Headphone Cables
Around the turn of the century, Angela Cardas was an announcer at a radio station in Albany, Oregon. She used Sennheiser HD600 headphones, and due to constant abuse that headphones go through in the broadcasting world, she found herself going through cables several times a year.Finally, she said to her father, George Cardas, "Hey, you make cables. Can't you make a headphone cable for me?" So George went to work developing a headphone cable. What he came up with was not only more durable, but to her delight, it also made the headphones sound even better.That R&D project turned into the first Cardas Headphone cable. And launched what has become an entire product line here at Cardas Audio.
Parsec Headphone has all the legendary benefits Cardas is known for: richness, warmth, detail, non fatiguing, musical, etc.
The cable is very flexible and the rubber jacket slides nicely without snagging your clothing. The shielded star-quad design is one of our most versatile and successful products, very similar to our original headphone cable introduced back in 2003.
Standard Terminations: Cardas 1/4” stereo and Sennheiser HD650. There are too many headphone and amp options available to list them all.
Design/Construction:Conductors: Grade 1, 99.9999% pure oxygen free copper with SPN clear coat (Litz), gauge sizes scaled to Golden Ratio proportions. Cross-field layer geometry, insulated in a PFA jacket. Geometry: Shielded Star-Quad 4 conductor, bound together in carbon impregnated FEP tape. Super flexible Alcryn rubber jacket.
Gauge:4x23.5 AWG
Outside Diameter:0.204”/5.21mm
Parsec
Reflection Headphone builds upon the successes from the more expensive dual mono geometry of Clear Headphone Cable. Matched Propagation conductors help to achieve very well balanced performance. Completely neutral and highly dynamic, a great match for virtually any headphone. Better detail, improved dynamics, and available with virtually any headphone connector on the market.
Design/Construction: Matched Propagation Kevlar core, Grade 1, 99.9999% pure oxygen free copper with SPN clear coat (Litz), gauge sizes scaled to Golden Ratio proportions. Cross-field layer geometry, insulated in PTFE tape wrapped jacket.
Geometry: Concentrically wound two conductor flanked by anti-static fibers. Braided nylon outer jacket.
Gauge: 8X25.5 AWG
Outside Diameter: 0.180”/4.57mm
Reflection
Clear
We took the Clear speaker cable and scaled it down to work for only the best headphones on the planet. This is a dual mono run (two completely isolated cables for left and right) just like a pair of speaker cables. Perfect for balanced or single ended operation. Completely neutral, detailed, with life like dynamics. This cable helps you to forget about the headphones and get lost in the music.
Standard Terminations:Cardas 1/4” stereo and Sennheiser HD800. There are too many options available to list them all. Please contact us to learn about the newest additions to our large selection of headphone terminations.
Design/Construction:Conductors: Matched Propagation Kevlar core, Grade 1, 99.9999% pure oxygen free copper with SPN clear coat (Litz), gauge sizes scaled to Golden Ratio proportions. Cross-field layer geometry, insulated in an FEP tape wrapped jacket.
Geometry: Dual mono twisted pair conductors with anti-static LDPE air-tubes bound with carbon impregnated PTFE tape wrap. Outer layer uses PTFE air-tubes scaled 1.618 times larger than the core tubes to suspend the composite shield of 42 AWG tinned copper and magnet wire away from the signal carrying conductors. Finished in an ultra soft extruded TPR jacket.
Gauge:8x26.5 AWG
Outside Diameter:0.170”/4.31mm
Beyond
One of our most challenging and extensive R&D projects has finally come to fruition. The Clear Beyond Headphone Cable project began due to the prodding from a handful of loyal customers who wanted to see us push the envelope, and outdo our venerable Clear Headphone Cable.
This was no small task, and took several years. Clear Headphone Cable required the development of the first miniaturized concentricMatched Propagation Conductor, which presented challenges in both production and termination. Once those were conquered, we had a cable that expanded the performance of every headphone on which we tried it. But the idea of taking it to the next step was daunting.
We began, naturally, by looking at ways to improve the conductor. Taking cues from Clear Beyond Interconnect, we refined the stranding and braiding, creating a finer arrangement of Grade 1 Ultra Pure Cardas Copper wire. This yielded notable improvements, but we knew we could take it further by doing something we’ve never done before - adding silver.
Our all new Hybrid Metallurgy Matched Propagation Conductor features a 30 awg strand of Cardas Grade 1 Silver Wire, in addition to the many improve- ments we’ve made from the starting point of Clear Headphone Cable. Theresults are spectacular. As with Clear Headphone, Clear Beyond Headphone has two separate cables, one for each channel. Braided blue & black thread, and joined together with beautiful hardware to give it “the look” it deserves.
Standard Termination:There are too many options available to list them all. Please contact us to learn about the newest additions to our large selection of headphone terminations.
Design/Construction: Conductors: Matched Propagation Kevlar core, Grade 1, 99.9999% pure oxygen free copper with SPN clear coat (Litz), gauge sizes scaled to Golden Ratio proportions. 30 AWG Grade 1 Silver core. Cross-field layer geometry, insulated in an PTFE tape wrapped jacket.
Geometry: Concentrically wound two conductor flanked by anti-static fibers. Braided nylon outer jacket with copper plated hardware.
Gauge:8x25.5 AWG + 4x30 AWG (17.5 AWG per polarity)
Outside Diameter:0.182”/4.63mm
Adapters
We offer a variety of portable audio adapters and interconnects, for connecting premium personal audio components with quality Cardas cable.
Part numbers:
P8.8 for HPI-A 1/4" Female to 1/8" Male adapter
P42.73 for GRQ-A, 1/8" Female to 1/4" Male adapter
P8.7 for HPI-6, 6" 1/8" 90º to 1/8" 90º Interconnect
P8.3 for HPI-12, 12" 1/8" 90º to 1/8" 90º Interconnect
P8.4 for HPI-18, 18" 1/8" Straight to 1/8" Straight Interconnect
1/8" Female to 1/4" Male
GRQ-A, P42.73
HPI 12"
P8.3
1/4" Female to 1/8" Male
P8.8
1/8" Female to 1/4" Male
GRQ-A, P42.73
1/3
We love headphones, and have enjoyed watching and participating in the evolution of the modern high-end headphone industry. But the lack of standards, in terms of connectors, is... frustrating. To say the least. Imagine if every brand of amplifier (and every model within that brand) had a different type of connector. And the same for DACs, streamers, turntables, speakers, etc.. Well that's how it is with headphones.
Adopting a standard would benefit everybody. Headphone manufacturers could make their own,orchoose from an array of quality levels within the standard (think entry-level to high-end RCA plugs). Cable manufacturers could do the same. And the consumer could buy a headphone cable, and use it on every headphone they currently own, or might own someday.
/rant
Anyway,here is a partial list of headphone models for which we make cables.
Don't see your headphones listed? Don't despair! There's still a good chance we can make your cable. Contact us to check!
Sennheiser HD25, HD265, HD445, HD525, HD535, HD545, HD565, HD580, HD600, HD650, HD800, HD800S
Focal Elear, Utopia
Beyerdynamic DT1770, DT1990 Pro, T1
Abyss, Abyss Diana, Diana V2, Diana Phi
Audeze
HiFiMan HD400, HE5, HE6, HE300, HD560, HE4, HE500, HE600, X V2, HE1000, HE400i, Susvara, Ananda, Sandra, 6Se, 5Se
Fostex
Master & Dynamics MH40
Oppo PM3
McIntosh MHP 1000
Audioquest Nighthawk
Mr. Speakers / Dan Clark Audio
AKG K812
Ultrasone, Pro2900, Pro900, Pro750, Pro550, HFI2400, HFI2200
Connectors
