[ohhgourami]

That sounds reasonable, but my concern isn't with the audio quality, it's with how poorly designed it is. It's irritating to get on and off, and it can cause the wires inside the headphone to break, if I understand correctly. From my (admittedly non-professional) vantage, I don't see why anyone would look at the SMC connector and decide it works better than a mini-XLR, or locking 3.5mm, or almost anything else I've seen. It strikes me as unnecessarily fiddly and cheap. Obviously, this is a matter of preference in large part, so reasonable people can differ. I just think they're terrible, and pointlessly so. 

Have broken a wire inside before!

Anyway, this is being done mostly because Preproman heard an improvement. If I don't hear an improvement then he owes me a beer. At worst it's a good experience hardwiring for the first time.

If there's an improvement then I owe him a beer and my grin gets a bit wider.

 

[Theogenes]

Have broken a wire inside before!

Anyway, this is being done mostly because Preproman heard an improvement. If I don't hear an improvement then he owes me a beer. At worst it's a good experience hardwiring for the first time.

If there's an improvement then I owe him a beer and my grin gets a bit wider.

 
So if it's better it's better, and if it's not you get beer and the right to harass Preproman? Sounds like a textbook win/win to me

 

[wuwhere]

Have broken a wire inside before!

Anyway, this is being done mostly because Preproman heard an improvement. If I don't hear an improvement then he owes me a beer. At worst it's a good experience hardwiring for the first time.

If there's an improvement then I owe him a beer and my grin gets a bit wider.

 
You're just hardwiring the stock cable?
Also, did you cut the wire instead of desoldering it from the SMC?

 

[ohhgourami]

You're just hardwiring the stock cable?
Also, did you cut the wire instead of desoldering it from the SMC?

Hardwiring a BTG audio 8 strand 26awg cable.

I mainly had cut the wire off but some snapped off too.

 

[wuwhere]

Hardwiring a BTG audio 8 strand 26awg cable.

I mainly had cut the wire off but some snapped off too.

 
I just realized that is still some work cause you have to do both ends. Then check for cold solder. What kind of solder are you using? Cardas, WBT? I just use Radio Shack's.

 

[ohhgourami]

   
I just realized that is still some work cause you have to do both ends. Then check for cold solder. What kind of solder are you using? Cardas, WBT? I just use Radio Shack's.

Cardas with lead.

 

[TonyNewman]

Had a discussion in another thread and a question came up that I would like to ask the HE6 gurus here...
 
Has anyone tried running a HE6 from the GS-X Mk2? Does it have the omph to make the HE6 sing?
 
Specs say 2W (balanced), but that looks like the Mk1, not the Mk2.

 

[wuwhere]

 
Cardas with lead.

 
Not cheap. I learned a long time ago that the most important thing about soldering two wires is their connection, you twist them together, bare wire to bare wire making contact. Soldering is just to keep that connection solid and intact. That's why I don't believe in expensive solder.

 

[ohhgourami]

   
Not cheap. I learned a long time ago that the most important thing about soldering two wires is their connection, you twist them together, bare wire to bare wire making contact. Soldering is just to keep that connection solid and intact. That's why I don't believe in expensive solder.

It's not bad when you buy a mini roll of about 10ft.
 
I think I'll tin the wires before I even start to keep them making better contact.

 

[wuwhere]

 
It's not bad when you buy a mini roll of about 10ft.
 
I think I'll tin the wires before I even start to keep them making better contact.

 
This link has some tips on how to prepare the wires.
 
http://www.laventure.net/tourist/cables.htm

 

[SilverEars]

  Had a discussion in another thread and a question came up that I would like to ask the HE6 gurus here...
 
Has anyone tried running a HE6 from the GS-X Mk2? Does it have the omph to make the HE6 sing?
 
Specs say 2W (balanced), but that looks like the Mk1, not the Mk2.

I've read that it powers HE-6, not sure how well.  It states sensitivity of HE-6 is 83.5dB.  This is not efficiency which is xdB/mW.  It's sensitivity which is xdB/V. Not sure how these numbers can help in giving clues to predict it's output behavior as I noticed O2 will not power as well as my Beta22 for sure.  What I liked about HE-6 was it provided good tight sound out of my Beta22 and didn't seem so finicky of type of amp as long as it gets the power it needs.  My Beta is spec'd to output 18W to 8ohms.  There is a point where the loudness doesn't seem to increase as I turn the knob, but it is outputting more dynamics to the sound.  I notice this happen to my HD800 with my DAC2 at low gain, so I suspect that gain was not set high enough or it could use more power.  I'm curious if turning the volume knob and if it doesn't get linearly louder, it's a sign of underpower??  
 
Not sure how well the 2W would do as the HiFiMan's EF5 is 2W per channel.

 

[Crashem]

  Had a discussion in another thread and a question came up that I would like to ask the HE6 gurus here...
 
Has anyone tried running a HE6 from the GS-X Mk2? Does it have the omph to make the HE6 sing?
 
Specs say 2W (balanced), but that looks like the Mk1, not the Mk2.

 
For 50ohm HE-6, from what I understand MK2 gives:
 
1.25W Single Ended
 
5W Balanced

 

[TonyNewman]

Thanks for the helpful replies to my query.
 
I've found a post on the forum that does a great job of answering my question - thought it might be of interest to others in this thread too - so am posting a link below:
 
Link.

 

[ohhgourami]

DONE!
 

 

 
Took WAY longer than expected.
 
Anyway there seems to be an improvement in sound - blacker background, separation, low level detail retrieval, and resolution.

 

[purplegoat]

That's awesome. Nice one Jason