Balanced Cable as Headphone cable extension?

[OmegaHyperio]

So, story time.

I bought my dad a Sennheiser HD430 for his birthday (thats the model he had when he was young). Well he wants to use it to watch TV now, and the cable is not long enough to reach his amp. So i decided, why not make my own cable, im used to doing so, since i work in the pro audio field now. But one thing i have not done yet, is create a stero unbalanced extension cable using a 1/4" connector. (i only use XLR and Phoenix connectors).

So, i thought, why not try using a microphone cable with a 0,38 mm² crossection, so it should be thick enough to carry the current to the headphones.

The only thing i am unsure about is, will a microphone cable carry a stereo signal without any distortion. Or will i need to use a multicore cable?

Also, i will need to replace the HD430's original cable, as it has developed a fault in the past few mouths, so i will probably get the sennheiser replacement, and possibly reterminate it into a neutrik 1/4" connector, since i do not trust those 3.5mm plasticy connectors anymore.

So, has anyone tried using a microphone cable as a headphone extension cable, and has anyone re terminated the senneheiser replacement cable for the HD430?

 

[transmaster]

Blue Jeans Cable built me a custom cable for My AKG 240MkII's which came with 2 cables with mini XLR's at the headphone end. BJC built me a 25 foot cable with a much better quality mini XLR on one end and the really good 1/4 phone plug on the other the cable is Belden 1508A it is actually more flexible them the original cables the 240"s came with, and sounds a whole bunch better then much shorter OEM cables.

 

[JoeESP9]

As long as the microphone cable has two conductors and a ground/shield there will be no problems.

 

[OmegaHyperio]

The cable has been built, and though i am not stunned at the sound quality of my 5m cable, i am at least pleased with the fact that it sounds better then any other extension cable i have had to date (they tend to break quickly, so i had a few ). I used Sommer Cables Galileo cable (inexpensive, and good, also double shielded), as well as a Neutrik TRS 1/4" plug, and a TRS 1/4" Receptacle. Only downside to this is, the cable is basically to big for the connectors, it barely fits, and i only managed to get it together using a fair bit of force (at least on the plug). It is almost 9mm diameter after all. Would i recommend it for headphone extension leads, yes, would i recommend it with the neutriks, well sort of no, its a tight fit.

Here is the sound description of the fresh cable (some may not believe in this, but i can hear the difference in cables (or at least i think i do)) Keep in mind that the cable is 5M, so the results may vary with shorter and longer runs.

The overall sound is Smooth with a slight bit of warmth to the sound. The highs, are smooth and pleasant (but ever so slightly veiled), all though not as pronounced as they are straight from the DAC1's headphone amp. The mids are smooth with quite a bit of prescience but at the same time very so slightly veiled . The bass is slightly loos but not boomy, its also slightly recessed in comparison to the direct amp. I will see how the cable performs after a few hours of use.
Soundstage is not all to large, but not tiny.

Edit:
Would i use this cable to connect my poweramp to my Preamp and DAC, quite frankly, probably not, but for a budget cable its quite decent. I will see how the other stuff from sommer sounds.
But, if i had the choice between the Galileo and a cheap cable or a coat hanger, i would pick the Galileo. But if i have to chose between a audioquest XLR (or similar) id go with the Audio quest.

Also note, since i have a general dislike of lead free solder (it ruined a few dips, and 2 soldering irons before i went back to lead) I used a high quality locally made lead based solder. (by locally, i mean made in a city about 20 min car travel away)