[Allanmarcus]

 

There is no ground wire on a balanced headphone cable. For interconnects, a balanced cable is three wire per channel (+, -, and ground). For headphone balanced cables, there is only two wires per channel. You should just reterminate the plug on your cable and be done.

Thanks so much! I appreciate your thoughts. So confusing. I was thinking of balanced interconnects

For the most part, the only reason to go balanced is for more power to the headphones. Some folks claim they hear "better separation" or other benefits to balanced. Let your ears be the judge. On most amps that have balanced and SE, the balanced side will output quite a bit more power, so don't let the louder volume fool you into thinking the sound is better.
 
Most senngrados (and grados) don't a lot of power to drive well, so balanced isn't often necessary.
 
That said, on some amps the Balanced output uses a different topology than the SE output, or the SE output isn't does well, so the Balanced might actually sound better.

 

[filbert96]

For the most part, the only reason to go balanced is for more power to the headphones. Some folks claim they hear "better separation" or other benefits to balanced. Let your ears be the judge. On most amps that have balanced and SE, the balanced side will output quite a bit more power, so don't let the louder volume fool you into thinking the sound is better.

Most senngrados (and grados) don't a lot of power to drive well, so balanced isn't often necessary.

That said, on some amps the Balanced output uses a different topology than the SE output, or the SE output isn't does well, so the Balanced might actually sound better.

As far as I know, an amp can only be one or the other, not both. Apparently, the Ayre DAC has been designed around a balanced topology and should sound better in balanced mode. That being said, I'll let my ears decide.

 

[Allanmarcus]

 

For the most part, the only reason to go balanced is for more power to the headphones. Some folks claim they hear "better separation" or other benefits to balanced. Let your ears be the judge. On most amps that have balanced and SE, the balanced side will output quite a bit more power, so don't let the louder volume fool you into thinking the sound is better.

Most senngrados (and grados) don't a lot of power to drive well, so balanced isn't often necessary.

That said, on some amps the Balanced output uses a different topology than the SE output, or the SE output isn't does well, so the Balanced might actually sound better.

As far as I know, an amp can only be one or the other, not both. Apparently, the Ayre DAC has been designed around a balanced topology and should sound better in balanced mode. That being said, I'll let my ears decide.

Well, take the Taurus MkII. From inner fidelity:
 
The astute reader will note the balanced and single-ended headphone outputs have differing behavior based on load. If you spotted that, good catch, pat yourself on the back. The TAURUS output stage has four sections in total. When operating in "STD" mode (the 1/4" jack), two outputs drive each channel in parallel. This results in maximum output current for low impedance headphones, with less voltage swing for high impedance loads. In BAL mode (the 4-pin XLR jack), two sections operate in a bridge-tied load configuration. The result? Much higher voltage swing at the expense of output current being comparatively limited. AURALiC is quick to point out that MOAR POWER is not always the answer. Just because you'd think planar headphones would do best from the 1/4" jack while high impedance Beyerdynamic models should use the balanced output, it doesn't necessarily always work out that way. I'd also add that "limited" output current or voltage swing, in this context, simply means "limited" compared to the max this device is capable of. Realistically the BAL output is still quite powerful into low impedance loads, and the STD output can still swing plenty of voltage. There's really nothing I can think of which the TAURUS can't handle (short of electrostatic models, obviously). Output impedance is low enough not to be a factor—less than 1 ohm from the STD jack, and somewhere between 3 and 4 ohms from the BAL output. Users of multi-driver, balanced armature IEMs may want to avoid the BAL output but all other headphones should be fair game.
Read more at http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/spectacularly-transparent-auralic-taurus-mkii#OmomhICVMj5Xsqjm.99

 

[filbert96]

Well, take the Taurus MkII. From inner fidelity:

The astute reader will note the balanced and single-ended headphone outputs have differing behavior based on load. If you spotted that, good catch, pat yourself on the back. The TAURUS output stage has four sections in total. When operating in "STD" mode (the 1/4" jack), two outputs drive each channel in parallel. This results in maximum output current for low impedance headphones, with less voltage swing for high impedance loads. In BAL mode (the 4-pin XLR jack), two sections operate in a bridge-tied load configuration. The result? Much higher voltage swing at the expense of output current being comparatively limited. AURALiC is quick to point out that MOAR POWER is not always the answer. Just because you'd think planar headphones would do best from the 1/4" jack while high impedance Beyerdynamic models should use the balanced output, it doesn't necessarily always work out that way. I'd also add that "limited" output current or voltage swing, in this context, simply means "limited" compared to the max this device is capable of. Realistically the BAL output is still quite powerful into low impedance loads, and the STD output can still swing plenty of voltage. There's really nothing I can think of which the TAURUS can't handle (short of electrostatic models, obviously). Output impedance is low enough not to be a factor—less than 1 ohm from the STD jack, and somewhere between 3 and 4 ohms from the BAL output. Users of multi-driver, balanced armature IEMs may want to avoid the BAL output but all other headphones should be fair game.

Read more at http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/spectacularly-transparent-auralic-taurus-mkii#OmomhICVMj5Xsqjm.99

Interesting. I don't pretend to be a designer or know exactly how it works. The Taurus looks like it has modes that allow it to run balanced or not but not necessarily in both. The Ayre does the same thing but is designed balanced and then adapts for an unbalanced connection I believe. I may be wrong, but the Taurus would need two seperate boards for running the different topologies. Interesting subject.

 

[Allanmarcus]

A wise man on another site put it this way:
 
"Great balanced > Great SE >> Good Balanced > Good SE >> Mediocre Balanced >= Mediocre SE >> Crap."
 
"Balanced" isn't necessarily better. Depends on the amp and the headphones. Only way to know is to listen.

 

[JoeDoe]

  A wise man on another site put it this way:
 
"Great balanced > Great SE >> Good Balanced > Good SE >> Mediocre Balanced >= Mediocre SE >> Crap."
 
"Balanced" isn't necessarily better. Depends on the amp and the headphones. Only way to know is to listen.

This man is dropping some knowledge!

 

[Arty McGhee]

Looking at putting a balanced cable on my SennGrado so that I can try it with my Pono and Codex. Not sure where to solder the ground wire. Any suggestions? Also, should I cut a wire in the headphone driver that make the drivers balanced? Your thoughts and pics would be helpful.

while the amps are pretty good on the pono, from experience 
you're not going to get better sound from a senngrado, just more gain
if you wanna run an HD650  or a hungry planar its the way to go
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
here's how its done (PM me if you have need help you can do damage if not careful)
you keep the right and left + and -
separate from the driver to the plugs
 
left + goes to left tip
left - goes to left ring
 
right + goes to right tip
right - goes to right ring
 
this explains it

 

[paulmazz]

Has any tried 3D printing a driver housing to fit the PX100 driver rather than taking the grado driver out of the existing housing? I would really appreciate it if anyone has the 3D .stl files for something like this.

 

[burgunder]

Here you go, http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1377080

 

[Arty McGhee]

i have a spacer file
that will fit a px driver to a grado style cup
pm me if anyone wants it
 

 

[7keys]

i have a spacer file
that will fit a px driver to a grado style cup
pm me if anyone wants it

I'm still using these adapters, they are a nice tight fit.

 

[paulmazz]

Just to be clear, should these fit into the the housing that the driver sits in or will these fit right into the cups?

 

[Arty McGhee]

 
does this make sense? the driver sits in the ring, and the whole thing slides in the cup
 

 

 

[paulmazz]

Oh, perfect thanks a lot!

 

[Arty McGhee]

there is also a file in there that combines the apaptor 
to hold an hm5 style earpad making for an over ear senngrado
with the velours they sound quite good and are super comfy