The JVC HA-S500.. Appreciation, fan thread. - Page 316

The HM5 pads have a little less bass, but someone a few pages back did a mod which he said made the bass more than stock!

I've had this saved for a while, I used it to see what did what. (I forgot who posted this, it's just a word document on my PC, thanks a ton though! )

Hi,
 
thanks for all the pad and other mod ideas posted in this thread, been fun times trying different configurations on the now three 500s in the family.
 
These phones really are something special in terms of value for money and for doing mods. Thought to share my findings again. Sorry, a bit of a long post, but hopefully useful for anybody modding or further explorations of mods:
 
My favorite configuration on the oldest pair with hundreds of hours of use so far, primarily used iPod Classic and to some extent the other stuff in my sig to test the sound:
 
added a flat round 2 mm thick cotton swab (simple cosmetics stuff) inside the cup behind the driver covering the whole cup bottom
   --> reducing the level or maybe unevenness of the high mids or highs which caught my ear (I dislike prominent mid-high and treble and esp. treble distortion) by reducing reflections
ATH pleather pad
   --> reduce the bass compared to stock, HD25 and Noontec Zoro pads by unblocking the bass ports and maybe by reducing the bass lense formed by the stock pad with smaller diameter hole
   --> increased sound stage a bit and comfort
   --> highs a bit shrill/prominent and mids tend to get shouty on higher volumes, due to larger hole
added with a HD25 pad foam disc on the ear side of the pad
   --> reduce the highs and mids a bit bv attenuating them with the foam
taped over the bass ports under the pad and also the slot for sliding the pads in place
   --> restored some of the bass when the mids and highs became a bit too much with the ATH pads
HM5 pads over the ATH pleather pads, kept in place with the O-ring
   --> much bigger soundstage with increased height and depth, and comfort is out of this world, due to moving the drivers away from ears
   --> again, changed highs to be a bit shrill/prominent and mids too shouty
   --> the O-ring sealing in effect the vents from inside the cup and pad to the groove for the pads seems to emphasize the low bass and/or tighten the bass, tried this also without HM5 pads
added a 2 mm thick flat cotton swab thick cut to fit the inner diameter of the ATH pleather pad on the ear side of the pad
   --> reduce the highs and the mids by attenuation. A larger diameter swab made the sound veiled, this seemed to strike a balance between detail/clarity and reducing the mids and highs
 
I tried to modify many other ways but seems I cannot improve this configuration with anything I have thought of so far short of starting to do irreversible mods or mass loading. Things I tried and did not like:
bblocking one or both of the bass ports on the back of the driver
   --> bass reduced a bit, but felt that this was unnecessary with the ATH pads and may have reduced the soundstage
only velour pads of ATH or HD25
   --> bass disappeared, shrill highs, shouty mids
only HM5 pads with or withou O-ring
   -->  shrill highs, shouty mids
HD25 pads
   --> still a bit too much bass
   --> soundstage smaller and mids took a step back
disconnect and reverse the cups and try to have the pads angled towards back of the head with various cotton and cardboard pieces under the HM5 pads to get even better soundstage
   --> comfort and positioning not good, sound got skewed with the angling however I tried
 
Things to try still
only HM5 pads padded with cotton. I suspect that the highs and the bass may still be a bit too much for me, as well as the bass
?
 
The remaining issue I have with the above configuration is that the sounds gets a bit shouty/mid emphasized when turning the volume up from normal low level listening. Any ideas how to fix that would be appreciated.
 
And I cannot help wondering whether angling the drivers towards the back of the head a bit would not provide an even better soundstage.
 

All based on my ears, my equipment, my brain and biases, YMMV.

I too wondered about angling the drivers a little bit. The first time I took them out to put a little duct tape inside the cups I didn't get the cable all the way out of the way when I started putting the screws back in. I quickly discovered what was holding me up but the idea popped into my head to maybe try doing it on purpose to angle the driver a tiny bit and see how it sounded. Anyone tried this?

I haven't heard anything of it yet, so you should be first...

I've got a little over 72 hours of burn on mine. The sound is superb right now. The harshness of the highs is pretty much gone. The bass is just out of this world.

 

I love how amazing the bass is. It's only there when it's called for, unlike other consumer headphones that have bass all the time and mess up songs that don't need overpowering bass.

 

Just used them all day today, give or take 8 hours at work, then another hour at school while waiting for class. Very comfortable for me, with only a slight discomfort on the cartilage of my left ear after about 6 hours, but not overly painful.

 

My only problem is that isolation is rather poor compared to other closed headphones. I'm almost certain people in my office can hear my music at only about 40-45% volume on my iPhone, where I normally listen between 55-60%.

 

It's also kinda hard to get a good seal. Maybe it's just me, though. My ears seem to be at an awkward enough size to make these almost circumaural, where the pads only sit on the very top of my ear and on my earlobe, while the rest of my ears are nice and cozy inside.

 

Despite those issues, this is quite handily one of my very best purchases of anything this decade in terms of value for the money.

Well, I'm set up and cans are burning in now. I listened at these high volumes for maybe 5min or so added up, to make sure I didn't hear any major distortion (which is a sign of stressing the drivers to the point of failure), and  headache! haha. I shouldn't listen that loud, don't want to damage my hearing, but it was fun 

Hopefully I'm not deaf in the morning ;)

I have a folded sheet over them (about as thick as my hand) to help block the sound but I still hear it. Oh well..

Now I just hope my computer doesn't fall asleep. I have my list of beats/electronic on continuous play. Night!

I found it useful to stick a balked up pair of socks between the cups, fold them inward to make them compact and then used an elastic around the size adjuster area to keep them closed tightly. That kept sound from leaking quite nicely, but I also stuffed them in a big container with pillows and blankets to completely block sound. Then again, these were burning in in my bedroom and I wanted to sleep .

I was OK, I had them inside the folded sheet and put my sweatshirt on there too. Sometimes I could hear them before falling asleep but I slept through it.

So any dudes here try the Internal resonance damping mods like me over at the s400 thread?
Whatsa matter, chicken?
Lol just kidding & mentioning in case any easily bored members here wanna try something new lol..

Yes. But because I can't listen to these very much, I did not notice an appreciable difference from before.

I've done it... made the vocals a tinsy bit less shouty, and tightened the bass and treble by a hair...

Wow. Stick all the padding and tape you want on these babies...OR....order the ridiculously cheap ELE DAC. Just got mine today (after a 3 1/2 week wait from Hong Kong...but hey, free shipping-lol). I am seriously blown away. I've burned it in about 8 hours and it just keeps getting better. Resolution, sound stage, deep black background. If you don't try this you don't know what you're missing! 16 friggin' bucks for this little cheap looking piece of heaven.

Unfortunately exactly what i worried happened: the bass is significantly reduced with HM5 pads over stock :/ the bass is what makes these cans fun for me. I'll try the tape mod now

Edit: Tape mod helps, but i wouldn't mind even more bass somebody got the ultimate basshead mod for me?
Edited by journeyy - 2/6/13 at 3:51am

Someone just did that, and made hm5 bassier than stock!

I'm going to take this comment with a grain of salt and wait till the honeymoon phase is over with ya.. Fell too often for comments like these, and members posting a more nuanced post after a few days/weeks after their first post. :P  Saves me money you know.