shotgunshane
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2010
- Posts
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ZMF MH1 Recable
Like many on Head-Fi, I thoroughly enjoy the diamond in the rough that is the Sony MH1. After originally receiving a super sub bass boosted MH1C long ago, I’ve found the quality control of the regular MH1 to be more consistent in its sub bass boost. If you didn’t know, the MH1 is quite linear from the midrange through treble (and quite extended) and with a properly placed EQ in lower bass, you can have a pretty neutral-ish dynamic driver that will outperform many IEM costing many, many times more.
So the sound quality is great! But the cable? This is quite possibly the worst cable I’ve every experienced on 100+ IEMs I’ve bought, borrowed or auditioned. I hate flat cables and not only is this one flat but’s it’s pretty wide, has an enormous mic control unit and worst of all- it’s a J cable. Can it get any worse? Like others, I’ve bent mine this way and that and used velco straps to turn it in to a Y cable of sorts that allows me to wear them over the ear, staying in place most of the time. The things we have to put up with for great sound quality, right?
I have been searching months and months for someone to recable this IEM but to no avail. Apparently it is a difficult one to take apart and resolder the wires without damaging the drivers. No one wanted to take on the project, so I put a want ad in the classifieds. Luckily sfwalcer stumbled upon an eBay image of a recabled MH1 and suggested I contact the seller. Success! Finally a modder who was willing to take on the project and let me share the results with Head-Fi. Enter Zach from ZMF Headphones: http://www.zmfheadphones.com/
Zach was very friendly from the get go and easy to discuss options with how the recable should be carried out. After some trial and error and more discussion, he finally came up with a successful plan:
- Round braid
- RA Neutrik
- O-ring for neck slider
- Heat-shrink on the cable under the housing stress reliefs
- Heat-shrink Y split
I’ve very pleased with the outcome and the price is very fair. Not only is the recable much better looking but it is less bulky and fiddle-some than the stock cable, and best of all it is easy to use over the ear. My cable is OCC copper but OCC SPC is available as well (and I’ll have my other MH1 recabled in it). The heat-shrink under the stress reliefs is genius- it helps to keep the cable from untwisting, while simultaneously sealing unwanted venting out of the stress relief. The O-ring makes a very practical neck slider and will never slip on you.
Two areas for improvement, one of which I’ve already discussed with Zach, are:
- Some kind of ZMF personalized or other decorative Y split. The heat-shrink is functional but a more aesthetically pleasing Y split, like wood, carbon, etc would really set the entire recable off.
- Perhaps slightly loosen the round braid for more added flexibility. My recable round braid is very tight and looks great but I think by just slightly lessening the tightness of the braid will give even more flexibility.
Zach was a pleasure to deal with and I really appreciate his willingness to listen to and incorporate some of my feedback.
Like many on Head-Fi, I thoroughly enjoy the diamond in the rough that is the Sony MH1. After originally receiving a super sub bass boosted MH1C long ago, I’ve found the quality control of the regular MH1 to be more consistent in its sub bass boost. If you didn’t know, the MH1 is quite linear from the midrange through treble (and quite extended) and with a properly placed EQ in lower bass, you can have a pretty neutral-ish dynamic driver that will outperform many IEM costing many, many times more.
So the sound quality is great! But the cable? This is quite possibly the worst cable I’ve every experienced on 100+ IEMs I’ve bought, borrowed or auditioned. I hate flat cables and not only is this one flat but’s it’s pretty wide, has an enormous mic control unit and worst of all- it’s a J cable. Can it get any worse? Like others, I’ve bent mine this way and that and used velco straps to turn it in to a Y cable of sorts that allows me to wear them over the ear, staying in place most of the time. The things we have to put up with for great sound quality, right?
I have been searching months and months for someone to recable this IEM but to no avail. Apparently it is a difficult one to take apart and resolder the wires without damaging the drivers. No one wanted to take on the project, so I put a want ad in the classifieds. Luckily sfwalcer stumbled upon an eBay image of a recabled MH1 and suggested I contact the seller. Success! Finally a modder who was willing to take on the project and let me share the results with Head-Fi. Enter Zach from ZMF Headphones: http://www.zmfheadphones.com/
Zach was very friendly from the get go and easy to discuss options with how the recable should be carried out. After some trial and error and more discussion, he finally came up with a successful plan:
- Round braid
- RA Neutrik
- O-ring for neck slider
- Heat-shrink on the cable under the housing stress reliefs
- Heat-shrink Y split
I’ve very pleased with the outcome and the price is very fair. Not only is the recable much better looking but it is less bulky and fiddle-some than the stock cable, and best of all it is easy to use over the ear. My cable is OCC copper but OCC SPC is available as well (and I’ll have my other MH1 recabled in it). The heat-shrink under the stress reliefs is genius- it helps to keep the cable from untwisting, while simultaneously sealing unwanted venting out of the stress relief. The O-ring makes a very practical neck slider and will never slip on you.
Two areas for improvement, one of which I’ve already discussed with Zach, are:
- Some kind of ZMF personalized or other decorative Y split. The heat-shrink is functional but a more aesthetically pleasing Y split, like wood, carbon, etc would really set the entire recable off.
- Perhaps slightly loosen the round braid for more added flexibility. My recable round braid is very tight and looks great but I think by just slightly lessening the tightness of the braid will give even more flexibility.
Zach was a pleasure to deal with and I really appreciate his willingness to listen to and incorporate some of my feedback.
