Heaphones replacement cable - What cable to use?

Hi,
I have a lot of headphone units that after years of abuse in the studio need cable replacement.

I already took care of the speaker replacement in the units that needed it but I would like to replace old and intermitent cables with new and longer cable.

I tried in some units to replace the cable with nice mogami thin microphone cable (2 conductors+shield), I used each conductor for the + signal in each channel and I divided the shield for both - signals in each channel.
The sound of those units is much worse than before with the intermitent but original cable.

What type of cable are you guy using to replace on headphones? what is your advice?

I preffer to buy someting in bulk as I can then make it a big longer than the cables from the manufacturers, also it's less expensive when replacing cables in 10 units

Thank you

We used standard Mogami microphone cable - that was the most mechanically stable we could find at the time.

And then we strapped a loop of the cable onto the bracket/connecting part of the headphones, so mechanical force from stepping in the cable would be distributed away from the tiny cable entry (on AKG studio headphones, we had some 30-40 of those in use at a time)

Jakob E.

Most headphones use a kevlar loaded enamel wire for strength, maybe you could re-use what you have with new plug ends ,i never found it but it must be available . you'll certainly want to use a quality connector with good strain relief also ,otherwise one tug and those cans will be back on the bench.

Tubetec said:

Most headphones use a kevlar loaded enamel wire for strength, maybe you could re-use what you have with new plug ends ,i never found it but it must be available . you'll certainly want to use a quality connector with good strain relief also ,otherwise one tug and those cans will be back on the bench.

Click to expand...

Yes I prefer to use that kind of cable but in bulk so I can make bigger lengths than the original cable.

With microphone cable I fell the sounds it's not the same, and for the worse.
I suspect it has something to do with the microphone cable conductors being twisted,
and headphone cable conductors are Side by side
or the shielding being shared and around the conductors until the speakers in the case of Mic cable
opposite to headphone cable where each speaker has its own 2 conductors side by side, no shield around the conductor. An the - conductor of one speaker only connects to the - of the other speaker on the jack plug end and not at the speaker end.

Aren't headphone cables supposed to have a really ultra low capacitance? I have never measured them to compare to mic cable, but that could be one reason for the change in sound.

tony hunt said:

Aren't headphone cables supposed to have a really ultra low capacitance? I have never measured them to compare to mic cable, but that could be one reason for the change in sound.

Click to expand...

Could be,
that and the reasons I gave also, or all together because they will interact

We tested, and did not detect any sonic difference when going to 4½m mogami microphone cable.

AKG K240 and K270, hi-Z versions. Some Beyer 770's as well.

I don't see a technical difference between microphone, line, and headphone signals.

Jakob E.

I have used Mogami in the past for headphone  repair.  I never had a complaint.  I still use it for such, I just have not repaired any headphones lately.

Hi,
did the test today again repairing 2 pairs of headphones. Used mic cable and then used the original headphones cable

Using microphone cable (2 twisted pair conductors with braid wrapped around) definitely degrades sound.

The headphone cable is basically 2 enamel coated conductors side by side (not twisted) then rubber for one channel , and then 2 more  enamel coated conductors side by side for the other channel.

Conductors are not twisted
there's no braid wrapped around the conductors connecting to ground
and from the Jack each "-" (Ground) on each channel has it's own conductor wire to the speaker (jack to speaker)

Those are the only technical differences I can see between mic cable and headphone cable.

Even though the original headphone cable has thinner wire, and it seems cheaper than the mic cable I'm using the sound is much better than when I use Mic cable of any brand. 

There's must be something happening with capacitance with the twisted conductors or the braid wrapped around the conductors.

the original headphone cable has thinner wire

Click to expand...

Could be that you for some reason prefer the effect of increased cable resistance (reduced damping factor)?

Twist or no-twist is of no consequence here, really - so that does not explain anything. Capacitance neither, as we're expecting real low-Z drive.

Jakob E.

Just replaced the cable on an AKG headphone with this and it worked well...

Mogami W2893 Miniature Neglex Quad High Definition Microphone

Whoops said:

Hi,
did the test today again repairing 2 pairs of headphones. Used mic cable and then used the original headphones cable

Using microphone cable (2 twisted pair conductors with braid wrapped around) definitely degrades sound.

The headphone cable is basically 2 enamel coated conductors side by side (not twisted) then rubber for one channel , and then 2 more  enamel coated conductors side by side for the other channel.

Conductors are not twisted
there's no braid wrapped around the conductors connecting to ground
and from the Jack each "-" (Ground) on each channel has it's own conductor wire to the speaker (jack to speaker)

Those are the only technical differences I can see between mic cable and headphone cable.

Even though the original headphone cable has thinner wire, and it seems cheaper than the mic cable I'm using the sound is much better than when I use Mic cable of any brand. 

There's must be something happening with capacitance with the twisted conductors or the braid wrapped around the conductors.

Click to expand...

FWIW,  I would literally take mogami 2549 mic cable. strip it removing the spiral ground untwist the pair, and just use the color and clear wire  from the cable.  22awg. and run it through just like regular hadphones when going from one side to the other, then replace the output cable with 2549 terminating to TRS. 

pucho812 said:

FWIW,  I would literally take mogami 2549 mic cable. strip it removing the spiral ground untwist the pair, and just use the color and clear wire  from the cable.  22awg. and run it through just like regular hadphones when going from one side to the other, then replace the output cable with 2549 terminating to TRS.

Click to expand...

2 conductor mogami mic cable is not better than Gotham cables, Klotz or Van Damme.
Mogami or not at the moment I just know that 2 conductors mic cable is not good for headphones.

Maybe thats the reason most people are using miniature quad cable for headphones,
I will try that out.

Thanks

I replaced my headphone cable with Canare quad star and didn't notice any kind degradation.

Whoops said:

2 conductor mogami mic cable is not better than Gotham cables, Klotz or Van Damme.
Mogami or not at the moment I just know that 2 conductors mic cable is not good for headphones.

Maybe thats the reason most people are using miniature quad cable for headphones,
I will try that out.

Thanks

Click to expand...

define better. I never claimed better. I used what was on hand to fix a broken headphone and no complaints.

trashcanman said:

I replaced my headphone cable with Canare quad star and didn't notice any kind degradation.

Click to expand...

Did you connected the shields also or left it unconnected and just used the conductors?

Thanks

I left it unconnected at the headphone end and connected to sleeve at the jack end.

trashcanman said:

I left it unconnected at the headphone end and connected to sleeve at the jack end.

Click to expand...

I pretty much do this with all of my unbalanced connections.... I know it's debated somewhat but, I have had  great results leaving the shield disconnected at the receiving end when using 2 conductor for unbalanced....

Typical headphones take the right side and feed it through the body up the headpiece and down the left side where it connects to a tiny pcb and ultimately to the trs output.
How do you manage to get the quad cable to fit inside?

scott2000 said:

I pretty much do this with all of my unbalanced connections.... I know it's debated somewhat but, I have had  great results leaving the shield disconnected at the receiving end when using 2 conductor for unbalanced....

Click to expand...

Headphone connections are dual unbalanced; not connecting the shield just eliminates the M componnent of stereo, that constitutes the bulk of the signal, leaving only the S component, which is then out-of-phase in both ears. No wonder it sounds weird.