Cable measurement

[faheem]

Last week, I changed cables, to the original hifiman which is longer. I noticed a difference in sound. There was a weird reverb and sounded a bit louder on one. Unsure whether it was my mind playing tricks.I did a quick oscilloscope measurement between the 2 cables, and then added a 3rd in the mix.

I used the built in tone generator @ 1khz and 2.5V. connected to tip and ring 2 on balanced jack and right and left on cup connectors. Is there anything in this and why would they be different?

 

[solderdude]

connector issue ?
Cable is broken ?

I would start by measuring DC resistance.

Cables cannot and do not sound different, Certainly not at 1kHz. The moment you get a measurable difference something is broken. Usually poor contact of one of the wires.

 

[faheem]

connector issue ?
Cable is broken ?

I would start by measuring DC resistance.

Cables cannot and do not sound different, Certainly not at 1kHz. The moment you get a measurable difference something is broken. Usually poor contact of one of the wires.

Yeah, I don't believe in sound changing due to cable, unless its broken. The question is which is broken, if all 3 are giving me that much of a variation?

The resistance were close, capacitance was different. I'll measure them again and get actual numbers.

 

[solderdude]

capacitance is of no influence (nor inductance) for headphones.
Only resistance is (when substantial in the common return wire)

Chances are the cables measure fine with a meter (and holding probes against the connectors) but the connectors may not make proper contact with the sockets. I regularly have these kind of issues which show themselves when wiggling the connector around.

 

[faheem]

I have a 2nd cable from the same manufacturer. Less than half the resistance. The original was 0.9 Ohm , second cable is 0.3 Ohm. I've tried wiggling connector, Haven't noticed anything. will stick with cable with lower resistance.

 

[DVDdoug]

There was a weird reverb and sounded a bit louder on one. Unsure whether it was my mind playing tricks.

A broken ground will create a "center-channel vocal removal" effect which will often leave some vocal reverb. It will also remove the centered bass and anything else that's identical and in-phase both channels. But the left & right channels should be identical.

The original was 0.9 Ohm , second cable is 0.3 Ohm. I've tried wiggling connector, Haven't noticed anything. will stick with cable with lower resistance.

Almost 1 Ohm is not normal but low resistance measurements are tricky and unreliable if you don't have a 4-wire Ohmmeter.

 

[faheem]

capacitance is of no influence (nor inductance) for headphones.
Only resistance is (when substantial in the common return wire)

Chances are the cables measure fine with a meter (and holding probes against the connectors) but the connectors may not make proper contact with the sockets. I regularly have these kind of issues which show themselves when wiggling the connector around.

Curiousity got the better of me. I machined the jack plug off and found this.

The glue was holding it in place, rather than solder. Thanks for your help and @DVDdoug

 

[solderdude]

Nothing a new connector cannot solve fortunately.
At least the mystery is solved.
Intermittent and poor contacts can be a real pain.

 

[Colin James Wonfor]

I Love these jokes can we have a fun page???

 

[solderdude]

I Love these jokes can we have a fun page???

There is an entire forum dedicated to it.