[funkisound]

So I bought an old ~1970s headphone that has a 5-pin connector. It came with an (I think home-made) adaptor to 3.5mm, but when connected (to a good source) the sound is very crappy, telephone-y and there's literally no bass.
Do i need a good quality 3.5mm adaptor (where can I get those?), or do adaptors not work well and do I have to use vintage gear that have a 5-pin headphone input?
I couldn't find any info on that on the internet (or this site), so thanks for any input!

 

[Monsterzero]

I do not know what vintage headphones you have,but many that Ive tried sound absolutely horrid. No bass,sterile,boring,shrill,pyramid shaped,overly warm/bright,etc...My point being that perhaps what is wrong with them isnt the connector,rather the headphones themselves.

The two exceptions Ive tried are the SennHD250s and AKG K240 sextetts,both are exceptional sounding headphones.

 

[PurpleAngel]

So I bought an old ~1970s headphone that has a 5-pin connector. It came with an (I think home-made) adaptor to 3.5mm, but when connected (to a good source) the sound is very ****ty, telephone-y and there's literally no bass.
Do i need a good quality 3.5mm adaptor (where can I get those?), or do adaptors not work well and do I have to use vintage gear that have a 5-pin headphone input?
I couldn't find any info on that on the internet (or this site), so thanks for any input!

Can you post pictures?

 

[GREQ]

If it's a homemade 5-pin "Würfelstecker" it is HIGHLY likely that the person who made it wired something incorrectly.
These German 5-pin plugs were the first truly balanced cabling solution and are notoriously difficult to re-cable because of a lack of information / documentation.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Würfelstecker

Sadly, many headphones attached to these plugs were actually low-end consumer garbage, so there's a good chance it's just a bad headphone, and the adapter is wired correctly.
Please tell us the brand and model number, or post an image.

 

[funkisound]

It;s a Telefunken th-500, now that i listen again it does sound a bit weird, "tinny", kinda like when you don't push the plug all the way in the socket, so it could be incorrect wiring. Or it could be that's how the headphone sounds.
It seems exactly that 5-pin wurfelstecker yes, it's a german headphone too.. I have found an adapter online now, for like 7 euros, think i'll order one and check if it changes the sound.

 

[GREQ]

I actually have a th-500.
It's among the worst headphones I've ever heard, and that is no overstatement.

 

[funkisound]

Ah okay. Well the pads were completely gone so i put on a couple of DT100 pads and they fit ok but there's still 0 bass, so it's either a really flawed headphone or wiring issue affects the sound so much. I ordered the adapter cable so I will hear soon if there's a difference. How have you used these type of headphones, also with such an adapter? I think I have seen even some old AKG sextetts (or maybe it was k340) having the same or similar connector.

 

[GREQ]

Many German/Austrian headphones used these 5-pole DIN plugs interchangeably with regular 6.3mm TRS plugs.
So you will find the same model from the same era with different plugs for different buyers, as quite a few high-end stereo amps had these 5-pole DIN sockets, but it was short lived with mass adoption ending in failure.

I'll try to post a measurement of the TH-500 soon (from a miniDSP EARS). My pads are old too, but it should give a fairly good idea of the frequency response.

 

[GREQ]

Apologies... I don't actually own the TH-500.
I only own the TH-50 and TH-60... which I think were even higher end?
I'm not sure, there were too many models and most of them were pretty terrible.


Blue - Beyerdynamic DT790 (modified to DT770 spec) - for reference
Hot Pink - TH-50 with MDR-1 pad for good bass seal
Peach - TH-50 with stock pad (bad seal)
Green - TH-60

As you can see, even with a good seal, these Telefunkens don't have bass.

 

[funkisound]

Cool that you can measure them!
The adapter is here, and it does sound smoother, like this cable is better wired (that specific tinny sound isn't really there anymore), but yeah still no bass, kinda sounds like the measurements.