This is the first stage of my little experiment in trying to "make a silk purse out of a sow's ear," as it were. These are the mods I've made to my Sennheiser HD 555's thus far. I've included a brief summary of what effect each mod had (at least to my ears). If you want more detail (or are just plain bored), check out my "Whole Hog Blog."
These mods have been done before by different folks, but I haven't seen the effects of all these various mods compiled in a systematic manner. I thought it might be interesting for folks to see what my results were with each mod., and maybe compare their own impressions--be they similar or different.
For more background on the project, check out the project blog at the link in my sig.
You can see a gallery of pictures of the mods here.
So, without further ado, here's the mods:
555->595 Mod. - Simply removing the little foam "surround sound" insert from the inside of the headphone does a lot of the work, to my ears, attributed to the Soundstage Mod.
Improvements: Greater transparency. Brought the whole soundstage forward--and broadened it, somewhat. Gained some lovely little details. Stop here if you want to resell your 555's later--most of the rest of these mods are not reversable.
Soundstage Mod. - Whereby you cut the interior plastic grille from the headphone frame.
Improvements - Tightened bass (I really didn't expect this). Greater accuracy & separation within the soundstage--both in width and depth. Note with respect to width, I didn't notice a "widening" of the soundstage as with the foam removal mod.; the placement of instruments just seemed much more deliberate within the space that was already there.
HCW "Foam" Mod. - A foam baffle for the interior of the headphone capsule. I later "beefed up" this already fairly heavy-handed mod with a lining of polarfleece--still leaving the back of the driver itself open:
Improvements - Yet more improvement to separation. Slightly more bass response. Overall tonality is flatter (mids not so pronounced).
Caveats - The most significant changes to tonality were with this mod. I really had to spend some time trying different configurations/materials to get the voicing right.
Recable - Recabled (double-entry) with Mogami 3106.
Improvements - More bass extension and impact. Greater dynamic sensitivity and impact across the board. Clarity across the frequency spectrum.
Caveats - The Mogami 3106 is rather stiff. It looked rather cumbersome for a single-sided entry, but seems to balance nicely for a double-sided entry. I don't notice it (physically) when I'm listening--it just sounds great!
"Removing the Veil" - Well, at least that protective nylon screen on the inside of the phones.
Improvements - Opened up the highs. I know, it's just a nylon screen, but I really can hear a difference!
Caveats - I'm going to need to build a special headphone stand to protect my drivers when the 'phones aren't on my head.
The results so far are are a wonderfully detailed and listenable headphone. I may play around a bit more with the voicing yet, especially if the tonality changes with further burn-in, but it seems awfully nice as it is right at the moment.
I daresay my foray into modification idiocy has actually paid off quite well...and to think that I haven't even gotten to the diy balanced headphone amp part--yet.
<Disclaimer> Remember, YMMV. I assume no responsibility for the resellability or listenability of your headphones. Be *really* careful taking the screws out when you open these up. I always held the phones so the drivers were *above* the screw I was working on, then carefully dropped the screw into my open palm below the drivers. Place the screws someplace safe and secure so they don't suddenly decide to get friendly with the magnets and perforate your drivers--one person (not I) already had this happen to them. I also don't assume responsibility for any lost sleep due to enjoyment of your "rediscovered" HD 555's.
<Disclaimer off>
These mods have been done before by different folks, but I haven't seen the effects of all these various mods compiled in a systematic manner. I thought it might be interesting for folks to see what my results were with each mod., and maybe compare their own impressions--be they similar or different.
For more background on the project, check out the project blog at the link in my sig.
You can see a gallery of pictures of the mods here.
So, without further ado, here's the mods:
555->595 Mod. - Simply removing the little foam "surround sound" insert from the inside of the headphone does a lot of the work, to my ears, attributed to the Soundstage Mod.
Improvements: Greater transparency. Brought the whole soundstage forward--and broadened it, somewhat. Gained some lovely little details. Stop here if you want to resell your 555's later--most of the rest of these mods are not reversable.
Soundstage Mod. - Whereby you cut the interior plastic grille from the headphone frame.
Improvements - Tightened bass (I really didn't expect this). Greater accuracy & separation within the soundstage--both in width and depth. Note with respect to width, I didn't notice a "widening" of the soundstage as with the foam removal mod.; the placement of instruments just seemed much more deliberate within the space that was already there.
HCW "Foam" Mod. - A foam baffle for the interior of the headphone capsule. I later "beefed up" this already fairly heavy-handed mod with a lining of polarfleece--still leaving the back of the driver itself open:
Improvements - Yet more improvement to separation. Slightly more bass response. Overall tonality is flatter (mids not so pronounced).
Caveats - The most significant changes to tonality were with this mod. I really had to spend some time trying different configurations/materials to get the voicing right.
Recable - Recabled (double-entry) with Mogami 3106.
Improvements - More bass extension and impact. Greater dynamic sensitivity and impact across the board. Clarity across the frequency spectrum.
Caveats - The Mogami 3106 is rather stiff. It looked rather cumbersome for a single-sided entry, but seems to balance nicely for a double-sided entry. I don't notice it (physically) when I'm listening--it just sounds great!
"Removing the Veil" - Well, at least that protective nylon screen on the inside of the phones.
Improvements - Opened up the highs. I know, it's just a nylon screen, but I really can hear a difference!
Caveats - I'm going to need to build a special headphone stand to protect my drivers when the 'phones aren't on my head.
The results so far are are a wonderfully detailed and listenable headphone. I may play around a bit more with the voicing yet, especially if the tonality changes with further burn-in, but it seems awfully nice as it is right at the moment.
I daresay my foray into modification idiocy has actually paid off quite well...and to think that I haven't even gotten to the diy balanced headphone amp part--yet.
<Disclaimer> Remember, YMMV. I assume no responsibility for the resellability or listenability of your headphones. Be *really* careful taking the screws out when you open these up. I always held the phones so the drivers were *above* the screw I was working on, then carefully dropped the screw into my open palm below the drivers. Place the screws someplace safe and secure so they don't suddenly decide to get friendly with the magnets and perforate your drivers--one person (not I) already had this happen to them. I also don't assume responsibility for any lost sleep due to enjoyment of your "rediscovered" HD 555's.
<Disclaimer off>
