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Correcting L/R balance w/E17 on DT770s

post #1 of 8
2/14/13 at 8:09pm
Thread Starter 
Hi all

Hope this is the right place to post this question. My apologies if it isn't..

I have a pair of beyerdynamic dt770 pro 80 ohms I purchased used. I noticed that the left channel is a bit louder than the right. I confirmed by flipping the headphones around of course, and then by doing a hearing test twice: once with the dt770s and again with a pair of iems. My right ear hearing was better than the left with the iems but significantly lower than the left at a few frequencies with the dt770s

So, I also recently bought a Fiio E17 which fortunately has a balance control. If I set the balance to around +4 right, things sound better. My question is this: is this an acceptable solution to the unbalance in my headphones or am I losing potential sound quality? If not, can they possibly be repaired? I'm definitely a noob but these headphones sound pretty great to me. Im already noticing that my klipsch image S4s that I use at work sound much worse than I ever thought (I used to think they were incredible).

Thanks for any advice. It will be much appreciated.
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post #2 of 8
2/15/13 at 1:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanB85 View Post

Hi all

Hope this is the right place to post this question. My apologies if it isn't..

I have a pair of beyerdynamic dt770 pro 80 ohms I purchased used. I noticed that the left channel is a bit louder than the right. I confirmed by flipping the headphones around of course, and then by doing a hearing test twice: once with the dt770s and again with a pair of iems. My right ear hearing was better than the left with the iems but significantly lower than the left at a few frequencies with the dt770s

So, I also recently bought a Fiio E17 which fortunately has a balance control. If I set the balance to around +4 right, things sound better. My question is this: is this an acceptable solution to the unbalance in my headphones or am I losing potential sound quality? If not, can they possibly be repaired? I'm definitely a noob but these headphones sound pretty great to me. Im already noticing that my klipsch image S4s that I use at work sound much worse than I ever thought (I used to think they were incredible).

Thanks for any advice. It will be much appreciated.


Well man how much louder are we talking, and is the bass response normal in the side that's quieter? The reason I ask is Beyer uses membrane thin driver material and it's incredibly easy to get a wrinkle, crinkle, ding, or bubble, in the carefully contoured shape of the sound driver. I had this happen while cleaning some hairs out of my DT 880 and it scared the crap out of me but with a little patience, some masking tape and cellophane tape, I was able to pull the little wrinkles out, and initially it had the problem you describe but I found this was caused by my having unseated the voice coil a bit from it's enclosure.

 

I used a little pressure on the ring of copper voice coil (where it's stiffest) to gently guide it back down into it's recess, and problem was solved. The symptoms I had were lower volume and diminished bass response due to the driver not being in the optimum magnetic center.

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post #3 of 8
2/15/13 at 4:03am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kodhifi View Post


Well man how much louder are we talking, and is the bass response normal in the side that's quieter? The reason I ask is Beyer uses membrane thin driver material and it's incredibly easy to get a wrinkle, crinkle, ding, or bubble, in the carefully contoured shape of the sound driver. I had this happen while cleaning some hairs out of my DT 880 and it scared the crap out of me but with a little patience, some masking tape and cellophane tape, I was able to pull the little wrinkles out, and initially it had the problem you describe but I found this was caused by my having unseated the voice coil a bit from it's enclosure.

I used a little pressure on the ring of copper voice coil (where it's stiffest) to gently guide it back down into it's recess, and problem was solved. The symptoms I had were lower volume and diminished bass response due to the driver not being in the optimum magnetic center.

I think it is strictly volume difference but I'm not afraid to do a little exploratory surgery. Any guides on how to dismantle beyerdynamic headphones that you are aware of? Thanks for your response
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post #4 of 8
2/15/13 at 5:23am
Peel off pads and pry a plastic ring surrounding the driver with knife or screwdriver.

If you have an ohmmeter, check resistance of both drivers.
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post #5 of 8
2/15/13 at 10:53am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mich41 View Post

Peel off pads and pry a plastic ring surrounding the driver with knife or screwdriver.

If you have an ohmmeter, check resistance of both drivers.

Thanks, good idea on the resistance check! I will do that tonight

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post #6 of 8
2/15/13 at 3:19pm

1, Remove earpad

2. Use jewelers screw driver or CAREFULLY tip of a knife to unseat the locking ring on the outside of the foam insert. There are little 1/4" spaces where you can pry.

3. Remove the foam and the driver will pop out

4. On the back of the driver enclosure you will see the wires going into the actual driver. It's smaller than you mightthink.

5. Mine was held in with hot glue. I used a hot glue gun to carefully heat, and pry to get the interior sound module to come away from the housing. This exposed the driver membrane and the interior of the enclosure where I had a few hairs that had worked their way through the felt and were buzzing against the driver.

6. If the driver has no wrinkles and it looks like it's seated well, IE not popped out, leave it alone and put it back together, using a little hot glue to re-seal the capsule

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post #7 of 8
2/15/13 at 5:55pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kodhifi View Post

1, Remove earpad
2. Use jewelers screw driver or CAREFULLY tip of a knife to unseat the locking ring on the outside of the foam insert. There are little 1/4" spaces where you can pry.
3. Remove the foam and the driver will pop out
4. On the back of the driver enclosure you will see the wires going into the actual driver. It's smaller than you mightthink.
5. Mine was held in with hot glue. I used a hot glue gun to carefully heat, and pry to get the interior sound module to come away from the housing. This exposed the driver membrane and the interior of the enclosure where I had a few hairs that had worked their way through the felt and were buzzing against the driver.
6. If the driver has no wrinkles and it looks like it's seated well, IE not popped out, leave it alone and put it back together, using a little hot glue to re-seal the capsule

Thanks for the detailed instructions. Members of head-fi are awesome
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post #8 of 8
2/15/13 at 7:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanB85 View Post


Thanks for the detailed instructions. Members of head-fi are awesome


I'm always happy to help. :) Good luck and I hope you can get them back to new'ish condition.

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