[Jacobh]

So I went to solder a new 1/8" connector onto the end of my headphone cord, and the cabling inside is different than what I have seen before. Instead of each cable being encased in it's own insulating material, the three cables are painted(?) and seem to be interwoven with some sort of thread. I assume this keeps the cabling isolated. How do I get through this insulation to actually connect the new connector?

 

[Budgie]

Sometimes you can just heat it up with a soldering iron and tin it like you would an uninsulated wire. The thin insulation will burn off with the heat. Or you can carefully scrape it off with a hobby knife. It is a real pain in the ass to work with. Maybe some one else has a better method and will post it. Good Luck!

(if it's the Sennheiser's, it may be easyier to replace the whole cord with a new one.)

 

[Jacobh]

Budgie,
I started to try that and I think it might have been working. However, I did not have time to finish. After work I'll see if it worked. I did notice some nasty black looking residue when I heated the wires and tried to tin them. Initially the solder wouldn't even bond with the wire.

The are sennheisers (HD320), but the cord doesn't seem to be removable. It goes into the earpieces directly.