[Tinnitus Man]

Joe Bloggs posted here yesterday. Hopefully he'll pick this up and see if you can get sorted out.

 

[kukkurovaca]

he headphones that I have can't be equipped with any balanced cables.

The headphones I use are HD 380 Pro, EPH-100, and Samsung earphones tuned by AKG.

If you want to try balanced, you can get something like a VE Monk earbud with balanced termination for like $20.

 

[hernandoco]

Hmm. That's news to me and I stand to be educated.

I read up on balanced cables/headphones here https://www.headphone.com/pages/balanced-headphones-guide

And the FAQ section led me to believe that not all headphones are balanced. Photos of balanced headphone cables mainly involve honking great big plugs.

The easiest and cheapest way to get into balanced IEMs or headphones is getting a headphone with detachable cables and buy some cheap ebay 2.5mm terminated balanced cable. In the case where the detachable cable is coming from only one earpiece, just pray that the pins are standard wired correctly.

 

[milesjunkie]

The easiest and cheapest way to get into balanced IEMs or headphones is getting a headphone with detachable cables and buy some cheap ebay 2.5mm terminated balanced cable. In the case where the detachable cable is coming from only one earpiece, just pray that the pins are standard wired correctly.

Not sure I’d take the risk on damaging a 500 buck DAP by buying a dubious balanced cable. I’ve bought headphone cables from lunashops.com previously and they are both decently priced and reputable. A little research beyond eBay is worthwhile here.

 

[hernandoco]

Not sure I’d take the risk on damaging a 500 buck DAP by buying a dubious balanced cable. I’ve bought headphone cables from lunashops.com previously and they are both decently priced and reputable. A little research beyond eBay is worthwhile here.

I said easiest and cheapest not necessarily reliable. You missed the point. He was talking about balanced setups being really expensive but as others have pointed out, it doesn't have to be. eBay also doesn't necessarily mean a junk product. A little due diligence goes a long way. I've bought poor products from reputable sites/brands too.

 

[superuser1]

Not sure I’d take the risk on damaging a 500 buck DAP by buying a dubious balanced cable. I’ve bought headphone cables from lunashops.com previously and they are both decently priced and reputable. A little research beyond eBay is worthwhile here.

talking specificity about lunashops I can say that some people have had problems with their 4.4. balanced cables as it was state the cable had the ground short and the polarities inverted. I have tried several dubious cables from the likes of ebay and tested them with a multimeter and have found them wired properly.

 

[scotvl]

Okay. Is there any way to use regular headphones (3.5mm TRS) with balanced outputs (2.5mm TRRS)? Yes, I'm a noob!

If your IEMs or headphones have a 4 conductor cable you can do what @dontcallmejan did with the cable from his ibasso IT01s and have a 2.5mm TRRS connector soldered on and have the original plug with a couple inches of its wire reterminated to a 2.5mm female to 3.5mm male adapter then you could use their stock cable with any source you may have. It's what I plan on doing to my IT01s cable once I pick up the hiby r6 because they are supposed to sound even better balanced which I find hard to believe because they already sound amazing with every source I've tried but I'm game for even more of a great thing.
Good luck.

Had my stock cable reterminated to balanced. Since the Ibasso jack can't be opened, it had to be cut. I decided to let them cut 2 inches to be used as a 3.5mm adapter!

 

[BetterLate]

If your IEMs or headphones have a 4 conductor cable you can do what @dontcallmejan did with the cable from his ibasso IT01s and have a 2.5mm TRRS connector soldered on and have the original plug reterminated to a 2.5mm female to 3.5mm male adapter then you could use their stock cable with any source you may have. It's what I plan on doing to my IT01s cable once I pick up the hiby r6 because they are supposed to sound even better balanced which I find hard to believe because they already sound amazing with every source I've tried but I'm game for even more of a great thing.
Good luck.

The Fiio F5 IEM comes with interchangeable SE and balanced cables for $60. I’m looking forward to trying them out on the R6

 

[milesjunkie]

talking specificity about lunashops I can say that some people have had problems with their 4.4. balanced cables as it was state the cable had the ground short and the polarities inverted. I have tried several dubious cables from the likes of ebay and tested them with a multimeter and have found them wired properly.

Sure and of course my statement was too sweeping. But I’ll bet you only used the cheap cable with your expensive DAP after you tested it with your multimeter and not before...would you advocate that someone with no knowledge or equipment but who has heard “Balanced is better” take a chance on a really cheap cable?

 

[milesjunkie]

I said easiest and cheapest not necessarily reliable. You missed the point. He was talking about balanced setups being really expensive but as others have pointed out, it doesn't have to be. eBay also doesn't necessarily mean a junk product. A little due diligence goes a long way. I've bought poor products from reputable sites/brands too.

Er, I didn’t miss the point at all - I just made a different point. You can’t separate easiest and cheapest from reliable in a product where the consequences of “unreliable” can be damage to your DAP and not just failure of your cable.

JM2c...

 

[hernandoco]

Er, I didn’t miss the point at all - I just made a different point. You can’t separate easiest and cheapest from reliable in a product where the consequences of “unreliable” can be damage to your DAP and not just failure of your cable.

JM2c...

You definitely missed my point. Expensive can also be unreliable. The most expensive wire if not wired correctly can still damage your DAP.

 

[hernandoco]

Sure and of course my statement was too sweeping. But I’ll bet you only used the cheap cable with your expensive DAP after you tested it with your multimeter and not before...would you advocate that someone with no knowledge or equipment but who has heard “Balanced is better” take a chance on a really cheap cable?

I've used cheap cables on expense gear and been fine but with the caveat as I mention earlier that you have to do your due diligence and research to the brand you're buying.

 

[doggiemom]

No, it wont work, but shorting the signal returns by plugging in regular headphones to a balanced adaptor could damage the player.

Sorry, but I am dense........ if a TRRS to TRS adapter would damage the player when plugged into the balanced out, then what is the intended use of the adapter?

I have some earbuds with 2.5 mm TRRS and some with 3.5 TRRS, so am looking at these:
https://penonaudio.com/silver-plated-hi-fi-balanced-adapter.html
Am I correct in thinking that TRRS to TRRS (2.5 mm TRRS male to 3.5 TRRS female) is okay when using a player's balanced output?

Thank you.

 

[Scorpion667]

Could someone please let me know how the Xelento sounds from single ended? Not sure how they would react to such a high output impedance

 

[twister6]

Sorry, but I am dense........ if a TRRS to TRS adapter would damage the player when plugged into the balanced out, then what is the intended use of the adapter?

I have some earbuds with 2.5 mm TRRS and some with 3.5 TRRS, so am looking at these:
https://penonaudio.com/silver-plated-hi-fi-balanced-adapter.html
Am I correct in thinking that TRRS to TRRS (2.5 mm TRRS male to 3.5 TRRS female) is okay when using a player's balanced output?

Thank you.

The idea of 2.5mm TRRS to 3.5mm TRS adapter is so you can use your balanced terminated cables with a smartphone or other sources which have single ended 3.5mm TRS socket. It's not an issue to go from BAL to Single Ended, since you just tie together L-/R- from balanced TRRS to GND of single ended TRS. That's why it's recommended to go from balanced to single ended, but NOT the other way around. You can't split GND into separate L-/R- and instead will short your source.

In your case, 3.5mm TRRS (HifiMAN custom pinout some follow, like Hifiman daps, Plenue S, or GeekOut LH Labs usb dacs) is balanced wired already and that adapter in the link will map its connections to 2.5mm TRRS balanced. Balanced to Balanced works fine, as long as manufacturer connects wires correctly There are adapters to go from 2.5mm TRRS to 3.5mm TRRS or 2.5mm TRRS to 4.4mm Pentaconn, and the other way around.

Your 2.5mm TRRS will go into balanced HO of R6 without a problem, and for your earbuds with balanced 3.5mm TRRS you need to get 3.5mm TRRS to 2.5mm TRRS adapter to use balanced HO of R6. I just tried R6 with RE600 (3.5mm TRRS balanced) directly, and it doesn't work, only left channel plays. So, you do need either 3.5mm TRRS to 2.5mm TRRS adapter if you want to keep balanced connection, or 3.5mm TRRS to 3.5mm TRS adapter if you want to connect to single ended output of R6.