[Clutz]

On the Sennheiser HD590 headphones they use a super-mini TRS adapter - smaller than the 1/8th or 1/4th inch plugs that are used to plug the headphones into a source. I was wondering if anyone knows where I can buy some of these. The cables that come with the headphones are just way too long and are of rather poor quality. I want to recable them with some better quality cable.

I'm also possibly interested in balancing these headphones. If I made balanced plugs for these headphones - each terminating to a mono jack - couldn't I then make some sort of Y adapter to allow me to connect them back up to an unbalanced source (i.e. reconnect the grounds of the left and right channel together?)

Thanks for all your help.

Enjoy das hip.

 

[cetoole]

I dont know what stores you have access to, Vancouver is in Canada, isnt it? The super mini plug is most likely a 2.5mm trs plug, and these can be found at many places. You mentioned balanced, I dont think that will be so easy, you will have to modify the headphones to emiminate that 2.5mm trs jack, because you cant force a balanced stereo signal through 3 conductors. The adapter would be quite easy, if you reterminate the HD590 with a single 4 pin XLR connector, all you would need is a 4 pin xlr - 1/4" TRS adapter, and just wire the two grounds on the XLR to the sleeve of the TRS.

 

[Nisbeth]

Mouser p/n 1713306

/U.

 

[Clutz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cetoole You mentioned balanced, I dont think that will be so easy, you will have to modify the headphones to emiminate that 2.5mm trs jack, because you cant force a balanced stereo signal through 3 conductors. The adapter would be quite easy, if you reterminate the HD590 with a single 4 pin XLR connector, all you would need is a 4 pin xlr - 1/4" TRS adapter, and just wire the two grounds on the XLR to the sleeve of the TRS.

I figured what I could do would be to put two mono 2.5mm or 3.5mm jacks in each headphone (both earphones actually have a place to hold such a jack) - and connect a single wire up to each of the terminals on the driver and then connect these up to another pair of 1/4" mono jacks (one for each earphone). How does that sound?

Nisbeth: Thanks for the part number.

I think I'll have to order that soon.

 

[DarkWolf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nisbeth Mouser p/n 1713306 /U.

That plug fits into the little port on the casing nice and snug like the stock one? If that's the case I'll order some too!

That's Box "H" at this link: http://www.mouser.com/catalog/627/895.pdf

I should also ask which 3.5mm and 1/4" plugs you guys like the best, as well as what cable to use? I don't need any fancy balanced stuff, a better stock replacement is fine. Should I try and bother with silver solder either? Sorry for thread jacking, but thanks for the info!

 

[SoundGoon]

here's a link to a cheaper 2.5mm plug: http://www.markertek.com/SearchProdu...ff=9&sort=prod

In terms of cable, try Canare Mini Star Quad. fits into the 2.5mm plug nice and is decent shielded cable. You shoudl have a multimeter handy to be able to decipher L and R cables (the star quad has 4 cables inside/2 white 2 blue; most people use both blue for ground and a white for left and a white for right). I don't use overely expensive solder, so I'm not sure what to recommend.

 

[DarkWolf]

I didn't see any 2.5mm plugs that looked promissing..

Anyway, is the smaller profile cable the Star Quad L-4E5C? Is there much difference in performance, and how much harder is it to use the full size cable?

Thanks again.

 

[SoundGoon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkWolf I didn't see any 2.5mm plugs that looked promissing.. Anyway, is the smaller profile cable the Star Quad L-4E5C? Is there much difference in performance, and how much harder is it to use the full size cable? Thanks again.

Sorry that that 2.5 plug didn't look that great. In regards to the cable, that is the right one, and I don't think that it is too much more difficult to work with than regular star quad.

 

[SoundGoon]

let me know if you find some decent 2.5mm plugs, as I woudl like to recable my 590's with a decent shorter cable

 

[DarkWolf]

I suppose the Mouser plugs are probably the ones to try first.. See the links above in the thread.

 

[spendorspain]

Hi,

Regarding the use of 4-pin XLR plugs and sockets instead of the TRS, the designer of my headphone amp (WNA) and others prefer the XLR always, because according to them it sounds a little better, even in not fully balanced amps.

My amplifier is a two-channel single-ended (left and right inputs through RCA sockets), not balanced (+L,-L,+R,-R), and I think it doesn’t matter what is the “left” ground and the “right” ground because, anyway, they will be joined at the “ground” pin of the ¼” output socket in the standard connection. The use of a 4-pin XLR only will split this sole ground connection in two, but I think in an unbalanced design (be a dual mono with independent power supplies or not) it is irrelevant what ground wire goes to each channel.

Do you think there will be any problem if I solder the “left ground” pin in the XLR plug to the wire that actually goes to the ground (-) terminal in the right driver? (this is possible because I can't find out what is the L or R ground wire without opening the housing of the drivers). In this case (and I have 50% of possibilities of doing it wrong) I’ll mix L and R channel grounds but, as they both are the same, perhaps there will be no problem. Am I right? In the new 4-pin XLR headphone plug the L ground and the R ground can be reversed, so the “left signal” wire and the “right ground” wire will go to the left driver (and the “right signal” and the “left ground” to the right driver). Is this a problem? What is your advice on this?. I apologize if this question is a little dumb, but if I’m not sure about it, I’ll have to use a standard TRS connector and not the better sounding XLR.

Thank you for your help
Best regards

 

[Nisbeth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkWolf That plug fits into the little port on the casing nice and snug like the stock one?

Yup!

/U.