2.5mm Trrs Balanced Male to 3.5mm Stereo Female Audio Connection Adapter Cable Compatible with Astell&Kern AK240 AK380 AK320 onkyo DP-X1 FIIO X5III XDP-300R iBasso DX200

Could be my fault. I have a iBasso DX120 DAP and I had just purchased an AKG N40 HI resolution earphones. I was hoping that this adaptor would improve the sound of the AKG N40s. It seemed the sound was made worse. I have a pair of FiiO F5 earphones which has a 2.5 balance cable as well as the 3.5 cable which works fine, It is possible that the AKG N40 doesn't require the 2.5 balance connection. I don't know enough about these thinks. Since the advert didn't mention my model iBasso DX120 DAP then it is possible that they were not suited to this adaptor. So I feel I cannot complain, I took a chance and lost. Such is life.

It's unclear from the description if the female 3.5mm socket on this is balanced (TRRS) or single ended (TRS) and I think most people will look at it and think it's a balanced to single ended adaptor. I hope that it's a balanced socket and that this adaptor is just to convert 2.5mm TRRS to the rare 3.5mm TRRS. If it is, it should be clearly marked that you cannot plug a standard TRS 3.5mm jack into it without potentially damaging your amplifier.If the adaptor is a balanced 2.5mm plug with a single ended 3.5mm socket on it then it shouldn't be on the market at all. Plugging a standard 3.5mm headphone jack into it will short the two grounds of your amplifier headphone output - bad things happen and you can do real damage.Balanced to single ended headphone adaptors do not (or should not) exist for that reason. If you're considering buying this because you want to use your normal 3.5mm plug headphones with a 2.5mm balanced output then please don't. Either use the single ended output or, if your headphones allow it, buy a balanced cable for them. From the reviews I think that at least one person, maybe two, has definitely shorted their equipment, but from what they've said they hopefully stopped using it before disaster struck.With headphone outputs, you can adapt from balanced to balanced, single ended to single ended, single ended to balanced (although the output will remain single ended), but never balanced output to single ended headphone.I've given it 1 star because either it has a misleading description that will lead to people buying it for use with single ended headphones and maybe damaging their amps, or it's simply a product that shouldn't exist at all and again risks anyone using it destroying their valuable equipment.If you're unsure about what I've said (and who am I but another voice on the internet?!) then please fire up your favourite search engine. The custom cable company Moon Audio has a much fuller explanation on their site than I've given here. I hope this helps at least some people avoid trouble, I don't own the product but when I saw it I thought it might be a good idea to post this for potential buyers, just in case. Happy (and safe!) listening :)

USED ON THE ONKYO DPX1a worked really well from the balanced headphone output. WORTH THE MONEY.

Does what it says on the tin. Does alter the sound it does what you want. Built well and looks good. Only thing I would possibly change would to make it even shorter.