[Burton773]

Brand new to cable swapping and electronics in general. Bought my self a 4 pin xlr cable for my Focal Elears to try out the balanced output on my amp. I noticed that my hifimans have the same 3.5mm size as the elears. The only difference is that there's one pole on each jack on the Elears and 2 poles on each for the hifiman. What does this mean? Is it fine to swap between or no? Thank you.

 

[alpha421]

It's fine. With very few exceptions, all headphones with dual entry are wired mono on each side. This just means the two wires on each side is usually designated as tip(T) for hot and the ring(R) or sleeve(S) is cold/return. Some brands use TS while others use TRS from a 3.5mm connector standpoint, which may cause confusion on what works. The biggest hurdle on different brands is that one may use very slim and/or recessed connectors and this makes one connector fit in one headphone(s), but may not fit in others.