Balanced wiring for Sennhesier 800 S


I expect to use Sennheiser 800S with my Ayre QX-5 Twenty, a Roon-ready DAC.  As usual with Ayre, they recommend balanced cabling.  Is that easy to do with the Sennheisers?  I haven't used headphones in years, but I was impressed when I heard the Sennheisers with a McIntosh headphone amp.  Any recommendations?

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Showing 3 responses by dbphd

The Ayre QX-5 uses separate left and right inputs for balanced, so I need a cable with two 1/4" connectors to the QX-5 and two connectors to the Sennheiser 800S, essentially separate left and right cables wrapped together and split out only at the ends.  Where might I find such a cable? 

LavriCables can do it.  I made a mistake about the balanced inputs to the QX-5.  They're 3.5 mm, not 1/4".  So I need two cables with male 3.5 mm plugs at one end and Sennheiser 800S connectors at the other.  The cables should be wrapped together except at the ends.  

I may try the unbalanced cable that comes with the 800S before ordering balanced cables.  Ayre offers 3.5 mm and 1/4" unbalanced inputs.  

The Ayre QX-5 Twenty uses two connectors for balanced. Lavricables is trying to learn the Ayre wiring scheme.