Custom Cable Making Guide

I wonder where premium quality aluminum is on the list. I recall seeing several burnt mobile homes with premium aluminum wiring.

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For some use cases.

Rhodium is not without its issues. Itā€™s a bugger to solder for a start. And the plating has to be super-uniform since it is a harder material than copper which can cause issues with contact area (which would further increase resistance) as it wonā€™t meld as readily.

If they donā€™t show any visible discoloration, then they are likely made with a non-tarnish silver alloy. Which is a bit of a farce, as the way you make non-tarnish silver is to alloy it with other materials ā€¦ thereby reducing its conductivity ā€¦

If they do show discoloration/dulling then occasionally disconnecting the cables, cleaning them (Deoxit is one way), and reconnecting them will take care of it*.


*I suspect that when people buy new cables, especially ā€œupgradeā€ or ā€œfancyā€ cables that, in cases where they make any difference at all, such differences are simply down to the insertion/removal of the connectors removing some of the latent oxidization.

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LMAO!!! that is so funny.

Hi everyone. Iā€™m thinking of making my own custom cables for the Sundara and HE-6SE V2. I figured Iā€™m better off making my own rather than buy cheap cables. Better quality control and all that.

I am new to this stuff, so Iā€™d like help with regards to how Iā€™m planning on wiring the connectors. I checked out Hart Audio Cableā€™s diagrams, and hereā€™s what I came up with:

Will this work or will I end up blowing up my headphones and shorting my amplifier?

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Doesnā€™t the sundara and HE6se have connections on each cup?

If yes, you will want two TS 3.5mm plugs, one for each cup. (Not two TRS 3.5mm plugs, although that will probably work if you wire the ring and sleeve to ground, and the tip to +.)

Either the Rean or Neutrik will work, I would think. The cable I just made for the Focal used the Neutrik.

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Oyaide make a real nice 3.5mm TRS. Slim body. 5x price of the Rean though.

Just strip the negative connector longer, and leave it long, solder to the sleeve part then over to the ring on one piece. Easy way to bridge R and S.

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That seems risky to me. There is nothing stopping a manufacturer from wiring things in a non-standard way: in this case + to ring and - to sleeve. Connecting ring and sleeve would short the + and -.

The only way to know the answer (rather than trust a diagram from the web) is to use a multimeter to determine the connections based on the manufacturerā€™s original cable.

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That looks nice! As for the wiring, I think everyoneā€™s boggled why HiFiMan uses 3.5 mm TRS jacks for each earcup.

I might just go with @NickZ suggestion and check the V2ā€™s cable (since Iā€™m planning on making balanced for both) using a multimeter.

Iā€™d be interested to see how those connections tone out on a multimeter. I hypothesize that both the ring and sleeve are wired together and are ground. As for why TRS? Probably cost. Itā€™s actually harder to find mono TS connectors, Iā€™ve found.

If the headphone jack is TRS and wired as tip and sleeve then TS and TRS plugs would work interchangeably and no harm would come from bridging ring and sleeve.

I donā€™t know what the actual wiring is though.

I have a variety of cables in 3.5 mm (at the headphone end), Iā€™ve yet to come across a headphone that wonā€™t take TS and TRS with just T and S connected interchangeably.

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Yes, it makes sense for it to be that way, but you never know.

Glad all your gear is playing nice!

You still need to check what youā€™re plugging what into. Its purely for when youā€™re using a TRS plug for a can that uses a TS plug. The bridging just turns the RS into one, ensuring whereever the contact for the S is, makes contact.

There is nothing to stop a manufacturer from wiring how they want, no. Thatā€™s on you to check. Abyss use a 3pin mini XLR but reverse the pin 1 and pin 3 uses. Just to be a prick.

To take a random cable and try it on a random headphone, that for some reason, has the Tip as a unused contact in a TRS connector, is your own fault haha. But to use a TRS for a typically TS headphone, can bridge them just fine.

Further to that. The 4pin mini XLR used on Audeze and ZMF etc does this. ZMF leave Pin 2 and 4 unused. Audeze sometimes bridge in the 2 and 4 to 1 and 3. Nothing stopping someone wiring their 4pin mini xlr to use pin 1 and 2, same arguement!

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I think I may have been half-asleep checking out Hart Audioā€™s pinouts, as I was looking at at pinout of a 4-pin mini XLR to a 1/4 inch TRS omega facepalm So while I will wait for the multimeter to arrive to confirm, Iā€™d hazard a guess that it is wired in the picture you showed, but with the ring and sleeve to the negative.

Thanks guys! Helpful as always

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This may be a dumb question, but could you improve existing cables or interconnects with faraday shielding tape?

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I wouldnā€™t do it with tape, but yes. Any straight wire acts as an antenna, so shielding it is a way to prevent that. Thing is, the shielding must be grounded to get the Faraday Cage protection.

This is why most cables have shielding in them and/or are twisted or braided. Signal cables benefit the most from this.

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@ProfFalkin - so I guess my dream of making great cables by covering them in tin foil goes out the door lol. I did see some jackets on amazon that include ground wires.

Was curious if anyone here has taken existing basic cables (instead of buying separate cable and xlr or rca terminations to make true diy cables) and taken them apart, braided them, added shielding, etc.

It might help if you identified why you are thinking about this. Are you looking to have a custom looking cable and avoid the soldering part?

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@mfadio - Honestly - I havenā€™t put a lot of research into it and havenā€™t done diy cables before - I do have a soldering iron - but was wondering if there was an inexpensive way to upgrade cables (xlr interconnects and usb) for sound quality - not concerned about the appearance.

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Far be it from me to poo on anyones hobby, but if a cable isnā€™t allowing noise in, taking it apart to braid it to keep noise out seems, errrrrr, interesting?

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