It would depend on how the headphone is wired. With 3.5mm trrs you can have a balanced connection, or that could be a mic, or play pause buttons. Some companies like iFi use 3.5mm balanced, but it’s not common, it’s more likely for remote controls on the cable for an inline mic
Do dacs color the sound of the audio at all? I know amps do and for that reason I can see the purpose in owning several amps for sonic variety and pairing different amps with different headphones, but can the same be said about dacs?
Yes. DACs can color the sound both based on method of conversion (which delta-sigma chip they use or if they use a resistor ladder) and the implementation (effects from the power supply, input and output stages, etc.). Of those two, implementation usually has the bigger impact. After that, different DAC chips have different sonic reputations. ESS chips are often considered neutral - or lifeless, depending who you ask - where as Burr Brown chips tend a bit warmer, just as examples. There are other DAC chipsets out there.
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How do you know if you have a proper seal with headphones?
If it fits properly on your head, and if there is a noticeable difference lifting up a side of a cup. Seal is more important with some headphones and less so than others
I wonder why there seems to be a good number of headphones that come with bad headphone cables. Are the companies just that incompetent at making headphone cables or are they trying to sell you a cable or something?
Lol, welp there’s once source of the poor reviews
I have no idea, but I wish it would change lol
I think the issue is that companies are trying to include something reasonably priced that looks like a higher end cable, and that generally leads the the actual usability being crap.
The focal cables are the perfect example of this it’s a big thick expensive looking cable, that’s abysmal in actual use.
Plus I think feedback by people who’ve bought one has little impact, they’re no longer trying to sell to you.
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That person doesn’t seem to be very bright, ha-ha…
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I just stumbled across another forum that looks practically identical to this one. Kind of freaking me out. Maybe I just don’t understand how forums work for them to look alike.
nah this forum uses something sort of like a game engine think of like a asset flip game looks practically the same as any other asset flip just different community
It uses the discourse platform. There are other platforms like XenForo, vBulletin, WordPress, phpBB, Invision Community, vanilla forums, and more that make some forums seem similar
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Drop refunded me for the headphones I sent back, so today or tomorrow I will most likely place an order on the Focal Elex.
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Dang, hope you enjoy them, they are pretty sweet 
Are there any threads of people building their own amps or dacs?
Yes, there is a new DIY audio category on the site, but it is newer so there isn’t a ton on there at the moment. There are tons of diy audio sites out there though, so I would look around, lots of diy options available
Making the assumption that burn in for the drivers makes a difference, would the volume at which the headphones are played at affect the rate at which the drivers burn in? Also, could mods of headphones also fall under diy?