[Chein]

Here is the post I originally followed to wire my balanced cable correctly @alpha421 .

Thank you man for the confirmation. It's like what they show on the japanese m&j website then :

Does anyone know if the wiring in Beyerdynamic T1/T5p/Amiron balanced cables is similar?

 

[willsw]

Thank you man for the confirmation. It's like what they show on the japanese m&j website then :

Does anyone know if the wiring in Beyerdynamic T1/T5p/Amiron balanced cables is similar?

From this thread: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/beyerdynamic-amiron-t1-2nd-gen-cable-pinout-question.866318/ it appears that the wiring is not similar.

I think M&J might be the only company to wire both sides of a dual entry cable to be stereo, so that there is no left or right on the stock cable. Most other companies that I'm aware of choose to save wire and wire each channel in a mono configuration, which makes more sense.

 

[Astonish]

Scored a pair of these mj2 for $280 shipped brand new. Excited to try them out

Currently using isine 20 and m1060

 

[willsw]

Getting rid of a custom cable for a GL2 (or MJ1). Posted it in the For Sale forum.

 

[Benz-Fi]

I need a new cable for my JP1. I ordered a couple online but unless they were half way connected on the headphone side, no sound would come out. Finally I figured out why by reading some of the prior posts.

Does anyone know a replacement cable that will work without modifications?

 

[Sujay Rao]

Welcome to the Mitchell & Johnson thread @Sujay Rao . Glad to have you here. Interesting post. Sorry you are having problems.

I don't have an Onkyo dap to try reproducing your results. Have 2 PonoPlayers. They use two 3.5mm trs for balanced (same as original Sony balanced). Twin 3.5mm trs or one 2.5mm trrs will support balanced playback. A "quirk" of the Pono/Sony balanced system is that with headphones with 3.5mm trs in each cup, standard 3.5mm trs to 3.5mm cables won't work! The Sony/Pono end uses tip for + and ring for -. So custom cables must be wired up.

Some thoughts on your problem.
1. Have you marked the left and right cables at the ear cups correctly?

If plugged in reversed nothing will play. My balanced cable has left and right marked on the ear cup ends. I also have the PonoPlayer ends marked Left & Right. Even running my cable the wrong direction would result in the wrong connections (your setup won't do this).

2. The PonoPlayer has protection circuitry for balanced mode. If I pull the balanced cable out while on, it instantly senses it and defaults to single ended. Onkyo probably does something similar to protect the outputs. Is it possible that sometimes it thinks the connection isn't balanced and it mutes the outputs to protect them?

3. Don't know if connecting the cable's tip & ring together at the ear cup would enable the "auto channel" feature to function again in balanced mode. To me it is easier to mark the cables correctly and plug into the correct ear cup.

As I composed this message, I switched from balanced to single ended and back many times. No problems. They always played. This pretty much rules out a common ground existing between the ear cups. That would instantly knock the PonoPlayer into protection mode.

Hope this helps. Been a year since I listened to the MJ2 and Pono in single ended mode. Not a huge fan of the Pono in single ended or the MJ2 cable.

Sorry for the late reply. David Choy had the phones with him and checked the polarity. Also, the lit on the MJ2 says there is no right or left for the cable. The headphone apparently automatically assigns them, so it doesn’t matter how you plug it in. I’m not sure I get that.

 

[Sujay Rao]

I need a new cable for my JP1. I ordered a couple online but unless they were half way connected on the headphone side, no sound would come out. Finally I figured out why by reading some of the prior posts.

Does anyone know a replacement cable that will work without modifications?

You could talk to David Choy at Triton Audio Cables. He knows the MJ2 wiring and did a great job with my cable. Very responsive guy.

 

[Sujay Rao]

You could talk to David Choy at Triton Audio Cables. He knows the MJ2 wiring and did a great job with my cable. Very responsive guy.

willsw, did you try to fit the pads to the MJ2 in the meantime? I'm still looking for new pads.

I had a pair of thick oval pads from Brainwaves, I think. Can’t remember when or why I got them. Probably for the AudioTech M50X. Really plush with excellent isolation. Inexpensive.
The fit’s a bit less than snug. Not fall-off loose mind you. Need to rotate them around for the right lie. I’ve been using them since I got the MJ2s. May look unstable, but hasn’t once come off. Tremendous improvement in sound. Expectedly, bass is bigger.
My suggestion, try something like these. Don’t waste money on an expensive stuff.

 

[hullubullu]

Sorry for the late reply. David Choy had the phones with him and checked the polarity. Also, the lit on the MJ2 says there is no right or left for the cable. The headphone apparently automatically assigns them, so it doesn’t matter how you plug it in. I’m not sure I get that.

The headphone wiring is different for both sides:

Right signal: Ring
Left signal: Tip

Ground is sleeve.

So both connectors of the cable have signal for both sides, but the ear cup only connects to one of the signals: Right connects to ring, left to the tip.

For pono wiring see my previous post:

Thanks barondla.

I wired them as follows:

MJ2:

Left:
Sleeve: -
Tip: +

Right:
Sleeve: -
Ring: +

Sleeve goes to Ring for Ponoplugs and Tip / Ring goes to Tip for Ponoplugs.
But check again before soldering! This is out of memory and with some notes I took while making the cable. With the new cable the Headphoneplugs are only for left or right. Unfortunately they don't work for both earcups anymore. This would have been more work and needed some modifications to the headphone itself.

So far the headphones really uncover bad recordings.

 

[hullubullu]

...


I had a pair of thick oval pads from Brainwaves, I think. Can’t remember when or why I got them. Probably for the AudioTech M50X. Really plush with excellent isolation. Inexpensive.
The fit’s a bit less than snug. Not fall-off loose mind you. Need to rotate them around for the right lie. I’ve been using them since I got the MJ2s. May look unstable, but hasn’t once come off. Tremendous improvement in sound. Expectedly, bass is bigger.
My suggestion, try something like these. Don’t waste money on an expensive stuff.

Thank you Sujay Rao! I will try to find some brainwavz pads!

 

[willsw]

Here is a cable for the MJ2 and JP1 I made, as I had a 5' length of this wire left. PM me if you're interested in custom one, I have other wire available.


https://www.head-fi.org/threads/occ-cable-for-m-j-mj2-jp1.880928/

 

[Astonish]

Got mine today, Mids sound very good on them vocals and strings are excellent. They have like no bass though

Any suggestions for eq app on iPhone?

 

[Benz-Fi]

Got mine today, Mids sound very good on them vocals and strings are excellent. They have like no bass though

Any suggestions for eq app on iPhone?

While not huge, my jp1definitely has bass. You should try them through an amp

 

[Astonish]

While not huge, my jp1definitely has bass. You should try them through an amp

Should have clarified, I got the MJ1

 

[barondla]

@willsw, those are great looking cables. How do they sound compared to original cable?