extending headphone cable.good or bad idea/

[ianlecompte]

as the title says really,looking at getting some cans but they all seem to have quite short leads,would it degrade sound quality if i was to buy an extender lead?or could i have the lead replaced with something better and longer if i took them to a hifi store.or should i go for something like the sennie 45 wireless?they seem to go quite cheap on ebay,will be used for music and late nite gaming.
cheers
ian

[ipodstudio]

Originally Posted by ianlecompte

as the title says really,looking at getting some cans but they all seem to have quite short leads,would it degrade sound quality if i was to buy an extender lead?or could i have the lead replaced with something better and longer if i took them to a hifi store.or should i go for something like the sennie 45 wireless?they seem to go quite cheap on ebay,will be used for music and late nite gaming.
cheers
ian

How long do you need it? I use this Cardas v2 cable on my Sennheiser HD650s but not becuase of it's 10ft length, but rather it's sonic qualities...

Using a headphone extention cable is not normally a problem in itself. What kind of cans are you using?

[pbirkett]

I use a £7 coiled extension cable off ebay, and I cant tell any difference with or without it on

[Crocodile JD]

I made my own extension cable using decent quality parts from Maplins and some low impedence microphone cable. It works a treat and does not affect the sound one jot.

Croc

[G a f f e r]

Also made my own by canibalising a set of £50 Sony headphon es. Bit tricky to scrape the OFC coatings off the copper wires (like red and green paint/wax). Then soldered an adapter on.
Great sound (about 3 meter cable) with no obvious loss in SQ when using my sennies

[ianlecompte]

hi croc,that sounds a great idea,microphone cable and i guess a 3.5mm line in socket and a 1/4 jack,both in stereo,just had a look at these on maplins site,is the blue coloured cable a decent blue,any ideas?
cheers ian

[Pink Fairy]

Depending on your budget, you could try Stax phones, 3m cord length with a 5m extension available. I use the 5m every now and again and it's sonically invisible...not a cheap route but the best for actual sound quality imho.

[Crocodile JD]

Ian
The cable I used has black sleeving. It has a core which is sheilded from an outer braid. I used this because it was advertised as low impedence which I thought might be best because of the length involved. The ends are both 1/4" jack, one female the other male, both with spring type strain relief. The plug is gold plated, but I'm not sure I could get gold plated in the socket. It's been a while so can't remember part numbers now.

HTH

Croc