Bought and received my mini XLR connector.
Plugged it into one of my 3.5mm to mini XLR cables to make it easier to solder to. These wires are from the original K550 cable. The ones at the end of the cable in the ear cup were a mess, so I stripped the cable a bit further down and got some in good condition. Even these wires seem a tiny bit too thick to neatly slide into the contacts, so I made a bit of a mess, but they are on securely enough and I put some heat shrink over them.
Was difficult to decide weather to finish off with a drill or a file as i didn't want it to be uneven. It needed to be a fraction wider than 10mm, but worked out reasonably in the end.
I realized after doing this that I wouldn't be able to put the rubber/silicone disks back in under the center of the driver, but I really struggle to tell any difference with or without them with both these and my new MKIIIs. I also expected that I would somehow manage to tighten the nut up fully, which wasn't the case.
After cutting and filing down the screw threads for the old cable grip, I could get the nut part way down, but the connector still wobbled somewhat.
Ended up using hot melt glue which will obviously make undoing it rather difficult, but I don't think it should need more doing to it. I was aware I could have used the wrong colour wires for this. So many audio cables have different colours so I just had to use put them on randomly and then use a multi meter to check what was correct. I just got the red and yellow the wrong way round so simply soldered them to the back of the driver the opposite way round to what they were originally. I put a little too much glue in but as it was still soft (not sticky), when i screwed the driver and plastic surrounding back in place, it went back where it should be.
Apperence wise, it may not be great for some as I didn't make the connector come out level, so it is at a slight angle.
Even more of an angle here, but if anything, this hardly matters at all. It is the left side, meaning it comes out going forwards slightly. Looks strange but I see it as a slight benefit as the MKIII goes directly down and with the connector included, it does get quite close to your shoulder if you slouch in your chair. With this, it isn't the case as much.
Other than when you look really closely, it doesn't look too bad. Think I've been quite lucky given it is my first attempt at doing putting this sort of connector on headphones.
As I said before, the reason why i don't like fixed cables is that you can't easily adjust the length of it for different uses. 3 meters is good for my desk, but only if it is tidied out the way, and then my headphones are basically attached to my desk which then makes it annoying to use them elsewhere. Then as I've become so used to having mini XLR connectors on my new K550s and K702s (when i had them), I like the fact the connector clicks and locks into place and only comes undone with a push of the button. A 3.5mm cable just wouldn't be what I would want. I would have thought just the weight of the cable dropping (if it is a long one) would often pull it out.
I have a 1m and a 3m heavy duty cable for these as well as what came with my new K550s which I haven't used yet. So that makes it easier for use in different places and makes my old ones more portable.
Even though My new K550s are in much better condition than these, I think it was worth spending £5 to try this out. Seems to have worked well so far.
... I'm cheap 'n lazy! I call it wisdom rofl...
