# Sennheiser HD598- recable, single sided, balanced



## Armaegis

So I got these in a trade and literally had them less than an hour before deciding I needed to make a balanced cable for them.
  
 First up, I had to figure out the wiring. The plug that goes into the left cup is a 2.5mm TRRS. Hmm ok, that hopefully means it's a 4 wire cable already so I can just hack the stock cable. I found this (link) which confirmed it, so choppity chop went the cable.
  
 After opening up the cups and fiddling around with a multimeter on the cable and drivers, I've got the following:
  
 T - left+ (white wire)
 R - right+ (red wire)
 R - left- (black wire)
 S - right- (blue wire)
  
 The circuit board is labeled but very difficult to see. I sketched it out on paper with labels.
  

  

  
 strip those ends (26 gauge)

  
 Connect to a 4-pin XLR(m)
 pin 1 = left+ (white)
 pin 2 = left- (black)
 pin 3 = right+ (red)
 pin 4 = right- (blue)
  

  
 Slap some heat shink on there since it's too skinny to be gripped properly by the cable clamp. I used 4 layers.
  

  

  

  
 Here we go...
  

  
  
 And done. Plugged into Nuforce HA-200 monoblocks.


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## namhkim

You need two of the HA-200 !! Wow..


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## Armaegis

They're set up as monoblocks. One for each channel.


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## fenstr

What impact did the balanced cable have on the sound quality of the HD598s?


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## Armaegis

It satisfied my audiophile urges for wanting to work in balanced mode, and opened up the option for a greater variety of amps.


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## fenstr

armaegis said:


> It satisfied my audiophile urges for wanting to work in balanced mode, and opened up the option for a greater variety of amps.




I ended up getting the balanced cable to use with my Ragnarok amp - very happy with the result. Thanks for posting all the info about it.


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## Armaegis

Awesome, glad it worked out for you. Next it'll be time to upgrade the headpdhone...


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## fenstr

Haha don't say that, my wallet isn't ready to take any further abuse at the moment


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## Armaegis

Please tell me you're at least running speakers off the Rag. It's a bit overkill for the 598's...


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## fenstr

armaegis said:


> Please tell me you're at least running speakers off the Rag. It's a bit overkill for the 598's...




Yes I'm using it to power Elac Unifi UB5's. I'm thinking that my next purchase will be a decent sub. The UB5's do have impressive bass though but I need a bit more for the deep rumble in movies. 

Out of interest what headphone would you pair with the Ragnarok?


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## Armaegis

fenstr said:


> Yes I'm using it to power Elac Unifi UB5's. I'm thinking that my next purchase will be a decent sub. The UB5's do have impressive bass though but I need a bit more for the deep rumble in movies.
> 
> Out of interest what headphone would you pair with the Ragnarok?


 
  
 Oh there's plenty of choices. If you like the HD598, then the obvious step up is the HD600/650. Or you can start dipping your toes into the planar realm, but therein lies madness


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## hutt132

So both the left and right negative connections are 100% separate from each cup's speaker all the way until the end of the cable at the 6.25mm connector?


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## Armaegis

hutt132 said:


> So both the left and right negative connections are 100% separate from each cup's speaker all the way until the end of the cable at the 6.25mm connector?


 
  
 Yep, it's a 4-wire cable.


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## hutt132

armaegis said:


> Yep, it's a 4-wire cable.


 
 Cool. I wasn't sure if it was joining grounds or doing funky stuff on that circuit board that's in the cup.


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## Armaegis

In my first pic you can see my bad sketch of the circuit board traces.


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## hutt132

Just did this mod and it works great! Used a Sennheiser replacement cable and the same male 4-pin XLR connector used in the guide.
  
 Cable: https://en-us.sennheiser.com/accessories--hd-518--hd-558--hd-598--headphone-cable
 Male 4-pin XLR: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002EDO2K0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


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## Indrajit

Hi, is there a ready made 2.5mm balanced cable for Sennheiser hd 598 for balanced output?


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## Armaegis

You can approach any of the prolific cable makers online and have them make one for you.


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## uli87

Indrajit said:


> Hi, is there a ready made 2.5mm balanced cable for Sennheiser hd 598 for balanced output?



I am also just starting to look into balanced. I assume this would work?

So my understanding is that the HD598 is wired balanced and all I would need to do is buy this 2.5 mm cable and it's good to go?


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## legopart

I just cant find the 2.5mm connector with 4pins for soldering

I wanted to do it too but...
-  I don't want to ruin the original cable.
- TRS connector is more then enoth for this headphones.
- I wanted to order another TRS cable but again, I do not like to ruin things.

I found this one one ebay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-5mm-Trrs...913037?hash=item3b03170e0d:g:B~MAAOSwJvpalRBQ
And he sold me for +5$ addition, 2M cable with  XLR connector:






so, for me its the only option. I logically don't want to order an original cable and ruin it


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## Indiemaker

.


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## Indiemaker

legopart said:


> I just cant find the 2.5mm connector with 4pins for soldering
> 
> I wanted to do it too but...
> -  I don't want to ruin the original cable.
> ...








Hi, does this readymade cable work?


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## Kugellager (Aug 6, 2019)

I bought that cable to use with my Sennheiser 598 Cs and a set of DIY cans I built from scratch. I wanted to use them with the balanced output on my FiiO Q1 Mark II.

My non-scientific impressions were that the bass in both sets of headphones sounded fuller. Maybe the bass frequencies sounded better (total speculation) because the balanced outputs on the Q1 are higher powered and the amplifier didn’t have to work as hard in that end of the frequency spectrum. Listened to Massive Attack/John Coltrane/Pantera/a-ha/Metallica to test them out.

Edit: the cable does have some annoying microphonics due to the stiffer wire.

John
];’)


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## legopart

Indiemaker said:


> Hi, does this readymade cable work?


For today I not reccomend it!
The sound is less smoother then the original cable.




Kugellager said:


> I bought that cable to use with my Sennheiser 598 Cs and a set of DIY cans I built from scratch. I wanted to use them with the balanced output on my FiiO Q1 Mark II.
> 
> My non-scientific impressions were that the bass in both sets of headphones sounded fuller. Maybe the bass frequencies sounded better (total speculation) because the balanced outputs on the Q1 are higher powered and the amplifier didn’t have to work as hard in that end of the frequency spectrum. Listened to Massive Attack/John Coltrane/Pantera/a-ha/Metallica to test them out.
> 
> ...


Can you send some pictures of the DIY cans ?



Sorry to say that, but I start to disslike this headphones sound


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## Kugellager (Aug 21, 2019)

legopart said:


> Can you send some pictures of the DIY cans?



I’ll get some photos of my DIY cans and put them in a new post in the DIY forum soon.

John
];’)


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## dogilainen (Oct 31, 2019)

Armaegis said:


> After opening up the cups and fiddling around with a multimeter on the cable and drivers, I've got the following:
> 
> T - left+ (white wire)
> R - right+ (red wire)
> ...



Radsone ES100 2.5 mm balanced out has

T - Right-
R - Right+
R - Left+
S - Left-

I imagine that a cable that could be used to connect these two, HD598 to ES100, does not exist, and would have to be custom made? 

IF I have understood correctly.. this post claims that the 2.5 mm TRRS jack on (HD598CS) headphone end works quite differently? Or could HD598 and HD598CS have different wiring..


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## Armaegis

Yeah you'd probably need a custom cable to use the radstone.

That other post you linked is probably referring to the 3.5mm TRRS end of a cable with a mic. The 2.5mm TRRS end that goes into the cup is probably different.


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## Kugellager (Nov 1, 2019)

You might be able to use a 2.5 mm TRRS cable that is made for Astell and Kern or some Onkyo DACs.  Here is a link I found awhile back when I was looking for Audio Connector Pinouts when making my own cables.

Go down to the the first 2.5 mm TRRS connector to see some compatible pinouts.

John
];')


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