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Headphone Recabling Help (Pic included)

Allswell

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Hello,

Is it necessary to keep the copper shielding as part of the ground connection to the stereo jack?
Can't I just remove the copper shielding and keep the clear and black wires as the ground instead ?

I have used this cable before for recabling and used the clear, black and copper shielding as the ground (and it worked just fine) but I want to remove the rubber jacket and copper shielding as the cable is too stiff and would like to use a more softer/flexible cable sleeve.

Please see pic below:

Screen Shot 2020-10-26 at 8.09.48 PM.png
 

Bob-23

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Hello,

Is it necessary to keep the copper shielding as part of the ground connection to the stereo jack?
Can't I just remove the copper shielding and keep the clear and black wires as the ground instead ?

I have used this cable before for recabling and used the clear, black and copper shielding as the ground (and it worked just fine) but I want to remove the rubber jacket and copper shielding as the cable is too stiff and would like to use a more softer/flexible cable sleeve.

Please see pic below:

View attachment 89752
Yes, you should solder the copper shielding to the plug - it's wrapped around the cables, thus providing their shielding. The denser that copper braid the better the shielding.
 
Last edited:

pozz

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solderdude

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Screening is not needed for headphone cables.
When you have a 3-wire connection it is important to keep the resistance of the common return wire as low as possible.
So blue and red = signal,
black & clear & screen is return wire (basically 3 conductors in parallel where the screen will do the heaviest lifting).

However, the OP wants to remove the screen and outer sheathing in order to make it more supple.
personally I would buy a different cable but blue and red = signal, black & clear = common will also work.

When the headphone itself is hardwired to the cable (or a 4-pin connector is present) and it is to be connected to to a TRS jack then I would advice:
Blue = L+, clear = L-, red = R+, black is R- and in the TRS connector simply solder black and clear together on the sleeve (common return)
 
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A

Allswell

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Thank you all for the replies.

It appears that there are different methods of going about this.

1. I should keep the copper shielding (screen?) and solder it to the plug (along with the black and clear wires)

2. Only ground the shield at the source (I'm assuming this means keep the copper shielding at one end and solder it to the jack along with the black and clear wires, but not at the headphone end (ie, I will cut off the shielding at that end and only keep and solder the black and clear to the headphone)

3. The shielding (screening) is not required. (Therefore I can remove the jacket and copper shielding and proceed with my original plan of re-sleeving the cable) @solderdude, have I understood correctly?
 

solderdude

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The shield is not needed (there is nothing to shield) so not connecting it at one end is utterly pointless for headphone cables because there is no chance of groundloops and you will lack the benefit of the screen resistance. Might as well not connect the screen at all as it serves no purpose.

The shield is much lower Ohmic than the 2 return wires combined so makes sense IF you connect all 3 when your headphone has a 3-pin connector.

When your headphone has a 4 pin connector OR you plan to open up the headphone the 4 wire trick is optimal in which case you can ditch the screen and sheathing but may have to use some sleeving because the inside of the cable won't look very nice.
 
Last edited:
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