What's the best headphone extension solution?

[g_rogers]

Given the noise constraints of my apartment, I have to do my higher-volume recording in a room at the other end of my apartment.

Any recommendation for headphone extension systems? Should I try to get a 100' patch cord to run out of an interface output and into a satellite headphone amp? Should I get several straight up headphone extension cords?

Help!

[Marc Alan Goodman]

Headphone extension cables all suck. If you have the option then use a pair of mic cables and run the headphone amp to where you need to be. In a pinch I have a couple headphone extenders from More Me. They were cheap as hell and have held up at least as well as any other ones I've ever owned.

[Jeff White]

Can you solder? The best solution that I have ever heard for headphone extenders is to simply build a 1/4" TRS male to XLR female and 1/4" TRS female to XLR male jumper set for each headphone send that you need. By doing so you can simply use any mic cable as a headphone extension cable. Once my current batch of cheap crappy extension cables crap out on me I am definitely going to go this route.

Building your own cables is one of the best skills that you can learn. It'll save you a ton of money, enable you to customize for your needs, and allow you to learn how to solder and eventually build confidence when it comes to DIY skills.

Redco.com is your best friend.

[theposterkid]

Can you solder? The best solution that I have ever heard for headphone extenders is to simply build a 1/4" TRS male to XLR female and 1/4" TRS female to XLR male jumper set for each headphone send that you need. By doing so you can simply use any mic cable as a headphone extension cable. Once my current batch of cheap crappy extension cables crap out on me I am definitely going to go this route.

Building your own cables is one of the best skills that you can learn. It'll save you a ton of money, enable you to customize for your needs, and allow you to learn how to solder and eventually build confidence when it comes to DIY skills.

Redco.com is your best friend.

I second that!

[hiddendriveways]

Given the noise constraints of my apartment, I have to do my higher-volume recording in a room at the other end of my apartment.

Any recommendation for headphone extension systems? Should I try to get a 100' patch cord to run out of an interface output and into a satellite headphone amp? Should I get several straight up headphone extension cords?

Help!

I use a headphone amp for an extension, but I don't use a 100 foot cable (that's way too far). I have a Samson C-que 8 headphone amp. It allows you to run balanced TRS for both left and right. Having a balanced connection from the DAW to the headphone amp would be preferable.

There is this thing for a 25 foot extension:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4 ... _Male.html

Expensive, but the cheap ones always die quickly. Maybe this one is better (I've never used it).

[Snarl 12/8]

Can you solder? The best solution that I have ever heard for headphone extenders is to simply build a 1/4" TRS male to XLR female and 1/4" TRS female to XLR male jumper set for each headphone send that you need. By doing so you can simply use any mic cable as a headphone extension cable. Once my current batch of cheap crappy extension cables crap out on me I am definitely going to go this route.

Building your own cables is one of the best skills that you can learn. It'll save you a ton of money, enable you to customize for your needs, and allow you to learn how to solder and eventually build confidence when it comes to DIY skills.

Redco.com is your best friend.

You actually only need to solder one end of the contraption if you use one of these:



coming out of your headphone jack into the mic cable. Then you just need to wire up an XLR->TRS Jack adapter thingy. I did this to get headphones over to my drums in my basement and it's really working great.

[vivalastblues]

i dont know, i bought an extension cable for $15 and it was fine.

[Snarl 12/8]

i dont know, i bought an extension cable for $15 and it was fine.

C'mon dude, don't piss on our "over-thinking it" parade.

[Jeff White]

i dont know, i bought an extension cable for $15 and it was fine.

C'mon dude, don't piss on our "over-thinking it" parade.

+1. I am always over-thinking shit.

[b3groover]

Cheap cables suck. I have about a half-dozen cheap Hosa headphone extender cables and they all suck.

Roll your own. Or as has already been stated, run 100 ft of balanced line from an output to a headphone amp.

[g_rogers]

Can you solder? The best solution that I have ever heard for headphone extenders is to simply build a 1/4" TRS male to XLR female and 1/4" TRS female to XLR male jumper set for each headphone send that you need.

Definitely going to look into the DIY solution, but in the short term, could I just use the following cables (bridged with an appropriate standard mic cable) in the manner you recommend? Cheap, too...

http://audiopile.net/products/Mic_Instr ... heet.shtml

http://audiopile.net/products/Mic_Instr ... heet.shtml

[Snarl 12/8]

Can you solder? The best solution that I have ever heard for headphone extenders is to simply build a 1/4" TRS male to XLR female and 1/4" TRS female to XLR male jumper set for each headphone send that you need.

Definitely going to look into the DIY solution, but in the short term, could I just use the following cables (bridged with an appropriate standard mic cable) in the manner you recommend? Cheap, too...

http://audiopile.net/products/Mic_Instr ... heet.shtml

http://audiopile.net/products/Mic_Instr ... heet.shtml

Well, you'll wind up with a (male) plug on both ends. You need a jack at the far end where the headphones need to plug in. I suppose you could find a Female to Female barrel connector, but that's starting to get a little hinky, even for my taste. Something I do sometimes, is buy something like both those cables, since they're so effing cheap and then cut the TRS end off of one and solder my jack there. That's about the minimum soldering I can see in this situation to "do it right".

[Marc Alan Goodman]

Also keep in mind that with a satellite headphone amp you'll actually be able to change the volume when you're using the headphones. Otherwise you'll have to walk all the way to the base unit. Definitely still the best option in my opinion.

[g_rogers]

Slightly off topic, but does stringing together multiple XLRs result in signal degradation? I'm not worried about the headphone mix, but for the mics I'm also going to have to either piece together several XLRs or get a 100 footer...

[Snarl 12/8]

Also keep in mind that with a satellite headphone amp you'll actually be able to change the volume when you're using the headphones. Otherwise you'll have to walk all the way to the base unit. Definitely still the best option in my opinion.

I agree, but more expensive if you don't have the headphone amp. Can't you do this with a normal power amp if you're insanely careful about levels? Also, you'd want an amp that took balanced ins (or some way to convert balanced to unbalanced) so you can do a balanced run for the 100ft leg of the trip.