How-to: Change your headphone's minijack! (now w/videos)

[aki]

Originally Posted by WalkGood

It's always nice to go new and they're not really expensive

Ok, but why spend money if the same can be achieved for free? Is there anything better in the neutrik plug mentioned than mine?

[CrowdAds]

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by aki

Ok, but why spend money if the same can be achieved for free? Is there anything better in the neutrik plug mentioned than mine?

No, there is nothing wrong with free if there isn’t anything wrong with your silver plug. I only stated new because you said: “…it sucks because I have to wiggle the cable around to get the right channel working….” If you have a vacuum pump or solder wick, you should be able to desolder the connections clean and then check to make sure it was the connections and not the plug that caused your right channel not to work correctly.

[BattleBrat]

Just so everyone knows There is a website called parts-express.com and you can buy a "Rean" (Neutrik) 3.5mm plug for $1.16 each and shipping (at least to Pasadena, CA, USA) is $4 via Smartpost. They are good plugs, HIGHLY RATED, small, beautiful black w/gold plating, and cheap enough to buy and ship you can buy 4-5 of em! I used two, One on my Sony MDR-CD2000's and another on my MDR-SA3000's (why the 10ft cords?) I've been using them for about a year and so far they are awesome! They are a little on the thinner side so if your DAP's headphone jack is as loose as a seasoned prostitute you might want to use the switchcraft ones, they are larger overall however.
DONT FORGET TO BUY A DeoxIT GOLD PEN TO TREAT YOUR HEADPHONE/INTERCONNECT PLUGS EVERYTIME BEFORE YOU PLUG IN!

link;
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/psho...92-157&scqty=0

They also have a nice right angle plug available;
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=092-333

Pictures (It's nice to know what the finished product looks like );

[Zona]

Well I sat on my Grado SR60 cord while it was plugged in to my receiver and broke the plug so now I have to replace it. My issue is that it has 4 wires instead of the 3 shown in the tutorial. Obviously the 2 dark blue wires are grounds, so would I buy a normal plug and solder both of them to the same ground flange or would I need a special plug with 2 separate ground flanges?

[Zona]

come on guys I'm having to play battlefield with $20 sony earbuds which sucks, help a brotha out.

[Monoglycer]

Yes, stripping the 2 ground wires and attaching them to the same ground port should work.

[cj123lane]

i have a pair of pink in ear headphones that i bought for £4.99 from a shop called TK maxx... i wasnt expecting them to be brilliant but it would do for now, but the thing is they were pretty good and its a 3.5mm jack BUT! they dont fit into my iPhones 3.5mm jack properly, theyre a bit lose and dont play the bass unless you keep the jack pushed in, this is the first problem i have encountered, these headphones work fine in my old iPod touch, laptop, PC etc... its just my iPhone, yet my iphone works perfectly with every other pair of headphones i have tried in it, no faults at all so if this thread is still active and you know of something to help me that would be great thanks!!

[WalkGood]

Just buy a headphone jack adapter, 3.5mm to iphone.

[sergivs]

Sorry, I did not read the entire thread and I may be repeating what was said already, but here are a couple of things that someone may find useful:

1) For additional strain relief and reliability, fill the inside of the plug assembly with epoxy. After you make sure the connection is working, unscrew the top and put some epoxy on the solder joints and cover some of the outer cable insulation and the crimping; basically, so that most of the top will be filled, but with no excess. This will be useful even if the assembly has a strain relief spring, especially useful when the chord is yanked hard. Of course, you won't be able to unscrew the top after the epoxy hardens, but it's worth it.

2) If the lacquer or paint is not coming off when you use regular solder with rosin core, do not try to scrub it off mechanically from the thin strands. Instead, use an aspirin tablet, just put the wire on top and touch with the tinned soldering iron tip. It's actually a pretty strong acid flux; aspirin is of course a trade name for acetylsalycilic acid. The fumes are pretty harsh, so do this in a ventilated area. Afterwards, clean the tinned wire thoroughly with alcohol and an old toothbrush and wipe the solder tip clean.

I did this recently on a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 770 80-Ohm monitors (left a short cord with a 3.5mm locking gold plug and turned the rest of the cord into an extension).

Sergei

[atimmons05]

hey guys, ive got a set of Sennheiser HD 555s and the cable is just too long for what i need, it also has a 1/4inch plug which again isnt ideal for what i use it for (mostly music and occasionally gaming). firstly, it the wiring the same in a cable attached to a 1/4inch plug as a 3.5mm? Also does anyone know if the sennheiser HD555 cable has the same cabling as the one used in the demonstration before i chop it in half! any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

[Pinkys.Brain]

I honestly don't see the need for doing the change of the plug in your case. If your plug works, than why do you want to change it. Redoing the plug is really fiddly work IMHO!

You should instead just use a cable reel for earphones and wait until the cable breaks.

[skip252]

Originally Posted by Pinkys.Brain

I honestly don't see the need for doing the change of the plug in your case. If your plug works, than why do you want to change it. Redoing the plug is really fiddly work IMHO!

You should instead just use a cable reel for earphones and wait until the cable breaks.

The 1/4" (6.8mm) plug combined with the 1/8' (3.5mm) adapter creates a almost 3" long lever that's just waiting to tear apart the insides of your player. Between that and shortening a almost 10' cord that's plenty of reason to want to change the plug.

dfkt recently answered if there were anything unusual about dealing with changes to the cable on headphones and his answer included Sennheisers.

Originally Posted by dfkt

The only 'tricky' stuff I ever encountered in headphone cables are the enameled/coated/painted kind of wire, which needs to be burned off with the tip of the soldering iron, before solder sticks to it. Other than that, I never saw anything special in the 20+ pairs of headphones I recabled/replugged, no matter if Sennheiser, Ultrasone, Beyerdynamic, Jays, or any other brand.

[Pinkys.Brain]

Okay, the 3" long lever is a good reason. But why not just use an adapter like this:



I had to change the plug for my CX300 and it was really fiddly. I don't think I'd do it again if I don't need to....

[skip252]

When I changed mine it was as much to customize the cable length as to change the plug. I had no desire to use a cable reel to deal with the extra 5 ft of cable I didn't need. Adding more onto the cable may work for some but it doesn't fit into my ideal of portable music being as light and clutter free as possible.

[steinburger1109]

Yea, if you're using it with a PMP, ten feet would be horrible. That alone would make me want to recable it. Add on the 1/4" jack, and they just pushed me away (true story).

I'm 99% sure that 1/4" jacks are the same on the inside, just bigger.

[sergivs]

Originally Posted by atimmons05

hey guys, ive got a set of Sennheiser HD 555s and the cable is just too long for what i need, it also has a 1/4inch plug which again isnt ideal for what i use it for (mostly music and occasionally gaming). firstly, it the wiring the same in a cable attached to a 1/4inch plug as a 3.5mm? Also does anyone know if the sennheiser HD555 cable has the same cabling as the one used in the demonstration before i chop it in half! any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks

Yes, the wiring is the same. You can also find the diagram online for stereo TRS connections and, after you're done, double-check with a source that has balance control or with an ohmmeter (you should measure the correct resistance and hear clicks in the corresponding channel).

[atimmons05]

excellent, thanks for all your help guys! hopefully i can get that done after exams

[kljhlkjhki]

managed this but looking to see if i can change earbuds with a mic built in
doesnt look like it would be much harder
another wire or so

[WalkGood]

Originally Posted by kljhlkjhki

managed this but looking to see if i can change earbuds with a mic built in
doesnt look like it would be much harder
another wire or so

You would use a different plug called TRRS connector. Either a 3 or 4 contuctor version of the 3.5mm plug: for mono (three conductor) or stereo (four conductor).

[Liverpool]

Build up: left speaker of headset stopped working...turns out there was a short in the knot inside the speaker case. Rash decisions turned what should have been a easy fix into a disaster. (cut the wire at the speaker connection with plans to solder back the wire instead of just cutting the trouble area and twist+solder wire). Anyhoo, awful soldering skills messed everything up and now the speaker works on and off. Read here that the paint on the wire may cause it from working properly and I'm sure that's the problem.

I want to change the wire (from speaker connection to plug) , mostly for length issues. But don't know where I can get a wire with the split or what to get. Nothing expensive please