[Lillee]

Hi,
 
Am I missing something or no one has talked about/make/conceived of the idea of balanced cable for Shures? Silver Dragon make them for Westone and other mfrs but not Shure? 
 
So what is a boy to do about utilising say an RSA SR-71B with Shure IEMs?
 
Cheers

 

[liamstrain]

If it is a 4 conductor cord, you an always re-terminate your own stock cable. 

 

[Lillee]

I can understand that. So there is nothing to be gained from having 2 separate cabled from left run into the amp and 2 separate cabled from right run into the amp? Isn't that the point of "balanced" setups? sorry for noob questions

 

[liamstrain]

Well, many cables already have 2 separate running to each side, it's just a matter of how they are terminated (3 point TRS, just combines the two grounds). 
 
So what you would be doing is just re-separating the end connector. 
 
I do not know for sure, however, if the 215's stock cable is 3 or 4 conductors. 

 

[65535]

That is what a 4 conductor cord is, since IEM's aren't connected by a headband having a 4 conductor cable with a wye to a pair of 2 conductor cables allows for balanced setup like the above poster mentioned. 
 
I can't comment on the number of conductors in Shure cable but generally if there is a split it could be 4 conductor which means you could cut the end and install a proper 4 pin or 2x 3 pin connector for a balanced setup.

 

[Lillee]

I see, thanks for replies. I have the Shure SE535ltd as well as SE215s and both have similar (identical?) cable designs but I am unsure how they are wired internally. My old E2C's shared the ground from the wye to the plug so I am guessing these will also be the same. I have a custom cable for the SE535ltd and this too looks like it shares the ground from the wye onwards. 
 
I have yet to see any custom Shure cables that have separate grounds for each side, most just terminate at the wye, and I wonder why not? there must be quite a few 535 users out there with an SR-71B or similar amp surely?

 

[liamstrain]

Bear in mind, there may be several cords inside the single tube going from the Y to the connector (3 or 4) - it is hard to know for sure without opening them up. 
 
You could always make your own wire, of course. 

 

[Lillee]

Actually I just had a look at a colleague's SE215 clear cable and it looks like it shares the ground cable from the wye onwards as per normal. 
 
Rather disappointed really, need to look for a custom cable that can be modified?

 

[Lillee]

Upon further investigation, I've realised that not all custom cables are made the same! Some share the ground from the wye to the plug and some are two separate dual core cables going from earphone to plug and begin to twist into one another at the wye.
 
Could this be the "cable sounds different" claim that everyone makes out? I mean surely 4 cables terminating at the plug rather than at the wye would be superior? We're talking 3 ft of shared ground over less than an inch of shared ground (plug)?
 
How come noone has talked about this? or really is there no difference?

 

[liamstrain]

The difference comes from a balanced amp - powering the channels independently. If using a single ended amplifier there should be no audible different between a shared ground, and independent grounds. 

 

[Lillee]

Thanks for clearing that up. OK so if (when) I move to a balanced setup, I know what I need to do. Thanks for replies

 

[65535]

If the signals are bonded it doesn't make a huge difference where. At the frequencies of audio signals you don't have to worry about reflections in the signal. A 4 conductor cable is generally more durable though, you could pretty easily replace the main length before the wye and use a 4 conductor Mogami mini-quad or other cable (even use a braided 4 wire setup). Mind you the joint in the center will be your weak spot. 
 
You can find the connectors (MMCX) and make your own cable with any wire in any configuration you please.

 

[Chris_Himself]

Quote:

The difference comes from a balanced amp - powering the channels independently. If using a single ended amplifier there should be no audible different between a shared ground, and independent grounds. 

100% correct.
 
Balanced drive isn't about the cables, it's about building a signal from the DAC balanced to eliminate any crosstalk, you have a separate DAC for each channel, then onto your balanced amp which has it's own amp for each channel, and then finally to your cans. A lot more goes into balanced drive than simply just swapping cables haha.
 
 

 

[Lillee]

Quote:

100% correct.
 
Balanced drive isn't about the cables, it's about building a signal from the DAC balanced to eliminate any crosstalk, you have a separate DAC for each channel, then onto your balanced amp which has it's own amp for each channel, and then finally to your cans. A lot more goes into balanced drive than simply just swapping cables haha.
 
 

Thanks for reply. Yeah I wasn't arguing over that, I was wondering why no-one offers a balanced Shure SE series cable that's all. Someone out there must use Shure IEMs in fully balanced configuration surely?
 

 

[Chris_Himself]

Quote:

Thanks for reply. Yeah I wasn't arguing over that, I was wondering why no-one offers a balanced Shure SE series cable that's all. Someone out there must use Shure IEMs in fully balanced configuration surely?
 

Anybody using 1k worth of balanced amps and sources probably isn't going to be using something like a Shure at the end of the day lol. Even I've only built like one balanced example of a cable so it's not that common to my knowledge.
 
I don't want to generalize but the balanced amps I know of aren't really that kind to low impedance headphones anyway haha, it's just a textbook example synnergy for me.