Maverick730 Posted June 20, 2020 Share Posted June 20, 2020 Hi. I have bought mrspeakers ether headphones with 4pin xlr cable lately. I had no choice as only option is that the headphones come with the 4pin xlr cable. My question is that am I able to purchase a adapter like in one of the photo to use my current heaphone amplifier? The other photo shows the cable come with the headphones. Any help will be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwstereo Posted June 20, 2020 Share Posted June 20, 2020 (edited) Yes, you can do that. But there has to be a note of caution, some amps may not like shorting the two channel grounds together. Balanced has a separate shield and a pair of signal wires, the standard headphone plug (TRS) has a shared ground (as the shield) and L + R signal wires. Here is the 4 pin XLR stereo pinout. And here is the standard TRS stereo plug pinout. Edited June 20, 2020 by pwstereo Added caution. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick730 Posted June 20, 2020 Author Share Posted June 20, 2020 Thanks. Good point. But it does not mean that it might damage the amp or headphones. Does it? Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwstereo Posted June 20, 2020 Share Posted June 20, 2020 Yes, it may damage the amplifier. A more sophisticated way to do it would be to use an audio transformer to terminate the balanced stereo pairs, then connect the output to a TRS headphone socket. You could mount it all in a little diecast or plastic enclosure. Basically just two of the following. Two CT audio transformers https://www.jaycar.com.au/500-ohm-centre-tapped-8-ohm-miniature-output-transformer/p/MM2530 One 4 pin XLR Male Chassis-mount Connector https://www.altronics.com.au/p/p0918-amphenol-4-pin-male-chassis-xlr-ac4mdz/ One 6.5mm Stereo Plug https://www.jaycar.com.au/best-quality-6-5mm-stereo-gold-plugs/p/PP0178 1 or 2 metres of Shielded stereo audio cable https://www.jaycar.com.au/2-core-screened-professional-microphone-cable-sold-per-metre/p/WB1530 One enclosure https://www.jaycar.com.au/sealed-diecast-aluminum-enclosure-64-x-58-x-35/p/HB5030 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleasantSounds Posted June 20, 2020 Share Posted June 20, 2020 1 hour ago, pwstereo said: Yes, it may damage the amplifier. Why would it??? The amp already has a common ground for L and R chanels in the TRS socket, and we're just splitting the ground at the beginning of the cable rather than at the end (this HAS to happen anyway). Going the opposite way and connecting a headphone cable which only has 3 wires to a balanced amp would be a problem, but in the OP's case this is not the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwstereo Posted June 20, 2020 Share Posted June 20, 2020 3 hours ago, PleasantSounds said: The amp already has a common ground for L and R chanels in the TRS socket, and we're just splitting the ground at the beginning of the cable rather than at the end (this HAS to happen anyway). Oh, you are right, I was thinking the other way round, what a dill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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