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Okay, next steps... as promised. You'll need sheet felt and wool felt (links to purchase at the bottom of this post), so... extra materials! But the sonic improvement is totally worth it!
Cut a rectangular piece of the felt sheet and slot it into the air vent on top. So... on the outside, you'll have the foam piece, and then on the inside, you'll have this felt piece. (optional but recommended: also insert a felt piece into the same air vent in the inner enclosure. If you have opened the headphone up and followed the previous steps, you'll know what I mean.
And then... apply a piece of dynamat to the bottom of the inner enclosure, then instead of the foam piece on top of the driver, use the liner material again instead. And then cut out 2 small pieces of wool felt to slot into the top and bottom openings like so:
And... that's it! Stage 2 of the mods improves clarity even more, but still without taking away the impact and pressure from bass that this headphone is so awesome for.
If Stage 1 didn't sound like much, then this one would probably be somewhat "much" now. But if you thought Stage 1 sounded like a good improvement, then this one will blow you away. This headphone is now just a hair south of perfect neutrality to my ears. Just a bit more treble and air, and it will match the tonal balance of my HE-560 almost perfectly. I'll still research more mods to see if I can reach that point, but right now, bass up to mid is almost exactly like the HE-560. Just slower, because the HE-560 uses better tech, is fully open-backed, and it also has much larger diaphragms. The diaphragms of the HE-560 are even larger than the ear cups of the XB950BT in diameter...
Anyway, a nice side effect, I think, is that now I think the difference between the 3 quality modes of the XB950BT should be audible. "High quality" essentially gives a slightly clearer, sharper sound. "Normal" sounds like it has some extra bloat in bass and lower midrange that makes things sound slower. "Low" quality mode (or "more stable connection" mode, as they put it) sounds a bit more diffused, even, and the top end rolls off and distorts quite obviously.
Link to purchase wool felt: (you literally need like 6" out of this, honestly, so...)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0018Z06KK/ref=s9_simh_gw_p201_d0_i5?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1KAQTP55423DESXEWJ99&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=1970559082&pf_rd_i=desktop
Link to purchase felt sheet: (I couldn't find link to purchase just 1 sheet, which is more than what you need)
http://www.amazon.com/Assorted-Pack-Acrylic-Craft-Felt/dp/B0050PFXSO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419054461&sr=8-1&keywords=felt+sheet
Cut a rectangular piece of the felt sheet and slot it into the air vent on top. So... on the outside, you'll have the foam piece, and then on the inside, you'll have this felt piece. (optional but recommended: also insert a felt piece into the same air vent in the inner enclosure. If you have opened the headphone up and followed the previous steps, you'll know what I mean.
And then... apply a piece of dynamat to the bottom of the inner enclosure, then instead of the foam piece on top of the driver, use the liner material again instead. And then cut out 2 small pieces of wool felt to slot into the top and bottom openings like so:
And... that's it! Stage 2 of the mods improves clarity even more, but still without taking away the impact and pressure from bass that this headphone is so awesome for.
If Stage 1 didn't sound like much, then this one would probably be somewhat "much" now. But if you thought Stage 1 sounded like a good improvement, then this one will blow you away. This headphone is now just a hair south of perfect neutrality to my ears. Just a bit more treble and air, and it will match the tonal balance of my HE-560 almost perfectly. I'll still research more mods to see if I can reach that point, but right now, bass up to mid is almost exactly like the HE-560. Just slower, because the HE-560 uses better tech, is fully open-backed, and it also has much larger diaphragms. The diaphragms of the HE-560 are even larger than the ear cups of the XB950BT in diameter...
Anyway, a nice side effect, I think, is that now I think the difference between the 3 quality modes of the XB950BT should be audible. "High quality" essentially gives a slightly clearer, sharper sound. "Normal" sounds like it has some extra bloat in bass and lower midrange that makes things sound slower. "Low" quality mode (or "more stable connection" mode, as they put it) sounds a bit more diffused, even, and the top end rolls off and distorts quite obviously.
Link to purchase wool felt: (you literally need like 6" out of this, honestly, so...)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0018Z06KK/ref=s9_simh_gw_p201_d0_i5?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1KAQTP55423DESXEWJ99&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=1970559082&pf_rd_i=desktop
Link to purchase felt sheet: (I couldn't find link to purchase just 1 sheet, which is more than what you need)
http://www.amazon.com/Assorted-Pack-Acrylic-Craft-Felt/dp/B0050PFXSO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419054461&sr=8-1&keywords=felt+sheet