Looking for good cables, possibly custom

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories Source Gear / Other
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Where do I get good cables?

And no I don’t mean for audio quality reasons (because that is snake oil). I’m looking for well-made cables with the features I like. There are so many lists about DACs, AMPs, Headphones but I don’t see much about cables.

so firstly the headphones I want to outfit are the OLLO S4R.
Here is a scheme of the cable that comes with the box (not an actual photo of the cable):

509×664

I measured them and color-coded the connectors in the scheme. It is stereo 3.5mm to dual stereo 2.5mm but they are wired like mono plugs where the left channel goes to the tip of one 2.5mm plug and the right channel goes to the tip of the other 2.5mm plug. Grounds go to the ground but the other channel of the 2.5mm plugs is not wired to anything. So I guess 2.5mm mono plugs would work with them too?

Now for more personal preferences.

I would like the cable to be 1.5m long. Most cables are 1.2m or 3m+
1.2m is too short. It doesn’t allow me to lean back in my chair and 3m means I have cable salad on my lap or desk.

For the sleeving, I quite like the one that is on these cables.

457×837

1383×1401

I’m not sure how exactly it is called since the product description on amazon is quite bad and I feel like anything with cable is just labeled “nylon” by now. The sleeving was very smooth and soft to the touch. It is woven and on the picture, it looks much rougher than it actually felt. It felt kind of like velvet or fabric. The cable was also very flexible. I hate the cables that come with the headphones because they are with a rubber coating and once it bends into a shape it stays that way. I would like my cable to act like a string, not like a metal wire.

A problem that I ran into with other cables like these

1500×1500

is that the sleeve is rather rough. The sleeve is made out of harder and bigger woven nylon strands. In itself, it would not be that much of a problem for me but because of the rough surface, they scratch over surfaces. When moving over my wooden table it sounds like a saw on wood in my headphones.

Searching for custom cables they often are rather expensive and lean towards snake oil. A cable should cost around 50 max in my opinion. Any more is unnecessary snake oil.

Are there any brands that sell premade cables like these that you can recommend?
Or are there any stores that you can recommend for custom cables that offer options for my preferences?

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@brux off of HFGF runs Hart audio and has lots of happy customers and makes dope cables :+1:

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I’d suggest taking a look at Hart Audio Cables; you’ve got options there to either order stock or custom. The owner, @brux , is a member on the forum, so he might be able to chime in to make suggestions or correct me if I’m wrong about something. The sleeving on their cables should be exactly what you’re looking for. Their interconnect system is great, IMO, as it makes using different headphones and source gear much less painful.

From what you’re looking for, you could order stock from them. The HC-7 headphone cable is what you’re after for your headphones, that’ll get you 4 feet (1.2m) of cable length to start:

If you add the IC-7 1 foot interconnect extension that’ll get you another .3m of cable length for your 1.5m preference:

For the source connection you can either choose the 1/4" (6.35mm) interconnect when ordering the HC-7 or you can get a multi-kit if you’ve got other source connections you may want:

The HC-7 with 1/4" interconnect and IC-7 extension will run you $70 US. You could also fill out their custom shop quote form and get a quote on a custom cable. They’ve got a decent listing of their add-on pricing and capabilities on their shop page:

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Great minds…

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As others have already recommended Hart Audio is definitely highly-praised here for a reason. You will not get a wack cable and will get superb value.

Otherwise, if you want to order a pre-made flexible cable, the SIVGA one that comes stock with the P-II is quite nice (though the color is not the most appealing):

It’s not exactly cheap, so you might be better off going the Hart Audio way.

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yup…Hart Cables. HFG members can even get a 10% discount :slight_smile:

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@Ohmboy
@Blackscreen
@voja

Any experience with their availability? They only sell a limited amount of custom cables per day and I do not really feel like getting on every day at the same time and refresh the page for half an hour in hopes to get a slot over the duration of days or weeks.

Also will that balanced cable work with my headphones? I mean there is no difference between a balanced and unbalanced cable when going from dual TS 2.5mm plugs to a TRS 6.3mm plug?
Also, the cable that came with the headphones is dual TRS 2.5mm plugs but it seems like only the TS part of the 2.5mm plugs are used. So the cable by Hart Audio would work?

I really don’t want to order a cable for 50 that I can not return.

I bought another cable earlier from amazon that had TRS 2.5mm plugs which were wired as TRS so they do not work with the OLLO S4R while there is no visible difference between that cable and the original cable.

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You want a lot for your $50 bucks!

Hart makes custom cables, you tell him what you want and he’ll make it.

Good, Cheap, Fast; pick any of the two. You’re going to have to compromise on something my friend.

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Hart are very good at advising you on how their cables are done and if it needs wired in a slightly different way, they will sort that out for you

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Drop them an email with your requirements and any questions…

[email protected]

Or as it say’s on their homepage…

Lead times:

Stock & Boutique Orders: Ships in less than 1 week Custom Orders: 3-5 weeks

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I had the Ollo S4X, the stock cable is somewhat of a nightmare.

Communication is everything. With any cable that you want, make sure to communicate with the manufacturer, ask the questions, get the answers. Be clear, and most importantly, be patient!

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Their availability is weekly from my experience. Hit them on a Monday and you should have run of the store…

Yes, the cable should work. From the page for it:

image

If you want to be 100% sure, contact them directly ([email protected]). I’ve dealt with Hannah for customer service issues before, she’s great!

As for the cable being balanced. Yes it’ll work. I use my HC-9 cables to run my Sundara and Elegia with the XLR connector on my A90 and the 1/4" connector on my Asgard 3, as well as the 4.4mm connector on my Zen DAC V2. Works fine everywhere… That’s what I like so much about their cables, in addition to their quality level, once you have a cable for your headphone, all you need is the right interconnect if you change source devices. To be honest, you should be able to run those headphones balanced with a balanced source and the proper interconnect…

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@Ohmboy
@Blackscreen
@voja

so the reset to request a custom cable happened at ~12:00 EST and I made an order :ok_hand:

thanks for the recommendation

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Congrats!

See, all you need is a little patience.

Do let us know how you like it :wink:

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And pictures, post pictures when you get them!

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