Sennheiser PC37X randomly goes bad after disconnecting the cable ?
Greetings, Yesterday I was using my headset like normal with my macbook, just listening to music and on a call with people like usual, and the headset was perfectly fine. The stock wire that came with the headset is extremely long and yesterday it annoyed me very much that it kept getting tangled with itself, so I decided to see if the cable is replaceable. I pulled out the cable from the headset and saw the adapter, and looked online for a replacement. Upon plugging it back in, the audio sounded extremely muffled and washed out. Im not sure what I did wrong to make it mess up like that as I've always taken good care of it, ive had it for about 2 years and its always just been chilling on my desk, but anywho I thought the cable just went bad and ordered a replacement. The replacement came, and the issue is still persistant, so I am not sure what the issue is I've tried multiple different headsets and the issue is not with the port, and I also tried it with my windows laptop and...
Apr 23, 2024
Geeky answer: The TH-900 is finished in red urushi on top of a base of silver flakes, with the lettering being executed with more lacquer and platinum foil. Urushi is rather hard to come by, and is used for all sorts of fancy pieces (non-disposable utensils and bowls, decorative cases, and fountain pens, among many others). On top of being immensely beautiful (see http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XZNNPoPFCXs/U8OQwIeQnJI/AAAAAAAAGow/mZZuc9rMdog/s1600/IMG_9928.JPG and https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0215/7612/products/Pelikan-Fantasia-Maki-e-Fountain-Pen-Limited-Edition-930313-5.jpeg?v=1422157280), it has great mechanical and chemical resistance, making it a hardy finish that can stand up to a reasonable amount of wear. Its only real weakness is UV radiation, as evidenced by the discolouration and embrittlement found in items given prolonged exposure to direct sunlight; there are several other light sources that can weaken urushi besides the sun, mind, such as blacklights and incandescent lamps. For this reason, most precious urushi-ware is stored in dark places. I get the feeling that part of why the 900 is so expensive is the use of said lacquer, on top of the higher cost of skilled labor in Japan.
The X-00, being a less rarefied headphone, makes do with less. The gloss on these is pretty, but picks up scratches and chips like it's hoarding them. Mine already has a fair amount of wear, but I don't really let it bother me. It's easy enough to strip, though, and I'm tempted to bare the wood and just re-coat it with something nicer myself.
Hope that helps!
Doesn't seem like polyurethane, but I'm not speaking with any great amount of authority (used to DIY stuff, don't do it so often nowadays). All I can say with certainty is, as @Dreams-Visions below mentioned, they use a rather sparing amount. These are to be handled with kid gloves.
I don't play an instrument (unless singing counts), so I'm unfamiliar with the relative acoustic merits of various woods. As far as these go, anyway, the Ebony were found to be the most balanced-sounding of the TH-X00 variants, though still far from reference-level neutrality. Wondering what these would sound and measure like if the cups are taken off (eliminating whatever colouration the ebony cups may add to the drivers' own sound), but that's a project for another day.
These impressions are more eloquent than my own, and may be of use to you: superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/massdrop-fostex-th-x00-ebony-measurements.2434/
Cheers,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29iTkYSZ1qk