Orthodynamic Roundup - Page 103

It's like bass boost turned all the way up, goes pretty low, and is the best-resolved and tightest part of the range for that headphone.

Yes, the stock YH-1 should be the fairest comparison.

Anyway, here's a couple pics. I forgot to take pictures of the back of the earcup w/o foam before snapping the deal back together, but these should be interesting anyway, and I'll have the earcup open again.





Clickable as usual if you want a giant version.

And yes, that's a paper gasket you see in the baffle. It's loose, as is the disc of wispy nonwoven fabric that lines the grille.

The baffle as you can see has a lip that the driver fits into, with a little clip on the side that just provides some force and friction that can actually just barely hold it.

Previously i was listening to these out of my Onkyo HT system. At the moment I'm listening to Norah Jones' Live in New Orleans through my M3, and i'm noticing some sloppyness to the bass - so I'll probably be going back in to add some felt. Perhaps not right away.

Turned up all the way? I'm not hearing that, I don't think. Bass goes pretty low, though.

yeah, but it's much easier.

OK, I take it back. It's bassier than Yamakoax. At least in the current incarnation of Yamakoax. But it has about the same depth of bass.

Shuffled some parts around and now i have a stock-ish YH-2 (used the smaller foam disc from a Pro 30 in the YH-2, no felt other than stock, Sony pads which may be too thick). And i have more appropriate strain relief on Yamakoax.

Have I mentioned that I Do Not Like the stock YH-2? The YH-2 drivers are f'in useless in a bellini frame, IMHO. But i suppose i haven't looked hard enough for a worthwhile damping mod in the YH-2 - I'm starting to wonder if the stock felt on the vents is excessive and should be replaced by a single layer of superfelt, which should probably be similar to YH-1 stock damping.

At some point, I'll swap YH-2 drivers into the YH-3 frame and see what happens. That should resolve the question of whether it's the cup design or different drivers.

Or maybe they wanted to match the midrange response? I need to compare the truly stock YH-1 to the close-to-stock YH-2.

That's a fair assesment, but i have two pair and they were similar to each-other. One driver on one pair was tweaked when i got it, and I've made an effort to untweak it. One driver on the other pair got tweaked by me. Yamakoax has the two untweaked drivers, and they're pretty well matched.

The YH-3 treble is a little soft. Lacks sparkle. It's not that i like a lot of treble, but acoustic guitar from the likes of kings of convenience sounds a bit flat.

Might be a good use for superfelt? The plastic posts that press the driver against the baffle present an issue. I wonder if I'll have to cut little slits in the felt to allow them through.

Now they're starting to sound like an HP-50a.

Yeah, I think the confusion is just differences in Perceived Bassiness.

This is evident, for example, in the way that some people argue that the DT770's bass is Somewhat Prominant and others argue that the DT770 bass is "OMGWTFBBQ I can't believe how much bass there is!!!" - I am in the former camp, although I also enjoy a lot of cans that are slightly lean in the bass as long as they have good clarity and extension.

At least for the HP-50a, the bass was not this loose, but not superbly precise either, and otherwise this could be a match for the YH-100 driver after all, with the same damping promise.

Well, maybe, but I've had quite a lot of headphones by now, and this was probably the most bass-tilted of them all. Admittedly I'm more of a sweet mids and shimmery highs man, and don't pay such close attention to bass amount, but still.

Basically. Out of a truly stiff amp it's a bit better than that, but not much.

Yeah. It's just boosted and a little sloppy.

Well i had it at work all day today, and i enjoyed aspects of it, but, yeah, we need to get an actual HP-50.