Will cable impedance affect the sound of headphones?

[marv]

Hi guys, i just wanted to ask the question on the title.. im not an engineer, so i was hoping for your inputs.

im planning on trying to make a custom balanced cable (DIY) for my Elegia to be plugged in my THX 789 connected to the DAC stage of my Denon DA300USB.

will use this cable:

Sommer Cable Square 4-Core MKII Highflex

tech specs:
https://shop.sommercable.com/en/Cab...-Core-MKII-200-0301NE-highflex.html#tab_media

with:

Neutrik NC4 MXX-B

pair of mini 3.5mm Amphenol KM2PB-AU

Im just trying to hone my DIY skills.. working from home mostly these past few days..

Just wanted to be sure the cable i will be using wouldn't skew in any way the sound of the headphone

any helpful inputs would be greatly appreciated

cheers

marv

 

[Doodski]

Hmmz.
Jacket Ø 6.50mm or 0.256 inches
That's a thicker cable. Are you sure you want one that thick? Will that fit in your connectors?
A bigger cable is generally easier to work with but if it is too large it will be a pain and won't fit.
I suggest you get a <.pdf> of your connectors and see if the diameter of the cable holes are up to the size of the cable you picked.

 

[solderdude]

Hi guys, i just wanted to ask the question on the title.. im not an engineer, so i was hoping for your inputs.

im planning on trying to make a custom balanced cable (DIY) for my Elegia to be plugged in my THX 789 connected to the DAC stage of my Denon DA300USB.

will use this cable:

Sommer Cable Square 4-Core MKII Highflex

tech specs:
https://shop.sommercable.com/en/Cab...-Core-MKII-200-0301NE-highflex.html#tab_media

with:

Neutrik NC4 MXX-B

pair of mini 3.5mm Amphenol KM2PB-AU

Im just trying to hone my DIY skills.. working from home mostly these past few days..

Just wanted to be sure the cable i will be using wouldn't skew in any way the sound of the headphone

any helpful inputs would be greatly appreciated

cheers

marv

Balanced cable means: NO it cannot change anything as cable impedance is completely irrelevant.
Only the cable resistance is of importance.
As long as the back+forth resistance remains below 2 Ohm you're good.

 

[Speedskater]

At low audio frequencies (lets say 10kHz) end-to-end cable impedance equals end-to-end cable resistance.
Don't get confused by the 50 or 75 Ohm radio frequency impedance.

 

[egellings]

By impedance, do you mean characteristic impedance (like say, for a 50 ohm shielded cable) or do you mean the bulk RLC characteristics of the cable?

 

[marv]

In simple layman terms.. i just wanted to know if this particular cable that i will be using wont change the sound nor cause any damage to the drivers : )

 

[egellings]

If you are sending an analog signal to a pair of headphones over wires that are average length for headphones, I do not see how differences in construction, unless bizarrely extreme, would affect sound quality. The signal source has a relatively low source impedance, and the phones load the other end with a low impedance load as well. And we're talking only audio frequencies. As for a cable damaging the drivers, not possible. Only the driving amplifier would be in a position to do that.

 

[marv]

If you are sending an analog signal to a pair of headphones over wires that are average length for headphones, I do not see how differences in construction, unless bizarrely extreme, would affect sound quality. The signal source has a relatively low source impedance, and the phones load the other end with a low impedance load as well. And we're talking only audio frequencies. As for a cable damaging the drivers, not possible. Only the driving amplifier would be in a position to do that.

Thanks!

 

[solderdude]

In simple layman terms.. i just wanted to know if this particular cable that i will be using wont change the sound nor cause any damage to the drivers : )

Damage drivers... never.
Change the sound... depends on the headphone and cable resistance (round trip).
The latter depends on wire thickness and length.

At 100m you will notice a difference using Eligia, at 100m you won't notice a difference with some other headphones.

As said keep the round trip resistance of the cable below 2 ohm and you are fine.

Forget about cable capacitance and inductance. It is not audible consequential for audio (with just a few meters of cable)

Oh... forgot... you need to get the wiring correct. When you accidentally wire one of the cables in reverse (reverse polarity) the headphone will sound different.

 

[egellings]

For very long distances like 100 meters, I agree that dynamic type headphone cable variations get noticeable. But for the usual 1 to 2 meter lengths used by us chickens, not so much, bedawk!

 

[yigitboy]

Damage drivers... never.
Change the sound... depends on the headphone and cable resistance (round trip).
The latter depends on wire thickness and length.

At 100m you will notice a difference using Eligia, at 100m you won't notice a difference with some other headphones.

As said keep the round trip resistance of the cable below 2 ohm and you are fine.

Forget about cable capacitance and inductance. It is not audible consequential for audio (with just a few meters of cable)

Oh... forgot... you need to get the wiring correct. When you accidentally wire one of the cables in reverse (reverse polarity) the headphone will sound different.

What happens if the resistance is over 2?
How will it affect

 

[egellings]

You have to look at the cable resistance, impedance of the headphone, and amplifier output impedance to see how they interact to divide up the music signal voltage sourced by the amplifier. If the 2 ohms is largely resistive in nature, then likely all you'll get is an attenuation, with little change in sound quality. It depends on a lot, though.

 

[Nkam]

Balanced cable means: NO it cannot change anything as cable impedance is completely irrelevant.
Only the cable resistance is of importance.
As long as the back+forth resistance remains below 2 Ohm you're good.

stumbled across this thread and I was curious as well.

for the below link it states that the Nominal characteristic impedance is 45ohms.
And some other Belden cables Nominal Characteristic impedance are 110ohms.

what does that mean?
does it mean anything for headphone cables?

much appreciated!

https://www.belden.com/products/Cable/Audio-Cable/Analog-Audio-Cable/9451

 

[solderdude]

That is only important for longer distance digital connections and radio frequencies where source, receiver and cable impedance need to match.
110ohm is used in data transmission for balanced twisted pair (AES/EBU) for instance. There are also converters for adapting to 75ohm
For radio and video 75ohm (shielded) is standard. There used to be an older standard of 50ohm.
Data transmission for USB (2.0) is 90ohm differential and when each data line is transmitted separately over a shielded cable the impedance is 45ohm

Not a relevant metric for audio bandwidth.

 

[Nkam]

That is only important for longer distance digital connections and radio frequencies where source, receiver and cable impedance need to match.
110ohm is used in data transmission for balanced twisted pair (AES/EBU) for instance. There are also converters for adapting to 75ohm
For radio and video 50ohm and 75ohm (shielded) are standards.
Data transmission for USB (2.0) is 90ohm
Not a metric useful for audio bandwidth.

so basically it does absolutely nothing to the audio band

thanks for the speedy response!

 

[Speedskater]

Those are Radio Frequency Characteristic Impedance values. They only apply to signals well above 100 kilohertz.

 

[egellings]

If you can fit a whole wavelength of a signal into a length of cable such that it could bounce back & forth between its ends, then characteristic impedance matters. In that setting, it's possible for the voltage at both ends to be different for very tiny time intervals if the wave bounces back & forth. In an audio frequency cable, the wavelength is so long (miles) compared to any living room length of cable that the voltage is always identical or at most picoscopically different at both ends for all times.

 

[Speedskater]

Very true. But at audio frequencies the listed Radio Frequency Characteristic Impedance doesn't apply. You have to use the long form formula and the impedance is different at each frequency.