Nerding out while making a braided balanced headphone cable using aeco connectors

After aeco were kind enough to send us connectors to test out I thought I would try a new cable design using a cotton cover. While making the cable I also went over some of the physics of cables.
If you would like to win this prototype cable ( it is a bit of a rough prototype ) put a comment down below and say you would like it and if you are a subscriber, we will put your name in the hat for it.
If you are wandering what we used for the cover, we found it by searching for cotton piping.
If you enjoyed this video you should probably check out the one below
• Balanced Headphone amp...
If you would like to check out our cable there is a link below
customcans.co.uk/shop/product...

[@andrey.p]

I love how casual you make it all sound. Some geeky details but without getting overboard with an audiophile drama.

[@CustomCans]

trying to walk that thin line where I don't upset audiophiles or engineers ;)

[@zaxerita2873]

It's always interesting learning how complicated something as simple a cable can be. Great job as always!

[@CustomCans]

Thanks :)

[@tejp5101]

I could see the pain coming when you soldered the first double twist on the 3.5mm jack. PTFE tape is a great idea, much easier than popping on a bit of heat shrink beforehand. I'm using that in future! Would love this cable, it's a BEAST!

[@CustomCans]

Yeh we use a lot of PTFE tape it is great for all kinds of stuff... I will stick your name in the hat

[@DavidHorth]

I'd definitely love that cable, looks awesome. I've dabbled in making my own paracord cables but my soldering skills are terrible, so I appreciate a well made cable made by people with the skills to do so.

[@CustomCans]

I am probably not the best at soldering but it will hold together ;) I will stick your name in the hat

[@DavidHorth]

@@CustomCansStill far better than mine! Thanks and thanks for all the content these last few years.

[@natpick]

great stuff,i could watch someone do this all day,bought several braided cables from custom cans and always wondered how you got the cable through the sleeve.

[@CustomCans]

It depends on the cover - most of our cables are made with paracord - that has string down the centre from the factory so we just tie the wire to one of the strands of string and then pull it through, removing the string and inserting the wire in one go

[@danielheller8201]

This cable is amazing! Please add me to the drawing! I would absolutely treasure this.

[@CustomCans]

Unfortunately the winner has already been chosen. But keep your eyes peeled as we will be doing another give away next month

[@Charun1982]

I'd love to win that cable! Those are some SEXY connectors, and i love the black cable wrap too! Been making my own for few years now (just as a hobby for myself and gifts for close friends) and it would be really interesting to see how they compare to ones made by someone who actually knows what they're doing! 😂

[@CustomCans]

Lol - I am not 100% sure I know what I am doing. Ray, our cable builder would probably be shocked at how messy my soldering / shrink tubing is. I will stick your name in the hat ;)

[@LauriHuu]

Love the calm presentation and the cheeky notions to measureable differences :D Would love that braid and subbed of course.

[@CustomCans]

I think it is probably more theoretical than measurable ;) I am sure with the right equipment and comparing it to a very badly designed cable, you could just about measure a difference in the top end but calculations say it would be very very small. I will stick your name in the hat for this unnecessary over engineered cable ;)

[@LauriHuu]

@@CustomCans next up: how to overengineer a hat for the raffles!

[@6643bear]

Great cables and great theory too on cables . Regards mark

[@CustomCans]

Thanks ;)

[@zyvixm]

I see maths. My eyes pop out. Call it PTSD if you want. Meanwhile, my Hifiman Arya Organics are in awe at that cable.

[@CustomCans]

I will stick your name in the hat ;)

[@brianh2001]

I would love to win the cable. I've been enjoying all the headphone mod videos you've been doing too. Nice to see some science thrown into the mix too.

[@CustomCans]

I will stick your name in the hat ;)

[@Tura67]

That cable would be very nice on my Hifiman He1000 stealth. Great work!

[@CustomCans]

I will stick your name in the hat ;)

[@PaulBloomlittledevil]

Brilliant detail, mind blown!Amazing timing too, as I was just looking at rewiring my Hifiman He560 V1's today.

[@CustomCans]

I hope it was helpful.

[@PaulBloomlittledevil]

@@CustomCans really helpful 👍

[@efgp1315]

Might be too late as it's been a week, but that's a GREAT looking cable that I'd love to use on my Arya Stealth

[@CustomCans]

You are right, it Moght ;) I am not sure if Sylvia has picked a winner yet but if not I will get your name stuck in the hat

[@efgp1315]

Gosh, didn't see the typo ! Thanks for the reply !

[@anankuek4650]

Oo what a cool cable. I would like to have a try at this giveaway.

[@CustomCans]

I will stick your name in the hat

[@Gramhex]

Looks nice, I would like it!

[@CustomCans]

Fingers crossed!

[@bongofury3176]

watching with captions as I have cans on of course (1266 on tubes). I would love that cable as I already have a 3m XLR extension and a Hi-Rose Dan Clark cable from you and that 3.5mm would be perfect for almost all my other cans. Fingers crossed from a new subscriber...

[@CustomCans]

I think Sylvia is choosing the winner today

[@thepedanticcreature680]

I sure would like the cable to use with my ETA O2s as a balanced option.

[@CustomCans]

I will stick your name in the hat

[@user-yw7qn8hf6b]

Count me in

[@CustomCans]

counted!

[@snaggster]

I love the litz cable that came with my Uber dt770. I purchased them from you guys in the back end of 2020. And have been used daily, never missed a beat. I would love a Litz balanced cable for my sivga Phoenix, but unfortunately, they end in 2.5mm. I'm soon hoping to buy some Edition XS (awaiting wife approval)..... So please pop my name in the hat.

[@CustomCans]

No problem... name placed firmly in the hat ;)

[@neildoherty9428]

I found this very interesting.( I think I need to get out more )

[@CustomCans]

Glad you enjoyed it ;)

[@iamwoteveriwanttobe]

I would like to win this cable to make my life complete.

[@CustomCans]

If your life is complete except for a cable... you are doing pretty well. I will stick your name in the hat ;)

[@simonadams6640]

Really nice - like a good soft cotton braided cable.

[@CustomCans]

Yes, it is quite nice. This one is a little heavy so I may make another with out the doubled up wire and then test the cotton cover for durability.

[@davidschweizer505]

I do not want to win this cable. If I would win I would be forced to buy a headphone dac with xlr outputs. DO NOT MAKE ME SPEND MORE MONEY ON AUDIO!!! pls None the less, i'll gladly enter the contest, thanks for the great work Jason and Crew!

[@CustomCans]

Lol - I know the feeling ;)

[@nerji]

I'd like the cable! enjoying the content, stumbled across ya when I had to find a way to fix the cable on my 9 year old DT990

[@MykeBinaryMan]

Very fascinating to watch, I would be very interested in seeing more cable videos. Sadly I have no headphones for that cable yet but would be interested in what you think of the Harmoincdyne Zeus. That would match up to the cable very nicely.

[@CustomCans]

I have a few more ideas to try out for cable designs so I may shoot some more

[@keltonwelch7690]

would love a great xlr cable like this one to finish off my new head-fi setup I have been working on for the past couple of months.

[@CustomCans]

Good luck!

[@danrussell9357]

Long-time subscriber and would like to have the pair of prototype cables. I also enjoyed some of your earlier videos about making cables when I made some XLR cables from surplus pro audio gear I had.

[@CustomCans]

I will stick your name in the hat ;)

[@GabrieleMusco]

would love to win this cable! btw thanks to your videos I modded my dt 770 pros and added a detachable cable! love your work, keep it up :)

[@CustomCans]

Thanks ;)

[@Taunosaunoo]

What a beautiful cable, I hope I'm lucky this time :) Keep the videos coming, much appreciated!

[@CustomCans]

Good luck!

[@CustomCans]

Congratulations, you have won the fancy cable ;) Please email us with your name and delivery address and we will get it shipped out to you [e-mail]

[@Taunosaunoo]

Wow, what a pleasant surprise! I did send my address info. Thank you! 👌@@CustomCans

[@mini-337]

Would like to try with my new diy headphones

[@CustomCans]

Diy headphones sounds fun... I will stick your name in the hat ;)

[@dykatran]

I would love to win this cable to use it with my Sundara.

[@CustomCans]

I will stick your name in the hat

[@MorrisonSoft]

Please put my name in the hat, would like to win this nice cable!

[@CustomCans]

will do

[@jackiechan8840]

Aico aico aiyay...

[@CustomCans]

;)

[@SimonP2]

Nice video, thanks. Please put me in the hat, I'm looking for a repacement cable for my HEKS and this would be ideal.

[@CustomCans]

You're in!

[@LutherieHJB]

Hi, I'd love to have it for my Arya ! :)

[@CustomCans]

I will stick your name in the hat

[@harryrewcastle9444]

Fancy cable? Yes

[@CustomCans]

;)

[@tooms3441]

I would like to have such a cable. I have a few headphones with 3.5 jack plugs, but no nice cable :/

[@CustomCans]

Good luck - I will stick your name in the hat

[@janhalter5050]

Thank you for this bunch of information. Is it the same with interconects?

[@CustomCans]

Yes it is much the same with interconnects - the shielding on them adds a lot to the capacitance normally so then you have the shielded vs unshielded trade offs.

[@norm962]

There's a hat?!

[@CustomCans]

There's a hat???

[@NickMarsland]

Would love to see what effect these might have on my Hifiman Edition XS!

[@CustomCans]

As I mentioned , the difference in sound between cables would be pretty subtle if you could notice it ;) I will stick your name in the hat for the comp

[@anthixious]

Isn't the 3rd connection of a 3.5mm ground? Even though it's disconnected, it's grounding out any possible noise because a 3.5mm is L/R-, L/R+ and ground, yeah?

[@CustomCans]

99% of headphones don't have a ground at the earcup end. Just the + and - for the driver. I think the only headphone I can think of with a separate ground is the Beyerdynamic T1 and T5 which use the ground for shielding on the cable. There are probably others but it is not normally needed

[@anthixious]

@@CustomCans Gotcha, interesting 👍. So a headphone that has cables of dual 3.5mm males each terminated to a 3-pin XLR connector technically isn't grounded? Or it depends on how the cables were wired up?

[@CustomCans]

Yes... Most balanced headphone cables with 2 x 3 pin XLRs will only have 2 wires attached to each XLR one carrying the signal and one carrying an inverted signal. I have a better explanation here kzbin.info/www/bejne/aJPTiWRpnLp9eKs

[@MartinFellerMusic]

would you recommend using this wire for microphone cables as well? Right now I'm using a fatter one

[@CustomCans]

We have not played much with mics - these wires are unshielded so if you need a long mic cable it probably would not be a good idea

[@jstevo1349]

cool cable. im thinking about making one too. have you tried any electrostat headphones?

[@CustomCans]

I only had a quick go on some STAX but it was at a show with lots of background noise. I have blown the budget for the next couple of months but if I ever have any money for projects again I may get some of the HiFiMan Jade II in to have a play with

[@jstevo1349]

@@CustomCans i hear the jade 2 is a bit of a flop. im planning on getting some "budget" stax l500s and people have done mods on those improving the bass.

[@KajMando]

hello mr jason i have a beyerdynamic dt 990 pro but one side is suddenly got quieter and i dont know what to do !! any help please ?

[@CustomCans]

It is not the kind of thing that is easy to diagnose without having a look at them. I would use a cheap multimeter to see if they measure about the same resistance each side. If they measure about the same then it is probably a dead driver. If it measures quite differently each side then it could be a cable issue.

[@KajMando]

thank you so much mr Jason for the information , and im sorry for wasting your time , i will do that ,and maybe i will have a question or two if im not being a bit of burden please ! @@CustomCans

[@KajMando]

and yeah i remember measuring it and it measured 244hm and 243hm , and i remember the store owner measuring it from the aux adapter , is it the right way or should he measure it from the driver itself ? @@CustomCans

[@emptyman999]

Das ist schon blöd, ich erwartete schema für draht und kabel belegung, um selber zu löten, anstatt nur mathe und unendlich blal bla bla...abo beendet!

[@CustomCans]

I should have asked you before I made the video. Net time maybe ;)