Click to view our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions
Showing 1 of 1510 conversations about:
JPfeiff23
7
May 7, 2019
bookmark_border
I'm just wondering could anybody tell me why there is a cable going into each ear? Not really into headphones and it seems to be a thing on the higher end headphones. Is it because the drivers need so much power or what is the reasoning behind this? I've tried googling info on it the past 2 days but only get info about why cords keep breaking or how to prevent crods from breaking even typing in "why do some headphones have a wire coming from left and right side while some only have one". Any info on the subject would be greatly appreciated!
May 7, 2019
AudioRJ
4
May 18, 2019
bookmark_border
JPfeiff23Easily upgradable. Most cheap headphones if you happen to step on the cord can be ripped out of the circuitry on the inside. Plus with audiophile grade headphones we tend to upgrade the cable to a balanced or higher end connection xlr 2.5trrs or 4.4 etc. I have 4 cables for my hd600s lol
May 18, 2019
JPfeiff23
7
May 18, 2019
bookmark_border
AudioRJMy question was why do they need to wires, one to each cup? Like the sennheiser hd6xx have a wire running to both sides compared to headphones like the Bose quietcomfort series or beats headphones or even the sennheiser pc37x
May 18, 2019
Michael-Q
243
May 18, 2019
bookmark_border
JPfeiff23Trying to keep it simple: All electronics need 2 wires going to stuff. One wire delivers power, the other returns the current or "completes the circuit." Sometimes the "return" wires are combined into one. Now with that said, when you see 1 cable going to 1 ear it probably has multiple wires inside it - probably four total within the ear cups (2 wires for each ear cup) and 3 in the long cable going back the amp/power source (2 hot wires - one for each ear cup and a single wire for the "return" of both ear cups). The reason you sometimes see 2 cables with one going to each ear cup is mostly just a design decision with advantages and disadvantages. As I've tried to say, you need 2 wires for each ear cup no matter how it appears on the outside. The inside under the plastic/rubber has more than 1 wire going everywhere. A cable going to each ear cup can be seen as an audiophile requirement to keep things perfectly balanced. Some just prefer the way it looks. I personally like having the single cable so I can keep the wires mostly out of my way off to the side. It's not a deal breaker though if it has both ear cups wired on the outside.
(Edited)
May 18, 2019
JPfeiff23
7
May 18, 2019
bookmark_border
Michael-QThank you so much! Very descriptive and informative!
May 18, 2019
NeoTheLizard
108
May 22, 2019
bookmark_border
JPfeiff23I find that there's still one aspect to this missing, which is durability and maintenance. I have a suspicion that one of the reasons you primarily see this on higher end headphones is because there's expectations that if you put down 200$< on a pair of headphones they need to be able to last. (Yeah, the HD58X are technically cheaper, but their model design originates in more expensive headphones.) As Michael mentioned, both cups on a headphone need power. The actual component that produces the sound is the driver, the small mechanical device that pushes the air in rapid succession, creating sound waves. One of those are housed inside each ear cup, and, if it's a normal wired headphones, those are usually the only components that require power. Chances are, that if a headphone has only one cable going into one ear cup, the other one is actually connected to the first one by a cable routed through the headband. This is visible on some headphones, like the HyperX Cloud 1 and 2 headsets. I have not yet seen a headphone made in this way where that cable was easily detachable, which means that if it breaks for some reason, you'll basically be stuck with a headphone that can only play sound in one side unless you have some moderate tinkering experience and spare time to kill. Having each cup receive power through the external, usually detachable wire just means that there's a few internal components less that could fail and cause the entire headphone to need replacement. Buying a 5-20$ cable replacement is definitely preferable in such a case to putting down another hundreds of dollars on a new headphone. Furthermore, as AudioJR mentions, if you want to upgrade the cable to a balanced XLR connection (I hear this has some bearing on sound quality, if you have the setup to make use of it) I guess it kind of won't work optimally if both drivers aren't fed signals directly through the external cable. Lastly, the HD58x and its HD600 series siblings are designed and constructed to be easily dismantled, which a wire running through the headband would complicate needlessly. You can basically pull them apart and reassemble them almost without any tools at your disposal. Sennheiser seems to be selling spare parts for their headphones, although most are sparsely available. Still, it's a nice, quality of life feature for something like this to have, I find. Also certainly makes it easier for people who like to paint their headphones to do so.
May 22, 2019
Makai_Gamer
0
Jun 24, 2019
bookmark_border
JPfeiff23It's so you don't rip out the internals and so you can upgrade to an xlr cable if you want too. :)
Jun 24, 2019
View Full Discussion
Related Products