Beyerdynamic Balanced Removable 4 Pin Mini XLR Mod

A client recently sent me one of my favorite headphones to modify, a Beyerdynamic DT770. The DT770, DT880, DT900, and similarly the T1, T5p, T70, and T90 are all intuitive to work with and respond well to new cables and mass loading.

Beyerdynamic DT770 - Pro 80 ohm version

This DT770 would be getting a removable cable mod, which includes the installation of a mini XLR in the headphone cup so the cable can easier be removed for transport or to perhaps have separate cables for portable and home use. The DT770 has room for a mini XLR jack on both the left and right cups, however this user preferred the simpler single ear input. Since I was already going through the trouble, I wired the headphone for balanced operation just in case he ever switches over to balanced listening in the future. The great thing about mini XLR jacks is they lock, so no need to worry about them slipping out like a 3.5mm or 2.5mm. Also, TRS connectors can loosen over time, however this is not as likely with the mini XLR connectors.

Below is a look at the interior driver. As you can see, the DT770 driver is unique in that it has a felt and plastic ring encircling the center, which reduces the sound wave reflection inside the cups.

DT770 driver and felt/plastic ring

Because the felt and plastic circle reach the plastic backing of the cups, any added mass damping should be clear of interaction. Below you'll note the Dynamat Xtreme installed is a small circle which is measured to fit neatly inside the cup and not cause any clearance issues with the driver. 

Dynamat Xtreme used as mass loading

Beyerdynamics used to come with a round hole, but it's square now that they've revised the manufacturing to some extent. I carefully increased the size of the hole diameter toward the round side of the cup with a Dremel to prevent the plug from getting in the way of the driver. The hole does not have to be absolutely round as the ridge on the mini XLR plugs will cover minor imperfections. 

Dremeled hole for 4 pin XLR mini jack

A three or four pin mini XLR jack can be used. In this case I used a four pin as I wanted the user to be able to upgrade to balanced down the line if he wanted, but in other cases, a three pin can be used as the ground is wired shared as default. Please note the position of the jack, if it is not close to the rounded edge like this is, the driver will not fit back in. Dremeling down the metal casing of the jack where it meets the driver may help a little bit, but will reduce the integrity of the jack if too much is taken off. 

Nice, clean fit

Wire should be run from one side of the headphone to the other as this is going to be single entry. A twisted pair of Zynsonix Xev silver clad wiring is prepped and sleeved with black polyolefin heatshrink tubing. 

Wire to run from one cup to the other

This can be wired however the user prefers, however I used the XLR standard (pin 1 = left +, pin 2 = left -, pin 3 = right +, pin 4 = right -). 

Wired with Zynsonix Xev silver clad wire

Before re-installation, the driver solder tabs are cleaned of the stock solder.

Solder tabs cleaned of original solder

The new Zynsonix Xev wires are installed using fresh Cardas silver content solder and the felt/plastic cups re-installed. 

Driver wired up and ready

The foam is reseated on top of the drivers and the earpads are reinstalled, so we have a nice clean 4 pin mini XLR input on our Beyerdynamic DT770 now. 

Installation of mini XLR jack complete

And finally we have the finished product featuring some cool colors, in this case rust with a black accent, terminated with a Switchcraft gold plated mini 3.5mm plug and a Neutrik / REAN mini XLR. Now these old Pros are ready for some stylish listening! 

I hope you enjoyed this post, please contact Zynsonix if you have a pair of Beyerdynamics (or any other headphone) that you'd like recabled or modified.

For more full-sized Beyer headphone mods, check out the Beyerdynamic T5p Recable and the DT880 Recable.

The Fine Print:

The above steps detailing the modification and re-cabling of a headphone are for entertainment purposes only and not to be performed under any circumstances. The owner of this blog and all associated parties can not / will not be held responsible if you attempt the process posted and cause physical harm to yourself, your surroundings or your property. Please keep this in mind.

Sennheiser HD800 Trebuchet Headphone Cable

Your life may change when you pull the trigger on a pair of headphones north of a grand. Your friends may decide that you've lost it, your significant other may give you a serious talk about family budgeting (or decide that the time is ripe to get that Louis Vuitton bag she's been wanting), and your daily consumption of ramen noodles will undoubtedly increase, but you'll quickly discover that there is some really impressive sound to be had in this neck of the woods.

The Sennheiser HD800 hit the streets in 2009 with a fancy 56mm high definition ring transducer that's said to produce a transmission range of 6-52,000 Hz, so even your dog would appreciate them. Lame jokes aside, the HD800 are incredibly crisp, clear and resolving and have earned many fans in the past 6 years.

Sennheiser HD800

What used to be uncommon, however now is more commonplace, is that headphones are more often coming with removable cables. While that is no-doubt a great thing (especially for owners of pets and office chairs), nearly every one of them is proprietary (much like how no one can settle on a portable balanced connector). The HD800 has its very own connector that even the HD700 doesn't share.

So, we've seen some various DIY HD800 connectors out there, there seems to be small barrel and larger barrel versions for thicker cable. Furutech recently hit the market with some fancier ones, namely the rhodium plated FT-800(R) or the CT-800(R) if you're a fan of carbon fiber. Both look quite a bit sleeker than the other variants out there, at least in my humble opinion. The connectors run roughly $50 for the generics and $98-$122 for the Furutech, not cheap at all, but I'd imagine the production run on these is fairly limited. I will also say that the Furutech is more pleasant to work with. You can snag the connectors from Soniccraft, among other purveyors of boutique audio goods.

Furutech FT-800(R)

FT-800(R) Internals

Soldering the HD 800 connectors requires a steady hand, a well lit soldering station and perhaps a magnifying glass. I'm convinced manufacturers are making these things more cumbersome to spite us all ;) Once I finish with each of these connectors, I fantasize about what a great surgeon I would be, truly world class! I digress. I do recommend isolating one of the solder joints with heat shrink as the terminations are oh-so-close, and you wouldn't want a short.

A bit of heatshrink is built up so the set screw has something to hold onto.

Microscopic pins

The Furutech connector then gets slipped in place, the back portion screwed on, and the set screw tightened down. Adhesive heatshrink is used to secure the connector and provide strain relief.

Heatshrink as strain relief

This particular cable is going to be made from Zynsonix Trebuchet cable, featuring super flexible ultra pure ohno continous cast copper in a sleek looking clear dielectric, and will be terminated with a balanced 4 pin XLR connector from Switchcraft. These new AAA-series XLRs from Switchcraft are really well made, with a very solid weight and feel, and they are only two pieces, which eases the build process. If you removed the logo and told me it was made by Furutech, I wouldn't bat an eye. Great connectors.

As you can see below, this cable features a hand braided litz of the slick looking Trebuchet ultra pure ohno continuous cast copper.

Trebuchet wire braid

Switchcraft AAA Series XLRs

Remember that 4 Pin balanced connector pins are typically:
1: L+
2: L-
3: R+
4: R-

And wrapping up, the final product:

Zynsonix Trebuchet HD800 Cable

I hope you enjoyed reading this DIYAudioBlog entry, please be sure to contact Zynsonix if you'd like a Trebuchet HD800 cable just like the above, or any other audio cable you happen to need. Until next time.

The Fine Print:

The above steps detailing the build of a headphone cable are for entertainment purposes only, and not intended to be used as assembly instructions. The owner of this blog and all associated parties can not / will not be held responsible if you attempt the process posted and cause physical harm to yourself, your surroundings or your property. 

Oyaide P-3.5 Mini Connector

When it comes to solderable cable-end connectors they really aren't friendly with proprietary headphone connections, iPhones / mobile phones with cases and small portable amplifiers. The fact of the matter is that they're just too large. Well DIYers can finally breath a sigh of relief with the Oyaide P-3.5 mini connector. (Just for the sake of reference, mini connectors are referred to as 1/8" connectors or 3.5mm connectors and are most often used as a portable headphone connection). The Oyaide connector comes in standard, right angle and Ultrasone flavors and is finished with either gold plating or rhodium/silver plating. The Ultrasone style connectors have an extended "rib" so they fit in Ultrasone headphones, as well as some other headphones with a proprietary 3.5mm inlet.

Gold and Rhodium Ultrasone Connectors

Internal view of Oyaide P-3.5

These relatively small connectors are sized to easily fit through an iPhone or other cell phone case, which makes them great for portable headphones. Taking a look below at the Oyaide versus three other popular mini connectors (Canare F-12, Switchcraft 35HD and Neutrik NYS231), you'll notice there's a substantial difference in size. The main obstruction when using other connectors is the ledge right underneath the sleeve (ground connection). The Oyaide connector solves this issue. 

Mini size comparisons

Additional comparison photo

Below are the soldering connections for left signal, right signal and ground on the Oyaide.

Soldering connections for the Oyaide P-3.5

The soldered Oyaide connector

One disadvantage with using this connector is the cable inlet on the shell of the connector is quite small and will only accept thin-gauge cable. This can be remedied by drilling out the hole and filing with a Dremel bit. The drilled and Dremeled connector is shown in the lower right versus the unmodified shell on the left.

Drilled out shell for wider cables

Below is a photo of a finished cable with the Oyaide on one end and the Neutrik on the other end.

Oyaide on left, Neutrik on right

And finally here is a photo of a finished cable for a Fostex T50RP using the Oyaide on one end. 

I hope this information regarding the new Oyaide P-3.5 mini connector was informative. If you'd like to purchase a custom cable featuring it, please contact Zynsonix.com for a quote.



The Fine Print:
The above steps detailing the building of a cable are for entertainment purposes only and not to be performed under any circumstances. The owner of this blog and all associated parties can not / will not be held responsible if you attempt the process posted and cause physical harm to yourself, your surroundings or your property. Please keep this in mind.

Pure Silver Mini to Mini Cable

A short mini to mini cable cable can be very handy when connecting a portable audio player to a portable amplifier. In some cases it's worthwhile to use a digital audio output, but not all portable devices offer this, so the venerable 3.5mm mini to mini will work perfectly well. In this particular post, I will be assembling a mini to mini cable using Cardas 5N (99.999% pure) silver wire and a pair of Neutrik mini connectors, the Neutrik NYS-231 BG to be exact. The B in the nomenclature stands for the black shell, and the G stands for gold contacts. This particular connector is chosen over the Switchcraft 35HD and the Canare F12 as the body is smaller and more easily fits on the face plate of portable amplifiers. You'll notice below that the connectors come in three parts, the connector piece with solder tabs, a barrel and a small tube that acts as a dielectric so the left and right solder joints do not short to the barrel, which is connected to ground.

A pair of Neutrik NYS-231BG

You may notice that the barrel inlets are rather small and not completely ideal for thicker sleeved cable. Because of this, I dremeled out the barrel inlet to create a larger opening. 

Barrels dremeled for larger diameter cable

Once this is complete, it is necessary to sand or file the rough areas so they don't grind up against the wire during use. Once the barrels are prepared, the solder tabs should be identified with a multimeter. In this case, the shorter leg A is the left signal (aka tip), the longer leg B is the right signal (aka ring), and C is ground (aka sleeve). 

Pinout of the Neutrik mini connector

As mentioned above, this cable will be using solid silver wire from Cardas. This wire will be sleeved with Teflon (PTFE) tubing. 

Cardas silver wire and Teflon tubing

Each wire is trimmed to the appropriate length and the Teflon tubing is then slipped over top. The Teflon acts as a dielectric and prevents the strands (aka conductors) from shorting to one another. It's a very good idea to get Teflon that's for a larger gauge than the wire you are using so it slips over it easily. In this case, 24 gauge silver is covered with 22 gauge Teflon.

Silver wire sleeved with Teflon

The three wires are braided together and soldered to the Neutrik connector. It's important for the Teflon tubing to go right up to the solder taps to prevent shorting.

Silver wire soldered to the Neutrik connector

Next comes the black nylon multifilament sleeving made by Techflex. This is 3/16" size, cut to length using a hot knife from Partsexpress. The hot knife prevents fraying at the ends by slightly melting where it cuts. Also note the dielectric material is slid in place before the barrel is screwed on. 

Black Nylon Multifilament

The barrel can then be screwed in place, and the other Neutrik connector installed the exact same way. In the photos below, 1/2" heat shrink is slipped over the barrels to provide additional strain relief and to offer the feel of a "rubberized"-type layer.  

Completed mini to mini cable

This can now be the connection between a portable audio player and a portable amp and not take up much real estate at all. Thanks for taking them time to read this post. If you are interested in purchasing a completed mini to mini cable, please contact Zynsonix.com.

For more pure silver goodness, check out a previous post detailing the build of pure silver interconnects. 

The Fine Print:
The above steps detailing the building of a cable are for entertainment purposes only and not to be performed under any circumstances. The owner of this blog and all associated parties can not / will not be held responsible if you attempt the process posted and cause physical harm to yourself, your surroundings or your property. Please keep this in mind.