IEM 2-pin Cable Replacement (polarity confusion)

[iemironman]

The Background:
I've never been a big spender in the realm of cables. Compelled by the cross-compatibility, I finally decided to try out Hart Audio Cables. Having never replaced an IEM cable before, I found some frustration when attempting to determine the orientation of the ports & plugs.

I'm unsatisfied enough with answers I can find in all the usual web-search-result listings, to seek help directly. Indeed, this prompted me to finally register on ASR... and this is my first post! Thanks to Amir and ASR Community for helping me to better educate myself, save time + money, and actually enjoy & appreciate my gear more.

The Question:

• How to properly connect a 2-pin Hart Audio IEM cable, with respect to +/- polarity, to a Moondrop Variations IEM?
  • Corollary: is this a particular concern? I suspect things would be more clearly marked if this was a risky procedure.
• Rewards of my search efforts thus far:
  • I saw a posted comment elsewhere, in which some-random-internet-guy claimed this is a non-issue as long as things are matching/parallel.
  • I also found a YouTube video (search: "2 pin IEM Polarity") in which a gentleman suggested the same as above, and additionally a reverse-polarity connection would result in degraded sound quality.
  • I reached out to Hart and confirmed the ground pin is located ,,toward the middle'' if one is holding the termination ends with the labelled "L" and "R" oriented correctly with the letters right-side-up. That is to say, if reading the "L" on the left connector, the ground pin is on the right; if reading the "R" on the right connector, the ground pin is on the left.
  • Another post I found, the author suggested the ground termination on most IEMs is "toward the back."
  • The original cable was installed with the "L" and "R" facing inwards, towards the ear/tip
  • These bits of info suggest I should install my cable with the letters facing inward, toward the ear/tip

Thanks for reading this post, and thanks in advance for any answers!

 

[Blorg]

It's certainly not a general rule that the L or R indicator will be on the ear side. In fact, checking a few cables, all the ones I have that have a letter indication have it on the outside. Except the Moondrop stock cables, which do have it on the inside, I have the Variations, Blessing 2, Starfield, Aria, and they all have it on the inside. Just to note, this isn't normal, this is an aberration.

It's usually obvious which way they go if you have a cable with pre-formed ear-hooks, this can only be a question if it doesn't have that. I have only a few cables without the hooks, these have a blue dot on one pin to indicate polarity and while I am not sure if that means + or - (I guess it means +) it does mean I can put them in the same way on both sides.

Hart I think have both the letter and also a groove on one side only which would help with orientation.

My understanding is it doesn't matter as long as you do them both the same way. If you do them different, for sure that degrades the sound quality, they will be out of phase and that gives a really weird stereo effect, it's not subtle. It's usually pretty obvious if you connect out of phase, you can check using this test. The video guy seems to be talking about inverted phase, he's right if you have them different it will sound off. But I don't think you will notice as long as you have both the same way.

 

[Jimbob54]

The Background:
I've never been a big spender in the realm of cables. Compelled by the cross-compatibility, I finally decided to try out Hart Audio Cables. Having never replaced an IEM cable before, I found some frustration when attempting to determine the orientation of the ports & plugs.

I'm unsatisfied enough with answers I can find in all the usual web-search-result listings, to seek help directly. Indeed, this prompted me to finally register on ASR... and this is my first post! Thanks to Amir and ASR Community for helping me to better educate myself, save time + money, and actually enjoy & appreciate my gear more.

The Question:

• How to properly connect a 2-pin Hart Audio IEM cable, with respect to +/- polarity, to a Moondrop Variations IEM?
  • Corollary: is this a particular concern? I suspect things would be more clearly marked if this was a risky procedure.
• Rewards of my search efforts thus far:
  • I saw a posted comment elsewhere, in which some-random-internet-guy claimed this is a non-issue as long as things are matching/parallel.
  • I also found a YouTube video (search: "2 pin IEM Polarity") in which a gentleman suggested the same as above, and additionally a reverse-polarity connection would result in degraded sound quality.
  • I reached out to Hart and confirmed the ground pin is located ,,toward the middle'' if one is holding the termination ends with the labelled "L" and "R" oriented correctly with the letters right-side-up. That is to say, if reading the "L" on the left connector, the ground pin is on the right; if reading the "R" on the right connector, the ground pin is on the left.
  • Another post I found, the author suggested the ground termination on most IEMs is "toward the back."
  • The original cable was installed with the "L" and "R" facing inwards, towards the ear/tip
  • These bits of info suggest I should install my cable with the letters facing inward, toward the ear/tip

Thanks for reading this post, and thanks in advance for any answers!

Ive had this dilemma a few times but I would go with @Blorg post above. The ear hooks are a dead giveaway and failing that, ensure any markings face the same way on each side. Alas, it seems manufacturers arent consistent with regards to any marks/ dots. I have some with earhooks where the dot points towards the tip and some where it points towards the back yet, because of the hooks, they must be the correct way round.

 

[DVDdoug]

Polarity doesn't matter.

With speakers, they both need the same polarity because the soundwaves mix in the air and they will cancel if they are opposite, especially the bass. But with IEMs & headphones the soundwaves never mix And your ears won't hear the difference.

Some people may be able to hear absolute polarity (when both speakers or IEMs are reversed) but somebody did some investigation and (somehow) discovered that polarity in recordings is essentially random with half of them inverted. Or with multitrack recordings, the final stereo mix can contain some tracks that were inverted and some that were not.

 

[pos]

Polarity doesn't matter.

With speakers, they both need the same polarity because the soundwaves mix in the air and they will cancel if they are opposite, especially the bass. But with IEMs & headphones the soundwaves never mix And your ears won't hear the difference.

Both channels of a pair of headphones (be it over or in ear) *definitly* need to have the same polarity.