Thanks! Can you plug headphones with a balanced cable into an unbalanced source?
Yes you can with an adapter. Never do the opposite by plugging an unbalanced cable into a balanced output.
Absolutely listen to what
@TrollDragon has written
@NightBeast!
A typical single-ended cable has a single shared ground cable between the left and right channel wiring, and all are twisted together.
Such cables can
NEVER,
EVER, be converted into balanced cables due to the single ground wire topology; you will likely damage equipment, and potentially your health (ears, an electrical fire, etc).
I'm using caps for any reader (not yourself specifically), however, I must state this clearly:
DO NOT DO THIS!
Typical balanced cabling topology has separate left and right internal cabling, each having it's own ground cable; neither channel nor both ground wirings are shared.
(You
can get a balanced cable in which both separate and sheathed channel cables, with individual ground wiring per channel, are overall sheathed together into one single cable; here the connectors will also be balanced. However, this is atypical. The internal cabling still follow practice for balanced wiring topology).
Due to the nature of balanced wiring, these can safely be converted into single-ended cables using an adapter or modification.
Also, Meze 99 Classics (and almost all Meze Audio headphones) are repairable with replaceable parts, and are very durable; the connectors to the earcups of the 99 Classics are, thus, replaceable (even by the user!).
No glue used, just engineering finesse and screws.
Removing cables often is not ideal due to stress incurred on the cable itself (cable strain), but good quality headphones and/or audio equipment ought to have durable I/O connectors for long-life usage.
Meze are engineering marvels