[Marius]

Hi folks,

Trying to pin down my next audio audnirvana, i started to investigate the balanced headphone definitions, and ways to realize that. Source Balanced out/BHA1/Balanced headphone . The last stage seems to confuse me, under the impression to have read that some Headphones have to be recabled to be able to use them balanced mode. Talking about the Sennheiser 800, Audeze 2 or Beyer T1, Hifiman seems a bit difficult to get overhere.

But then I read that the Headphones with detachable cables like the Sennheiser I would just have to change the external cable and be set? Is it really just that easy? Would be wonderful of course . really no internal wiring changes necessary?

 Second question coming out of that is what cable to uses then. I love a good cable, http://www.headphone.com/accessories/cablepro-hd800-balanced-headphone-cable---10ft.php but 650 $ or more for 3 meters balanced cable seems a bit steep. Cheapest I could find was this Cardas http://www.headphone.com/accessories/cardas-balanced-cable-for-hd800-10ft-neutrik.php, but it looks a bit 'handmade' to be honest. What to buy? Does Bryston make some?

"The (stock HD800) cable is balanced as standard, so all you have to do is to cut off the jack plug and replace it with the balanced connector(s) of your choice." is it that simple?

As not all my sources are balanced (Phone and Tuner as most relevant) I do want to connect the RCA outs of my BP26 tape to the RCA ins on the BHA1. James confirmed this is possible simultaneously. I need some feedback please about playing these analog sources through a balanced connected headphone. There would be no noise/humm or other issues?

Thanks!
Marius

[myview]

Hi Marius,

I personally think that Hifiman headphones (esp. the HE-6 and HE-500) are worth hunting down.  Of course the other headphones you mention are also great and each has a loyal following.

There are many balanced cable suppliers, each claiming superiority over the others.  Among the popular ones among users of www.head-fi.org are:
1) Toxic Cables (www.toxic-cables.co.uk)
2) Q Audio (www.q-audio.com)
3) Moon Audio (www.moon-audio.com)

I am not affiliated with any of the above.

When I connected the BHA-1 to the 'Tape Out' of the BP-26, running a pair of Hifiman HE-6, there was no detectable noise or hum, with or without music.

Hi folks,

Trying to pin down my next audio audirvana, i started to investigate the balanced headphone definitions, and ways to realize that. Source Balanced out/BHA1/Balanced headphone . The last stage seems to confuse me, under the impression to have read that some Headphones have to be recabled to be able to use them balanced mode. Talking about the Sennheiser 800, Audeze 2 or Beyer T1, Hifiman seems a bit difficult to get overhere.

But then I read that the Headphones with detachable cables like the Sennheiser I would just have to change the external cable and be set? Is it really just that easy? Would be wonderful of course . really no internal wiring changes necessary?

 Second question coming out of that is what cable to uses then. I love a good cable, http://www.headphone.com/accessories/cablepro-hd800-balanced-headphone-cable---10ft.php but 650 $ or more for 3 meters balanced cable seems a bit steep. Cheapest I could find was this Cardas http://www.headphone.com/accessories/cardas-balanced-cable-for-hd800-10ft-neutrik.php, but it looks a bit 'handmade' to be honest. What to buy? Does Bryston make some?

"The (stock HD800) cable is balanced as standard, so all you have to do is to cut off the jack plug and replace it with the balanced connector(s) of your choice." is it that simple?

As not all my sources are balanced (Phone and Tuner as most relevant) I do want to connect the RCA outs of my BP26 tape to the RCA ins on the BHA1. James confirmed this is possible simultaneously. I need some feedback please about playing these analog sources through a balanced connected headphone. There would be no noise/humm or other issues?

Thanks!
Marius

[James Tanner]

GTT Audio of NJ. I order 17 inch silver.
Thanks,
BJ

From production:


Hi James

In process this week and will ship the following week.

Jim

[Marius]

Hi James,

As I am on the verge of ordering my audiophile Headphone.... Bryston isn't planning the release of their own Headphone anywhere soon to accompany the Model T's? Would be enough reason for me to wait a bit...

Marius

[James Tanner]

Hi James,

As I am on the verge of ordering my audiophile Headphone.... Bryston isn't planning the release of their own Headphone anywhere soon to accompany the Model T's? Would be enough reason for me to wait a bit...

Marius

Hi Marius

No plans at all in entering the headphone market.

James

[Marius]

  thanks

Bha1/Hd800 it'll be then, only to find reasonable balanced cables now.
Quite exciting it all is!

Thanks,
Marius

Hi Marius

No plans at all in entering the headphone market.

James

[saisunil]

Marius - good to see you back in the headphone world.
I would say - stay away from cards - there are better cables in the market.

You may want to look into used market or ask virtue audio to make you a balanced to RCA dongle and see how things go before making the plunge.

Cables need to be matched with the headphone and gear ... Be sure to talk wit someone who has experience with various cables and headphone matching with them ...

Moon audio makes a great cable but I had a couple of less than desirable experiences that I took my business elsewhere ...

Good luck

[Marius]

Hi Saisunil,

What balanced cable did you end up with?

Marius

Marius - good to see you back in the headphone world.
I would say - stay away from cards - there are better cables in the market.

You may want to look into used market or ask virtue audio to make you a balanced to RCA dongle and see how things go before making the plunge.

Cables need to be matched with the headphone and gear ... Be sure to talk wit someone who has experience with various cables and headphone matching with them ...

Moon audio makes a great cable but I had a couple of less than desirable experiences that I took my business elsewhere ...

Good luck

[mkaiser]

  thanks

Bha1/Hd800 it'll be then, only to find reasonable balanced cables now.
Quite exciting it all is!/quote]

An excellent combination Marius, you will be very impressed with your choices. I have the combination that you seek. I use the Cardas Clear headphone cable from Cardas and the sound is worldclass IMO. So enjoy when you get it all up and running. 

Mark

[saisunil]

Hi Saisunil,

What balanced cable did you end up with?

Marius

Hi Marius

Just after market single ended cables not balanced yet ...
... Cardas clear seems like a great choice - did not know they offered clear option for headphones ... Shows how behind I am on the headphones after market cabling experiences

The bottom Line is the cable has to match your system - phones and amp along with your listening preferences ...
I had silver dragon on akg701 and it was a great combo on both solid state and tube amps and gave akg1000 run for the money on woo audio 5

I have the he500 with Milan acoustics cable (thank goodness it did not sell)  I am waiting to move to our new house before I decide on the headphone setup ...

Hd800 are more sensitive to cabling and amp than perhaps any other phone - so be sure to talk to a couple of people and ideally look for experiences on head-fi - people who have hd800 and after market Cale and over the honey-moon period and no longer feel that their phone is the best in the world 

Cheers
Sunil

[bjski]

Quote from: bjski on Yesterday at 10:10 pm

GTT Audio of NJ. I order 17 inch silver.
Thanks,
BJ




From production:


Hi James

In process this week and will ship the following week.

Jim[/quote]


James,
Thanks for your prompted reply on a weekend!
Regards,
BJ

[Marius]

Hi All,

Please help: BHA1 is on its way, as is the HD800. Balanced cable is last point of investigation. The local Sennheiser dealer told me he failed to understand how a stock Sennheiser cable (4 wires) could be made into a balanced cable (3 left, 3 right) by cutting of the stock Jack and substitute that with 2 3-pins male xlr. Could anyone here point me in the right direction?

Ive found this, but since it is for the Audeze LCD2, would that be to Brystons definition of correct wiring too?:

www.headphiles.org/index.php?topic=1919.0



And since we're talking modification: is there any advantage in the double mono over the stereo xlr? I would think it be cable-safer to use the stereo?

is there no technical documentation on http://bryston.com/pages/technical.html? other than the brochure that is?

James could you/Bryston be of assistance with a HD800: "Bryston will also provide modifications to some headphone models to make them compatible with a balanced output configuration, along with an adapter cable assuring backwards compatibility to all traditional (unbalanced) headphone outputs."

Appreciated!

Marius

[Marius]

Hi James,

This is getting over my head right now, could you please enlighten me?
I searched Headroom for further info and  correspondency with Headroom about their cable offering gives this by Jorge:

quote:

"Correct .... But just to be sure your Bryston unit has XLR outputs dedicated (properly buffered) for direct headphone use and not for 'line-level' component connections? ... I merely ask because connecting balanced HD800 headphones directly to 'line-level' XLR [audio component] outputs is not recommended and will result in typically poor sound quality and even the remote risk of headphone driver damage.
 
Here is some in-depth HeadRoom background information on audiophile balanced headphone systems:
 
http://www.headphone.com/learning-center/balanced-drive-faq.php
 
http://www.headphone.com/learning-center/balanced-drive-article-series.php
 
 
On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 11:21 AM, Marijn ten Harmsen van der Beek <crebucon@me.com> wrote:

Just in case: your cable-retrofit comes with 2 3-pin male XLR connectors? BHA1 has female XLR conncectors.
"
end quote

[James Tanner]

Hi James,

This is getting over my head right now, could you please enlighten me?
I searched Headroom for further info and  correspondency with Headroom about their cable offering gives this by Jorge:

quote:

"Correct .... But just to be sure your Bryston unit has XLR outputs dedicated (properly buffered) for direct headphone use and not for 'line-level' component connections? ... I merely ask because connecting balanced HD800 headphones directly to 'line-level' XLR [audio component] outputs is not recommended and will result in typically poor sound quality and even the remote risk of headphone driver damage.
 
Here is some in-depth HeadRoom background information on audiophile balanced headphone systems:
 
http://www.headphone.com/learning-center/balanced-drive-faq.php
 
http://www.headphone.com/learning-center/balanced-drive-article-series.php
 
 
On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 11:21 AM, Marijn ten Harmsen van der Beek <crebucon@me.com> wrote:

Just in case: your cable-retrofit comes with 2 3-pin male XLR connectors? BHA1 has female XLR conncectors.
"
end quote

Hi Marius,

I will ask Stu to comment.

james

[Marius]

Thanks James, appreciated.

Hi Marius,

I will as Stu to comment.

james

[zeiter]

Is it normal for the BHA-1 to be warm, or even get hot after some long playing time, but only on the left side ( behind the volume knob ) ? I was expecting it to be warm on the right side since this is where the transformer is, but on the contrary, it remains cold on the right side. Being a class A, I guess it should run warm, but the transformer does not generate any heat ? Thanks

[James Tanner]

Is it normal for the BHA-1 to be warm, or even get hot after some long playing time, but only on the left side ( behind the volume knob ) ? I was expecting it to be warm on the right side since this is where the transformer is, but on the contrary, it remains cold on the right side. Being a class A, I guess it should run warm, but the transformer does not generate any heat ? Thanks

Hi

Yes - It will get hot on the left side - it is normal.

[Marius]

James, sorry, but this adds to my confusion, please make sure Stu gets this too:

Just received a phonecall from the local Sennheiser dealer. He had forwarded my question to Sennheiser HQ and they state that the HD800 is not a balanced Headphone, it's single ended, just like any normal speaker, and connecting through a balanced cable/amp makes no sense at all, no soundquality effect, let alone improvement in other words, keep my money in my pocket.

Now what to believe? How come the rave reviews of all those aftermarket cables if the manufacturer of the hd800 says its a single ended headphone.

Marius

Hi Marius,

I will ask Stu to comment.

james

[grsimmon]

James, sorry, but this adds to my confusion, please make sure Stu gets this too:

Just received a phonecall from the local Sennheiser dealer. He had forwarded my question to Sennheiser HQ and they state that the HD800 is not a balanced Headphone, it's single ended, just like any normal speaker, and connecting through a balanced cable/amp makes no sense at all, no soundquality effect, let alone improvement in other words, keep my money in my pocket.

Now what to believe? How come the rave reviews of all those aftermarket cables if the manufacturer of the hd800 says its a single ended headphone.

Marius

Hi Marius;
A good resource for your questions is Tyll Hertsens at InnerFidelity.com.   He is the original founder of HeadRoom and one of the true experts on headphones out there.  He has been known to correct companies like Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic on their own misinformation,  wiring mistakes, etc.   :O    He truly is a wealth of information and just a nice person, very approachable and without attitude. 

Just FYI,  there is no such thing as a "balanced" headphone, and so of course Sennheiser will repeat that forever.   There are only balanced 'configurations'  of headphones that can be accomplished with either modifications,  or with after-market detachable cables.  You sound stressed - don't be.  With that particular model HD800, if you poke around, you can find used cables for sale and just experiment and go with whatever you think sounds better,  balanced vs. single ended.   

[Marius]

Thanks Grsimmon,

I'll see to contact Tyll. Saw his videos of reviews and understand your words about him.

Do you have any insight in the cabling scheme of things? Would the one i posted earlier be what I'm looking for with the HD800?

Marius

Hi Marius;
A good resource for your questions is Tyll Hertsens at InnerFidelity.com.   He is the original founder of HeadRoom and one of the true experts on headphones out there.  He has been known to correct companies like Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic on their own misinformation,  wiring mistakes, etc.   :O    He truly is a wealth of information and just a nice person, very approachable and without attitude. 

Just FYI,  there is no such thing as a "balanced" headphone, and so of course Sennheiser will repeat that forever.   There are only balanced 'configurations'  of headphones that can be accomplished with either modifications,  or with after-market detachable cables.  You sound stressed - don't be.  With that particular model HD800, if you poke around, you can find used cables for sale and just experiment and go with whatever you think sounds better,  balanced vs. single ended.