Modding the Sennheiser HD518

I was wondering if anyone ever tried to mod the HD518's?

 

I just tried it and so far I find the sound to be improved quite a bit.

The unmodded HD518's bass sounded not really great in my opinion. (I must say i'm no pro audiophile and don't own load of high end stuff) mind that I don't own an amp yet and that I run them directly off my Zune HD. A few terms that come close to what I think they sound like:

 

Bloated - Excessive mid bass around 250 Hz. Poorly damped low frequencies, low frequency resonances. See tubby.
Blurred - Poor transient response. Vague stereo imaging not focused.
Boomy - Excessive bass around 125 Hz. Poorly damped low frequencies or low frequency resonances.

 

 

Dark - A tonal balance that tilts downwards with increasing frequency. Opposite of bright. Weak high frequencies.

 

I don't really recognize the bumps of frequencies. If I describe the sound with my own words then the bass sounds very undefined, low detail and a bit too much. Vocals are a bit on the soft side. Overal sound quality and detail is still impressive tough.

 

I noticed that the sound changed when I lay my head on a pillow (while wearing the headphones) so I decided to mod them. I tough why not and my new ATH M50's can arrive any moment anyway.

 

 

I cut the pointy things off and made it large enough to cover all the holes on the side of the headphones. Then I put this stuff under my driver.

 

When I listen to them now the bass has definitely improved. It's alot less, maybe a bit too much, but it sounds much better. The sound has become more flat and the vocals/mids are no longer off lower volume. The bass extension tough, seems a bit worse. The overall quality is a only slightly worse and you have to increase the volume a bit more. I don't really mind because overall the headphones are a more pleasure to listen to and they are still very easy to drive.

 

 

 

If anyone is interested I can make pictures of what it looks like and how i've done it. Just let me know ;)

 

Edited by HolyCheese - 3/27/12 at 4:21am

Allright, glad to hear that it isn't only with my headphones. About it being hot. It's a bit true but I don't find it too hot, I can easily wear them for 2hrs+

The sound definitely increased. It's worth a try if you don't like the sound ;)

Hey I'm back with alot more experience.

That depends you personale preference. What kind of sound do you like? The hd518 are a bit darker and the 558 has more highs.

Its like the 600 vs 650. Instead it's 558 vs 518.

overall the 558 are a bit better but sound preference is more important.

Then I'd suggest the 558 for both gaming and the Music that is a better option.
What do you connect it to?

Well what motherboard do you have? I used mine for a long time on a sabertooth 990 fx and that sounded prety good. Now I use it with the FiiO e10 and I find that a good combi. You could try to find that for +-65 euro.