[icebear]

  Just a short one for now (Before I start another 'hopefully' successful project)
 
I don't know how it happened but I lucked into finding a product that is working ideally for my cable relief needs . Within a few minutes of entering my local Lowes Hardware store I came across a store clerk who suggested he'd just recently gotten a product in that he really wasn't even sure what it could be used for, until I described what I needed it to do ! It was a little funny as after describing what I was looking for he just smiled & said he had exactly what I needed. It's a product called
"Sugru" that was on a small display rack in  front of the Paint section.
...

 
LOL, almost nothing is more important than knowing a guy in the local hardware store

.
And :  "Never start a project after the hardware store has closed!"
 
I already had my doubts when you said you first soldered before setting a strain relief but this stuff most likely was just perfect for the job.
Now you need a balanced amp and then change the 1/4 SE plug of your cable to XLR to max out the potential of the headphone, no resting ... next project, sorry for your wallet

 

[knowhatimean]

 

  Just a short one for now (Before I start another 'hopefully' successful project)
 
I don't know how it happened but I lucked into finding a product that is working ideally for my cable relief needs . Within a few minutes of entering my local Lowes Hardware store I came across a store clerk who suggested he'd just recently gotten a product in that he really wasn't even sure what it could be used for, until I described what I needed it to do ! It was a little funny as after describing what I was looking for he just smiled & said he had exactly what I needed. It's a product called
"Sugru" that was on a small display rack in  front of the Paint section.
...

 
LOL, almost nothing is more important than knowing a guy in the local hardware store

.
And :  "Never start a project after the hardware store has closed!"
 
I already had my doubts when you said you first soldered before setting a strain relief but this stuff most likely was just perfect for the job.
Now you need a balanced amp and then change the 1/4 SE plug of your cable to XLR to max out the potential of the headphone, no resting ... next project, sorry for your wallet

Trust me when I tell you I'm not as scatter brained as I appeared to have operated on this. I did consider that cable relief was necessary when I soldered the cables. I did pull some extra cable into the space inside the headphone before attaching the wires, that was specifically the reason I wasn't "sweating" the fact it wasn't secured yet !
 
Yeah, I will be going to a balanced amp for the fact that for as phenomenal as I think my Metrum Hex DAC sounds running it single ended to the headphone amp I'm currently using I really would like to run it from the balanced outputs. As the HD800 stands now I can really hear the colorations that tube headphone amps add to my sound even more so then when I was using cables w/ connectors !
 
With everything else I've done to these headphones I have to tell you , I really think they sound quite different (in a very positive way) then they did as "stock". Not to be contrary to everyone who insists that running the HD800 balanced is the way to go , it's really going to depend how I think they sound running my DAC balanced into the amp. I may discover that I may go full balanced at some point,but I'm putting that on a back burner for now !
 
The Beyerdynamic A1 I'm using at the moment really has no business sounding as good as my HD800s are making it sound ! You're
right though ,I'm sure I'll find a new project quite soon (a wallet...you can afford one of those

?