Hi All.
Quick question. Has anyone tried mixing conductor types in a DIY headphone cable? I had the good fortune last summer to purchase a large quantity of mil spec wire bundles of many different types. Among these are many different AWG of silver plated copper stranded cable and silver plated solid copper cables. I also bought a variety of all copper wiring. All of these are sheathed in teflon. In addition, I have on hand 40 or so feet of 24 gauge 999 solid silver wire and 24 gauge copper wire covered in a cotton sheath. Riches! Anyway, I have been thinking about combining these types of wire to create a mixed metal headphone cable to go between my Aren van Waarde 5998 headphone amp and my HD600s. Any insight would be appreciated.
Quick question. Has anyone tried mixing conductor types in a DIY headphone cable? I had the good fortune last summer to purchase a large quantity of mil spec wire bundles of many different types. Among these are many different AWG of silver plated copper stranded cable and silver plated solid copper cables. I also bought a variety of all copper wiring. All of these are sheathed in teflon. In addition, I have on hand 40 or so feet of 24 gauge 999 solid silver wire and 24 gauge copper wire covered in a cotton sheath. Riches! Anyway, I have been thinking about combining these types of wire to create a mixed metal headphone cable to go between my Aren van Waarde 5998 headphone amp and my HD600s. Any insight would be appreciated.
I'd imagine that the stranded wire is much more convenient for the application of a headphone cord than the solid core wire. I've never tried mixing different conductor materials like this, but I would expect the (measurable) differences to be swamped by characteristics of the headphones and amplifier themselves?
Headphone cables need to be light in weight and flexible, while maintaining sufficiently low resistance and avoiding unusual values for inductance and capacitance. Both copper and silver have sufficiently good conductance, so you are extremely unlikely to notice any difference. Cotton will be a poor insulator and poor dielectric, as its exact characteristics will depend on how damp the atmosphere is that day, but fortunately this should do little harm.
Try some extreme materials; if you can't hear a difference with those, there is no need to experiment silver-plated copper vs nickel-plated copper
I recommend brass: The gold color helps to maximize placebo effect as well as feed the notion that knowledge is money. You can call it "zinc-infused copper alloy that minimizes corrosion and improves structural strength while maintaining conductivity."
I recommend brass: The gold color helps to maximize placebo effect as well as feed the notion that knowledge is money. You can call it "zinc-infused copper alloy that minimizes corrosion and improves structural strength while maintaining conductivity."
How about a multi metal interconnect/cable. Gold for the glowing golden midrange, silver for the fast shimmering highs, copper for solid chunky bass, aluminium for veil lifting, etc. All woven together in a special proprietary braid to reduce a bunch of bad stuff and increase a bunch of good stuff? No brass though, wwenze has a patent on that.
If I remember correctly, the HD6x0 default cable has relatively high capacitance which may be tricky to drive for less robust headphone amplifiers (for example, see this: https://www.ti.com/lit/an/slyt630/slyt630.pdf). So a lower capacitance cable might be an improvement then for stability's sake.
Thanks for the link Idiosyncrasy. I am using an DIY OTL 5998 headphone amp fed by a SMSL M8A or a Musical Fodelity V90-DAC. Neither of these DACs has a headphone output, and I don't think the amp has any issue driving the HD600s. That said I will have a look at some DIY low capacitance cable designs.
All my life, car brake lines were steel.
Now my mechanic has sold me Copper-Nickel brake lines (at 3X the price).
Some research says that steel lines rust (I know), that Cu-Ni lines were identified as better in 1969, but most car makers clung to steel for cost.
I'll find out if my car sounds better with mixed metals lines.
Now my mechanic has sold me Copper-Nickel brake lines (at 3X the price).
Some research says that steel lines rust (I know), that Cu-Ni lines were identified as better in 1969, but most car makers clung to steel for cost.
I'll find out if my car sounds better with mixed metals lines.
Hello,
A couple of years ago I made a Single End Balanced output headphone amplifier and a set of balanced cables for my HD600’s. The SET transformers are custom balanced push / pull with a center tap ground.
The cables are two silver plated Teflon insulated conductors with shielding. The cable is surplus and came from apexjr.com. Each channel is a monoblock. The cables connect separately to each amplifier with mini-XLR’s. Unlike the original HD600 cables there is not a common ground conductor, there is no cross talk caused by a common ground conductor.
There is no magic in the silver.
DT
A couple of years ago I made a Single End Balanced output headphone amplifier and a set of balanced cables for my HD600’s. The SET transformers are custom balanced push / pull with a center tap ground.
The cables are two silver plated Teflon insulated conductors with shielding. The cable is surplus and came from apexjr.com. Each channel is a monoblock. The cables connect separately to each amplifier with mini-XLR’s. Unlike the original HD600 cables there is not a common ground conductor, there is no cross talk caused by a common ground conductor.
There is no magic in the silver.
DT
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DualTriode: I have some of the wire you are describing. The one I have has two 24 AWG stranded silver plated copper conductors, each with its own Teflon sheath, inside a shield that is also silver plated copper. These are all contained in another exterior Teflon sheath. I usually use it to wire from the inputs of tube amps to the pre amp tube. It's convenient because I can ground the shield too. This would make a very quick, shielded interconnect cable or a headphone cable as you applied it. It's great wire.
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