[jonathane40]

Hi, I have a Bang & Olufsen H6 and I have been wondering if it would be worth it having them converted from SE to Balanced? The plugs on each ear would have to be replaced for plugs that allow for a balanced connection.

If anyone has had their pair of headphones converted form SE to Balanced connection, did you notice any improvements?

Thanks,
Jon

 

[tsetse7]

it depends on you DAP or Amp to which you connect your headphone. I have done the conversion for an earbud and a 150 Ohm headphone using 2.5 mm plugs because the Balanced output of the DAC/AMP is 2.5mm... and for me it was worth it. The DAc drives the earbud and even more so the Sennheiser headphone so much better and can play twice louder: this was a revelation. This of course because the balanced output is higher per channel.
If you have a balanced amp, I would say just do it. I have ordered parts to make an adapter 2.5mm Balanced to 3.5mm SE, so that I can use the headhone with SE 3.5 mm outputs.
I have also ordered some parts to make an "attanuator"/impedance converter for the balanced output 2.5 to 2.5 that should reduce noise and improve dynamics with low impedance earbuds. I am all excited.

If the output of you DAP or amp is single ended,... don't bother, it won't make a difference.

 

[Asspirin]

Balanced rarely makes an audible difference and you'll most probably won't hear any with your H6.

 

[jonathane40]

Thanks for your replies. I am leaning towards not doing it. I do like the sound of the headphones a lot and I am concerned if the mod could alter the sound in a negative way. These headphones don't need a huge amount of power to drive so I was just wondering if the balanced connection could improve the sound. I only have use one IEM (Sony XBA-N3) with a balanced cable and haven't been able to compare it with a SE (single ended) cable. Maybe I should get an SE cable for these IEM's and see if I can tell a difference in sound between the two cables.

 

[artpiggo]

It depends on your DAP, I think.

For me, if I want to go for balance route, I would ensure I already have end-game in-ear or can that can swap cables with a wonderful-sound DAP. And ensure whether I would go for 2.5 mm or 4.4 mm route.

 

[kukkurovaca]

Hi, I have a Bang & Olufsen H6 and I have been wondering if it would be worth it having them converted from SE to Balanced? The plugs on each ear would have to be replaced for plugs that allow for a balanced connection.

If anyone has had their pair of headphones converted form SE to Balanced connection, did you notice any improvements?

Thanks,
Jon

I don't actually think you'd need to replace the connectors (you could get a balanced cable with 3.5mm connectors). But I think the wiring would have to be changed.

I don't think I'd probably bother with it in the case of the H6. The H6's strength is in being a versatile, mobile headphone that sounds good with whatever you plug it into.

If you're curious about balanced and you don't already own headphones that will take a balanced cable, then an affordable way to dip your toe in would be to pick up something like a balanced pair of VE Monks with a 2.5mm TRRS connector and a $30 Walnut F1.

 

[tsetse7]

Or a balanced Usb DAC/AMP like https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Sab...bc60-4196-ad67-c95d4933df99&priceBeautifyAB=0

Single ended power- 64Ohm = 43mW
Balanced power = 111mW
Supports DSD 512 and PCM 768kHz