[ztsen]

Hi,

There are so many speaker cables like audio quest, Chord company, QED, Ecosse, Atlas and etc but so far or I dont know if anyone use those cable to DIY as headphone cables.

Any reason?

 

[RedBull]

Good question, waiting for experts to comment ...

 

[SiBurning]

Too thick & heavy. You don't need 10ga wire for headphones because you're not pushing 30A or more of current through a headphone cable.

There's a bunch of other simple things before you get into esoterics. You move your head, but don't often move your speakers, so you want a flexible cable for headphones. You also want a different esthetic in cables you wear rather than lay on the floor or on a $200us wood block.

 

[krmathis]

Patrick82 used Nordost Valhalla speaker cables for his K1000.
Many of these cables may be unsuitable for headphone use because of their sheer size though. So that may be part of the reason it is not more popular...

 

[Uncle Erik]

They're too heavy. There's a good chance that they would pull out the connection with the driver. Also, you'd probably have to redrill the holes where the cables enter. And many of them are too stiff for wearing on headphones.

 

[tintin47]

Sorry to go OT, but I love that there is a cable company called QED. That is priceless.

 

[crapback]

I used some belkin pureav 18ga wire to recable my hd650's and my dt990's. I butchered my first litz braid attempt but the second 2 came out pretty nice for a noob. The wire jacket split very easily and it's really light and flexible IMO. I have no issues with my hd650 connectors getting pulled out but I don't really move around much when I'm wearing them. With the 990's all I did was tie a knot in the wire inside the cans to prevent them from pulling out at all. All in all I ended up with some pretty fancy looking cables for about $65 in materials.

 

[HiFi1972]

I also made a cable for my HD650s with 18awg, very uncomfortable in comparison to the stock cable, but I do hear a (positive) difference between this and the stock cable. I haven't got around to it, but I want to make another recable for them using StarQuad, to see how the thinner gauge will impact what I'm hearing on the heavier cable.

 

[ztsen]

Thanks for the feedback, at least I know their limitation over headphone.
So as long as I look for thin type of speaker cable, will be more suitable for headphone uses.

 

[skyline889]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ztsen /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the feedback, at least I know their limitation over headphone. So as long as I look for thin type of speaker cable, will be more suitable for headphone uses.

Ideally, stranded wire around 24-28awg will give the best flexibility when it comes to headphone re-cables. I find that even with a soft pe dielectric, 18awg is too bulky for headphones. 22awg isn't bad but stranded 24-28awg is the sweet spot to me. Very flexible and very durable.

 

[SiBurning]

I'm a big fan of using fat wires where there's heavy current draw. For speakers, that's 10ga. More gets silly, and introduces other issues. For headphones... other people would have a better idea than me, but it's certainly closer to 22ga.

 

[rds]

For normal headphones (ie not k1000 or the like) 22ga is way overkill.
Here's a table with current ratings for different wire guages:
American Wire Gauge table and AWG Electrical Current Load Limits with skin depth frequencies
Keep in mind that a headphone cable is 'power transmission wiring' and not 'chassis wiring'.