really thin and makes just connecting them really difficult. Works and sounds great regardless of having no connection for the grounding wire.
 
The thinness of the cable is remarkable for something that Sennheiser has the audacity to charge 200€ for.

 

[extrabigmehdi]

Quote:

Answering myself: Yes, just connecting the two leads will get me audio. I connected the lines, which are really, really thin and makes just connecting them really difficult. Works and sounds great regardless of having no connection for the grounding wire.
 
The thinness of the cable is remarkable for something that Sennheiser has the audacity to charge 200€ for.

Well regarding impact of cable for sound quality I'm not a "believer". The cable of hd800 look solid, and shield protected , the only thing I would want is that it tangle less.
Regarding price, Sennheiser , are just making people pay, what they are willing to pay for.
Let's not just talk of cable, but price of full headphone: lot of people are convinced that the more you pay , the better sound quality you can have; so add to this the power of expectation bias on your listening experience, this is certainly "verified".

 

[Dibster]

I don't believe in cable magic either. This is exactly why I feel burned by Sennheiser designing the cable in such a way that it is comparatively difficult to repair and replace and charging extravagant sums for their own replacement.