Neumann NDH 30

[Vitaliy Belz]

I believe that Sennheiser products use the Pentaconn 4.4mm connection with the same configuration as above, maybe someone can verify?

From the Instruction manual IE 900, HD 660S, HD 660S2:

 

[headstef]

From the Instruction manual IE 900, HD 660S, HD 660S2:

Thank you!
So Sennheiser uses the 4.4mm "Pentaconn" balanced plug the same way as Japanese makers do. (That's a relief).

Re the 2.5mm TRRS balanced plug, it seems that most makers (Astell & Kern, FiiO, Sennheiser, etc) use it the same way, when the purpose is to take balanced signal from a balanced headphone output.

For different uses, (headphones with mic, computers etc) the contacts are used variously. Also Neumann use it differently for headphone-end connection, as described previously.

 

[Rob80b]

Thank you!
So Sennheiser uses the 4.4mm "Pentaconn" balanced plug the same way as Japanese makers do. (That's a relief).

That's the easy one.. even better if the wire is colour coded...the tricky one is the 4 pin XLR... just make sure in the heat of the moment (soldering) you are accessing the pins in the proper order. The picture shows the front, 4 3 2 1 but you solder from the back, 1 2 3 4.....dah.

 

[BobG55]

The weather, what we’ve eaten, physical exercise, stress etc.

Ah, ok. Got ya.

 

[greyforest]

The correct signals for Pentaconn 4.4mm balanced plug (patented by Pentaconn/Japan) as used by Sony and others, are:







Also, the earcup side NDH 30 2.5mm mini plug is made to work in this order:

Tip: L+
Ring: R+
Ring: L- (ground)
Sleeve: R- (ground)

(not as the paper note two posts above indicates!)

@MayorSimpleton I am sorry to write the above, I believe you agree that it is important to prevent any mistakes. If you have used the connections as indicated on your note, the result is just inverting (+) and (-) so the headphone is working fine, but with phases inverted in both channels - rather not audible as there is no phase discrepancy between channels. Maybe some transients can be affected by the membranes first moving away from the ear than towards the ears but even then it is not certain that this is audible. I would certainly use the correct configuration though.

thank you so much！！！

also ndh20 is internaly BAL uses the same connection if anyone is interested

 

[greyforest]

No!!!!
This is not the correct configuration for the NDH 30 earcup mini plug, nor is for the Pentaconn 4.4mm balanced plug.

do you happened to know the diameter of the 2.5mm connector on ndh30？

 

[headstef]

That's the easy one.. even better if the wire is colour coded...the tricky one is the 4 pin XLR... just make sure in the heat of the moment (soldering) you are accessing the pins in the proper order. The picture shows the front, 4 3 2 1 but you solder from the back, 1 2 3 4.....dah.

Yes, you must always observe "female" or "male"(pins exposed) on the diagram used for reference! I made a Pentaconn to XLR adapter successfully:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/neumann-ndh-30.963439/page-153#post-17575047.
@greyforest The modification (sculpting) of an HD-560S cable plug to fit in the NDH 30 is also presented in that post.

 

[headstef]

do you happened to know the diameter of the 2.5mm connector on ndh30？

It is 6.0mm at the body part that has to be inserted and 2.5mm at the contacts.
About diameter:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/neumann-ndh-30.963439/page-34#post-17410418

 

[greyforest]

It is 6.0mm at the body part that has to be inserted and 2.5mm at the contacts.
About diameter:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/neumann-ndh-30.963439/page-34#post-17410418

thank you, truely a great help. and i am sorry for not search for that earlier

 

[Mike F]

thank you so much！！！

also ndh20 is internaly BAL uses the same connection if anyone is interested

The black one is. The original one isn’t…….

 

[greyforest]

The black one is. The original one isn’t…….

the original one is BAL too

from one review

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/neumann-ndh-20.898630/post-17711414

“Since I own an NDH 20 and its cable is mechanically compatible, I was able to verify that the internallybalanced cable of the NDH 30 actually makes an audible difference – not voodoo, but electrical engineering!Channel separation and thus the resolution of the stereo panorama is significantly improved. Incidentally,the internally balanced cable of the NDH 30 also workswith the same effect on the NDH 20, whose connectorat the earcup is already prepared for a four-pin plug.Neumann is therefore planning to offer the internallybalanced cable as an accessory.”

 

[Mike F]

the original one is BAL too

from one review

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/neumann-ndh-20.898630/post-17711414

“Since I own an NDH 20 and its cable is mechanically compatible, I was able to verify that the internallybalanced cable of the NDH 30 actually makes an audible difference – not voodoo, but electrical engineering!Channel separation and thus the resolution of the stereo panorama is significantly improved. Incidentally,the internally balanced cable of the NDH 30 also workswith the same effect on the NDH 20, whose connectorat the earcup is already prepared for a four-pin plug.Neumann is therefore planning to offer the internallybalanced cable as an accessory.”

Yes, I saw that, but didn’t somebody try using balanced 2.5 connector in an original 20 earlier in the NDH 20 thread and reported that it didn’t work? Could it be that it’s possible to use the unbalanced 2.5 connector in a 30 and get an unbalanced result (as it were), but not possible to use the balanced 2.5 connector in the NDH 20? I’m not sure how the connectors could be compatible that way.

Or alternatively, and perhaps more likely, Maybe when the black NDH 20, came out using the same internal balanced design as the NDH 30, Neumann also implemented the internal balance design to the silver NDH 20 at that point? I’m pretty sure that the first NDH 20s were not internally balanced.

And again, I’m not sure how the TRS 2.5 mm unbalanced plug can be compatible with the TRS 2.5 mm balanced plug and their respective connectors…..?

 

[greyforest]

Yes, I saw that, but didn’t somebody try using balanced 2.5 connector in an original 20 earlier in the NDH 20 thread and reported that it didn’t work? Could it be that it’s possible to use the unbalanced 2.5 connector in a 30 and get an unbalanced result (as it were), but not possible to use the balanced 2.5 connector in the NDH 20? I’m not sure how the connectors could be compatible that way.

Or alternatively, and perhaps more likely, Maybe when the black NDH 20, came out using the same internal balanced design as the NDH 30, Neumann also implemented the internal balance design to the silver NDH 20 at that point? I’m pretty sure that the first NDH 20s were not internally balanced.

And again, I’m not sure how the TRS 2.5 mm unbalanced plug can be compatible with the TRS 2.5 mm balanced plug and their respective connectors…..?

HD560s uses trrs 2.5mm, hard to imagine they develop a new trs 2.5mm just for ndh20.

 

[Mike F]

HD560s uses trrs 2.5mm, hard to imagine they develop a new trs 2.5mm just for ndh20.

We're on the NDH 30 thread, but perhaps @headstef would know the answer. Would a balanced trrs 2.5mm and an unbalanced trs 2.5mm connector be cross compatible with their balanced and unbalanced female connectors?

Maybe it's possible, but I doubt that you can use a balanced 2.5mm in an unbalanced female 2.5mm or vice versa?

 

[KingForKings]

I might be wrong, is the ndh20 silver unbalanced, the black balanced, so that the nhd30 is the same? Or are both ndh30 balanced. I got told multiple things, i think, even at Thomann when it got freshly released