Headphone sockets, connectors, plugs.

[Nigel]

Hi,

It appears to me that a headphone socket & a 6.3mm headphone plug could easily be improved on by getting rid of altogether! We've spent all this expensive money on Cardas cables etc. What about simply a direct soldered connection missing out the plug/socket altogether? Surely, noticable musical improvements would result?

Best,

Nigel

[PinkFloyd]

nigel said:

Hi,

It appears to me that a headphone socket & a 6.3mm headphone plug could easily be improved on by getting rid of altogether! We've spent all this expensive money on Cardas cables etc. What about simply a direct soldered connection missing out the plug/socket altogether? Surely, noticable musical improvements would result?

Best,

Nigel

Good idea but most impractical Nigel. Do you realise the conductors inside your favourite HD-650's are thinner than a human hair? Soldering the 'phones direct to the amp's output would be no problem at all but you'd have to ensure the cable was very well clamped at the inlet point to the amp.

If you want my opinion here we are starting to get into extremely pedantic territory on this one. So you solder your 'phones direct to the amp, fair enough. You then realise that the connection to the capsules is nothing more than a connector wedged into a spring so what now? Solder the cable direct to the coils? Now you are getting rabidly obsessive and decide to solder your interconnects directly to the amp input. why stop there? Get that iron out and solder the interconnect onto your CD players output. oh wait, horrors of horrors, what about the mains plug? That can't be good so you'll have to solder the mains cable direct to the mains supply.................. so on and so forth.

Will it sound better? IMO No. Will it be practical, hell no! what if you want to try another pair of headphones? You're going to desolder and resolder every time you listen to another pair?

Every solder joint in your eqiupment is a connection Nigel and just soldering your headphone cord directly onto the amp's output is not, IMO, going to make any perceivable difference to the SQ. You may think it will sound better so it may be worth doing but, from a practical viewpoint, it would be most inconvenient. Doable but not worth the hassle IMO.

[rickcr42]

Scary thought dude !

when I think of how many times I either tripped on or snagged a headphone cable with bad enough results I tremble at the thought of having to re-solder the connection every time I get lax

Captive cables have a lot to recommend but you must realise once you go that route you are locked in to that cable and that length forever short of tearing into the gear and resoldering in the new.

Better in my opinion for strictly personal use would be to go for better connectors with the locking Lemo's being at the top of my list.Would mean only you could use the gear and that you would need to do custom cables but the contact area is about as good as it gets,the reason this type of connector is used in medical equipment and RF Test equipment.

Everything from single to multile contacts,plastic (best maybe) or metallic housings

[rickcr42]

www.lemousa.com/

[PinkFloyd]

when I thing of how many times I either tripped on or snagged as headphone cable with bad enough results I tremble at the thought of having to re-solder the connection every time I get lax

Yup and our Nigel has a habit of downing the old "real ale" from time to time so you can just imagine the scenario when he "moonwalks" across the floor, trips over the cable and takes out his entire hi-fi system in one go as it's all soldered together....... ouch!