Cable Specification Guide
In this guide we explain in more detail the meaning of different cable spec options from the drop-down menus of most cable listings, especially the flagship Mongrel series.
Length & Wire Type
This option determines the total length of the cable from end to end, as well as the type of wire used internally for the Mongrel series. In other series of cables where there is no choice of wire the option will simply be called 'Length'.
Left Cord Colour / Right Cord Colour
In the Mongrel series the left and right cord colour options, together with the optional secondary/main cord colour option, determine the cord colour configuration of how the cable will look. For most Mongrel cables there are 4-strands of cord with wire sleeved individually in each cord, unless stated in the listing description that a particular listing only uses 3-cords. In these common 4-cord cables when using only left and right cord colours to select colour, and leaving the optional secondary/main unselected, there are 2 possible colour configurations. Firstly, if both left and right are the same colour, then the cable will all be one cord colour. For example in the image below, both left and right cords are black, so the whole cable is black:
Whereas if you select a different colour for each of the left and right cord options, then at the y-split above the splitter you will the left cord colour go only to the left headphone connector, and the right cord colour go only to the right cord colour. An example can be seen in the image below where the left cord is black, but the right cord is orange:
Optional Secondary/Main Cord Colour
Using the optional secondary/main cord colour option is as the title suggests optional, and does not need to be selected when inputting the cable specification. Doing so allows for 3 additional cord colour configurations depending on what the left and right cord colours are, as it will 'take' and replace one cord from each the left and right side. Firstly, if the left and right cord colours are the same as each other, and you select a different cord colour option here, then this will act as the 'secondary' colour. Like the above black and orange example, this too will give a 50/50 colour ratio, but the difference is that both colours will go to both channels. In the below example of this configuration, which shows left: purple, right: purple and optional secondary: battleship, you can see that both left and right connectors have purple and battleship coloured cord:
Similarly, if the left and right cord colours are different, then using this option will instead act as the optional main cord colour. This can result in one of two configurations. Firstly, if all three options are different colours, then you will get a cable with 3 different colours, with the main colour being 2/4 and the left and right being 1/4 each. For example, selecting left: acid, right: pink, and optional main: black, would result in the following cord configuration:
The 5th and final configuration occurs when the optional secondary/main cord option is the same as one of the left and right cord colours, but not both of them. In that case as it still takes 2/4 cords, and 1/4 cords from either left or right will also be the same colour, then 3/4 will be one colour and 1/4 will be another, giving a 3:1 cord colour. For example in this image below, you can see the cable is left: orange, right: black, optional secondary/main: black, and it looks like this:
Selecting the optional secondary/main cord colour to be same as both the left and right cord colours has no effect as the cable will already be one colour.
For other cables such as Pellucid and Pellucid-PLUS where there is only one cord colour option, this is simply the one cord colour that runs end to end. Whereas for Shadow series cables and our new Mog series cables that have a left and right cord colour option, this is for cord at the y-split only, from the point it splits to the point where it meets the headphone connector.
Source Connector
This is connector that plugs into your amp or device. If you have multiple devices, we recommend opting for the one you will use the most if an adapter is possible to use on another. Otherwise, if you had a balanced device and a non-balanced device, it would be better to have it terminated for the balanced device as adapters can convert balanced cables to non-balanced but not the other way around. If you are not sure which source connector you need for your device, please write to us before placing and order to let us know the model(s) of amp you have and we can verify that for you.
Splitter
This is an optional and largely aesthetic option as to if you want a covering over the part where the cable splits, applicable to our y-split Mongrel series cables only. As shown in the applicable listings and in the example below, you can see from left to right what a cable will look like without one, with a plain black heat shrink, or with our OIDIO logo heat shrink. The logo option has it face away from the listener. Having a splitter does not increase or reduce the durability of the cable, and may cause microphonic knocking noises if it hits into a hard object such as a desk.
Some other series of cables, like y-split Mog cables, will still have a heat shrink splitter but this is not configurable. Splitters are only an option for splits near the headphone end of a cable, cables that have splits near the source connector end will not have a splitter.
Split Length
To reduce such risks of desk knocking, we have the split length option which simply determines how from down from the headphone connectors the splitter or split will sit. It does not add any additional length to the cable!
It will also determine the angle that the split has, for example a short split length will result in it being closer to the headphones and a greater angle, which can put more strain on the connectors and socket compared to a longer split length which sits further down. Having a medium or large split length will suit most listeners.
Some cables may not have split length listed as a configurable option, but for any cable that has a split we can make it a custom length if needed so just reply to an order confirmation email after placing it if so. As with splitter options, split length as a configurable option only determines this for the headphone end and not any split near the source connector.
Left / Right Heat Shrink
This is required for most Mongrel y-split cables, but may be optional for some. It determines if and what colour of heat shrink will be put on the left and right headphone connectors. We have many standards available, including black and red, blue and red and our custom printed L/R letter heat shrinks. There is also the option to pair black with another colour including black. The drop-down option 'Other' is for customers that want to request a different colour for left other than black, or blue in the case of 'blue and red', from the colours we have available, it is not for non-listed colours. Coloured heat shrink may not be a perfect match for cord colours of the same name. You can see an example of black and orange heat shrink in the second image of this guide.
The L/R printed letter shrinks are a paid option as we get these made specifically for us by one of our suppliers. How these look will depend on the connector as different connectors can be different widths or shapes resulting in some that appear larger or more warped than others.
In the below example you can see our L/R printed letter shrinks on a cable for Dan Clark Audio headphones, where they look fairly even and face forwards:
Whereas on this cable for Sennheiser, they look a bit taller, and face sideways:
We generally recommend having some way to differentiate between left and right, either through different coloured left and right cord colours, or heat shrink. If everything is the same, such as all black cord and all black heat shrink, it will make telling left and right harder to do as you will either have to run an audio test or look at the twist directions of the y-split (for Mongrel series cables). Only a couple of connectors that we stock have built in L and R on the connector, these are the Sennheiser HD700 type connectors, and the Fostex TH610 type connectors.
Optional Source Branding (excl. XLR)
This option is as the title suggests also optional and simply determines if you want our OIDIO logo heat shrink on the source connector. It is not available for all connectors such as XLR, and if left unselected it will not be applied so you can leave it unselected if you don't want our branding. Soon this will get integrated into the source connector option itself.
Other options
Other cables may have different names for the above options. For example, instead of source connector, an adapter listing may use 'connector 1' and 'connector 2', which is basically the input and output connector from one device to another. Likewise instead of the left/right cord colour options, some listings may instead use first, second, third, which for some 3 cord strand single ended cables is just a better way to give the same 1 to 3 cord colour options for a cable that does not split off to the left and right.
If the cable or product you are looking at has specifications that are not listed and explained here you can email us or use the contact form and we'll get back as soon as we can to help!