Custom Headphone Cable Help

[For Science!]

So I've been considering buying some HiFiMan Sundara's recently (not the point of discussion btw) and been reading that the stock cables can fail and aren't so great. As you can see below they are 3.5 mm TRS to dual 3.5 mm TRS cables. At least in Europe I've really struggled to even find cables that are equivalent and so decided to read up on making DIY custom cables. 

 

After learning about the TRS pinout it occured to me that there isn't really a standard for how the receiving end of the pinout goes. Is this correct? In particular I have seen that 3.5 mm TS mono plugs being compatible with the Sundara opn the receving side.

 

So by normal logic of the pinout of the TRS plug, I would have thought as illustrated in A) below, that the tip would link with the tip (left side), the ring would link with the ring (right side), and two wires would go to each respective sleeve as ground. Edit, I flipped the annotations on the Tip and Ring on the A) panel (on the left side), but nevermind, the wiring is correct.

 

However, if the headphone can use TS mono 3.5 mm ends, then I assume that both sides must be connected to the tip on either side as illustrated in B), since TS plugs do not have a ring.

 

Of course, nothing stops HiFiMan from implementing something insane like in C) where both tip and ring go to the rings of the headphone side. Or alternatively to move the grounds to the tip on the receiving side etc. But I assume that is not the case.

 

So am I right in thinking you can't really tell or assume how the wiring is connected in the stock cable and so the only way to know is to probe the stock cable for resistant over multiple connection possibilities as show in D)? To make sure the ring of the amp side is connected to the ring or the tip on the headphone side etc.

 

Or have I missed something and there is a simpler way to do this?

 

 

[The Flying Sloth]

If Aliexpress is anything to go by It's tip and sleeve, treat the headphone side like a TS cable,
https://www.aliexpress.com/i/33001269323.html

Don't know which is ground and which is hot but I'd assume the sleeve is ground

[For Science!]

1 hour ago, The Flying Sloth said:

If Aliexpress is anything to go by It's tip and sleeve, treat the headphone side like a TS cable,
https://www.aliexpress.com/i/33001269323.html

Don't know which is ground and which is hot but I'd assume the sleeve is ground

So need to probe to be sure, but probably B) is correct you think?

[The Flying Sloth]

Basically, yes

[For Science!]

14 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

Basically, yes

Good you dropped by to help btw  I was otherwise going to call upon any user that has used the term "Mogami" ever

[The Flying Sloth]

1 hour ago, For Science! said:

Good you dropped by to help btw  I was otherwise going to call upon any user that has used the term "Mogami" ever

Oh damn, that's a pretty big list

[22LeoG93]

On 6/29/2020 at 4:00 PM, For Science! said:

So I've been considering buying some HiFiMan Sundara's recently (not the point of discussion btw) and been reading that the stock cables can fail and aren't so great. As you can see below they are 3.5 mm TRS to dual 3.5 mm TRS cables. At least in Europe I've really struggled to even find cables that are equivalent and so decided to read up on making DIY custom cables. 

 

After learning about the TRS pinout it occured to me that there isn't really a standard for how the receiving end of the pinout goes. Is this correct? In particular I have seen that 3.5 mm TS mono plugs being compatible with the Sundara opn the receving side.

 

So by normal logic of the pinout of the TRS plug, I would have thought as illustrated in A) below, that the tip would link with the tip (left side), the ring would link with the ring (right side), and two wires would go to each respective sleeve as ground. Edit, I flipped the annotations on the Tip and Ring on the A) panel (on the left side), but nevermind, the wiring is correct.

 

However, if the headphone can use TS mono 3.5 mm ends, then I assume that both sides must be connected to the tip on either side as illustrated in B), since TS plugs do not have a ring.

 

Of course, nothing stops HiFiMan from implementing something insane like in C) where both tip and ring go to the rings of the headphone side. Or alternatively to move the grounds to the tip on the receiving side etc. But I assume that is not the case.

 

So am I right in thinking you can't really tell or assume how the wiring is connected in the stock cable and so the only way to know is to probe the stock cable for resistant over multiple connection possibilities as show in D)? To make sure the ring of the amp side is connected to the ring or the tip on the headphone side etc.

 

Or have I missed something and there is a simpler way to do this?

 

 

The correct version is B)

Just found this becuase i was cabling the Headset and tried version A) but wasnt right.

 

Hope this helps everyone which is at the same stage,  btw the Fiio btr5 works great with the hifiman Sundara