[Arty McGhee]

 

 
Cost = 1 android cable (iPhone cable should also work) + another TRS cable and some heatshrink.
 
It may not be as good as these $295 custom cables, but as an engineer I don't feel like paying that much for wire, as more of the cost is the labor cost and mark up.
 
I don't get my Pono until August, so I'll have to wait to see if it is a worthwhile improvement, but I strongly suspect the majority of the balanced benefit lies in the connection, not the esoteric "unobtainium" the cable is made from.

great mod
did you have to rewire the headphone internals also?
 
the X2 is probably doable by a similar method
especially if the output is trrs
 
i think more encouragement is needed in the DIY aspect of this stuff
i've recabled 3 of my hp's for the price of a few connectors
 
anything dual entry (grado, HD600, 650 etc...) is easily done
single entry is a little trickier , some have a lot of room in them (fostex tr50p)
and can be modded to dual entry.
 
if anyone needs diy help go to the diy cable thread or PM me with a specific question
 
diy or die

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

  the X2 is probably doable by a similar method
especially if the output is trrs

 
Nah the X2 uses a trs socket, so you would have to open up the headphone and change the socket to trrs or recable from the driver.

 

[fleasbaby]

I'm one of the few here that doesn't own expensive headphones so I can't help much there. I have $35 sennheiser HD229, $30 sennheiser HD203, and a pair of $70 Audio Technica ATHM30X at the studio, plus $8 monoprice earbuds just in case. I do most of my pono listening through speakers - bedroom, living room, office, car, rehearsal space.

I agree with you about Sony's, never liked their sound.  As you can see I like the Sennheiser cheap models. AT is my go-to headphone brand, but I don't know if they offer anything Pono-friendly.

OK I realized I have nothing to add I just wanted to list my cheap headphones and let you know things still sound good down here in budget land when you have a PP!

LMAO...price does not equal quality . I personally have a threshold...anything over a certain value causes me to stop enjoying it and start worrying about it.

 

[Kerouac]

LMAO...price does not equal quality

. I personally have a threshold...anything over a certain value causes me to stop enjoying it and start worrying about it.

Just saw your HF name and then it struck me...

Your daddy signed my Pono!!!

 

[fleasbaby]

Just saw your HF name and then it struck me...






Your daddy signed my Pono!!!

Bahahahaha...and you are one of the more prominent names on my bookshelf!

 

[Kerouac]

Bahahahaha...and you are one of the more prominent names on my bookshelf!

Yeah...I think I did a pretty decent job when I was still alive...I wish I had the Pono with me ''on the road'' during those days 

 

[daniel_hokkaido]

anyone been driving the audeze el-8 balanced from PONO? 

 

[sujitsky]

anyone been driving the audeze el-8 balanced from PONO? 

Yes! They sound pretty good in balanced mode out of the pono.

 

[doctorjazz]

Balanced HE-1000 works well out of Pono.

 

[DannyBai]

Balanced HE-1000 works well out of Pono.

Quite impressive that a headphone of that caliber can sound nice out of Pono. 

 

[Kibble Fat]

Pono is $100 off at Fry's today only with daily deals code. I might hold out for $150 off

 

[doctorjazz]

Balanced HE-1000 works well out of Pono.

Quite impressive that a headphone of that caliber can sound nice out of Pono. 

Just got home, out the Pono adapter on the Norne cable, balanced, for the HEK, plugged into balanced Pono, fired up I've of my reference tracks Box Of Rain, Hi Rez Dead from American Beauty. Have various external apps, da converters for the HEK, have connected to my turntable system at one point, but, right now, not missing a thing! Mmmmmmmmmmm.....

 

[defbear]

Just got home, out the Pono adapter on the Norne cable, balanced, for the HEK, plugged into balanced Pono, fired up I've of my reference tracks Box Of Rain, Hi Rez Dead from American Beauty. Have various external apps, da converters for the HEK, have connected to my turntable system at one point, but, right now, not missing a thing! Mmmmmmmmmmm.....

Its amazing! My LCD-2F's sound excellent in Pono balanced mode.

 

[doctorjazz]

Cool dat!

 

[sujitsky]

My pono adapter is coming this week. Now all my major headphones will get the pono treatment