[pjoliver182]

I've never pulled the internal cable out to have a look but I would suspect it is much higher in quality than the detachable cable.  The internal cable should reflect the quality of the product (the P5's themselves) where as the detachable cable is nothing more than a cheap accessory (from a product design perspective).  I would be surprised if the internal cable wasn't a silver conductor actually, as to minimise any imbalance caused by the different lengths in signal path between the right and left.
 
Worth looking in to if you fancy it though!
 
PJ

 

[datzent83]

How much did you pay for the cable, if I may ask?
 
Thanks!

 

[SONIC BOOM]

Quote:

Almost completed my cable upgrade for my B&W p5's and i figured i would just share my progress. DIY cable from double helix cables, as well as jacks.
 
a few touch up solder points and redoing some heat shrink to look pretty and im in business.
 
from what i listened there was a nice increase in clarity.
 

would you be willing too sell me 2 or 3 of your cables?

 

[shap]

I'm interesting in buying your home kit too.  I'd love to upgrade this cable, but not able to DIY

 

[marcr]

Hello, new to head-fi community and have been looking for a replacement cable that is less expensive for my P5. 
 
Has anyone tried this: http://www.jr.com/sennheiser/pe/SEN_531406/
 
Appreciate any feedback/help in improving the stock sound.

 

[demian1962]

Hello
Thanks for the link..thought I searched everywhere online, never came across this one..much more directly compatible than others Ive seen.
 
I also have been searching for a replacement cable and have also come across these models from Sennheiser..
 
Ive also come across modified cables for these sennheisr models custom made from the well known auction site, as well as, other 3rd party cables that are 2.5-3.5mm..
 
The problem is this.
 
The stock cable is absurdly thin..in fact, I have never come across such a ridiculously thin headphone cable..it is hair thin.
 
The tract within the ear piece is far too narrow to accept even a generic replacement?
 
What were they thinking here?! Biggest disappointment w these headphones by far. Just ridiculous.
 
The only solution is to widen the tract slightly with the faithful dremel drill..using one of the many grinding attachments. brace it well so they cannot move whilst grinding, and you will have a professional looking job at the end. Only 1mm is required..very little.
 
Then the best solution is to get a high quality gold plated connector that is 150mm in length(3-4inches) that goes from 2.5male to 3.5female..
.
As frankly, should a tug at the cable occur, th phones still may be damaged as the wire within is fished through a tract and does not allow for ez dettachment should a serious pull occur.
 
With a short high quality connector, of which many are available and at low cost, one can easily source a high quality aftermarket 3.5-3.5 end cable. And should a tug occur or serious pull, the headphones are not damaged, nor the connector within, and they will detach easily. 
 
Kind regards

 

[demian1962]

Frankly, I would not expect that..
 
Thouh I hv only had these in hand a few days, I would not at all be surprised if it too were poor.
 
I am still deciding whether I wish to keep these. I find the sound quite flat unless really pushed to the ear. Hoping the memory foam will thin out with use..
 
But cable quality here is abismal, and I would not at all be surprised if the one within were also piss poor.
I
 tend to get a sense of a lot of show made more priority than go with these thus far. Initial impression.
 
Though usually cable quality does not mk too much if any difference generally, here is a perfect exception
The wires within honestly must be the width of 5 human hairs.
 
The resistance to flow is insane here.
 
These absolutely would require a cable mod/upgrade for me to keep them.
 
Kind regards

 

[pjoliver182]

If you have not done so already, modify the foam.  You will bring 'life', 'detail' and 'balance' to the foreground of the soundstage.
 
The stock cable is ridiculously thin I agree; I wanted to reuse the stock 2.5mm plug with 10mm of cable initially and then just solder some better cable to this but it was impossible to even strip the ends of the wires without breaking them.
 
My solution was to install some sennheiser cable by removing the outer insulation, shielding etc from the length of cable that needs to fit inside the headphone unit.  Literally strip everything away other than two conductors (and the insulation around each separate conductor).
 
This was the only way I could upgrade the cable without opening up the channel; as mentioned above.
 
Regards,
 
PJ

 

[FraGGleR]

Quote:

id be glad to lend a hand, i was hoping others would be interested in doing this.
 
i started with 26 awg occ copper cable. i got my cable from double helix cable. ( http://www.doublehelixcables.com/ )
the only have 24 awg, but he had a small batch of 26 that he used for a different project. the 24 awg isn’t significantly bigger than the 26, but as you know the cavity is very narrow in the headphones.
 
the cable braid is a standard litz pattern, but what i did to make the cable fit in the earcup was once i had to last few inches unbraided i stripped the 2 grounds and wound them together so i could simply spin the uncovered grounds around the left and right wire, which fit pretty well. heat shrink over the cables and you’re good to go. i know its probably not the best for the ground, because of oxidation and what not, but it works for now. one thing to keep in mind, the left and right cables would ideally be stacked on top of each other to fit best.
 
as for the 2.5mm, they have a gold right angel 2.5mm stereo jack at radio shack, i simply took the jack out and discarded the plastic casing. i used head shrink to cover the jack as well, which works fine.
 
overall the project ran pretty smoothly and it sounds fantastic. i personally recommend double helix, the owner is super friendly and has no problem answering technical questions (very quickly)
 
any other questions feel free to ask!
 

I know you posted this way long ago, but could you take a picture of the inside of the cup so I can see how everything fit?  I made a replacement as well but focused on finding wire that would fit without too much modification into the cup area.
 
 

 

 
This is a 3 wire spiral of 26awg teflon SPC covered in some black 550 paracord with a glow in the dark tracer.  The 2.5mm plug was harvested from a short 2.5mm to 2.5mm cable I got from Monoprice for less than the cost of some 2.5mm plugs.  Very low profile and easy to remove from the cable if you have a heatgun to soften the rubber molding.
 
I didn't want to modify the P5s themself since I am not definite on keeping the P5's.  

 

[SONIC BOOM]

Quote:

I know you posted this way long ago, but could you take a picture of the inside of the cup so I can see how everything fit?  I made a replacement as well but focused on finding wire that would fit without too much modification into the cup area.
 
 

 

 
This is a 3 wire spiral of 26awg teflon SPC covered in some black 550 paracord with a glow in the dark tracer.  The 2.5mm plug was harvested from a short 2.5mm to 2.5mm cable I got from Monoprice for less than the cost of some 2.5mm plugs.  Very low profile and easy to remove from the cable if you have a heatgun to soften the rubber molding.
 
I didn't want to modify the P5s themself since I am not definite on keeping the P5's.  

that looks fantastic, would you be able to sell me 2 or 3 of those cables?

 

[SONIC BOOM]

Quote:

I know you posted this way long ago, but could you take a picture of the inside of the cup so I can see how everything fit?  I made a replacement as well but focused on finding wire that would fit without too much modification into the cup area.
 
 

 

 
This is a 3 wire spiral of 26awg teflon SPC covered in some black 550 paracord with a glow in the dark tracer.  The 2.5mm plug was harvested from a short 2.5mm to 2.5mm cable I got from Monoprice for less than the cost of some 2.5mm plugs.  Very low profile and easy to remove from the cable if you have a heatgun to soften the rubber molding.
 
I didn't want to modify the P5s themself since I am not definite on keeping the P5's.  

But where did you get the 26 awg wire?

 

[FraGGleR]

Oops.  Sorry.  Didn't check this thread again.  I got the wire from John's Teflon Shop on ebay.  It's important to check the outer diameter of any wire bought to make sure a spiral of it will actually fit into the P5 channel.  The wire in this cable barely fits.  I am going to experiment more with different wires to see what I can build.

 

[jqcc]

[size=12.800000190734863px] i have created some cables[/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px]  [/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px] type 1 [/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px] per the P5 originals - using silver cables[/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px]  [/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px]  [/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px]

[/size]
 
 
[size=12.800000190734863px] type 2[/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px] using a female 3.5 and silver cables - meaning you can use any 3.5 to 3.5 cables[/size]

 

[jqcc]

[size=12.800000190734863px] i have created some cables[/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px]  [/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px] type 1 [/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px] per the P5 originals - using silver cables[/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px]  [/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px]  [/size]
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/823/r0013556.jpg/
[size=12.800000190734863px] http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/221/r0013559.jpg/[/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px] http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/267/r0013562.jpg/[/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px]  [/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px] [size=12.800000190734863px]type 2[/size][/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px] using a female 3.5 and silver cables - meaning you can use any 3.5 to 3.5 cables[/size]
[size=12.800000190734863px] http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/526/r0013565.jpg/[/size]

 
Uploaded with ImageShack.us

sounds much better using just iphone or with an amplifier

 

[pjoliver182]

"Offers improvements over standard cable" - doesn't sound very exciting!  For £15 though its worth a test against my modded cable.
 
Thanks for the link!