Introduction to balanced headphones​

Did you ever wondered whether your headphones perform as they should? Missing another layer of realism, another level of detail, a feeling that THAT is the sound you want to hear?
Introducing a world of balanced headphones.

OK, blue in the face, what's that?

Let's get technical for a moment.


Typical headphones are driven from two mono amplifiers through three cables: left, right and ground. Those are usually wound in a twisted pair. This configuration is very simple and error-free, but in general provides only single layer of precision as the dynamic element reacts only to the signal fed through shared pair of 'signal' and common ground. The dynamic element (driver) may react much slower, therefore the headphones might be missing that sort of 'punch' and 'detail', and high-impedance cans (600 Ohms) requires an amplifier with plenty of power reserve and the slew rate increases. In short, unbalanced configuration is OK for non-critical everyday listening.


Balanced headphones are driven from four mono amplifiers through five cables: positive left, negative left, positive right, negative right, ground. Since the signal is reversed on adjacent cables, intermodulation is not likely to happen. In short, balanced configuration is one with reversed signal being fed instead of common ground, effectively increasing the volume by additional 6 dB, reducing slew rate and impedance by half and thus increasing punch and precision as the dynamic element reacts much faster. Also since each driver is driven (that sounds lovely) independently, there is theoretical infinite stereo separation.

Whew...that's about it

Let's get practical, any headphones can be converted to balanced operation. Yes even the ones you have lying on the desk.

Does it make a difference? Yes!
Big? That's a difficult question, with already great cans like K701, it will make night/day difference, with closed ones, hard to say.

So you'll need:

• A pair of headphones
• Two stereo headphone amplifiers
• Balanced source (most high-end interfaces have one) OR active/passive DI box OR Behringer HD-400
• 4-wire cable (my recommendation - Van Damme Miniature Starquad cable)
• 2 plugs of your choice (XLR or TRS, TRS are more common)

More info about balanced operation can be found here: http://www.headphone.com/learning-center/balanced-drive.php

This article WILL be expanded in near future (step by step modifications, photos, cost effective configurations), this text is just a trailer about what's going to happen, and for me to know if there are people interested in such topic.

 

Very usefull information.
Thanks alot Andrew.

 

[Post reserved for description and photos of AKG K701 mod (max. 10 pics per post) ] *yes*

 

OK... You've got my full attention.

I record mix and master with headphones. Bad? Much better than with cheap monitors in a (very) bad sounding room.
And it happens to be AKG K701!!!

So.. there you are

I'll be eagery waiting for your next post

Thank you.

 

Nice Infos. Never heard of that. Will follow it. Thnx.

 

I'd be interested to see what improvements I could make to my Bose (around the ears) cans.
Looking forward to further information.

 

I have an old pair of Koss 4AA that I really loved the sound of, but I am sure there are better. I would like to know what other have, and am interested in this post.

 

Really interesting.....if it won't require a high level technician skill and/or too much money spending i'll follow you

Thanks anyway for the info

 

Hummm Interesting theory. I'll wait for next part. Thank you.

 

interesting ... (hd25 here)
thanks

 

Nice. I remember we talked about this some time ago. Now I´m following you better, it sounds interesting. *yes*
What about how a mix (done with balanced ones) translates to a regular sound system? If you 'learn' a more detailed source like balanced headphones is it noticeable later in a common listening enviroment? At the end the mix is better for everybody? -Including no audio geeks-
I´m still learning my monitors, and I always check my mixes in regular cheap headphones. I don´t own professional ones, but I have listened music on them for years, so besides the obvious change I know if I´m close or far away in -overall- sound from albums I like. What happens next is that listening my 'tested' mixes in sound systems from my friends let me really lost, sometimes everything goes to hell, or at least all the weight/bright is gone/enhanced and I don´t know what path is better to follow for making some adjustements... and regular sound systems are driven like typical headphones, am I right? I`m asking because professional opinions in this dilema are really day and night (checking in ultra HD stuff or standard/regular sources) and finding a 'safe place' is taking an eternity.

 

hmmm... what happened to part 2 (or was it part 1)?

Pleeeaaase?