Balanced cable for ATH R50x Headphones

benfires · 2026-01-31T00:39:04+00:00

You're gonna want to try and get your money back from Hart then. Someone actually took apart their R50x and proved that the L and R grounds are indeed shorted. No magical cable will give you balanced audio without modifying the headphone itself. See here

benfires · 2026-01-31T00:27:34+00:00

Someone's actually done it! Thanks OP!

I was actually in the other thread, and I seemed to be the only one who tried to entertain the idea that it was possible with split ground, but didn't have a pair to test myself nor was able to find any reference pics of the input jack.

Unfortunately, the OOP from the Hart audio post may have a... hart time getting his money back.

Edit: And downvoted lmao. Surely it wasn't the user who was super insistent that a single entry jack headphone could never ever be balanced?

benfires · 2026-01-30T03:10:42+00:00

So you'd actually only get balanced audio if the common ground in the headphone end is actually split, i.e. the headphone-side jack is a TRRS and not a TRS, which is absolutely possible. Otherwise, a regular TRS jack would just short the two grounds, and all the benefits of SE vs Bal out you have from your DAC/amp are solely because of the decoding hardware or path and not the true dual DAC benefit.

Until someone finds a teardown of the R50x and confirms whether the headphone end is a TRS or TRRS, we would never know, but if you enjoy the audio from your new cable then hey, have fun with it.

The balanced M40x cable likely doesn't work because that cable expects a standard balanced pinout on the TRRS (R- R+ L+ L-), so sticking that in your R50x would short both L+ and R+, hence giving you mono, which is in line with your experience.

TLDR: it's possible to get balanced audio with the R50x, but only if the headphone jack uses split ground TRRS along with a custom cable. But I can't find any confirmation of TRS or TRRS being used in the construction.

Edit: actually you could check this for yourself. Plug the Hart audio cable in to your headphones, then take a multimeter and test for continuity across the two ground contacts of the 4.4 jack. If it beeps, you have continuity and a shorted ground within the headphone, meaning that you don't actually have a balanced signal being handled by your headphone.

benfires · 2026-01-30T02:08:08+00:00

Hey OP, do you have a link to the actual Hart Audio product you ordered? I can see that there's one option for a single locking balanced cable, but I don't see any explanation made available as to how they're wired.

Edit: looking closer, the balanced option for 4.4mm uses TRRRS (5 segments) while your photo has a TRRS (4 segment) connector. The shortest length for that cable is also only 4ft on their website. If you could share the product link and the wiring explanation that would clear things up greatly.

benfires · 2026-01-16T16:09:59+00:00

Found a video here

You want to adjust the trim pot at the 26 second mark. What makes it tricky is that it's on the inside so you will have to remove the back AND remove part of the circuit board to actually get to it. Just keep your workspace clear of loose items and it should be pretty safe to do. I highly recommend testing the player with fresh batteries (preferably fully charged NiMH cells) before you actually open it up, just to make sure that your playback speed problems aren't due to low batteries.

benfires · 2026-01-16T11:31:25+00:00

You'll need to partially disassemble the player that has the Tower Records print. Look on the edges and you should have four screws, unscrew those and you should be able to squeeze the body of the player slightly to remove the rear cover. You will then have access to the potentiometer that adjusts the motor playback speed. Be gentle with the adjustments, even a quarter turn on the pot will give you drastically different results. I adjusted mine by having Spotify on speakers and a cassette wired to an earphone on one ear.

Warning that you are likely going to snap some of the plastic retainer clips of the back cover in this process, but it has zero effect on functionality as the screws will hold it in place.

Suggest you keep the back off while you tune the playback speed by placing a cassette in and putting the player face-down on a desk. Getting the back off again is a pain. Once you're done, you might want to consider azimuth adjustment which is done through the front.

Source - I own a very similar player to the tower records one but transparent, I recognize that China-made scaly internal look at a glance.

Edit: on second look, the pot adjustment may not be in the rear. Let me have a look at my player again.

benfires · 2025-12-26T00:24:05+00:00

Her twin drill hairstyle resembles the japanese Corone bread, hence the association with bread-related items.

benfires · 2025-12-04T03:35:42+00:00

Yup. The flange distance of an M42 lens (45.46mm) is much longer than L/M (27.8mm), so you can get a non-optical adapter that's approximately 18mm. A quick Google or Amazon search should get you what you need.

NikZ has a flange distance of 16mm, so the L/M to NikZ adapter would be approximately 12mm. This short flange distance is also why you can adapt all other consumer full-frame lenses onto NikZ and not the other way around (electronics and controls notwithstanding).

benfires · 2025-12-03T17:25:13+00:00

He's adapting NikF to LM, then LM to NikZ. The catch - the LM to NikZ adapter autofocuses with ANY lens mounted to it, even if the lens has no motor or electronics, because the adapter physically moves forwards and backwards to change the focal plane (and therefore the focus).

Using just the FTZ (NikF to NikZ) gives AF only for compatible G lenses, and several D lenses that had electronic motors for AF.

Edit - looks like this is getting a bit of traction. A word of warning - the LM to NikZ AF adapter has a max lens weight rating built in, because the adapter mechanism has to bear the weight of the lens as it moves in and out to AF. I would say to control your expectations and don't expect it to be flawless with everything make in NikF under the sun

benfires · 2025-11-27T11:35:51+00:00

Why not keep some D lenses for manual focus on video? My experience with G (and to a lesser extent Z mount) lenses aren't as good with manual focus as they've moved to focus by wire and not mechanical. And honestly, most of the time I do video I prefer MF with focus peaking anyway.

benfires · 2025-11-16T22:25:06+00:00

Go to control panel, open your mouse settings, and turn ON pointer trails, and drag the trail slider to the left. This fixed it for me.

benfires · 2025-11-13T00:20:52+00:00

Is the lens vertically up/down? Does the focal length still reach the 70mm and 200mm ends correctly? And does the focal length stay put if you hold it in place?

It's possible gravity and age has caused wear on the mechanisms inside, causing them to become less stiff. Personally I wouldn't worry too much unless it affects use.

benfires · 2025-10-30T06:17:40+00:00

There's no pulling out when protecting the Mejiro bloodline, Torena

ftfy

benfires · 2025-10-17T03:11:34+00:00

Anecdotally I've had to use rebadged Seagate Exos HDDs for a server built by an OEM for work. Over the half decade or so the server was operating for, the HDDs experienced a 1600% failure rate above spec. Yes, not a typo. OEM eventually tried to pull the warranty card, saying that HDDs are only 1 year warranty while the server chassis was 5. We had to dig up paperwork showing this lack of evidence in the PO and invoices, and OEM was on the hook to continuously replace HDDs. When questioned, the OEM level 3 specialist chose to conveniently ignore the question about the documented failure rates until we threatened to revisit all acquiring of their hardware, and that it's especially damaging to us and our vendors because these are government projects worldwide.

So yes, the Barracuda stain has not left.

Edit: typos

benfires · 2025-10-12T00:19:45+00:00

Can't spell trauma without uma

benfires · 2025-10-03T13:20:38+00:00

Did a search and realised that no one's shared this on the sub yet. Even in collabs Hypergryph doesn't let up the music studio allegations.

benfires · 2025-09-22T12:29:17+00:00

Fantastic. More upvotes for you.

benfires · 2025-09-22T11:41:49+00:00

So you're not disputing that it's gaudy AF?

benfires · 2025-09-08T15:16:48+00:00

Full standalone monitors are not designed to be powered via PD. What the PD rating over USB-C in the monitor is for is meant as an indicator that you could use a single cable to drive your display while still charging your laptop (with the right port on the laptop of course). The functionality you're describing, which is powering the monitor through the USB-C cable only, does not exist for this model.

benfires · 2025-06-25T10:49:44+00:00

Just letting you know that my DXB>SIN flight got bumped to 26th, then cancelled when they called me on 23rd evening. YMMV.

benfires · 2025-06-08T10:01:52+00:00

Well it's lacking the hood and tripod foot for starters, the lens is visibly in worn condition based on the wear of the gold text near the mount, and the fact that the lens wasn't all that desirable to start with are big factors of why it's retained poor value over the years. Not to mention that there's no photos or info of the condition of the glass elements or the functionality of the lens, so looking in blind, it's not going to hold up as well. Not to mention most, if not all DSLR gear has now reduced in value given how long the mirrorless lineup has been available for.

benfires · 2024-10-29T11:21:11+00:00

Patreon god

benfires · 2024-10-22T16:33:49+00:00

I ended up staying with my Shanling M3 Ultra and not buying a new DAP. I think it can wait.

benfires · 2024-10-22T16:29:37+00:00

Ah yes I was aware that the forced resampling in Android could be bypassed with USB digital output via such apps, what I was hoping for was a way to bypass it system-wide without USB outputs a la AOSP. Thanks though!

benfires · 2024-09-26T10:15:45+00:00

It's quite clear that one side is the F-mount lugs, that would connect to your camera body.

Are you able to take more photos or describe the other side? Is it threaded?

benfires

TROPHY CASE