Solved! What would be a good quality male to female headphone extension cord for my Sennheiser HD 558 Open Back Headphones?

[Darkmatterx]

Title pretty much says it all. I'm not sure if I have enough length to sit in my recliner and watch stuff from my PC to my TV via an HDMI cable. I don't want to lose sound quality.

While I'm asking, I picked up a shorter cord that has a mic attached to the cord. I was hoping to use it for webcam chats but since it only has 1 jack I'm not sure how I can use it to listen to the vid chat and to talk as well. I've been discussing getting a new sound card as I currently have an X-Fi Fatal1ty. Do newer sound cards have jacks for the type of cord I'm talking about? It is for a Sennheiser HD 558 Open Back.

Thanks!

 

[Darkmatterx]

Anyone have any suggestions on the male to female headphone jack extension cord? A brand that is a good quality and won't lessen the quality of the sound.

Also, I just upgraded my sound card to an Asus Strix SOAR and while I hear some difference from my Logitech Z-5300 5.1 speakers I REALLY hear the difference with my Sennheiser headphones plugged into the back of the sound card! I'd rather not have to go behind my computer every time I want to use the headphones on the computer so I'd like to run a male to female cord up on the top of my computer case to the front of the case so I can just plug it in right from my chair. It would also make sure I had enough length to sit in my recliner and watch something on the TV that's streaming from my PC.

Thanks!

Edit: I've just noticed that if I use Windows Spatial Sound (Windows Sonic) it drops my sound quality down to 48khz at 16 bits. Is there a 3rd party alternative for getting virtual surround out of my headphones that doesn't kill the output quality? I see there's a "demo" for Atmos but I just read a thread from someone who tested the 2 systems and wasn't all that impressed with Atmos for Windows.

Thanks!

 

[Darkmatterx]

I picked up a Startech 6ft male to female 3.5mm extension cord. Despite what their website shows, I managed to find one in that length that has gold connectors, and I found out it uses copper wire.

My only question regarding this is if it matters that it is not shielded? It will be slung over the top of my computer case and the female end will be at the top front of my case so I don't have to go around behind my computer every time I want to plug in my headphones.

If shielding really WOULD make a noticeable difference in a 6ft cord sitting on top of my PC can I buy just a shielded sleeve or jacket that I can put over the cord?

Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

I'm not sure I know of any quality extension cables for headphones. Generally I only see using the actual cable although there are aftermarket cables ( some priced insanely ) that vary in lengths. The Sennheiser 3m ( 9 feet ) cable is about the longest I generally see. I'm sure you COULD extend it but I don't know how to do it and not lose sound quality as you mention happening. Maybe find an aftermarket cable that's longer. Mostly you see people looking for shorter cables.

You can't just leave the headphones plugged it?

 

[Darkmatterx]

They reach the front of the computer with feet to spare but then going over to my lazy boy to watch something I'm playing on the PC to the TV with an HDMI cable is a bit of a squeeze. Senn's own cable are probably great, but if I remember correctly, they aren't cheap.

Also, I take them over to my moms when I have dinner there. Something I started doing after my dad passed away.

What about buying shielding to put over the extension cable I bought?

Also, since, as I said, I can't even tell if I can tell the difference or if I'm crazy, would shielding on an extension cord fix most of the quality loss, if there is any? They are gold plated, and have a copper inner wire.

I don't even know if the Senn's own cord is shielded.

What about my idea to plug a male to male cord from the headphone jack to the mic jack and record some song both using the extension cord and one with just the male to male cord, no extension. Do you think I could spot the difference in the sound graph in a program like Audacity?

Thanks.

 

[Darkmatterx]

Here is a small piece of a song I played where I plugged a male to male 3.5mm cord directly from the headphone port to the mic port and recorded the song. The top is of that direct connection. The bottom one is with the extension cord attached in between the 2 ports.

Personally I don't see any difference but I don't know if a different song would give different results.

https/ibb.co/huKWs7

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Pretty sure shielding isn't the issue. It's probably a resistance thing but I don't know for sure. A longer headphone cord is probably your best bet.

 

[Darkmatterx]

Sorry, are you saying you CAN see a difference in the 2 audio graphs?

 

[americanaudiophile]

http/www.mogamicable.com/category/products/gold-EXT-10_25.php

 

[Darkmatterx]

Thanks for the link.

I did another sound test using the opening song of a video file with audio done in .FLAC format. I saved both as 32bit WAV files. The top one is the male to male cord going directly to the mic port. The 2nd one goes through the male to female extension cord first before getting to the mic port. As you can see there are some minor differences, but could someone who knows about this stuff if that's much of a variance? Would I even notice that difference?

https/ibb.co/heWVn7

Thanks

 

[americanaudiophile]

Mics have fairly low output is general and are affected by impedance changes. An extension won't affect the headphones the same way.
Using a soundcard with better headphone amp or DAC/Headphone amp would be an improvement in sound quality.

 

[Darkmatterx]

I had a Fatal1ty X-Fi up until last week...

This was my step up.

In case I didn't mention it in this thread I just got an Asus Strix SOAR to replace the X-Fi. Biggest difference is in the headphones.

 

[Darkmatterx]

http/www.mogamicable.com/category/products/gold-EXT-10_25.php

Ugh those things are $80 Canadian. Isn't there something in the 6ft range that is gold plated, copper wire, and has some sort of decent shielding? I was hoping for something around $20cnd + tax + shipping.