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1. 

   Wanda Woman
   November 5th, 2009 - 00:01

   First off I would like to point out something very important about this product. This cable is not actually 16 feet in length, it is 16.5 feet of coiled cable. Coiled all the way down it is roughly only 4 feet in length, and can be stretched to around 10 feet in length. It would be a good comparison to say this cable is like an old fashioned telephone cable.

   That said, this cable is not designed for its length, it is designed to be able to survive more effectively than its non coiled counterparts. Having purchased AKG headphones in the past, I can say that the standard non coiled cables will tend to break under the pressures of everyday use. Being constantly pulled on and coiled up for quick storage isn’t good for these standard cables and they tend to break where they attach to the connectors.

   That is where the EK 500 S stands out. This cable has extra reinforcement at both connectors, and the coiled design can take an amazing amount of tension and stress without breaking. Add to that the fact that the cable is coiled, and naturally shorter than the standard cable (around 4 feet), and you can store it easily without coiling up 10 extra feet of wire. Overall it is just a stronger and more robust version of the non-coiled variant, which sacrifices length for survivability.

   The quality of the cable is, without a doubt, phenomenal. It has a mini-XLR connector on one end for connecting to all AKG studio headphones. On the other end it has a gold 1/8″ mini jack that fits the 1/4″ phone jack attachment that comes with the headphones. Here is my only problem with this cable though, the cable doesn’t come with a new 1/4″ extender attachment, you have to already have one. The 1/4″ attachment rarely ever breaks, but this cable won’t be giving you a new one, so if you’re looking for a new one of those look elsewhere.

   That said, the cable is a good replacement cable for a pair of AKG studio headphones that has a working 1/4″ phone jack connector with it. It’s strong and durable and presents good sound quality. I would expect nothing less from AKG, and I was not disappointed. I highly recommend this product to anyone who uses their AKG headphones frequently and needs a more durable cable.
   Rating: 5 / 5
2. 

   mhk
   November 5th, 2009 - 00:41

   It’s not so much that the cable is short (though AKG was rather stingy with the length) but that they seem to have used a bad batch of 1/8″ plugs. Using it in the headphone input of a Mac Pro it constantly falls out, even if the coiled cable isn’t causing any tension. It’s as though they used cheap plugs that are slightly too narrow or too short. There simply isn’t a snug fit. The stock AKG 240 cable worked fine so it’s disappointing that AKG seems to have dropped the ball with the replacement cable.
   Rating: 1 / 5
3. 

   William Near Jr.
   November 5th, 2009 - 02:00

   I bought the EK 500S to replace the stock 8′ straight headphone cable for my AKG K240 Studio headphones.

   Sure, the cable is now 16′ feet long, but AKG used a ridiculous coiled design (like telephones use) for the cable, so that in order to stretch it anywhere near 16′ you have to put a fair amount of tension on it. When you apply all this tension the points where the coiled cable attaches to the mini-jack on one end, and to the headphones on the other end, are both bent at a 90 degree angle (when the headphones are plugged into my Samsung plasma TV’s side headphone jack). I end up having to hold the cable with one hand to relieve the stress on the headphones so they don’t get ripped off my head!

   The only reason the mini-jack doesn’t rip out of the TV is due to the 90 degree angle to my listening position. If this were a straight on listening angle then I dare say the mini-jack may be ripped from the TV’s jack when stretching this cable beyond about 8′ – 10′.

   The coiled cable design keeps the cable from becoming tangled, but at the cost of the aforementioned problem. I’d much rather have a 16′ straight cable and deal with the occasional tangle. A very poor design for the money and I would not purchase this cable again.
   Rating: 1 / 5

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