Themed Monthly Avatar Committee (TMAC) discussion thread - Page 160

Exams are over... back to head-fi.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WiR3D 


So what happened since like the 12th December? Lol.
 

Not a whole lot really happened. Warren went to CES and took a bunch of pictures and stuff, and he got to listen to the Orpheus.

Achmedisdead went on to start a successful line of hair care products.

Bowei adopted a Panda, which he named Panda.

Doc got a new hat.

Jgray got surprise buttsex from his uni.

The world didn't end, despite sworn forecasts by meteorologists everywhere (they're never right).

And Argyris? No idea what's going on with that crazy guy. Hopefully the law isn't involved. 

Seriously, I was wondering where you'd got to just the other day. Glad to see you back here. 

 Wut?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Argyris 

 

Not a whole lot really happened. Warren went to CES and took a bunch of pictures and stuff, and he got to listen to the Orpheus.

 

Achmedisdead went on to start a successful line of hair care products.

 

Bowei adopted a Panda, which he named Panda.

 

Doc got a new hat.

 

Jgray got surprise buttsex from his uni.

 

The world didn't end, despite sworn forecasts by meteorologists everywhere (they're never right).

 

And Argyris? No idea what's going on with that crazy guy. Hopefully the law isn't involved. 

 

 

 

Seriously, I was wondering where you'd got to just the other day. Glad to see you back here. 

Seriously? Does any of it fix my receding hairline of DOOM at 23?

And lol Law involvement - lets not go into the lack thereof on my holiday, 3x 4.5L V8 offroad Toyota Land Cruisers - some of which were turbo charged, and one had an intercooler and a complete rebuild + beer + soft sand + fireworks + new years + double clutching + singing("the internet is for porn", "banana phone", "Barbie girl".... we were running out of songs) was fun times, and ofcourse lots of drinking games, sweat, sunburn (44C on average), and spiders the size of my fist EVERYWHERE! I got over my arachnaphobia quick, on day 3 I was Rambo, until they hang from the ceiling and you turn your head and stare straight at a giant Garden Orb or wolf spider. 

And lots of paedophile jokes, never has there been so many of one guys 15 year old sister, Lol was hilarious. 

That was all at Sodwanna Bay.

At Ballito - I ended up doing a strip tease in the middle of a bar during the day and got cheered on by the entire place, because I was playing truth or dare with a bunch of crazy lesbians. Only realised the other day that the shirt I was wearing said: "lets get naked and dance on the tables" 

Thats the short version. Got lots more stories. And drank 14 beers a day, and didn't gain a single kilo **** YEAH

Kinda quiet here again. I guess everybody's in the same boat as me with being busy and all.

Anyway, while sort of hovering between asleep and awake and listening to music I had a weird idea. If you don't mind my habit of using this thread as sort of a dry run space for my weird notions (and occasional offbeat humor), I'll lay it out for you all.

Some background. Most people around Head-Fi have, shall we sugar coat it, a less than positive opinion about the Beats brand (not breaching news there I hope). About a week ago while walking between classes on campus I was idly musing about whether or not anybody has ever ripped out the original drivers (and NC unit, if it's one of the bigger models) and used the shells as donors to create a set that actually sounds good (or at least improved).

A quick search of the DIY forum indicates that, basically, nobody really got very far with that. But here's my idea: suppose somebody managed it. What if we took that modified Beats set, then got an identical looking (unmodified) one, and had a bunch of consumer class consumers try them both out and see which one they preferred. It'd have to be some form of blind test, in order to eliminate potential bias.

What I'm interested in finding out is, once separated from the "Beats iz teh BOMB its better than ANYTHING ELSE!!!!1111!!1" effect (since the two headphones appear identical), can (and will?) average people choose the better product? I'm trying to separate out why people who buy Beats continue thinking they're good after listening to them, even after comparing them with better equipment. How much of it is marketing, brand appeal, and image (I think a substantial portion is this), and how much of it is the typical consumer tendency to associate MOAR BASS with better?

Quote:

Originally Posted by gopanthersgo1 


Easy, put XB500 drivers in one, and the internals of the ZO2.3 in the cup, everyone will pick that! xD It does sound like a great idea though!

Has the first one actually been done? If so, I'd love to know how it worked out. From what I understand (and I'll admit I know very little about DIY headphone mods) there's a lot more involved than just the drivers. The cup shape and volume have a huge effect, and then of course there's damping. It could be that the design of the Beats make them ill-suited for acoustic performance (this was hinted at in some of the threads I skimmed).

Theoretically, if you had a sealed headphone (maybe one of the decent portables) the cups of which could be fit in their entirety inside the Beats ones, that might simplify the job. Of course you'd have to do something about the larger volume of acoustic space in the system (a result of the larger pad diameter and distance of drivers from the ear), but if this created a known variation, you might be able to compensate with some other modding. It's important that it appears completely stock, too. I'd probably stick a sheet of reasonably acoustically transparent material beneath the earpads of both sets just to make sure nobody sees different insides.

EDIT: The A700 has a sealed inner driver chamber, meaning the outer cup shouldn't affect the sound. Here's a picture from this thread:

Quote:

Originally Posted by gopanthersgo1 


Ooh, that looks nice, now YOU just need to buy 2 pairs of Beats Studios!

They turn up on Fleabay sometimes, busted, for cheap. Mostly it's headbands that are broken, though, which isn't what I need. I'm looking for somebody who blew the drivers, which I'm sure I've read has happened before. I also have zero experience with this sort of stuff and don't even have any tools to do it with. I'd need somebody who knows how to mod to build the set for me. I imagine it's a matter of suspending the Ax00 driver module in the proper position, then sealing the space around it. I don't know how to do either, let alone soldering the cables onto the new drivers.

Of course I'd go ahead and just borrow somebody else's working pair for the second set. Maybe I shouldn't tell them what I'm doing, though, or they'd be insulted.