[willmueller]

Newer to this site liking what i see so far (my wallets not) i've made a number of cmoy's and a couple sets of interconnects and thats about it.

I've spent the last hour searching around on this site looking for how to balance headphones (i love how the search leaves out "how+to"

).

Found a couple good threads on the principle behind doing so and not sure if it will even make the slightest diffrence on my koss ktx pros hooked up to a non balanced cmoy (i'll make a balanced amp later).

never the less i have to recable them (vol control is shot) and i thought might as well do it now as its all apart.


thanks in advance

will

 

[sbyers77]

So... did you have a question? I didn't see one in there (not trying to be rude).

 

[willmueller]

You make a good point... i was up late last night and this morning i was not thinking all that clearly.

Looking for a diy on how to balance headphones, i assume its just a resistor in each headphone. how do i know what resistor i want and which terminal to put it on and so on and so forth

 

[FallenAngel]

You want to balance headphones? Ok, recable them to a pair of 3 pin XLR plug or a single 4 pin XLR. Now you have balanced headphones

It's the source / amp that you'll need to worry about now.

 

[willmueller]

for some reason i thought that was going to be the case.

thanks.

 

[Mikesul]

I am I correct in interpreting this to mean that we are really not balancing the headphones but are just making them ready to plug into a balanced amp by attaching the XLR plugs?

 

[FallenAngel]

Headphones are neither balanced nor unbalanced by design, they are just speakers that can be wired any way you want. XLR plugs are generally used for balanced setups. They provide a positive, negative and shield connection for each driver which lets you use a balanced setup. Regular 1/4" or 3.5mm connectors share the same ground.

 

[Yen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Headphones are neither balanced nor unbalanced by design, they are just speakers that can be wired any way you want. XLR plugs are generally used for balanced setups. They provide a positive, negative and shield connection for each driver which lets you use a balanced setup. Regular 1/4" or 3.5mm connectors share the same ground.

Ok, let's say I want to make my dt880s (or any other headphone) balanced. It is now connected with 1 signal wire for each driver and shared ground for both. What should I do if I want to make them balanced? The typical XLR plug has three pins, so with balanced setup, we have two XLR plugs and six pins to connect.

What to where?

Balanced Positive to the "old unbalanced" signal and negative to "old unbalanced" ground? Then what we need to do with the balanced shield pin?

Then to amps:

What do I need to make my SOHA balanced? Double it all, so that one unbalanced amp will hande one balanced channel? Old unbalanced left and right channels will be connected to balanced input's positive and negative? And unbalanced ground as balanced shield?

Sounds intresting...

 

[Pars]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yen /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok, let's say I want to make my dt880s (or any other headphone) balanced. It is now connected with 1 signal wire for each driver and shared ground for both. What should I do if I want to make them balanced? The typical XLR plug has three pins, so with balanced setup, we have two XLR plugs and six pins to connect. What to where? Balanced Positive to the "old unbalanced" signal and negative to "old unbalanced" ground? Then what we need to do with the balanced shield pin?

Yes. L+ and L- to the driver, not sure what they do for shield, probably tie it to the amp ground at that end and let it float. Same thing for the right channel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yen /img/forum/go_quote.gif Then to amps: What do I need to make my SOHA balanced? Double it all, so that one unbalanced amp will hande one balanced channel? Old unbalanced left and right channels will be connected to balanced input's positive and negative? And unbalanced ground as balanced shield? Sounds intresting...

Yes. Then you need to also deal with the inputs if you intend to support unbalanced sources

And you need to source a 4-channel volume control, or use dual stereo controls, one for each channel.

 

[Yen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pars /img/forum/go_quote.gif Then you need to also deal with the inputs if you intend to support unbalanced sources

Erm, cant I just connect unbalanced signal to positive, and unbalanced ground (often shared) to negative? In this case the amp's ground isnt connected with source's ground. Is it a prob?

Some1 should do a Balanced FAQs. How to make balanced amps, phones and how to mix unbalanced with balanced.

 

[Pars]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yen /img/forum/go_quote.gif Erm, cant I just connect unbalanced signal to positive, and unbalanced ground (often shared) to negative? In this case the amp's ground isnt connected with source's ground. Is it a prob? Some1 should do a Balanced FAQs. How to make balanced amps, phones and how to mix unbalanced with balanced.

No, I don't think its that simple. Usually it is done using either transformers or opamps to do the SE to bal conversion. There are a number of threads here in the DIY section which discuss this... I have never built a balanced amp, but have listened to at least one (Dan Gardner's balanced Dynahi driving balanced HD650s). His was driven by a Benchmark DAC-1, which is balanced.

 

[OtterMarc]

willmueller,

Head-fi is getting big. Means that finding stuff is harder.

You'll see good discussions and links - explanations in DooBooloo's thread on his TPA6120-based balanced amp. With links and side-distractions (!!) a few hours of reading.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...nced+schematic

Hope it helps.
Marc