[jude]

My desktop rigs contain cabling that, by most standards, would be considered expensive. I have, however, been hesitant to plunk down the big bucks on a fancy mini-to-mini interconnect for my portable rig, and so have pretty much been using the one that I believe came with my HeadRoom Total AirHead, which looks to be made of the same cabling as that which dangles from my Etymotic ER4S. I did have Markertek make me a nice shielded mini-to-mini that sounded better than my came-with-it mini-to-mini, but a buddy permanently borrowed it, and, besides, its long straight plugs always had me worried about undue stress on the jacks. Whatever I would upgrade to from now on would definitely have to have right-angle plugs like my came-with-it cable for both the compactness and reduced stress on the jacks.

I think I've now found a strong candidate to finally upgrade my portable rig's cabling, and it looks like this:

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Read the cable's sheath: Cardas.

Now check out this page for a description, and, just as importantly, the price of $19.95, which is for the 6" or 12" length (I think it's available in longer lengths, but contact HeadRoom to confirm this).

I'm definitely borrowing my Markertek cable back from my buddy to compare it to this one when it arrives.

 

[null]

Nice find jude! I've always wondered if I could find a cheap, good-quality short portable cable out there without having to resort to DIY.

 

[jpelg]

Nicer than the old Plastics mini-mini that comes with the Airheads. Looks like the Plastics cable isn't for sale individually any more at Headroom *shrug*.

The connectors look sturdier than my Plastics cable, but not too big. I can't use really heavy-duty connectors on some of my portable sources because they have small, notched space where the line-out is. Bigger connectors, like on the Ear Candy cable won't fit.

 

[Welly Wu]

As always, I trust Jude to alert us to an up and coming hot commodity in the community. I didn't even know Cardas made this type of cable!

 

[HiWire]

Thanks, Jude. I guess I'll get that Headphile BlackCoral later on

Whoa, looks like Larry is offering 1/4 meter lengths... hmm

 

[gsferrari]

Oehlback makes a thicker and sturdier looking cable too. Also I like the Oehlbach cable because one side is straight Mini and the other is 90 degrees mini. This is GREAT for use with a PCDP

 

[Mr.PD]

I'm a gonna get me one of those!
That price beats what it would cost me to make a new mini mini cable.

thanx Jude

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by null Nice find jude! I've always wondered if I could find a cheap, good-quality short portable cable out there without having to resort to DIY.

Yeah, I had considered making my very first audio DIY project a mini-to-mini cable, but the globs of solder I'd likely have left behind would have probably weighed more than my portable CD player.

Of course, it doesn't help that I don't have an appropriate soldering iron for such a task. Quote:

Originally Posted by gsferrari Oehlback makes a thicker and sturdier looking cable too. Also I like the Oehlbach cable because one side is straight Mini and the other is 90 degrees mini. This is GREAT for use with a PCDP

My Markertek was thicker, too, but for me that was actually a disadvantage, as it was less flexible (and so less stowable) than the came-with-it cable.

With the portable components I have, as well as the bags in which I carry them, dual right-angle plugs are what I need.

 

[gsferrari]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jude With the portable components I have, as well as the bags in which I carry them, dual right-angle plugs are what I need.

I think the bags influence this a lot. I can easily visualize a situation where the straight miniplug on the oehlbach becomes a problem

better to have one of each then

 

[damitamit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsferrari Oehlback makes a thicker and sturdier looking cable too. Also I like the Oehlbach cable because one side is straight Mini and the other is 90 degrees mini. This is GREAT for use with a PCDP

Hi gsferrari,

Where have you seen the Oehlbach mini to mini. Can't seem to find a short one. Only one i've seen in the 1.5m mini to mini that meier audio is selling.

Amit

 

[Edwood]

Just make sure it's not counterfeit.

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

I like how small the cable is. Looks smaller than the Straightwire one with 90 degree plugs. That thing barely fits in tight bags.

My favorite 90 degree plugs are the ones used with Ety's. This new Cardas cable is pretty close.

-Ed

 

[PhilS]

Maybe we'll need to do a Cardas mini-cable group buy for all those getting the Porta Corda's.

 

[jude]

I ended up ordering four different lengths of the Cardas HPI mini-to-mini cable, and they just arrived. The lengths I ordered were six-inch, 12-inch, one-meter, and two-meter. The six-inch and 12-inch HPI's come with right-angle plugs, and, as the photo below shows, the one-meter and two-meter cables come with straight plugs:

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First of all, these cables are thinner in cross-section and much more flexible than the Markertek cable I had. For those with Cardas headphone cables, the HPI is also thinner and more flexible than the main part of the flexible Cardas headphone cable. For those with the mini-to-mini that came with the HeadRoom Total AirHead, you'll find the Cardas HPI almost as flexible, and able to snake through openings every bit as easily as that cable.

What I like about both the straight and 90-degree plugs used on these cables is that both use small-diameter plug bodies. My iPAQ h5555 Pocket PC has an idiotic recessed headphone jack that accommodates only the smallest plug bodies, and both the 90-degree and straight Cardas miniplugs fit into the iPAQ's plug recess easily, without making any contact with the recessed sides. (I use the iPAQ occasionally for high-bitrate streaming web radio, and usually hook it into one of my portable amps to drive the HD600 when I'm doing this.) In addition to my PCDP-based portable rigs and my iPAQ, I'll also be using the one- and two-meter ones mostly out of my laptop driving portable amps, mostly to listen to Rhapsody.

I won't have much time to try these cables in my portable rigs until I get home later, but I can say for now that in addition to being very flexible, they're very well constructed, shielded and look and feel very durable.

The prices for the four lengths I ordered are:

1. Six-inch: $19.95
2. 12-inch: $19.95
3. One-meter: $24.95
4. Two-meter: $29.95

You can find all of these lengths listed for sale on this page at HeadRoom's website.

 

[rickcr42]

couple of observations :

1-those prices rule and one would be hard pressed to come up with something as nice even if a DIY solution for the price.

2-Mini-plug and "straight" do not even belong in the same sentance as "portable".I have seen more jacks ruined from the plug-jack interface than any other single cause of portable player failure.
Adding the weight of a dangling cord to a plug and then expecting the cheesy jack NOT to flex and break is unrealistic.yeah you could clip the cable to something,securing it so the weight is taken off the jack but why ? why should i have to ?
then you throw the portable rig in a bag and realise this "plug" is sticking out.again a reliability problem wating to happen at worst and an "fit" problem at best.
Think I will start a "ban the stright mini phone plug" group and get these puppies outlawed for portable audio usage.

3- Quote:

Of course, it doesn't help that I don't have an appropriate soldering iron for such a task.

wanna borrow one Jude ? sure you do man ! just ask me ! c'mon DO IT ! ................ [size=xx-small]not afraid are we ?[/size]........

 

[MD1032]

Excellent find, Jude! I will definitely consider this in future mini-mini purchases if I have need of them, like if I get a bad or something. This is a lot cheaper than having a cutom one made by JMT or Norm, and it's probably better quality, too!