recabling fancy headphones

Phal

Phal

Phal

Soldato
Joined
19 Jul 2004
Posts
4,087
Location
Shoreham by Sea
Not sure if anyone has gone as far as doing this with their headphones? I know people on head-fi etc have but I don't get the impression it's that common?

How much would a replacement cable cost? I need a new cable for my Beyer T1s and they're quoting me £53 for a new cable lol >.<

Just looking to see if anyone has any idea of whether this is a reasonable cost or not?
 
Well the cable is £53 and they're quoting £25 for the labour. With the VAT that comes to just under £100 for a new cable and then there's a charge for shipping the things back lol.

If they're going to put the same type of cable back on then I can't say I'm keen on the idea of paying £53 for it! I thought the solder joint might have cracked/broken from the cable being twisted/torqued a little but apparently the cable is what needs to be replaced...

I'm tempted to just get them to fix it anyway but it just feels rather irritating to pay that much for a cable >.<
 
It is an extremely high quality cable, so £53 is maybe a bit high but certainly not overly so.
When you are talking hundreds of pounds for exotic after market cables that probably won't sound any better, then you are talking about "too much".

Personally, for a high end pair of cans like the T1, I'd pay it.
 
rids57 said:
It is an extremely high quality cable, so £53 is maybe a bit high but certainly not overly so.
When you are talking hundreds of pounds for exotic after market cables that probably won't sound any better, then you are talking about "too much".

Personally, for a high end pair of cans like the T1, I'd pay it.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's the issue really. There aren't too many other options out there so I kinda have to but I'm sure they know that :\

Ah well!
 
Well just to make you feel better, AKG want £80 for a pair of gel / memory foam K702 headphone ear pads/cushions. :eek:
 
rids57 said:
Well just to make you feel better, AKG want £80 for a pair of gel / memory foam K702 headphone ear pads/cushions. :eek:
Click to expand...

I was looking at balanced cables for my HD600 - £170-450 :( think I'll just sacrifice one of my old ones and make my own.
 
neil_g said:
i put a ofc cable on my senns. sound a bit warmer now maybe, perhaps a little indulgent?
Click to expand...

The placebo effect is strong with new cables. :p

I bought some 400 strand fancy copper speaker cable for my Hi-Fi. I was convinced it sounded better. I put the old doorbell wire back, and it sounded exactly the same.

I still use the 400 strand stuff though... Because it looks the part.
 
Headphone burn in is something I'm still unsure about. I'm pretty sure it is just the listener getting used to the sound signature more than anything else, but some people claim they put their headphones in a drawer for a week playing music, and when they put them back on they sounded totally different... Pretty sure its BS though but I've never attempted to actively 'burn in' anything, so.
 
Acme said:
Headphone burn in is something I'm still unsure about. I'm pretty sure it is just the listener getting used to the sound signature more than anything else, but some people claim they put their headphones in a drawer for a week playing music, and when they put them back on they sounded totally different... Pretty sure its BS though but I've never attempted to actively 'burn in' anything, so.
Click to expand...

I've never heard major changes myself - but I have found some headphones improve low frequency response with 50+ hours use - I've a reference track that has very subtle bass elements that in some cases even simply aren't reproduced on some headphones straight out the box.
 
You are always going to get some small changes in anything with moving parts, due to the various bits n bobs wearing in but at the speeds the drivers vibrate in headphones, I wouldn't expect that wearing in to take very long.

The brain does take a while to adjust but once that signature is in there you should be able to swap back and fore without too much trouble.

The cable mentioned in the OP is expensive but due to the materials being used and the build quality, it's still within the realms of the sensible. How some people can fork out hundreds of pounds for headphone cables is beyond me and even that's not as bad as the numpties that spend a fortune on power and USB cables. :D

I believe in paying up to £50~£60 for a really good headphone cable but anything above that is just throwing money away.
 
What has happened to the original cable that the whole thing needs replacing?

If it's the jack or where the cable connects to the headphones, either is fixable with a soldering iron and basic knowledge of how to do it. Unless it's the Y part, which is considerably more difficult to do a neat and tidy job.

£100 for a new cable though, I'd prefer to make my own; but then I haven't spent several hundred on a pair of headphones. Maybe £100 is easier to justify when you've spent that kind of money.

Speaking of replacing headphone cable, I'm going to mod my Denon D2000's so I can use a detachable cable. That way I can use varying lengths depending where I'm using them. The thick 3m skipping rope of a cable is a pain in the butt when I'm sat on my sofa with my FiiO X1 2 feet from the headphones.
 
Most of it is pure nonsense. You get better build quality, but for the most part the difference between a 20 quid cable and a 200 quid cable is negligible to zero. Vast majority of silly spending is just forum willy waving. It's very evident on the head fi forums.
 
The cable manufacturers would have us believe that the best cables are made of silver, the next grade being oxygen free copper and the cheap cables of ordinary copper. The reason they claim is that better conductivity leads to better sound quality.
Sadly this is mostly nonsense as the conductivity of the purest oxygen free copper is only 1% better than the most common oxygen free copper, which would make no audible difference.

The main reasons for getting a good cable are build quality, convenience and aesthetics. Basically OFC cables tend to use higher quality plugs and solder and just look better. Silver cables can also come in handy as they are usually thinner and lighter than copper cables.

Once you have a cable that uses high quality components and is competently constructed, then there is little to no reason to spend more money on a replacement.

The only reason I would get a replacement cable for my HD650s is if I broke the standard cable, which is already high quality OFC or for convenience, in that I usually sit less than a metre from my amp, so something shorter than the standard 10 footer would be nice.
 
Marsman said:
What has happened to the original cable that the whole thing needs replacing?

If it's the jack or where the cable connects to the headphones, either is fixable with a soldering iron and basic knowledge of how to do it. Unless it's the Y part, which is considerably more difficult to do a neat and tidy job.

£100 for a new cable though, I'd prefer to make my own; but then I haven't spent several hundred on a pair of headphones. Maybe £100 is easier to justify when you've spent that kind of money.

Speaking of replacing headphone cable, I'm going to mod my Denon D2000's so I can use a detachable cable. That way I can use varying lengths depending where I'm using them. The thick 3m skipping rope of a cable is a pain in the butt when I'm sat on my sofa with my FiiO X1 2 feet from the headphones.
Click to expand...



The cable on the T1 is pretty damn thick and not very flexible. The cable (or cables rather) look like this:

http://assets.head-fi.org/1/18/18f52c6c_DSC_4817.jpg

Because of it's lack of flex, I imagined the solder joint had cracked or something because it initially crackled and then eventually, I had to twist the cable slightly to hear anything on one side. Eventually, the sound went altogether.

The first quote I got from them totalled to around £125 or so to replace the cable. I then asked if they could fix the headband and add new earpads. The headband has leather around the band with foam under and this appears to be glued. The problem is that the oils from my scalp seem to have contributed towards the glue breaking down a little and eventually it's come loose.

The revised quote comes to a nice even £299.68... lol

Their idea of fixing stuff is just to replace everything. The quote includes a replacement headband, replacement slider assembly along with a new cable. The parts and labour totals to £250 (£50 is labour) and then the VAT rounds it off to £300 basically.

As much as I like Beyer, their reliability hasn't been great and their servicing seems to like milking you for as much as they can. I think I'll just get the replacement earpads and the cable and sort out my own solution for the headband :/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom