# should headphone cables be shielded?



## jbarbier

i know that sounds like a dumb question, but i read a lot about people recabling their headphones with wire such as cat5 which may not always be shielded. i also see a lot of wire that is recommended for headphone recabling and the wire is not shielded. however, on some of my headphones, the cable is indeed shielded. so does it have to be shielded or not? 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 i wouldn't want any cross feed or channel interference... and i'm not talking about a huge length of wire. i tried searching, but maybe i'm just dumb and i don't know how to word the search query correctly, lol. thanks!!!


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## Nick 214

Welcome to Head-Fi! (Sorry about your wallet)

 I wouldn't worry about it. Think of headphones as small speakers, and re-wire them as one would speakers with new speaker cable. 

 I'd hop around the DIY forum, and see what the recabling mavens are up to.

 NK


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## jbarbier

thanks for the welcome, nick! i'm totally new to headphones -- at least good HPs. i have a decent stereo setup built around a modified NAD 3020. i also have some nice polk monitor series speakers with rebuilt x-overs. but i'm back living with my parents while i try to finish college and i can't be blaring my music late at night. so i'll definitely be sticking around!


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## BIG POPPA

Yes they can be. When you start messing with dielectric material (shielding) you can alter the sound and you may not like the result? Most speaker wire is unshielded for that reason.


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## Xan7hos

Some cable designers even go so far as stating the insulating material (teflon, PVC, cotton) effect the sound signature

 i suppose the ultimate dielectric "material" would be a vacuum


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## royalcrown

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *BIG POPPA* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_Yes they can be. When you start messing with dielectric material (shielding) you can alter the sound and you may not like the result? Most speaker wire is unshielded for that reason._

 

Dielectric =/= shielding. The dielectric is what a cable is sheathed in, whereas shielding is a metal wrap around the sheathed cables that mitigate interference.


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## BIG POPPA

Shielding could almost be anything from techflex, PVC, wire mesh, Kapton, Teflon, ERS paper and so on.


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## NightOwl

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *BIG POPPA* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_Shielding could almost be anything from techflex, PVC, wire mesh, Kapton, Teflon, ERS paper and so on._

 

royalcrown is correct. Shielding and sheathing are two different things. Shielding is metallic (for electrical conductivity) and acts to capture and drain away electro-magnetic, electro-static and radio frequency interference before it reaches the signal wires.

 Sheathing is the insulating material that covers the signal wires. This sheathing has dielectric properties (interaction with the electrical flow in the signal wires). Different insulating materials have different dielectric constants (more or less interaction). External sheathing (e.g. techflex) is used to protect the cable from physical damage (and for cosmetics).


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## jbarbier

wow, thanks guys! that's some great information. definitely some interesting stuff there. that's what i love about this hobby. but sometimes i just need to relax with my old grado sr80s and remember to enjoy the _music_.


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## Nick 214

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *jbarbier* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_wow, thanks guys! that's some great information. definitely some interesting stuff there. that's what i love about this hobby. but sometimes i just need to relax with my old grado sr80s and remember to enjoy the music. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	


_

 

That's what it's all about!

 NK


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## bhjazz

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *BIG POPPA* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_Most speaker wire is unshielded for that reason._

 

Cardas - shielded
 Transparent - shielded
 MIT - shielded
 Kimber - unshielded
 Shunyata - shielded
 Audioquest - shielded

 I'm not sure where you got your information


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## JamesL

Headphones are relatively low-impedance devices(unlike amplifiers!) and shielding isn't very critical. The same goes for speakers. 
 On the other hand, I highly recommend against unshielded interconnects as the high impedance lines are much more susceptible to interference.
 A lot of stock wires use a dual-coaxial configuration, using a single conductor in the center for the signal, and conductive material around it that acts as both shielding and as the ground conductor.


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## apatN

For headphones it's not necessary. Don't worry about it and enjoy your tunes.


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## spartan777

I use a 1 ft Kimber IC between my DAC and amp, and as bhjazz said, it has no shielding. I don't hear anything that could be recognized as interference; RFI, EMF, etc. I doubt shielding has any actual impact on sound, then again, I've never used a shielded cable. I am however, a physicist in training (college), and I can tell you that I can't imagine anything that could justify shielding for IC or extension cable. seems to me shielding is a selling point and for looks more than anything (for companies like Cardas et al). running cable through a building for a PA or 100+ ft cables for concerts need shielding, but not anything in the 10's of feet.

 I can always be wrong though.


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## SleepyOne

A freind has TV and lots of electronic near his hifi and his kimber KCAG IC (the one I sold him) picks up lots of noises like crazy. So in some situation shielding does matter.


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## JaZZ

For interconnect cables shielding makes sense, but it's not absolutely necessary in the case of CD players/DACs and headphone amps, where the signal gain is mostly below 1. What makes shielding recommendable is high gain factors which imply an amplification of electromagnetic interferences (e.g. radio waves). Headphone cables on the other hand are uncritical, as the signal doesn't get amplified anymore. So shielding is dispensable. Or has anybody heard a radio station through a headphone cable? 

 The Zu Mobius I use with my HD 600/650 is shielded (to my knowledge), whereas the Silver Dragon isn't (to my knowledge), nor are the stock cable and my own homemade cables. I also use shielded and unshielded interconnects and build my own cables in both variants. Shielding makes a difference there, but only in the form of higher capacitance which makes for a slightly smoother treble. 
.


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## Steve Eddy

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *bhjazz* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_Cardas - shielded
 Transparent - shielded
 MIT - shielded
 Kimber - unshielded
 Shunyata - shielded
 Audioquest - shielded

 I'm not sure where you got your information 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			



_

 

He gets his information from the fact that the vast majority of speaker cables are unshielded.

 And which speaker cables of the brands you mentioned are shielded? I perused most of their lines and didn't see any shielded speaker cables.

 k


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## Xan7hos

Can someone point me in the right direction, I'm looking for a rubber hose as a headphone cable sheathing that is similiar to stock OEM cables (i.e. Grado headphone rubber/vinyl sheathing)


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## Steve Eddy

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Xan7hos* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_Can someone point me in the right direction, I'm looking for a rubber hose as a headphone cable sheathing that is similiar to stock OEM cables (i.e. Grado headphone rubber/vinyl sheathing)_

 

Go to McMaster-Carr's website. 

 In the Find box, enter "tubing."

 In the Shape section, select "Single Line."

 In the Material section, select "PVC."

 In the PVC Material section, select "Generic Formulation PVC."

 Go down to Color and select "Black."

 Then check the inside and outside diameters available and see if they have a size that's suitable for what you're doing.

 Good luck!

 k


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## Xan7hos

thanks a lot, appreciate it


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## Prog Rock Man

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *spartan777* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_I use a 1 ft Kimber IC between my DAC and amp, and as bhjazz said, it has no shielding. I don't hear anything that could be recognized as interference; RFI, EMF, etc. I doubt shielding has any actual impact on sound, then again, I've never used a shielded cable....._

 

A friend who is an engineer commented that the best way to reduce RFI and EMF is to braid a cable. He did not know about Kimber cables, but after he saw some he was very impressed. Kimber braids their cables for that very reason.


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## murrmax

> Or has anybody heard a radio station through a headphone cable?


 
  
 Yes I have this problem, the headphone cable acts as an antenna so shielding isn't a bad idea in some circumstances


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