Sony EX90 Modding thread! - Page 3 - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

Veggie_Musician · #31 (**permalink**) 11-26-2006, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by betula

Hi,

could you tell me a few words about the difference between modded ex90 and westone um2? is the um2's isolation better? sound? does an upgrade worth?

thx

The UM2 has a drier sound thats almost dead... soon as you hear the sound its gone... the ex90's seem to almost have reverb compaired to the UM2's.

Ive used both now for a while

UM2 - In your head sound - like you are on stage - theres a real connection between the music and you. They are balenced - the mids are prob most forward. They eq to anything you want them to be! These are a real musicians phone....

EX90 - Like you are sitting 10 rows back in the concert hall... The treble is much more apparent on the Sonys but I would not say they are as detailed as the Westones... The bass is different its more an odd huge "grunt" when needed, not like subwoofer of the UM2.

Verdict - I perfer the UM2... for me they just seem a little more refined and I like the intermate connection with music you get.

Sonys are great buys at 1/3 the cost.

If you got UM2's, the Sony's are not an upgrade

If you got EX90's and you got lots of spare cash - the UM2's are an upgrade - but its not really worth it tho IMO.

germanium · #32 (**permalink**) 11-27-2006, 06:53 AM

Anyone try removing the screen & foam packing from the output tube. It opens up the sound considerably. They lose the sometimes thick muffled sound. It brings out the upper mids & lower treble without making them overdone. No loss off bass or treble. Voices sound better. They also become more efficient by a small amount.

kramer5150 · #33 (**permalink**) 11-27-2006, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by germanium

Anyone try removing the screen & foam packing from the output tube. It opens up the sound considerably. They lose the sometimes thick muffled sound. It brings out the upper mids & lower treble without making them overdone. No loss off bass or treble. Voices sound better. They also become more efficient by a small amount.

Hey can you post pics? I thought about doing that, but was affraid it would compress the soundstage.

Hows the image separation / soundstage with the mod?

Thanks!!

germanium · #34 (**permalink**) 11-27-2006, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kramer5150

Hey can you post pics? I thought about doing that, but was affraid it would compress the soundstage.

Hows the image separation / soundstage with the mod?

Thanks!!

More forward Image with a lot more spaciousness. Even the bass has a spacious sound to it. Greater seperation from front to back. Depth is very good to excellent but you will notice more of the sounds up front than before especially if the previous balance artificailly pushed them back in the mix but sounds that are recorded with capturing depth retain thier full depth giving greater front to back depth. Definately a far more exciting sound to them. Sounded somewhat dull before relative to now. May even allow the cling film mod to work as there will be more mids to ballance the increased bass. That mod will still compress the image but having more front to back depth to start may help to retain some of it with the increased bass.

nineohtoo · #35 (**permalink**) 11-27-2006, 05:59 PM

Pics of that mod please? I thought doing that would damage the headphone.

Has anyone tried rewiring them? I know it won't make much of a difference, but I plan on getting the white Zen V this week to replace my black 4gb one, and I'd rather have a white chord to match the unit lol.

kramer5150 · #36 (**permalink**) 11-27-2006, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by germanium

More forward Image with a lot more spaciousness. Even the bass has a spacious sound to it. Greater seperation from front to back. Depth is very good to excellent but you will notice more of the sounds up front than before especially if the previous balance artificailly pushed them back in the mix but sounds that are recorded with capturing depth retain thier full depth giving greater front to back depth. Definately a far more exciting sound to them. Sounded somewhat dull before relative to now. May even allow the cling film mod to work as there will be more mids to ballance the increased bass. That mod will still compress the image but having more front to back depth to start may help to retain some of it with the increased bass.

WOW!
Nice little mod here folks!! Thanks germanium (and Veggiemusician for starting this thread)

I used a dull x-acto knife and scraped the perimeter of the mesh grille cloth away, down to the bare plastic material. The remaining circle portion of the cloth pulls out easily with a thumb tack. Pull the little foam piece out with the thumbtack and set it aside. You can always slide it back in and use it a s a wax filter (I do this with my moded koss plugs). I used a damp paper towel to clean up any scrap plastic shavings from the sound tube.

Upper mids are now MUCH more in cohesion with the treble. Theres a nice smooth treble / upper midrange transition, which wasn't there previously.

Clarity seems to be improved across all frequencies too, while bass still has impact and depth. Listening to Diana Krall "Peel me a Grape", acoustic bass lines are SMOOTH and very articulate. Theres definitely a layer of detail resolution that was not there before. Same goes for her vocals... some added breath and vocal texture that was missing previously.

Surprisingly I don't notice much change to the soundstage separation. Center stage definitely seems more alive and present than before, but spatially there still is a nice sense of distance and L/R separation (for a canal-phone).

All I can say is WOW, theres some stellar detail resolution lurking in these little cans.

cant wait to get home and hear them on my pimeta and better source.

germanium · #37 (**permalink**) 11-28-2006, 04:32 AM

Sorry but my camera just won't take a good picture of them. I need a camera that can do 10X optical zoom to get a good one. My camera only does 3X. Plus I have to lower the resolution terribly to post it online so it ends up looking even worse. Sorry guys. I did try though it just looked terrible, couldn't see any detail

nineohtoo · #38 (**permalink**) 11-28-2006, 09:51 AM

tee hee.

I just tried it. Taking off that cloth cover and pulling out the foam.

Oh man. Every little mod on these had made leaps in performance. I think BoA is singing right beside me

Now if only the chords matched the Zen V... Sony needs to make these in white like they did with all the other Fontopias.

betula · #39 (**permalink**) 11-28-2006, 04:21 PM

thx for the answer veggie musician.
what do you think about this new mod of ex90?

<GNEFF> killbot · #40 (**permalink**) 11-28-2006, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by germanium

Sorry but my camera just won't take a good picture of them. I need a camera that can do 10X optical zoom to get a good one. My camera only does 3X.

Forget about the zoom. You need to use your cameras macro function.

juzmister · #41 (**permalink**) 11-28-2006, 05:12 PM

Its not such a tricky mod lol, just break the seal, and pull out the foam...What a huge improvement...Awesome find!

fureshi · #42 (**permalink**) 11-28-2006, 06:04 PM

just curious for those of you that have tried pulling out the foam in the stem. did you also have the holes in the back covered? or were the sound impressions based on only pulling out the foam?

juzmister · #43 (**permalink**) 11-28-2006, 06:23 PM

I just pulled out the foam...

kramer5150 · #44 (**permalink**) 11-28-2006, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fureshi

just curious for those of you that have tried pulling out the foam in the stem. did you also have the holes in the back covered? or were the sound impressions based on only pulling out the foam?

My impressions were based ONLY on removing the foam and mesh cloth. I did not block the other vents...

Here are pics of mine:

Impressed by the results. The added detail is pretty substantial IMHO. The other thing that surprised me is that the overall spectral balance of the phones has not changed much. They still are bass heavy with some nice treble... but now, everything between ~400-5000Hz has filled in. It literally is a full wall of sound, where previously it was like an open door frame... top and sides missing middle.

The bass is more detailed and textured with the mod, yet still has a warm "wooly" character. I wouldnt go so far as to call the modded bass snappy and quick. IMHO the bass is closer to a KSC75 than an SR60 (for example).

fureshi · #45 (**permalink**) 11-28-2006, 08:23 PM

thanks guys. i just did the mod and it's basically what you all had described and have made these cans more enjoyable. although i don't have any, i'd bet that the shure e2c wax guards would work on the stems of these cans. now i'll have to see what i can do about improving isolation.