I wanted to re-cable them with an original Apple cable w/ controls for ipod/iphone.
Best way to open them is to heat them slightly, then look where the cable enters the earpieces, on the outer side you'll see there's intentional space to insert a xacto knife (flatly) and do some force to pry it easily open.
As you see there's no cable knot inside, in fact, don't do one but use shrink tubing if you're not using the original cables (the cable "stoppers" are glued to the original cables) and yours are thinner, add a drop of glue to seal the cable exit from the outside; try to leave the same length and cable volume that was inside originally as otherwise the sound will be vastly altered as I shockingly discovered on the first try...
It may be possible to cut the original black cable stoppers and pass the cable (if thinner) through them... but I didn't want to do that as that's irreversible and wanted to test the sound first without destroying the original cabling.
