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I am wondering how many here are using the 4-wire connection (instead of the traditional 3-wire/quarter-inch headphone jack.
If you don't know about this, the 4-wire connection sounds instantly better, the sort of thing you can hear in a second. I had heard about it for a few years, and in experimenting with one of our preamps (the MP-1, which drives either 32 ohm or 600 ohm directly) I noticed this in spades.
Is there a consensus on the connector to be used (two XLRs or one 4-pin XLR)?
Follow Ups:
I get to agree with Steve again!
The only thing I'm not sure of is what is the best connector to use. The 4-pin XLR is a candidate. Other ones include the S-video connector, a 4-pin Mini XLR, a 4-pin DIN, a 4-pin mini DIN, and probably even a 4 conductor phone plug.
It would be great if everyone could agree on one standard!
My stock AKG K1000s have a 4 pin XLR harness. On the off chance that a few headphone amps might have enough power to drive these suckers, I would love to be able to simply plug them in...
May as well make it the 4 pin XLR. It's already becoming the ipso facto "standard."
se
so- maybe we could just go ahead and do that??
S-Video? Really?
"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok
When I go to a Head-Fi meet (been to 3 in past 12 months) I mostly see dual 3-wire XLR's for balanced use, and 1/4" for unbalanced use.
I'm not a fan of the 1/4" headphone jack either. My home-made headphone rig uses 4-wire XLR's. But that is based on bias, not critical listening. I'm interested to hear about your experiences!
Ever thought about a headphone amp based on the MP1?
best
"Knowing what you don't know is, in a sense, omniscience"
Yes- if someone wants to use the MP-1 for headphones, we can install an extra set of XLRs or a single 4-pin XLR. The MP-1 drives headphones rather well, even the 32 ohm units.
Why does 4 wire sound so much better than 3 wire? Which do YOU think would be best for the ultimate in sound quality - one or two XLR connectors? Thanks.
The 3-wire system shares one conductor with each channel. So there is quite a lot of crosstalk. As soon as you separate the conductors, things sound instantly better.
I agree with Steve Eddy- I prefer to use the 4-pin XLR- its a bit less chassis real estate. Either XLR connector will sound fine though.
The vast majority of preamps I've seen share a common ground bus on their inputs and outputs.
Stu
Yes- I imagine many do. But the signal that is being heard is routed though a selector switch so the circuit is not complete for the unused inputs. So we are really concerned about how the ground is managed for the input that is in use, and in a number of preamps I think this is a problem!
However even if you have such a preamp in your system, the improvement a 4-wire setup offers is still quite audible.
However, the ground of both channels are usually shared, like the headphone wire. The outputs normally have common grounds too. In many preamps, the output and input grounds all share the same bus.
Bear in mind I am not quibbling about the benefits of separate grounds, just that the situation exists in many other components.
Stu
Certainly in most that is true. Our preamps appear to be an exception.
Regardless, in all the situations I have tried with out equipment or any other, it seems to help a lot to use the 4-wire connection for the 'phones.
Actually most all of the crosstalk is due to the common ground contact resistance of the TRS plug/jack combination.
In other words, even single-ended output amplifiers benefit from a 4 pin XLR with the common ground accomplished via a good low resistance solder connection inside the chassis.
se
Yes- very similar to what happens with a ground loop.
The dual 3 pin XLR scheme needs to die a miserable death. It's a neanderthal throwback to when the first "balanced" headphone amps were made using two bridged stereo amps.
Some manufacturers still cling to it like Linus and his blanket, while others are ditching it as they should.
se
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