FiiO LF-RB Magnetic Swappable Plug Headphone Cable

The new FiiO LF-RB Magnetic Swappable Plug Headphone Cable is truly a very special solution from FiiO Electronics Technology Co. Ltd, especially for all those users who want to use high-quality in-ear headphones with different devices in the best quality. This is a cable whose connection can be used in the simplest way as a 2.5 mm jack, 3.5 mm jack or 4.4 mm jack. Only one handle is needed to change the connections.

The connector chaos

The problem is well known in the field of personal audio devices: many devices have different connection options, so that if you rely on high-quality headphones, for example, you need different adapters or even different cables.

But if you also rely on high-quality cables, this quickly becomes expensive if you want to have the option of actually being able to use different connection options.

In the field of personal audio devices, such as portable D/A converters and headphone amplifiers, DAP, i.e. portable hi-res audio players, three connection options are currently the most common. First of all, there is the well-known 3.5 mm stereo mini-jack, which has become a kind of standard year after year. However, and this is its biggest disadvantage, it is only designed for unbalanced signal transmission.

If you want a balanced signal transmission, depending on the device, either a 2.5 mm stereo mini-jack or a so-called 4.4 mm PENTACONN is available; only very few solutions have all variants.

The Chinese specialist FiiO Electronics Technology Co. Ltd. has already addressed this problem with various solutions; the company has a large number of different cables in high quality, some of them even very high quality. In addition, for some time now the company has been offering individual in-ear headphone models and also so-called earbuds with exchangeable plugs, so-called twist-lock swappable plugs, for which it relies on a patent from Fabrilous.

FiiO LF-RB Magnetic Swappable Plug Headphone Cable – One Cable, Various Plugs

Now, however, they are presenting their own development, which – by the way – they have of course also applied for a patent for, and which they are launching on the market for the first time in the form of the FiiO LF-RB Magnetic Swappable Plug Headphone Cable.

This is also a cable with a swappable plug, but – and this is the special feature – it is even easier to connect than with previous screw systems and this connection is also supposed to be much more reliable.

As the name suggests, it relies on a mechanism that works by means of magnets, so it is ultimately a plug-in system that relies on an adapter on the cable and various inserts for the most diverse connections.

5-pin ground design

The high-quality metal adapters have a 5-pin design on the side of the Magnetic Male Adapter in order to be prepared for all conceivable variants.

The Magnetic Female Plugs, on the other hand, are available in different versions: in the case of the new FiiO LF-RB Magnetic Swappable Plug Headphone Cable, as a 2.5 mm Magnetic Female Plug, as a 3.5 mm Magnetic Female Plug, and as a 4.4 mm Magnetic Female Plug.

High-purity Silver-plated Monocrystaline Copper Wires

Of course, the cable itself is of a particularly high quality design. The manufacturer refers to it as High-purity Silver-plated Monocrystaline Copper Wires, i.e. conductors made of high-purity copper that have been silver-plated. The cable has a geometry with four strands, each of which has 120 signal conductors and 100 strands in the insulation layer, plus an additional shield and a sheath made of TPU. The four strands are in turn loosely interwoven, which also contributes to a high degree of shielding against external influences and, from a very practical point of view, to a high degree of flexibility of the cable.

MMCX Connector

Since the new FiiO LF-RB Magnetic Swappable Plug Headphone Cable is designed for in-ear headphones and earbuds, it naturally features so-called MMCX connectors at the other end, which have also almost crystallised as an industry standard in recent years.

Of course, these are gold-plated and designed to withstand high loads over a long period of time. By means of red and blue markings, it is always clear to see which is the left and which is the right channel.

Prices and availability

The new FiiO LF-RB Magnetic Swappable Plug Headphone Cable should be available in specialist shops soon. The manufacturer quotes a recommended retail price of US$ 49,99 for this solution.

Getting to the point

FiiO Electronics Technology Co. Ltd. has a wide range of cables, but the new FiiO LF-RB Magnetic Swappable Plug Headphone Cable is something quite unusual. For the first time, the Chinese specialist for personal audio solutions is introducing a system that allows the plugs to be swapped in the simplest possible way, so that one is optimally equipped for the most diverse requirements.