Seriously. The biggest reason I ended up buying the Philips X2HR as my first good headphones was because I saw they use a regular 3.5mm cable.

I used to do this when I was just getting into this hobby and I've found that it's really not worth the hassle. After 2 years of listening for a difference, I've concluded that there isn't one.

edit: 128kbps AAC sounds better than flac. The compression artifacts are like a savory seasoning that I like to sprinkle on all my tracks