Headphone Cables/Builds w/ Pictures - DIY

On your 4 wire cable builds, with only 2 wires per channel, would you split those then to wire up to the 4-pin mini XLR connectors?

Nope. The 4pin mini XLR is popular just because, Audeze decide to use it and now it’s on a lot of cans. Only Pin 1 and Pin 3 are used, Pin 2 and Pin 4 can be left unused, or you can bridge them in but no real point.

If there was a 2pin mini xlr, they could use that.

Abyss 1266 uses the 3pin Mini XLR, using Pin 1 and 3 only also. And reversing the polarity just to be funny buggers. Plugging a 4pin mini xlr female (audeze cable) into a 3pin male socket (1266 for example) will work with some elbow grease, but it does bend the pins a bit, they are slightly different alignments. It would also put the 1266 out of phase, sound a bit off maybe.

So in the 8 wire, 2 wires are going to pin 1 and 2 to pin 3. I had to clip off pin 2 to give me some room.

Actually only use 2 of the 8 for that. Rest are for show and future upgrades.

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Oh ok. I must admit, I’ve only ever tested the cable side of things with a multimeter. I guess I could do the same on the headphone side to see which pins are used/unused. The pinouts that I found was:

XLR Pin 1 → Mini-XLR R Pin 1 & 4
XLR Pin 2 → Mini-XLR R Pin 2 & 3
XLR Pin 3 → Mini-XLR L Pin 2 & 3
XLR Pin 4 → Mini-XLR L Pin 1 & 4

So with that, assumed that they were all used and whether you needed to bridge or wire both pins.

heh, probably so people would buy their 4k JPS headphone cables to make it sound not weird and “amazing” / better.

Yeah not sure why they do it dude. ZMF and others done. The transducer only has a + and - …

Guess you could say its a greater contact area assuming the same pins are bridged inside the headphone? But then its a bit of a null piont when you see the size of the wire they using inside headphones anyway, I guess.

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would you be able to let me know what type of cable you have used for those?

Thanks

Project: Convert the Koss PortaPro cable to the Hart Audio Cables modular system

I bought a mini XLR connector from Adorama, cut off the 3.5mm jack, and soldered the wires.

Notes:

  • My soldering skills are poor…don’t look inside. The 8th try was the charm.
  • Mini XLR-4 connectors are mini. They require a sharp eye and a steady hand. I have neither.
  • The PortaPro has incredibly thin wires. I didn’t try to remove the factory insulation, and just melted through with the solder.

Sources for wiring pinouts and testing:

I can now run the PortaPro with balanced amps. I’ll provide audio comments in the PortaPro thread after testing, at least as long as my soldering job holds up.

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Try doing a few DB15 or 2.5mm TRRS, it makes the mini XLRs seem so much easier :smiley:

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I absolutely hate working with 2.5mm connectors, even TRS.

Getting 20-22awg onto a 2.5mm TRRS is the ultimate test!

Hi all, can anyone let me know what is a decent cable to use for headphones please?

Do you know where i can source these kind of parts in UK/EU?

I don’t have a build to share… yet but I’m wondering if I could get some input on this planned build. I was going to start a new thread but seems I’m not able to

Want to build some DIY cables for my HD 6XX + Qudelix 5K and want to make sure I’ve selected the right parts.

I want to have interconnects using mini-XLR so I can switch from 2.5mm balanced to 3.5mm single when switching between devices (and in the future maybe full size XLR if I get a desktop amp). I’d like the cable to be fairly flexible not not cheap / weak.

Do these parts seem correct / reasonable for what I’m trying to achieve?

4-core pure silver solid core wire. I didn’t fully dress it in case I want to modify some things, but dang this things sounds excellent :wave:

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28awg wire is very thin.

Aliexpress as plenty of 24awg variants. Aim for a “OD” (outer diameter) of around 1.3mm and you’ll have a nice thickness to the cable. Any thicker guage and you’ll very much struggle to solder it to the 2.5mm TRRS, those things are tiny.

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@JonL would you mind sharing a link of those silver cables?

4-conductor version
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803370817965.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.4.6cda18020tbkCG&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

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My Beautiful Audio Grado mod

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I like the PS 2000’s also. I need that mod for my RS1e. But don’t want to do it myself. Did you buy the parts from Beautiful Audio?