[DIY] Hifiman Headphone Recabling With Braided Strands (image heavy)

[creatip123]

As far as I know, all Hifiman headphone types have the same proprietary cable connectors (the ones that are on the cups), so this re-cabling should work with all types of Hifiman headphones

 

 

So my Hifiman HE-400 came with this Canare 3m cable. Plus side is it's a tank. I've yanked, stepped, and ran over with my chair, and not as much as a dent on it. Minus side is it's thick, bulky, and heavy. So I was thinking about re-cabling (making a new replacement cable) for it.

 

 

Hifiman headphones use proprietary connector type. it's actually a coaxial connector, often used in networking cables/devices. It's called 'SMC connector'. The ones that are already installed on the cups are the male connector. So to make a new replacement cable, you'd need the female connector. I got mine from ebay. Just search for 'SMC connector female'. Always buy more than you'd need (you'd only need a pair actually). I bought a package of 10 female connectors, and found a few that are faulty/factory defect. That's why you should always buy more than a pair. It's dirt cheap anyway. I got mine for $6.56 + $2 shipping for the whole package (10 connectors)

 

 

So these are what we need:

 

- The replacement cable. I bought 10m, but only used 8m. I got the Acrolink silver coated cable, that sets me back a whooping $1.75/m (-a bit sarcastic -) If you want to go for a super cable that's $100/m, that's your choice though, I won't judge  . 

- Stereo 3,5mm plug. I bought 2, but we only need 1. $1.75 each. Of course a 1/4" stereo plug will do the same job.

- The SMC female connectors, a package of 10, $6.56/package

- A gas lighter. it's used for heating the heatshrink tubes. Any lighter will do, as long as it's flame type. Don't use the windproof jet flame type.

- Heatshrink tubes. I got 3 sizes, 2mm, 3mm, and 10mm. Turned out I only needed the 2mm and 3mm. 30 cents/m

- Standard soldering equipment (solder gun, soldering iron, flux, etc)

- Digital Multimeter (DMM). Not a must, but recommended.

- Small clamps, to serve as 'third hand' when soldering. I couldn't find my handycraft clamps, so I used clothe clamps (clamps that are used to hang clothes to dry after washing)

- 5 hours in woman's activities class, to learn how to braid. Nah, just kidding. Braiding cables is actually a lot easier than I thought. Just search youtube videos for instructions. For this, we gonna braid 4 strands of cables, so search for 'braiding 4 strands'.

 

 

I don't exactly know what this thing is called, so I'll just call it clothe clamps

 

Let's take a closer look at the female connectors first:

 

it got 2 parts. The bottom part is the main unit. The top part is the sleeve or crimp. By the way, there are 2 types of this connector, the straight type (in the picture), and the angled type. DO NOT get the angled type, or you won't be able to plug it to your headphone.

 

 

The connector got 2 poles, the data/signal (A), and the ground ( B ).

 

 

I actually bought the wrong gauge of cable. It's 0.12 (1.2mm), a bit larger than a fishing line. This gauge is often used for IEMs cable. It's too small for headphones. It will work as it should, just look a bit awkward, compared to the big and bulky headphone. Well, I thought I'll just go ahead with this project, and I could always make a new cable in the future. 

 

Let's get on with it then.

 

First, measure and cut the cables. Because of the braiding, the length of the the cables will be less than what you originally measured. Meaning you must measure more than what you want (if you want the result to be 2m long, then measure more than 2m, maybe 2.2m). I want my cable to be less than 2m, so I measured and cut 2m. We're gonna need 4 strands, so it's 2x4 = 8m, with surplus of 2m (because I bought 10m).

 

 

Measure and cut the 2mm and 3mm heatshrink tubes, for the cable sleeve. Insert the 2mm tube into the crimp, and insert the 3mm tube into the 2mm tube. Then, take 2 strands of the cable, and insert them into the 2mm tube.

 

 

This is how the cable should be arranged (the black 3mm tube is not shown in the picture). 1 strand for the signal pole, 1 strand for the ground pole. 

 

 

Solder them in to place. Don't use too much of soldering iron on the ground pole, or the crimp won't fit later. If you have a DMM, now is a good time to test if the cables or the soldering works are faulty or not. Set the DMM to 'close loop detector' (it will beep in the case of a close loop), and test the other end of the cable, paired with the connector. Do the same with the other connector.

 

Now, if you have a DMM, you can skip this next step (or if you want to do it anyway, that's fine)

 

 

You should know which strand goes to which pole, right? Get a few small sticker labeler (or use pieces of paper + clear tape), and label the strands near the other ends. You'll definitely lose track of which strand goes to which pole, after you braid them. So these stickers prevent you from banging your head to the wall later. In the picture, I label them LG = Left Ground, L+ = Left Signal, and so on. If you have a DMM, you can test each strands later, after braiding. But no harm if you still want to label them anyway.

 

 

Slide the 2mm tube in to place, and use the gas lighter to heat it, and make it shrink. Slide the crimp in place, and crimp it using a crimping vise. If you don't have a crimping vise, just use a regular vise. Slide the 3mm tube in place, and heat it. In the picture, I measured one tube to be longer than the other, to mark which one goes to the left cup (longer tube = left cup).

 

Now, measure where you want the 'Y' intersection of the cable will be. Screw the connectors to the cups, then wear the headphone on your head. Find a point where you want the 'Y' intersection, and mark the cables there. I measured 38cm from the cups. Give a little slack, because we're gonna twist the cables later. You could use duct tapes to mark the cable, or just clamp them together at where the intersection is. Measure and cut a small length of the 2mm heatshrink tube. Slide it to the Y intersection, and heat it in place. I forgot to do this in my project, so...lesson learned....

 

Next is the fun part, which is.....the braiding. Again, go to youtube for references on how to braid 4 strands. It's really not hard, just a little time consuming. When you braid, don't pull the knot too hard, or the resulting cable braid will be very stiff. 

 

After you reach the other end of the strands, just solder them to the stereo plug. Don't forget to insert the strands into the shell of the plug before soldering, or you'd have to start all over again. The ground (2 strands) are soldered together (common ground). Use this diagram for reference on where to solder:

 

 

It's now fully functional, but take a look at the 2 group of strands that go to the cups. It's still still 2 separate paralel strands, right? You could twist the connectors, while holding the Y intersection, to give the strands a twisting look, if you want to (purely aesthetic).

 

 

 

And....done!!

 

 

It's much smaller compared to the original Hifiman cable, and much lighter.

 

 

This is the Y intersection where I forgot to put a piece of heatshrink tube at. The result, it looks kinda loose. Purely aesthetic, but I wish I had put the tube there. 

 

Hope this helps for your re-cabling...

[mister_s]

Wow, that's awesome!

[BoredErica]

Make it look even better, call it pure silver cable, sell it for $50-250 on Headfi.

 

Pure profitz. 

[Lays]

I think all the pics got deleted @creatip123

[ShearMe]

Gg photobucket bandwidth caps. Maybe they should host on squarespace.

[TheProfosist]

Gg photobucket bandwidth caps. Maybe they should host on squarespace.

Its actually quite a lota of bandwidth. I only went over once i got quite active on the forum also my build log didnt help.

[t0wer]

no sleeving?

[Lays]

no sleeving?

Do you notice a difference in audio quality running balanced? I have seen very mixed reviews about balanced audio

[t0wer]

Do you notice a difference in audio quality running balanced? I have seen very mixed reviews about balanced audio

 

I haven't tried it yet, I was trying the speaker amp thing, and haven't gotten around to balanced yet.

my balanced amp should be done, I just need to double check it and plug it all in.

[Lays]

I haven't tried it yet, I was trying the speaker amp thing, and haven't gotten around to balanced yet.

my balanced amp should be done, I just need to double check it and plug it all in.

 

 

Oo sweet, let me know how it is, I've always wondered about it. I wanted to try it with my LCD-2's but I didn't have a crapton of money to drop on a balanced dac after buying an amp.

 

I've seen that say it makes no diff, and some people say it helps a little bit, so I've been curious for awhile now.

[creatip123]

I think all the pics got deleted @creatip123

 

 

Gg photobucket bandwidth caps. Maybe they should host on squarespace.

 

Fixed. Absent for 2 days, just got online

 

Its actually quite a lota of bandwidth. I only went over once i got quite active on the forum also my build log didnt help.

 

Yeah, 10 Gigs are quite a lot. It's my universal hosting for pics on other forums too, though. Plus, there are people hot-linking my pictures, so the bandwidth got eaten up sometimes.

 

no sleeving?

 

Looks nice. I gotta find a bigger gauge cables, I think. I don't think there are any sleeves available for 0.12m

[t0wer]

 

Looks nice. I gotta find a bigger gauge cables, I think. I don't think there are any sleeves available for 0.12m

 

 

I want to say i'm using 24awg and measuring with my calipers it's 1.4mm/wire