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DIY Conversion of Sennheiser HD800 Headphone Cable From Unbalanced to 4 Pin XLR

NiagaraPete

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phoenixdogfan

phoenixdogfan

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These aren’t “bargain” cables, but they’re very nice and not unreasonably priced for the quality. Be aware that they’re modular cables, so you’ll need to also choose an interconnect for the end opposite the headphones.

I may buy these. If I do I will have them custom terminated in 4 pin xlr rather than go with the modular design.
 

Zensō

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I may buy these. If I do I will have them custom terminated in 4 pin xlr rather than go with the modular design.
The thing I like most about them is that they're extremely light, which makes the HD800(S) even more comfortable.

IMG_3190.JPG
 

DonDish

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I have a pair of OG HD800s which came with a very nice unbalanced cable, but no balanced one. I recently priced out HD 800 cables and the cheapest I could find was around $125 from Etsy. Sennheiser wants $375 for their own cable. Since the HD800s are terminated with a unique proprietary cxonnector at the headphone cup, I think a lot of these dealers feel they can charge whatever they want to b/c of the lack of a universal replacement.

My alternative would be, I believe, to simply rewire the plug at the amplifier end for 4 pin XLR. Amazon has a very nice Neutrik plug for $8.95. So it represents an enormous saving for what should be just a soldering and assembly job.

If I cut the plug off the existing cable I think I'm going to find a L+ and L grd and a R+ and R grd. I have a chart listing how the 4 pin XLR is numbered. So my only real question is how the wires will look in the cable jacket. How are they color coded? Will the ground just be a copper jacket which I divide between the Left and Right gtound pins, or will each ground have a specific color coded wire. I have no worries about the soldering or the assembly or the XLR plug, but I just need to know how to identify which wires to solder to which pins, and it is a little different than a three pin xlr. Any help will be appreciated. I'd like to save a few bucks here, and the price of these cables is obscene IMHO.
As a comparison I bought a spare HD650 cable for a balanced mod. Inside the dualwire cable there where LEFT green(+) and clear(neg/ground) RIGHT red(+) and clear(neg/ground). Those wires where enameled type.

Not a knower of HD800. I did a search and those cables are really expensive. $218 for standard and $380 for a pentaconn version. Not a DIYérs dream exactly. I see they have some LEMO <link type connectors. These can probably be bought. If you can find it in the very large catalog. I checked this out myself, when prospecting for AKG K812. Those are instrumentation type connectors, and I would guess around $35/each maybe $50 top. Not Neutrik prices but Lemo´s are certainely nicer.

So its probably possible to build these cables from the ground up. Those original and boutiqe cables are just dressed up stuff with some woven jacket and out of ordinary connectors. So get some parts and man up! :D

For cabling, search around some pro/studio webshops for a thin microphone wire. Forget that impedance matching Sennheiser makes a claim to.

Check out my TUT/BLOG about ADI-2 pro balanced adapter and HD650 mod. Maybe you could get some ideas or inspiration there.
 

DonDish

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As a comparison I bought a spare HD650 cable for a balanced mod. Inside the dualwire cable there where LEFT green(+) and clear(neg/ground) RIGHT red(+) and clear(neg/ground). Those wires where enameled type.

Not a knower of HD800. I did a search and those cables are really expensive. $218 for standard and $380 for a pentaconn version. Not a DIYérs dream exactly. I see they have some LEMO <link type connectors. These can probably be bought. If you can find it in the very large catalog. I checked this out myself, when prospecting for AKG K812. Those are instrumentation type connectors, and I would guess around $35/each maybe $50 top. Not Neutrik prices but Lemo´s are certainely nicer.

So its probably possible to build these cables from the ground up. Those original and boutiqe cables are just dressed up stuff with some woven jacket and out of ordinary connectors. So get some parts and man up! :D

For cabling, search around some pro/studio webshops for a thin microphone wire. Forget that impedance matching Sennheiser makes a claim to.

Check out my TUT/BLOG about ADI-2 pro balanced adapter and HD650 mod. Maybe you could get some ideas or inspiration there.
 

DonDish

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As a comparison I bought a spare HD650 cable for a balanced mod. Inside the dualwire cable there where LEFT green(+) and clear(neg/ground) RIGHT red(+) and clear(neg/ground). Those wires where enameled type.

Not a knower of HD800. I did a search and those cables are really expensive. $218 for standard and $380 for a pentaconn version. Not a DIYérs dream exactly. I see they have some LEMO <link type connectors. These can probably be bought. If you can find it in the very large catalog. I checked this out myself, when prospecting for AKG K812. Those are instrumentation type connectors, and I would guess around $35/each maybe $50 top. Not Neutrik prices but Lemo´s are certainely nicer.

So its probably possible to build these cables from the ground up. Those original and boutiqe cables are just dressed up stuff with some woven jacket and out of ordinary connectors. So get some parts and man up! :D

For cabling, search around some pro/studio webshops for a thin microphone wire. Forget that impedance matching Sennheiser makes a claim to.

Check out my TUT/BLOG about ADI-2 pro balanced adapter and HD650 mod. Maybe you could get some ideas or inspiration there.
Ill retract my statement about Lemos for Sennheiser. THESE ARE NOT LEMO contacts!
 
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