Where to get headphone extension cable?

[Mackie 0]

My pal made a 2.5m for my assessment and dropped it off at my mum's place for he is making an impromptu business trip. It's very well made and termination with Neutrik male plug exudes greater quality than the extension cord included with DT880. I am currently burning in the cable and hope to upload snapshot for your benefit.

 

In the meantime, shall we proceed with your orders/choices of length? Please do so at the new thread on Classifieds. I will confer with him on the price breakdown when he returns next week.

Edited September 1, 2004 by Mackie

[bpribadi 0]

I see that the Canare L2T2S (as other normal mic cable), it's core for Left and Right channels are not individually shielded. Do you guys now, is there any advantage or disadvantage over the individually shielded left and right channel? Just curious

[Mackie 0]

It's a matter of preference really. Kimber Kable does not use conventional shielding and applies other measure to ward off RFI/EMI in the case of Silver Streaks. Power cords stripped of shielding offer a more open sound and smoother flow of music. I've tried the Canare cable briefly and let it dropped on the floor with no sign of RFI detriments. Apparently, my music room is prone to RFI which I discovered when my headamp picked up BBC channel and transmitted it to my cans when situated at the bottom of the rack. I think the quad version of this Canare cable offers more shielding.

Edited September 1, 2004 by Mackie

[Rameish 0]

Hey free radio

 

Back to topic - if anyone wants to try my advice would be go for then Mogami quad cable. The Canare cable is quite good as well. Also you can purchase Kimber PBJ or Silver Streak (cable only) from Welbourne Labs. I think they even sell KCAG but thats rather ex.

[Goondu 0]

does the cable extension change/degrade the sound of the cans?

I am thinking of ordering some but worried about the sound changes.

Any comments mack?

[lekguan 0]

As per adding anything along the signal path, the cable will definitely alter the sound. The question is whether you can hear it or not, i.e. how much does it change. From my experience it made the sound slightly warmer and a wee bit smoother (note that it was a short run of a mere half metre and I also used Neutrik 1/4" male & 1/4" female locking). As should be expected, the longer the run, the more the sound signature should change. So if your system is on the slightly-too-warm side to you, you might want to look at other alternatives. Otherwise pretty transparent as a headphones extension cord.

[av98m 0]

. Apparently, my music room is prone to RFI which I discovered when my headamp picked up BBC channel and transmitted it to my cans when situated at the bottom of the rack. I

And I thought MY room was bad! I once tried using the Grado extension cable in my room and I picked up all sorts of radio noise. Things were fine after I switched to a shielded canare instead. Of course, my dt-880s were finally rewired with shielded mogami starquad, making it unnecessary to use any more extension cables.

[evil-zen 0]

regarding degrade of sound using extension cord, my experience is that some top end will be lost which means there will be a slight decrease in 'air' or atmosphere of the recording. that may account for the smoother and warmer sound which lekguan mentioned.

 

In my case I used a stinky sony extension cord. So I guess using a better made one wouldn't have such pronounced effect.

[bpribadi 0]

I once tried using the Grado extension cable in my room and I picked up all sorts of radio noise. Things were fine after I switched to a shielded canare instead.

 

Where did you use the Grado extension cable? From Source to Amp, or from Amp to Headphone?

 

What I understand is, any cable for small power and low voltage signal, and then connected to a high impedance load, such as the Amp's input, MUST BE properly shielded. Because of the high impedance load will easily pick up all interference such as hum, RFI, EMI. These interference are low power signal, therefore will only become significant when connected to high Z and amplified by the amplifier.

 

But for extension between Amp to headphone, especially if your headphone is Low Z, interference will not be audible, because of the ratio between the relatively high power output signal from the Amp, compare to the interference signal power. And also the low Z of the headphone make this low power signal 'powerless' to drive the headphone.

 

For example, speaker cable. Common speaker cable need no shielding, because speaker is very low Z load.

 

But in some places which is close to Radio Antenna, the RFI can be very strong. For this case all cable must be shielded. I ever heard that this strong radio signal can even make a metal bed frame sings

[lekguan 0]

bpribadi: the point about shielding can be quite debateable. If you read about different kinds of DIY interconnects, you would discover that many people say that removing shielding brings about more dynamics.

[bpribadi 0]

regarding degrade of sound using extension cord, my experience is that some top end will be lost which means there will be a slight decrease in 'air' or atmosphere of the recording. that may account for the smoother and warmer sound which lekguan mentioned.

 

What you experienced is most likely due to the capacitance of the cable. For example, the Mogami Mic cable, it has a few pF capacitance / meter, and the effect is, it will attenuate high frequency. Because Mic cable is design for audible frequency, therefore it will attenuate the not necessary high frequency. But some believe that eventhough we can't hear them, the existance of the non audible high frequency will affect the harmonic frequency of the audible sound, which is true in theory.

 

...many people say that removing shielding brings about more dynamics.

 

Same answer, because shieldings will introduce capacitance which to some extend attenuates high frequency.

 

Therefore I choose shielded cable that design for high frequency, so I expect minimal high frequency attenuation. I wish that we could do cable comparison someday. If you guys interested, try this S-VHS cable, it is design for high frequency S-VHS signal. So far I'm happy with it's performance (I haven't tried the Mogami cable). It cost S$ 2.5 per meter, you get it at SLT 3rd floor, the shop besdie Kaichin (right side).

 

 

For the high frequency attenuation, check page 7 from the Mogami catalog, you can see the attenuation per meter, as well the bottom chart which show the attenuation over the frequency.

 

Edited September 9, 2004 by bpribadi

[Goondu 0]

Can't decide between 3m or 5m. Now only need 3m. But when I move house, I might need longer extension.

I am trying to use the shortest extension length possible.

Mackie, when do you need to know by?

[av98m 0]

The last time I checked the Grado headphone extension cable cannot be connect from cd player to amp. Anyway, it was connected from amp to headphone(dt-880, before it underwent the mogami mod). There was noise(like the kind you hear from signal sets) when turning the volume knob to certain positions e.g. 9 o'clock. Very annoying. Problem went away when using shielded cable instead. My mogami is the neglex 2534 starquad btw.

 

Mogami 2534 Info

Edited September 9, 2004 by av98m

[bpribadi 0]

Whoaa, looks your environment has strong RFI

 

The neglex 2534 looks good, can you advise where can we buy it? And how much per meter?

[av98m 0]

Damn, I can't remember. Its somewhere in this building at an industrial area near machpherson and there's no way you can get there without a taxi or car. I remember calling them to ensure that they had stock and were expecting me because they close at 6, and its an office, not a retail store. Very good service though, and I was served a cold drink while they were cutting the cable for me. It was like $2+ or $3+ per meter. I got a copy of their catalogue too. BTW, the mogami cables are available in a variety of colors. I chose bright flaming orange for my 2534. I'll edit this post once my memory returns.

 

 

 

Edit:

 

My memory returns:

 

the mogami cables can be bought from team108 located in some ulu building at 55 Gentling Lane, 4th floor. check out their website at team108.com

 

there is a smaller more flexible starquad mogami that is more suitable for headphones(the 2534 may be too heavy for some, esp if you're using 2 runs), can't remember the part number. it is only available in black however.

Edited September 9, 2004 by av98m