[Zoide]

Hmm...  So I found a guy who can make me an XLR to spades cable for about $45, not including shipping to the US.  This is a bit steep for me...  Are there any cheaper options out there?
 
(BTW, making the cable myself is not an option for me)

 

[wuwhere]

Quote:

Hmm...  So I found a guy who can make me an XLR to spades cable for about $45, not including shipping to the US.  This is a bit steep for me...  Are there any cheaper options out there?
 
(BTW, making the cable myself is not an option for me)

That's very reasonable. I'm making one myself and just the parts cost more than that.

 

[hawkhead]

That all depends on the materials used for construction (and the shipping costs!)
 
Quote:

Hmm...  So I found a guy who can make me an XLR to spades cable for about $45, not including shipping to the US.  This is a bit steep for me...  Are there any cheaper options out there?
 
(BTW, making the cable myself is not an option for me)

 

[wuwhere]

Absolutely on parts. I could make this cable for $10 to $15 in inexpensive parts. But I chose to use much better quality spades and silver wires.

 

[Zoide]

Quote:

Quote:

Hmm...  So I found a guy who can make me an XLR to spades cable for about $45, not including shipping to the US.  This is a bit steep for me...  Are there any cheaper options out there?
 
(BTW, making the cable myself is not an option for me)

That's very reasonable. I'm making one myself and just the parts cost more than that.

Just to clarify, this is for a relative short cable (around 0.5m) just from the HE-5LE's male XLR connector to the speaker taps.  It's not a full cable.

 

[wuwhere]

Quote:

Just to clarify, this is for a relative short cable (around 0.5m) just from the HE-5LE's male XLR connector to the speaker taps.  It's not a full cable.

I'm making a pair of 1 foot long cables also, from the amp to the XLR.

 

[Zoide]

For the HE-6, is it worth the extra expense of 3-core OFC copper cable, or is 2-core enough?

 

[wuwhere]

I think 3-solid core of 22awg/spade is overkill for for low-powered hp application. I'm using 2-solid core of 24awg/spade.

 

[Zoide]

Quote:

I think 3-solid core of 22awg/spade is overkill for for low-powered hp application. I'm using 2-solid core of 24awg/spade.

I'm being offered a 2-core cable that is "equivalent to a single OFC wire with an AWG of 17".  Is that enough?  Otherwise I'll just get the 3-core.

 

[BebopMcJiggy]

I don't see the point of having 17 or lower awg cables with no purpose but to connect a 24awgish sized cable to the speaker terminals... 17 is definitely more than enough :O

 

[Zoide]

Quote:

I don't see the point of having 17 or lower awg cables with no purpose but to connect a 24awgish sized cable to the speaker terminals... 17 is definitely more than enough :O

 
Interesting!  I didn't know that the stock cable was around 24 AWG.  I guess that means that a 17 AWG equivalent connector is thick enough.
 
I read that one of the advantages of the new HE-6 cable is that it's "single-crystal" copper instead of OFC (http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/hifiman2/2.html).  Does that really make a difference?  I wouldn't want to degrade the "single-crystal" signal path by putting OFC in the end.  And yet "single-crystal" sounds a bit like snake oil...
 
BTW, I'm a bit confused as to what comes with the HE-6.  According to the AV Guide review, "the HE-6’s signal cable harness comes with two different sets of terminations—one configured with a ¼” phone jack terminations, and the other configured with left/right set of banana plug connectors" (http://www.avguide.com/review/hifiman-he-6-planar-magnetic-headphones-playback-37?page=4)

 

[BebopMcJiggy]

The prototype had that but no longer?  Regardless the 4 pin xlrs will break your so called "single-crystal" path so meh I wouldn't worry about it too much.  I don't know of any boutique 4 pin xlrs.  17 awg is pretty thick for a headphone cable generally.  I don't know what the stock cable is but I heard it was fairly thin.  But yes 17AWG should be thick enough.  If you don't want OFC 4' of OCC copper really isn't that expensive (or 8 if you want a 2' long cable...)

 

[wuwhere]

Also, all those cables must fit in the XLR.

 

[BebopMcJiggy]

4 pin xlrs will supposedly fit up to 16awg wires so it shouldn't be too much of a problem... I do think 17 awg is overkill but again it doesn't really matter that much just gonna be kind of stiff.

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

The prototype had that but no longer?  Regardless the 4 pin xlrs will break your so called "single-crystal" path so meh I wouldn't worry about it too much.  I don't know of any boutique 4 pin xlrs.  17 awg is pretty thick for a headphone cable generally.  I don't know what the stock cable is but I heard it was fairly thin.  But yes 17AWG should be thick enough.  If you don't want OFC 4' of OCC copper really isn't that expensive (or 8 if you want a 2' long cable...)

I saw a Furtutech 4-pin connnector on eBay for $85, that's boutique enough for me!