AudioQuest NightHawk Carbon Custom Headphone Cable

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’d know that AudioQuest is one of the most prolific audio cable manufacturers in the business. They also make some other nice stuff including the Dragonfly-series USB DACs and Niagara-series power conditioners. I personally really like their Jitterbug, an inexpensive little USB device that filters the power on your computer’s USB out.

Several years ago, Audioquest released their first foray into the burgeoning headphone market: The Nighthawk. The Nighthawk was priced competitively at $699 when it came out in 2015. It also made use of 3D printed "plastic-wood" cups, which was relatively cutting edge for the time. Since then, there’s been so much fierce competition in this price range that it would be hard to recommend it at its original price (these days I’d recommend the Audeze LCD-2 Classic or MrSpeakers/Dan Clark Audio AEON in this range). 

AudioQuest must have noticed the sea-change in the space, subsequently reducing the price to $599, then to $399, before discontinuing it at a price of $249. Somewhere during this 5-year stint the NightHawk Carbon came out with a revised driver and a closed-model, the NightOwl, came out. The interesting plastic-wood was also replaced with a less unique (and probably less polarizing) shimmering dark blue, not too far from the color-scheme of some Massdrop headphones like the Sennheiser HD-6XX (see 6XX mods here). 

Does the free-falling price-point insinuate that Audioquest's stint into headphones was poorly executed? Not at all, it's actually quite good for a company's first entry in the space. I personally find them a joy to listen to. Their signature is warm, slightly dark, very forgiving of poorly recorded music (think garage indie and alternative rock), and provide good bass quality and quantity. They’re well suited for movies and videogames in addition to music. They’re also very easy to drive with a 25-ohm impedance, and they’re light and comfortable. Some other niceties include a substantial travel case, two different pairs of earpads in the box (leather and velour), and a headphone cable with a microphone built in.

Oddly, the headphone cable is only four feet, which is a length typically reserved for headphones that are intended for mostly portable use. Given the NightHawk is semi-open and is not foldable, this is an odd choice, but fortunately solvable given the cable is user replaceable.

Given the Nighthawks are on the dark/warm side of things, a crisp-sounding cable will help bring the details out and give the headphone a more balanced sound. I chose the Xev, which is silver-clad copper in PTFE, rather than an all-copper or litz copper solution. Had the headphone been more detailed to start, a copper cable would work perfectly well.

The Xev is a hand-braided litz of four isolated 24 gauge silver-clad copper wires sleeved in soft black nylon multifilament from TechFlex. 

The NightHawk makes use of 2.5mm TS connectors, where the sleeve is ground/negative, and the tip is signal/positive. They need to be slim fit or you'll run into issues. Eidolic makes a nice connector that fits the requirements as of this writing, and you can find solutions on AliExpress as well.

Below is a photo of the completed Xev cable, flexible and lightweight with plenty of length for those of us that need more than 4 feet. 

The sound is notably more balanced with more prominent treble, making it a definite keeper. 

If you are interested in the NightHawk Carbon, I'd suggest picking one up soon, as they are discontinued and AudioQuest has released a letter to distributors indicating they don't plan to offer any subsequent headphones, at least not in the immediate future. For the current price, build quality and extras, I could see this being a great first step into audiophile headphones, although one should also check out the Sennheiser/Massdrop HD-6XX, it's a hard value to beat.

To order a custom cable for the NightHawk, NightHawk Carbon, NightOwl, or many other headphones, please visit Zynsonix.com today.

Cable Eye Candy - Part II

I wanted to share a few more exciting cables for your viewing enjoyment :)

Below is a 4 pin XLR to RCA cable using a Switchcraft Triple A series XLR, Vampire RCA connectors, and Zynsonix Trebuchet Cable.

4 Pin XLR to RCA

This is a mini to RCA cable built for someone with exquisite tastes. It's a round braid of eight strands of Zynsonix Trebuchet wire with all ViaBlue accessories and connectors, including their smaller T6S mini connector (model 30539), their T6S RCAs (30506), and their Y-Splitter. Above the split features soft black nylon.

Eight Strand Mini to RCA

Here we have a four foot portable Trebuchet headphone cable for IEMs, these can be made for Noble, JH, 1964Ears, and previous model Westone IEMs. There is also a different plug for Shure, UE900, and the new Westone IEMs, Ultrasone Edition 5, Romeo, and Juliet, etc.

Westone 2 pin IEM cable

...and below is a very special speaker cable. This features a braid of Neotech UP-OCC 6Ns copper in Teflon which is then wrapped with multiple layers of teflon, then set in a PV tube sleeved with copper colored nylon multifilament. Above each split is a heavy machined brass Y-splitter, and each gold plated banana is terminated with Cardas silver and gold content solder. These speaker cables made the trek over to a client in South Africa. 

See something you'd like for yourself? Contact Zynsonix for a quick quote.

Custom Audio Cables Make for Great Eye Candy

I've been spending a bit more time experimenting with paracord sleeving, it performs quite similarly to nylon multifilament and comes in all sorts of different shades. Below are some cables assembled with a fun splash of color, along with some choice audiophile componentry like Cardas ultra pure silver and Neotech ultra pure ohno cast copper. Perfect for your headphone or speaker amp. They are available for sale on ebay, first come first serve ;)

Pure silver (Cardas Silver) mini to RCA, Switchcraft right angle mini, Vampire RCAs - 1 1/2 feet

Ultra pure ohno cast copper in Teflon, right angle Switchcraft mini, Vampire RCAs - 2 feet

UPOCC Copper headphone extension cable with Neutrik 1/4" male, Switchcraft 1/4" female - 6 feet

Pure Silver (Cardas Silver) mini to mini cable with Neutrik gold mini connectors - 5 inches tip to tip

UPOCC Copper Mini to RCA Cable with Switchcraft straight mini and Vampire RCAs - 2 feet

If you like what you see above but need something custom, Zynsonix Audio is welcoming requests for any audio cable solution you need. Until next time!

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.

Speaker Amp to Headphone Cable

I'll be showing off a rather unique audio cable today: a cable that connects the outputs from a speaker amplifier to a pair of headphones. You may be wondering why someone would be using a speaker amp for a pair of headphones. A typical headphone amplifier will output relatively a small amount of power compared to the speaker amplifiers (in small fractions of a watt measured in milliwatts). The Audeze, as well as certain other planar magnetic headphones like the HiFiMan, really benefit from some added wattage to sound their best as they aren't the most sensitive drivers. Hense, in some cases using speaker amplifier can be worthwhile.

Obviously speaker amps were made with speakers in mind, so there will be compromises involved. First and foremost, one can blow out or damage sensitive headphone drivers if turning up the amplifier volume too high. There are also some impedance differences, typically a speaker amplifier outputs at 8 ohms (and in some cases 4 or 16) while headphones will typically range from 35 to 600 ohms. Another factor to consider is that speaker amplifiers may not have a quiet black "background" when used with headphones due to noise, magnetic flux from the transformers or other reasons. Even still, with all of these factors, many audio enthusiasts still prefer listening through their speaker amp.

I'm starting out with some thicker-than-typical wire to braid. Using thicker wire not only assists in delivering a little more juice to the headphones but makes the soldered (or screwed in some cases) connection to the spades or bananas at the speaker amp end of the cable stronger. With a thin 24 gauge wire that would typically be used as a headphone cable, the joint would not be able to take as much abuse as a thicker, heavier wire. 

Silver plated copper with a thick dielectric

This wire is braided and an unbalanced Neutrik locking female is soldered in place. Note that an unbalanced connector is okay for use as the speaker amp has shared grounds (the left and right ground are connected with no resistance), otherwise this would not be acceptable and a balanced connector would be required. Note below that the two ground connectors are soldered together to the ground pin.

Braided silver plated copper in PTFE wire

The cable is now sleeved with the typical Techflex brand Nylon Multifilament in the 1/4" size and heatshrink is applied at both ends. I think it's visually appearing how the cable geometry is fully visible thanks to the tightness of the sleeving. The four lengths of wire are left unbraided at the end for the amp-side connections (sometimes the binding posts can be spaced relatively far apart). 

Sleeved with black nylon multifilament

The white wire was then covered with thin black heatshrink to match the color of the rest of the cable. Note that the heatshrink, just like Teflon tubing, can be resistant over long distances and can require a bit of patience. Once in place, a heat gun is used to shrink it down by starting at one end and moving to the other to avoid air bubbles getting trapped in the middle. 

Speaker ends being prepared

Now the spades could be soldered on. These particular spades are made by LOK and available at Homegrown Audio. They're gold plated and feature a high copper content (over 68%) and fit a 1/4" or 3/8" binding post. Each connector is labelled "L" for left, "R" for right and "G" for ground.

Below are photos of the final cable

Completed cable

And here is an example of the same type of cable for balanced operation. this particular cable uses a Neutrik locking female and rhodium plated spades.

Balanced 4 pin cable to rhodium spades

Need one and don't want to mess with a soldering iron? Zynsonix offers custom-made speaker amp to headphone cables (and many others), please contact them 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.

Building a Sennheiser Headphone Cable

Sennheiser, a family-owned audio electronics company founded in Germany in 1945 is one of the most famous headphone manufactures today. With over 100 different headphones on their site as of this writing, it seems like Sennheiser has a headphone for nearly every budget and every purpose. I would contend that the HD580, HD600 and HD650 trio of headphones are Sennheiser's main staple in the current audiophile headphone landscape.

Sennheiser HD580 / HD600 / HD650

The HD580 really put Sennheiser on the audiophile map back in the spring of 1993, one only has to read Wes Philips of Stereophile's review to see why. Three years later, the company would release the HD600, which was based on the special edition HD580 Jubilee made with carbon fiber and a more free-flowing grill. Finally in 2003, the HD650 was released, which presents what I feel is a more warm and full sounding presentation than the previous two headphones.

One unique feature of the HD580-650 trio of headphones is the user-replaceable cable. One would imagine that this feature was initially implemented just in case a listener mistakenly rolled over their cable with a chair and needed to replace it without sending it back to the factory. What this (possibly inadvertently) led to was cable manufactures building their own unique high-quality cables to improve the sound of the headphone.

Stock Sennheiser Cable with Pin Connectors

Sennheiser headphones and their corresponding cables have a proprietary pin and spring system to transfer the signal from the cable to the driver. Each side of the cable has two pins, one large one for ground and a smaller one for signal. These are inserted into the headphone and a small spring within the cup conducts the signal and sends it along some very thin wires to the driver. Early on, the only way to get these pins was to use an existing Sennheiser cable as a donor. I cut though countless Senn cables and used a dremel to trim into the plug to gain access to the pins. Once the cable was soldered in place, a number of layers of epoxy and heatshrink were used to make sure it stayed in place. Now-a-days, we have it easy; Cardas manufactures rhodium plated Sennheiser connectors so users can make their own cables with relative ease. At a suggested retail of $16 (as of this writing), they are quite a bargain. Below I will detail a few of the steps required to make a Sennheiser headphone cable using these wondrous little connectors.

As nearly every cable starts at Zynsonix, a number of runs are measured and cut from a spool of wire. In this case, four wires are trimmed. This cable will be approximately 10 feet, but this does not incorporate the wire lost during the braiding process. Because of this, the wire needs to be measured longer and trimmed down after the braiding process to the size needed. 

Xev silver plated copper wire in Teflon dielectric

This cable is braided in litz style to help maintain cable geometry over the whole length and can help reject EMI / RFI. The braid can be done tightly or loosely depending on preference. At the "Y" split of the cable where it separates to go to each of the Sennheiser earcups, the braid is converted to two separate twisted pairs. 

The braided headphone cable

After this process is complete, the cable is sleeved, in this case with non-microphonic soft black nylon multifilament. This sleeving requires a hot knife so that it doesn't fray after being cut. I also take the time to melt the sleeving together at the "Y" split to ensure it stays together after many hours of use.

Fully sleeved headphone cable

Now comes the point where the connectors need to be soldered to the individual wires, beginning with the Cardas Sennheiser connectors. These connectors are rhodium plated, which means they require a decent amount of heat to set the solder properly, however the surrounding material melts very easily. The wire fits into the concave inlet on the inside of the pin. I personally prefer to tin the wire first, then use quick spurts of very high heat and solder to achieve a good connection. As stated before, the large pin is the ground connection and the small pin is the signal. 

Cardas Sennheiser headphone connectors

Once the connectors have been soldered securely, a bit of epoxy is used to fill in the open area on the connector. Once dry, 2-3 layers of heatshrink are used to protect the area and act as additional strain relief.

Fully attached Sennheiser plug

This particular cable was going to be used with Bottlehead equipment, so the user requested a right angle 1/4" plug. For this the high quality Neutrik NP3RX-B was selected, which is gold plated and has a black case for sleek looks. My numerous years of DIY have led me to find that Neutrik makes some of the most robust 1/4" connectors on the market, and are likely the best value out there. If one is willing to spend extra though, the $20 nearly tank-proof Furutech FP-704 may be worth looking into. 

Neutrik NP3RX-B right angle 1/4" Plug 

Now that these items are soldered in place, the cable is complete. Below is the final Zynsonix Xev Sennheiser cable.

Zynsonix is offering custom Sennheiser HD580, HD600 and HD650 headphone cables and recables for many other headphones. Zynsonix can transform your headphones for a very reasonable price, please contact us for a quick quote.

The Fine Print:

The above steps detailing the recabling 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.