Your cables are indeed very appealing, @Torq. Three questions, if I may:
Just trying to compose my own make or buy decision down the road.
Thanks much!
If building a cable I’ve already worked out the design/build for, effectively zero.
If working up a new design/geometry, or exploring new connector options/materials, maybe a few feet of raw wire over the whole prototyping process. Sheathing is more wasteful, long term, since it’s invariably much faster to assemble a cable by using a couple of extra inches on each end, for each run, every time you build and using that as a feeder to facilitate routing it into connectors or through splitters.
Initially it was finding a raw wire that I was happy with, but since then it is is “winding” each run of cable from the multiple raw conductors, spacers and binders.
Each cable in the prior post (there are two, one per channel) is comprised of multiple individual raw wire conductors, each of which is individually insulated, and then wound around a central core, using a combination of spacers and binders, and a retaining wrap.
The geometry of my cables is complicated (dual, interleaved, precisely spaced and bound, helixes) and takes up to an hour per mono-foot to do properly. Contrast that with being able to do a pretty, tight, 8-wire braid, as you see in most commercial third-party cables, at a rate of about a foot every 5-10 minutes.
Running the high-density plated copper-matrix shield over that takes about a minute a foot, and the sheathing about the same.
For headphone cables, there’s no real trigger … I always build my own. Haven’t found anything that sounds better, I have unique features and an electrically driven design that no one else does, I can vary the aesthetic to suit my whims, but above all … the modular design is important to me from an efficiency/flexibility perspective, given the number of headphones and amps/sources I need to accommodate.
Interconnects and AC cables are another matter, and some of those are commercial, some I build myself.
Thanks for the comprehensive reply.
My initial interest is on the headphone cables realm, and probably would start with a simple balanced cable for one of my four HD Senns.
All I have is a soldering kit. Not sure if it’s worth the effort, but… Who knows.
Hello Sir,
I want to know which connectors does Mr Speakers AEON headphone uses, it is 4 pin xlr but this does not looks like neutrik 4pin mini xlr. can you please tell me exactly what is name of connector and where can i get it from. Thank you 
I’d suggest asking Dan then.
Or you can order them directly from him, here (link includes the pin-out).
They’re not mini-XLR. I don’t know what brand they actually are, or what part number they are under that brand, just that they’re a third-party clone/look-alike of one of HiRose’ connectors.
Dan uses the HRS brand, or at least that is what I have received from him, I figured out how to order those from suppliers but that has been a while back lol.
I tend to use cotton sleeve but it is not as easy to find as other materials.
I like the idea of pigtails and use them myself.
Can’t use a 4-pin mini-XLR for that cable even if I wanted to (which I don’t, since they’re longer than I find desirable for that application) due to a) the cable entry/exit being much too small (less than half what’s required) and b) it requires 12 separate connections, not four.
“Right tool for the job”, and all that.
At no time did I suggest you should use that connector, I merely said I did for some applications and I mentioned I liked the idea of such pigtails.
I know their size and feasible applications thanks. 
I run a company that does this type of thing but I generally just deal with engineers myself but I have made plenty of cables and have run blind tests on most every kind of wire imaginable with my local audiophile group. I tend to use some litz wire with a high strand count but a solder pot is generally needed.
All purple… @TylersEclectic called and wants his cables back…
I gifted him a couple, otherwise I was not allowed to use his color. 
That is all cotton sleeve except for the black portion, I first sent a set to a guy in the Netherlands and others liked the color as well. I used more of it for a setup I made for Schiit audio for some blind tube comparisons.
I encased some 6sn7’s in PVC pipe to win a bet from a friend and Jason read about it and wanted to try it. They used four Saga’s, and one of my Kramer switch boxes as well as a couple splitters I built for them. I believe I used Mogami cable for this build, Amphenol RCA connectors, and other RCA’s I got out of England. Sorry this thread is probably just for headphone cables so I will bow out. My employees generally do those so they are not my DIY builds anyway.
Cable makers! Lend me your ears.
Thanks!
Annnnyone here?
Anyone got a link to good value OFC/OCC strands? 22-24 AWG. Doesn’t cost a liver. Not some bullshit 7N AliExpress stuff
Im interested in find some good strands too, silver and copper. Maybe even some gold to sprinkle on lol
I like mine, OCC/Silver plated.
Nice build, and they sound transparent (better than the stock ofc cables they came with).
A quick question for the cable gurus…
Can anyone tell me the pinout for a 4.4 pentaconn to 4pin XLR ?
I am guessing that is should be:
Tip to pin 1 (L+)
R1 to pin 2 (L-)
R2 to pin 3 (R+)
R3 to pin 4 (R-)
Sleeve disconnected
Can anyone confirm if this is correct or if I am totally wrong?
Thanks.
See page 26.
Side step: You have a favourite brand of paracord sleeving? I find the Paracord Planet brand a bit hit and miss.
