It's also possible to get a 3.5 mm trrs balanced cable, with a 3.5 trrs to 2.5 trrs adapter. If you're mainly using it with the Plenue S that might make most sense (if you need the adapter at all).
This is the CC PH cable, terminated to 3.5 mm trrs that comes with 2 adapters (2.5 and regular 3.5).
I really agree with this - if you are going to buy a £1K+ player it makes sense - unless you are going to be using lots of different players - to have your cable properly terminated with 3.5 balanced (TRRS)
With the balanced connection, we just have to be careful that the sleeve on TRRS connector actually carries a signal, not ground.
We have a same issue with AK, where the anodizing layer on the aluminium chassis is slightly conductive (and eventually wear through near the plug) so the sleeve signal will get shorted.
Some TRRS are prone to shorting on the chassis due to the metal body, so best to double check before use.
AK had issues where eventually the black plastic ring on the connector hole gets pushed down far enough that the metallic bodied balanced plug had shorting issues. They used to give out a round sticker to put on around the hole to avoid this.
M4a is compressed. For 16 bit files (CD rips) I personally use Flac (alternatively ALAC is the apple version of WMV that supports tags, while WMV does not). For 24bit I use flac if the files are not DSD
The m4a format is compressed, it was to replace the mp3 format having options for higher resolution. Does anyone know for a fact the mp4 format will play on the Cowan? I agree it should, but the word "should" is used much too often ... I have some rare bootlegs of Brand X, Miles Davis, etc - the source I can never obtain again and didn't rip to FLAC. They were ripped at 500 bps VBR (max for m4a) versus 320 bps max for mp3. Thanks to all.
The m4a format is compressed, it was to replace the mp3 format having options for higher resolution. Does anyone know for a fact the mp4 format will play on the Cowan? I agree it should, but the word "should" is used much too often ... I have some rare bootlegs of Brand X, Miles Davis, etc - the source I can never obtain again and didn't rip to FLAC. They were ripped at 500 bps VBR (max for m4a) versus 320 bps max for mp3. Thanks to all.
m4a is Apple's ALAC. Lossless data format in compressed file storage similar to FLAC. You can transform ALAC to FLAC and vise- versa with exactly the same data compressed or uncompressed. It can hold CD resolution (16 bit 44.1Khz) and hi-res data. It is not a replacement for MP3.
Do not confuse compression between mp3 and m4a as the same. MP3 uses algorithm to remove part of the music data which is deemed unnecessary to save storage space then apply a file compression to make it smaller in size.
ALAC (m4a) and FLAC is indeed compressed file storage-wise similar to a zip file. A player needs to uncompress the file before it can read the music data. This is why it puts more strain on the players CPU to read ALAC or FLAC than an uncompressed format like WAV. But between ALAC, FLAC and WAV they are all lossless data format.
m4a is just a suffix, which Apple uses for both lossy and and lossless compression of audio.
Just by looking at the suffix .m4a does not tell you whether the file is lossy or lossless.
If it is lossy, an m4a file is compressed by the "AAC" compression algorithm, which is similar to "MP3" compression. i.e. irreversal loss of data.
If it is lossless, an m4a file is compressed by the "ALAC" or Apple Lossless Audio Codec, which is similar to "FLAC" compression. i.e. lossless.
The information about whether the m4a file is lossy or lossless is written in the file header (inside the file data itself) so there is no way to tell unless you open the file in playback software such as JRiver, iTunes, etc.
In general, any file suffix (e.g. avi, tif, m4a etc.) does not often tell you about what encoder is used, lossy or compressed
Below is an example of two m4a files, left is "lossy" AAC compression, while right is "lossless" ALAC compression.
I confirm that m4a plays on the PS and that it is a compressed format, although an improved one compared to mp3. It is actually the sound codec used in mp4 movies & clips
The Cowon Plenue S has 3.5 mm TRRS 4 pole balanced out.
Therefore I am looking for balanced cable options for my Sennheiser HD 650 cans.
Is there a site where I can get economically priced 3.5 mm TRRS balanced cables for Sennheiser HD650?
while googling, I came across the following site (Norne):
http://www.norneaudio.com/litzheim/Norne-Vanquish-OCC-Litz-Headphone-Cable-Audeze-Hifiman-Sennheiser-AKG-Astell-Kern-AK240
You can select from the drop down options:
Headphone Type: Sennheiser HD650
Length: 4ft
Termination: Here I see 2 options:
i. 3.5 mm TRRS balanced for LH Labs (Geek out)
ii. 3.5 mm TRRS balanced for Sony NW-ZX2
Is there is a difference between these 2 options? Which one should be chosen?
These are priced at $195
Are you aware of a similar website - where I can get these cables at a much lower price?
Appreciate your help and advice.
Well almost every cable manufacturer can terminate to 3.5mm trrs. The price for a cable usually starts around $100-$120 and will increase depending on quality. I personally like Rhapsodio cables, but you can pretty much look at whichever company you want for a balanced termination.
The options only refer to the configuration of the termination. Some 3.5mm trrs have a different L/R setting. Maybe the LH Labs one is different, but ZX2 and Hifiman are the same as Plenue S.
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