Reterminating Headphones to Balanced

Discussion in 'DIY' started by Luckbad, Jan 16, 2016.

  1. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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  2. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Aaah, gotcha. Yeah, they're built into the drivers on the 6xx. You could probably chop them out of a pair if you really wanted. I have one knackered old driver I was keeping for spares that I could donate- I'm sure others have similar kicking about too. I'm sure we could scare up a pair between us, if you were determined to try.
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2018
  3. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    Thanks for the offer but that's too much hassle. I'll either leave the Fostex as is, or use one of the options @fraggler mentioned. These cans only get about 10% of the listening time anyway
     
  4. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Fair enough- they are more sensible options.
     
  5. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    It has been a while since I was active modding headphones, but it looks like the TH-X00s are basically the same construction as the old Denon D2000-7000 series. If that is the case, there is not a whole lot of room, and a mini XLR (Audeze and ZMF) connector is likely too big. Maybe an HD800 socket, but that might still be a little big, and they aren't cheap. 3.5mm vs 2.5mm won't matter too much. If you google detachable cables for the Denon series, you might see what people have done. I have only ever done hardwire recables for the Denon series, so I can't say how difficult it will be. A telling sign of how tight things are is that Fostex put the sockets on the outside of the cups on their current gen models with detachable cables.
     
  6. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    Thanks @fraggler , I think I'm just going to leave them as is. I don't really need another project anyway, and this sounds like it would be a hassle. The last thing I want is for this to look like a redneck cobblejob.
     
  7. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    It is about re-terminating headphone cables, what about IEM cables? I want re-terminate SE535 cable with 4 pin XLR.
    Before I cut it, does anyone know if the Shure SE535 is build with two ground wires running all the way to the plug?
     
  8. Hrodulf

    Hrodulf Prohibited from acting as an MOT until year 2050

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    Depends on the cable, but every earpiece has signal and return wires.
     
  9. caute

    caute Lana Del Gayer than you

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    Does anyone know if the Audeze stock cable has color-coded internal wiring that corresponds to the pin out?
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2022
  10. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Cut cable and trace with ohmmeter. Make note of the orientation of the ribbon of the cable before cutting.

    Trace tip, ring, and sleeve (x2) of phono jack to individual wires and mark or note them on the remaining wire.

    Wire that goes to tip goes to pin 1 of 4-pin XLR
    Ring goes to pin 3.

    You will be left with x2 ground wires (sleeve to phono jack) for L and R return. The wire that measures 20-ohms (or whatever is correct for the HP) to pin 1 / tip will be the ground return wire for L / pin 1 / tip. This goes into pin 2 of the 4-pin XLR.

    The other ground wire goes into pin 4. It should measure 20-ohms to pin-3.
     
  11. caute

    caute Lana Del Gayer than you

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    For anyone wondering, audeze’s stock cables are not color-coded, all black. Luckily they have 4-pin mini-xlr connectors at the headphone end, so with a mulitmeter you can figure out the pinout.

    audeze stock cable with neutrik NCM4X
     

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