[Avatar86]

Hi

Aside from the fact that you have two cables (left & right) hanging sloppery pulled apart...

Isn't this the best possible sounding male mini tele stereo cable (to for eg. Headphones)?

1. Take Shielded RCA

2. Solder 3.5 mm mini jacks on each side (insted of red & white rca connectors)

3. Split the cable apart so the left and right chanels doesn't interfere with each other.

(like this but longer of course).

Is there something wrong, or undoable with soldering this type of cable?
Thanks for your help ^_^

 

[Whitigir]

Cables is not rocket sciences, and you can google a lot of it. Separating the wires like that is not practical enough, so people would rather twist it. There is no best cables, only what fit you and what type of materials you like the most, but when it came to the price of several thousands dollars then it is just plain wrong

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Aside from the fact that you have two cables (left & right) hanging sloppery pulled apart...
Isn't this the best possible sounding male mini tele stereo cable (to for eg. Headphones)?

Without measurements it can't be proven to be "best sounding," or more accurately, "not screwing up the sound." Plus, there are issues with the construction.

For starters, how is that a cable for headphones? Are you hanging your music player on your collar right under the 3.5mm port? Or you have your fire hazard...I mean, "DAP"...built into your pillow?

The problems don't even end there...

1. Take Shielded RCA
2. Solder 3.5 mm mini jacks on each side (insted of red & white rca connectors)
3. Split the cable apart so the left and right chanels doesn't interfere with each other.

Is there something wrong, or undoable with soldering this type of cable?

...like how you don't even need to do that. if it's for a 3.5mm stereo line connection (ex DAP to HPamp) or from headphone amp/DAP to headphone, any 3-core (balanced line signal cable, but this time uses in single ended stereo) or Starquad (4-core mic cable) cable will work.

I mean, why "split the cable apart" to prevent interference when

1. L- and R- are on a shared GND terminal on the plugs anyway, plus the L+ and R+ are barely an inch apart from each other at the point where there's no shielding (ie the solder points)

2. That's what cable shielding is for, which is why when you take a good quality Belden cable for example each copper conductor has its own jacket to prevent shorts, then there's some woven shielding to isolate them from each other, then there's another shielding layer to isolate all of them from outside noise sources (which is why if you have a 10ft cable run and you put a smartphone on the center of it you get no interference; but have a 1m cable run and there will be because the noise is going through non-copper RCA sockets on the devices that are connected).

You could just get a 3-core or 4-core cable and end up with something that will be less likely to snag something while haphazardly squeezed into the TRS plugs.

 

[Avatar86]

Hey guys!

You got good points.
I didn't think of that the two cables share the same ground. Interesting and good to know.
The other things you mention I have also taken in to consideration.
And maybe this post is a little to ask you guys... has anyone thought of trying to split the L & R chanels?

The thing is, I did an A/B test on different 3.5 mm cables at home, where my girlfriend got to switch the cables.
I had: standard $1 cable male-male mini jack, an single shielded and an double shielded mini jack. A Split chanel (Heavy) Double shielded RCA male-male with two adaptors, and an Split chanel double shielded mini jack to RCA cable with one adapter.

I happened to find the sound of the last one (Split chanel double shielded Mini Jack -> RCA + adapter) to be: More detailed, richer sound. A more "inclosed" and less "troubbled" sound, it gave a calm and exact feel. And compared to the chepest cables... it just felt "better"! And yes, there is no "best" sound you be the judges.

You just have to try it to find out for yourself what you think.
I love the clean pureness.. and I cant explain why it works for :/ sorry. What do you hear?

It's not like I'm trying to sell anything XD The cableI I use costs about $20. It's the technique.
I cant find anything from anyone saying that you either can... or can't (sorry, should or shouldn't) split the left and right chanel.

Please if you know anything, Either if you Tested yourself, work with cables, can confirm or debunk this theory with articles, links, videos, textbook. We would be more then happy
As of now... it's just placebo. And I'm not content with that as an answer.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

You got good points.
I didn't think of that the two cables share the same ground. Interesting and good to know.
The other things you mention I have also taken in to consideration.
And maybe this post is a little to ask you guys... has anyone thought of trying to split the L & R chanels?

What exactly do you mean by "split the L & R channels" in the context of a TRS plug? Again, you could use separate conductors and have them set 5ft apart for most of the cable run, but the ends will still go into the same TRS plug with a shared ground. Any cross channel pollution (or shorts) will happen there and exacerbated by crap shielding on the conductors or shoddy soldering.

The thing is, I did an A/B test on different 3.5 mm cables at home, where my girlfriend got to switch the cables.
I had: standard $1 cable male-male mini jack, an single shielded and an double shielded mini jack. A Split chanel (Heavy) Double shielded RCA male-male with two adaptors, and an Split chanel double shielded mini jack to RCA cable with one adapter.

I happened to find the sound of the last one (Split chanel double shielded Mini Jack -> RCA + adapter) to be: More detailed, richer sound. A more "inclosed" and less "troubbled" sound, it gave a calm and exact feel. And compared to the chepest cables... it just felt "better"! And yes, there is no "best" sound you be the judges.

You just have to try it to find out for yourself what you think.
I love the clean pureness.. and I cant explain why it works for :/ sorry. What do you hear?

It's not like I'm trying to sell anything XD The cableI I use costs about $20. It's the technique.
I cant find anything from anyone saying that you either can... or can't (sorry, should or shouldn't) split the left and right chanel.

Did you take into account material differences in the conductors and jackets? Did you try a good quality 3- or 4-core cable with good shielding?

I'm not sure what you mean by "troubled" though...I'm not sure how to relate the image of a teenager cutting his wrists or shooting up his school to sound. Do you mean more like cluttered or unclear imaging cues? Because that can happen if the low end gets boosted enough.

...where my girlfriend got to switch the cables.
I had: standard $1 cable male-male mini jack, an single shielded and an double shielded mini jack. A Split chanel (Heavy) Double shielded RCA male-male with two adaptors, and an Split chanel double shielded mini jack to RCA cable with one adapter.
---
Please if you know anything, Either if you Tested yourself, work with cables, can confirm or debunk this theory with articles, links, videos, textbook. We would be more then happy
As of now... it's just placebo. And I'm not content with that as an answer.

Not exactly a double blind test though. And in any case there are other variables. What if it wasn't necessarily the arrangement itself that was good, but the jacket wasn't and this just happened to be the best way to run the conductors given that?

 

[Avatar86]

Yeah, thanks for your response.

1. I mean that when two cables lie side by side for an extended time/ length, the signals will disrupt each other More then if they were just passing each other shortly.

And thats what we are trying to do right, widening bottlenecks, better is better, worse is worse. We want as good clean sound as possible.

2. Sorry, yeah I should have said, I'm am aiming at making/ getting a better Headphone cord (in any way possible). And the price does play some part in it. The cheeper cables performed more poorly. But the more expensive cables weren't best in my opinion. The $50 cable got beat by the $20 cable in my test. The Supra Bi-line cable couldn't be split so the HQ silverline won to my ear.

All this is just e cool notise I wanted to share with you guys. Maybe when you try it you will find the same results let me know.

3. Aight, could be, but then again I tested them for 3 days and came to the same conclusion every time.
I would like to think that splitting the L & R chanels works, and gives us a less disrupted signal.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

1. I mean that when two cables lie side by side for an extended time/ length, the signals will disrupt each other More then if they were just passing each other shortly.

And thats what we are trying to do right, widening bottlenecks, better is better, worse is worse. We want as good clean sound as possible.

2. Sorry, yeah I should have said, I'm am aiming at making/ getting a better Headphone cord (in any way possible). And the price does play some part in it. The cheeper cables performed more poorly. But the more expensive cables weren't best in my opinion. The $50 cable got beat by the $20 cable in my test. The Supra Bi-line cable couldn't be split so the HQ silverline won to my ear.

And the reality is that for however long that happens to be (whether 5mm or 500mm), unless you're using totally crap cable, the shielding is enough to isolate each conductor, regardless of whether it's 5mm or 500m long.

Your main problem there is that the shielding doesn't run the entire length. By the time you get to the end with the solder points, there's bare wire stuck on there with highly conductive but not really isolating solder, with the L+ and R+ terminals barely a few mm's of each other. Not to mention shared GND.

If you really wanted to reduce bottlenecks and isolate each channel for absolutely zero crosstalk, use balanced XLR connections, which depends less on the cable but on actually having connected circuits that utilize that. Balanced circuits have L+, L-, L-GND, R-GND, R-, R+ on each side. Not even RCA, it has to be XLR, since some RCA ie single ended connections still have shared ground on the circuits. Not that that's actually a problem, but if your goal is for absolutely zero crosstalk, then you have to go with isolated circuits, not just isolated conductors (much less conductors that are no longer that isolated at the plugs and circuits of the components connected to each other). Basically, whatever you're connecting, give up on that and get yourself a Schiit Jotunheim or AudioGD NFB-29.

All this is just e cool notise I wanted to share with you guys. Maybe when you try it you will find the same results let me know.

3. Aight, could be, but then again I tested them for 3 days and came to the same conclusion every time.
I would like to think that splitting the L & R chanels works, and gives us a less disrupted signal.

Try a good quality 3-core or 4-core Belden or Canare cable also.

 

[Avatar86]

Aight. Thanks for your answer.
Can't argue against your logic. I have no proof. Just that I myself have tried and found it working.

Time will tell.
Thanks for your tips