Cable Building

A more interesting thing, for most, would be to compare relevant measurements for the many, boutique, "artistically braided" high-end headphone cables vs. something built with properly-applied Canare or Mogami Star-Quad microphone cable.

In most cases, probably all, bog-standard L-4E6S (or other proper shielded star-quad stuff), kept in it's original geometry from amp to driver, would easily (and measurably) outperform the "artistic braids" on an electrical basis. And that's plain, but good-quality, reasonably pure OFC copper, wound and spaced in a way that keeps the geometry and electrical properties consistent.

Now, if you take certain premium wire, and apply a suitable geometry to it (AND execute that properly) you might get better measured performance than basic Star-Quad, and that would get expensive, because "winding" that manually, to order, is a time-consuming and expensive pain in the arse.

But simple flat/round (and very pretty) braid sof 4/8/16 conductor "SPC" ... my LeCroy laughs in your general direction ... and we'll leave the STM out of it entirely ...

 

Wow those look extremely clean, nice one. Can't seem to find those xlr connectors you're using, what kind are they?

 

The raw wire is a high-purity OFC/OCC copper that I bought through our lab. It comes from Germany. They use it in building very sensitive custom instrumentation and some other prototypical fabrication work. Unfortunately it's only available in minimum 2,500 meter lots via commercial accounts (and is rather pricey even then) ... but I can look up the actual manufacturer if you like.

There are multiple runs of that wire in each of the sheathed "cables" you can see, each encapsulated in a low dispersion dielectric, wound with textile spacers to maintain proper geometry, then paper wrapped, covered with a high-density plated copper-matrix shield and finally the visible sheathing.

The XLRs, both mini and full-size are from Furutech.

I suspect you're actually referring to the connectors I'm using for modularity, though, which are from the Hirose HR10 series (of which there are hundreds of possible configurations for shell gender, connector genders, materials, pin configuration, cable capture/strain relief and termination style). They range from about $13-30 each (needing 4 per cable) depending on precise configuration.

I use a 12-pin connector due the nature of my wiring, though they do make a 4-pin one which is somewhat easier to solder (larger solder cups) which is also a bit smaller (they're not very big to being with, though).

 

@Torq, and whoever may be able to help... i have a problem/request.
I have a Crimson/girlfriend problem. She moved to my apartment and she already, almost, tripped because of the cable to my HD800s and now after the last scare i am really worrying at this point.
I love her, she's my baby and i don't the damn girlfriend breaking it (^^), so i would like to know if any of you DIY guys would know how much a reasonable 5m cable would cost? I have seen some websites and paying 300 for a cable is just something i can't afford at this point...

So again how much would i expect the price to be for one of these (5meters) from a DIY seller? I have the original cable and a moon audio 2.5 meters xlr that i bought for 170 euros a few years back (won bid on ebay).

 

The connectors for the HD800 aren't cheap (about $40 for US sellers, $20+ if you get them from China, I don't know about Europe), and if you're wanting a fancier XLR connector that adds on more ($27 for the basic Furutech XLR). Wire choice will make a big difference at that length as well.

I would say that the minimum material cost to make a 5m cable would be around $40, depending on wire and the cost of the wire to the maker (DIY usually means the maker isn't going to get the best discounts from large bulk orders). If that's then braided and terminated, there's a fair amount of work, and if there's sleeving added it's even more. If you used a pre-made 4-conductor cable it would reduce the labor cost.

 

Sticking to reputable parts*, with the typically-forgotten shipping cost in braces, done as a one off (i.e. no parts in stock):

• HD800 Connectors - $45.95 ($7.95)
• Neutrik 4-pin Male XLR - $4.68 ($7.95)
• 5m Canare L-4E6S - $8.50 (inc. w/ above connector)
• Sundries (heatshrink, solder, flux etc.) - $2.00

This is for a basic build ... no splitter (just heatshrink at the Y), and the cable left in its outer jacket, in star-quad formation, until the Y-split, at which point you get two wires with their raw insulation running to each ear-cup ... which comes to $77.03 and then $7.95 to ship it in the US, you get a total of: $84.98.

It'd be a pretty ugly cable, and wouldn't take advantage of the electrical properties of star-quad cable, but it'd work.

A two-color braided version of that cable, with a simple splitter, would add about $32 in parts + shipping. It'd also take the build from 30 minutes to several hours (running 20m of sheath over four individual conductors is time consuming). It'll be electrically inferior to the above cable, though in ways that might not matter to you, but can look awesome.

This assumes you're just dealing with parts and shipping costs and the work is being done gratis.

Someone doing lots of such cable builds will have parts on hand, and in bulk, so shipping will be spread across many builds and there will be price breaks on the raw components. And prices will be lower if off-brand China-specials are being used instead of reputable connectors.

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In contrast, simply buying a commercial 4-pin XLR-XLR extension cable, likely using the same parts, is likely to run about $20 or so from a studio-supply store.

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*I won't use the no-name/direct-from-China stuff anymore, most of it has issues of some kind and some of them are outright awful - and that's before you start dealing with the lead and shipping times.

 

I was just going to suggest the same solution as @Torq second suggestion. Markertek / Sescom custom cable build or DIY 5 meter Neutrik NC4MX to NC4FX with Canare L-4E6S cable.

 

Thank you very much for the enlightment everyone. From your replies and from my lack of experience i guess i have no other (better) choice than trying to find someone that can custom make it for me to actually have a properly well made cable.

It was good to have an idea of prices instead of just trying to guess out from ebay. For now i guess the extension may be a quick solution but your DIY suggestions seem better.

Now to find someone that is willing to make it and has good prices will be another adventure...

 

@Torq I never considered those hirose connectors for adapters. I am doing a similar thing and was looking for inline XLR-4 Females that weren't from Neutrik or Switchcraft due to their bulk. I may have to pick a few Hirose connectors up and see how they feel.

 

I can't speak to this specific seller, but I have used similar connectors to these before for cables.
http://s.aliexpress.com/3AVRNVvM
For non IEM or specialty cables (like Torq's 12 pin), not sure if the added expense of other types of 4 pin connectors make them worth it for me.

 

I agree. The HiRose option is very intriguing.
Did you consider 4-pin mini XLR? Markertek sells inline male and female.

 

Fun fact, Dita audio was going to use Hirose plugs for there "Awesome Plug" but the end result is a bit bulky as you can see and as some members have mentioned, it seems they ended up using a custom solution that is not dissimilar from the JH 4 pin connection i posted earlier.


Skip to 1:49, can't get timestamps to work.

 

@AllanMarcus I did consider, but couldn't find many options. Thanks for mentioning Markertek.

 

There's also LEMO, which Focal uses. They're similar to Hirose. I think these are the smallest 4-contact options: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetai...=sGAEpiMZZMvf6myxbP4FpFVl7gYRtuT36zu9z3iyIo0=
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetai...=sGAEpiMZZMvf6myxbP4FpFVl7gYRtuT3udZmsx9HIyQ=

On the more affordable end there's always a 4-pole 3.5mm or 2.5mm, though they're awful to solder. I don't know how it would look, but you could also do two mono 2.5 or 3.5 connectors together.

 

I like the look of those, but at nearly $40 per connector I think that might be pushing it for me.

 

This both look like male plugs. While I see nothing wrong with two male plugs being together, for this purpose, I think we need a male and female.

 

Indeed, I seem to have opened the wrong item from the search page. While I have no prejudice, I will note that they are also both "straight connectors" so when they realize that they've been set up to mate they'll just have to awkwardly talk about baseball instead.

Evidently female, cable-mount, 4-pin connectors aren't available in the smallest size, but are available one size up. The proper pair (Mouser reminds you that images are for reference only):
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetai...GAEpiMZZMvf6myxbP4FpFVl7gYRtuT3eHkgym%2b8lVs=
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetai...=sGAEpiMZZMvf6myxbP4FpFVl7gYRtuT3SdPGBktO1aM=

 

Apologies for the noob question, but, given I'm now in the market for a long 4-pin-XLR-terminated cable for my Sennheiser HD600s, I had a couple questions re: the above:

1. Any particular reason why you both recommend Canare L-4E6S cable over Mogami 2534?
2. How would one take advantage of the electrical properties of star-quad cable for the full headphone cable and where would a non-DIY schmuck like me look to have one built?

 

I can't speak for @atomicbob but my reasons are because the Canare L-4E6S shield is much more robust and effective (plated copper matrix vs. simple bare copper wrap), the outer sheath is more flexible/less microphonic, it's less than half the price of the Mogami, and it's easier to work with overall.

You need to leave it in it's native configuration (though you could remove the outer sheath and use something else there) and have two runs of it, one for each driver. Each run must use a common colored pair (white or blue) for each +/- connection at both amp and headphone ends. So you might do both white wires for L+, both blue wires for L- on one run, and then both white wires for R+ and both blue for R- on the other run.

I don't know of any commercial cable builder that builds cables this way. They all seem to go down the "braid it for pretties" path rather than using a geometry/topology that has better electrical properties. Though, realistically, I'm not sure how much it matters unless you're running cables around stuff that spits out a lot of EMI/RFI/MI.

 

Another option is to get the standard HD650 cable from Sennheiser, then determinate it for XLR 4-pin. That cable is pretty well liked by those that claim to be able to hear the difference between cables. The re-termination is a bit of a hassle since the inner wires are enameled, but I've done many. You can even spend an extra $5 and make a 4-pin to TRS adapter.

Assuming Senn still sells the cable, total price is extremely reasonable. $12 for the cable, $11 for the plugs. I'd be happy to build you one for the cost to ship it to you.

If Senn doesn't sell them directly anymore, they are about $25 on amazon.