[Hutnicks]

  There is still a lot of trial and error here. My belief is that, all things being equal you should  try to get  material on a metal piece close and  attached to the driver. This works well with the Stax Lambda where the driver is mounted on a metal plate. The theory being stop the problem at its source. That often means inside the earcup and that also helps with the cosmetics. Sometimes that is not possible. At a Canjam last year, I put sorb on the outer metal frame of an earcup for what I recall was an Audio-Technica and that it was quite effective. On a very few phones, where the headband is fastened directly to the earcups, you can even damp the headband. That is what Sennheiser is doing with the HD800 and what I did with the StaxSR007, although I still add a lot inside the earcup.

I recently became a firm disciple of headband damping after working on a pair of TDS phones which creaked and concatenated no end. By pure accident as I was damping the cups the sorbothane I was using contacted the ferrules on the yokes when re assembled. The difference is purely indescribable. I was a convert on sorbo for damping before but the headband had escaped my attention. From now on I will be making serious efforts to evaluate its use there on any given phone.
 
Makes me wonder about the possibilities of the cable connections in some IEM's.

 

[nmatheis]

Where exactly would you be putting the Sorb on IEM @Hutnicks?

 

[Hutnicks]

  Where exactly would you be putting the Sorb on IEM @Hutnicks?

I have some Shure shells here waiting for a project. I am considering using thin strips of sorbo in the cable entry holes to trap the cables and hopefully disuade any mechanical interference travelling from wire to shell. Also considering small ring as a driver mount.

 

[nmatheis]

Gotcha. Thx!

 

[Hutnicks]

  Gotcha. Thx!

If I get to it, I will post up pics. The more experimentation the better methinks.

 

[richard51]

the sorbothane (4 pieces duro 50) was put under the little rubber feet of the srd-6 energizer , but this little machine weigh very little , hence for the sorb. to be efficient there must be an optimal weigh for optimizing the sound...too much weigh will stress too much the sorb, too little would have no effect... This 2 bricks on top of the srd-6 sb make the trick...The soundstage is less constricted, hence better imaging ...

these 2 bricks  made with pure audiophile mortar 

cost me less than the sorb and apply the right pressure on the 4 pieces of sorb. and trust me make the energizer sing  with the singing Stax ...Because if the sorb is not rightly apply with the right amount of pressure or load on it,  nothing will go the right way in the sound...
 

 

[nmatheis]

Sorb + Brick Mod :blink: :wink_face:

 

[richard51]

I must add that the result is incredible...Sorb under the feet of the energizer and  new pieces of semi-spherical cone sorb under the feet of the Sansui au-7700 amp (no need of bricks for the Sansui

Here under the amp  i had the inverse problem: the 4 too much stressed  little square pieces of sorb i replace by the 4 more thicker  cones)... I dont recognize the soundstage now  (more detailed depth in fact )... Ok perhaps it is a bit exagerated i recognized it, but it is imaging  more clearly now , hence the better improvement is there ... The soundstage was the last minor limitation of an otherwise ultra high end headphone : the Stax SR-5 , and  now  cured with the brick+sorb mods.  

i think that the soundstage is a very sensible information resonant virtual  space that is constructed by very sensible tiny bits of  sound information frequencies, very few vibrations  may blurred all that, hence the potency cure  of the sorbothane in this area...How lucky we are to have stumbled on this thread in the first place...I have said it already, for me this thread is the most important thread  in headfi...thanks Edstrelow
 
update: after few hours of listening, i must say that i had not exagerated  a bit in my first impression, 2 bricks and 8 pieces of sorb made magic come true...(10 pieces of sorb 1/8 inches 40 duro under each pads and 4  pieces of semi-spheric cone sorb. -50duro- under amp  in replacement of my too stressed 4 little squares and  4 squares pieces under the energizer with 2 bricks  of working load for a more efficient damping  on the srd-6) and i dont recognize my sr-5 anymore, chokingly good...

It is impossible to exagerate the profits  and advantages of a rightly made sorbothane application , the recovery of sound qualities with my  so call "obsolete" headphone and their transformation in high end products cure definitively upgraditis for me...
 
p.s. remember to put 4 pieces of sorb. under your dac with an appropriate load on it to made the weigh ideal for the absorbing sorb. it made a subtle but clear difference also...there is a marble plate with 2 little amps on top of  my dac, hence the weigh is optimal for my 4 sorb pieces of 50 duro...
 
final update after 8 hours and the 2 bricks + the sorbothanization of the energizer and the dac and the amplifier: the sound is now not only clear on all frequencies , the sound  experience is now totally IMMERSIVE ...it is like any sorbothane correction of all the pieces of gear added one by one to the sum total: immersive musical experience for the first time in my life with an headphone, my audiophile speakers are crushed by the Stax SR-5 already...
 
the lesson learned is this : if the load is too light or too ponderous on the sorbothane pieces, that will not work  so good...
 
Some people will say that i exagerate the impact of the sorbothane on the Stax SR-5 sound... i will be clear : there is absolutely no comparison for me between the sound of the stax SR-5 before the application of the sorbothane and after it, and with the right application of the sorb. under the energizer, the dac, and the amplifier...NO COMPARISON.

 

[edstrelow]

  the sorbothane (4 pieces duro 50) was put under the little rubber feet of the srd-6 energizer , but this little machine weigh very little , hence for the sorb. to be efficient there must be an optimal weigh for optimizing the sound...too much weigh will stress too much the sorb, too little would have no effect... This 2 bricks on top of the srd-6 sb make the trick...The soundstage is less constricted, hence better imaging ...

these 2 bricks  made with pure audiophile mortar 

cost me less than the sorb and apply the right pressure on the 4 pieces of sorb. and trust me make the energizer sing  with the singing Stax ...Because if the sorb is not rightly apply with the right amount of pressure or load on it,  nothing will go the right way in the sound...
 

I have been hearing of using bricks on components for several years, The basic idea is to increase the mass of material in which vibrations in the component  can dissipate. Sorbothane relies more on its elastic properties to dampen vibrations. than its mass. Btw why not put the footers in contact with the case of the transformer rather than the footers?  Also,
is there really such a thing as "audiophile mortar?"

 

[richard51]

 
I have been hearing of using bricks on components for several years, The basic idea is to increase the mass of material in which vibrations in the component  can dissipate. Sorbothane relies more on its elastic properties to dampen vibrations. than its mass. Btw why not put the footers in contact with the case of the transformer rather than the footers?  Also,
is there really such a thing as "audiophile mortar?"

Yes i  had understand that , but i had not realized it before in a simple experiment except with my dac already under a load with sorb......I had listen in the beginning only to simple square of sorb under the feet of the energizer with a subtle betterment but with 2 bricks the change was more drastic... The foot of the energizer was more  than 1/8 inches hence instead of putting the sorb in place of these feet , i put the sorb at the end of these feet...Anf if i had put the sorb sticken to the case without pressure the result would  been  less efficient..." audiophile mortar" is rare and constitued with the dust of remains of great composer and jazz  musician and it is not necessary to kill them, i sell it now...

   i think that i listen now with all gear  sorbothanized the same SR-5 you listen to , saying that they almost compete with  all the other top Stax earspeakers... And for sure  i understand  now and for the first time  in my life the sense of the audiophilic expression  « immersive music and sound ».. thanks

 

[richard51]

The reason of my enthusiasm here is simple: i own plus  the Stax SR-5, 3 excellent headphone, the stax lambda nova, the hifiman HE-400+sorb, the Fostex th-7b+sorb,  BUT the SR-5 kills my desire to listen to them... It is not all, because  i had also  excellent desktop speakers, the Monsoon MM-2000 and before the Stax SR-5 they were in a league of their own versus my headphones... I read that on the net about the Monsoon MM-2000- and it is truly my experience also : 
 
« We have used the Monsoons for some years now. I have fooled people into believing they were listening to a high end stereo system costing 100 times as much when these tiny panels were next to the high end speakers and played at a pleasantly moderate level with Diana Krall singing with her trio. All this for $200 - perhaps the biggest bargain I have ever found! Unfortunately the original two models mentioned were hard to find. These are licensed by Bruce Thigpen of Eminent Technology »
 
Now the Stax SR-5  beat the hell out of it, and they give all my phone ­«a run for their money»   and this is  BECAUSE  the SR-5 +sorb  is in an IMMERSIVE sound space , the others are not...
 
I am enthusiast about that yes!  and thanks to you...

 
 
p.s. Solderdude has measured the SR-5 Stax and said in a final note that these headphone can «give a run for their money to most headphones», except for their bass extension, but we know how to partially cure that here...sorb+ light equalization at low volume
 
http://diyah.boards.net/thread/215/vintage-stax-sr5-converted-energiser?page=1

 

[edstrelow]

" audiophile mortar" is rare and constitued with the dust of remains of great composer and jazz  musician and it is not necessary to kill them, i sell it now...:atsmile:   

That's good. At least its not some kind of "snake oil."

 

[edstrelow]

The reason of my enthusiasm here is simple: i own plus  the Stax SR-5, 3 excellent headphone, the stax lambda nova, the hifiman HE-400+sorb, the Fostex th-7b+sorb,  BUT the SR-5 kills my desire to listen to them... It is not all, because  i had also  excellent desktop speakers, the Monsoon MM-2000 and before the Stax SR-5 they were in a league of their own versus my headphones... I read that on the net about the Monsoon MM-2000- and it is truly my experience also : 

« We have used the Monsoons for some years now. I have fooled people into believing they were listening to a high end stereo system costing 100 times as much when these tiny panels were next to the high end speakers and played at a pleasantly moderate level with Diana Krall singing with her trio. All this for $200 - perhaps the biggest bargain I have ever found! Unfortunately the original two models mentioned were hard to find. These are licensed by Bruce Thigpen of Eminent Technology »

Now the Stax SR-5  beat the hell out of it, and they give all my phone ­«a run for their money»   and this is  BECAUSE  the SR-5 +sorb  is in an IMMERSIVE sound space , the others are not...

I am enthusiast about that yes!  and thanks to you...  

p.s. Solderdude has measured the SR-5 Stax and said in a final note that these headphone can «give a run for their money to most headphones», except for their bass extension, but we know how to partially cure that here...sorb+ light equalization at low volume

http://diyah.boards.net/thread/215/vintage-stax-sr5-converted-energiser?page=1

I agree the SR5 is a great phone. My impression was that it had no vices, which is my way of saying it sounds quite flat. The measurements on the other site in fact show it as +-5dB from 30 -15kHz which is quite remarkable if his measurement system is correctly set up.
Sorbothane damping really brought it to life. I also had to dampen the Srd6 adapter when I found that turning on the mains power source messed up the sound compared to when it was unplugged and running off stored bias charge. I put this down to microphonics caused by the vibrations from the mains transformer. However you are saying that damping helps even a self -biased unit, which does not have a mains transformer. I am puzzled as to why this could be. I will have to open my unit up to see what is there. The only possible source of vibration in your unit would seem to be the step-up transformers that boost the voltage of the audio signal. Possibly, just like headphones, their own mechanical vibrations, cause problems to the very signal they are boosting.

 

[richard51]

I agree the SR5 is a great phone. My impression was that it had no vices, which is my way of saying it sounds quite flat. The measurements on the other site in fact show it as +-5dB from 30 -15kHz which is quite remarkable if his measurement system is correctly set up.
Sorbothane damping really brought it to life. I also had to dampen the Srd6 adapter when I found that turning on the mains power source messed up the sound compared to when it was unplugged and running off stored bias charge. I put this down to microphonics caused by the vibrations from the mains transformer. However you are saying that damping helps even a self -biased unit, which does not have a mains transformer. I am puzzled as to why this could be. I will have to open my unit up to see what is there. The only possible source of vibration in your unit would seem to be the step-up transformers that boost the voltage of the audio signal. Possibly, just like headphones, their own mechanical vibrations, cause problems to the very signal they are boosting.

Like always. very interesting remarks.... i had not think about it frankly when i put the sorb under the feet of the energizer and the bricks  on top of that....I dont know why it is the way it is, but i am sure now that any link where there is vibration, resonance, interaction beteween electrical parts, sorbothane made miracles, if the pressure applied is right, permitting the damping mechanism to act his part...The miraculous transformation of my stax begins with the sorb under the cups...But this was not sufficient for the opening of the imaging and the 3-d effect i observe after that first phase ( almost as extraordinary than putting the sorb on the headphone, finishing the cleaning job i would say) My observation was immediate on hearing the Stax , i had put the sorb under the amplifier properly this time, and  the 2 bricks on the sorbothanized energizer, the change was manifest  almost totally there with the amp sorbothanization + 2 bricks , the sorbothanization of the dac was made after and add some silky effect to this sound transformation... What is the important part : the amplifier properly sorb. or the energizer? i think that the energizer part was crucial, but i had no explanation, it is true that there is no  main transformer in this energizer but there is other transformer ... Perhaps i am mad?  Though  I am sure now  that any vibration or electrical vibrating part made an interference with the subtle character of the sound...  After all what is there in the headphone ? no transformer but an electrical current on a membrane... Why it is the way it is, is  finally beyond my knowledge and head... Thanks to you i had finally an audiophile system for a ridiculous price...

 
 
p.s. put 2 bricks on top of your srd and put sorb  under his feet not only on the main transformer ... you will see...

 

[richard51]

You have cast a doubt in my mind!

i decide to take back the 2 bricks, and listen without them, and after that listen with them....  One simple result is for me evident and clear after one minute  : less compression of the sound and more airier detailed sound with the bricks who act with the right pressure to compress the sorb  under the feet , without them the energizer is too light for these pieces of sorb ( duro 50) Perhaps duro 30 will not necessitate these audiophile bricks of mine,  perhaps  needs only one bricks,  i dont know that i dont have duro 30 pieces anymore... But the energizer need damping that is clear, not only the main transformer, step up transformer also vibrate ...... There is no going back without the bricks pressure on my four pieces of sorb  duro 50 under the energizer and the explanation is at the end simple... ANY vibrating parts mechanical or electrical interact with the subtle rendering of the sound image...Sorbothane is the cure... thanks to your informative and experimental thread...
 
p.s. by the way, have you put some sorb. under your dac and amplifier? that make difference also, i had experiment with that in the beginning and under my speakers 2 years ago ... The idea i had never had is to put that inside the headphone... marvellous idea ! Miraculous idea! thanks to your thread and imagination.. An important note i must add is that it is not sufficient in my experience to damp only the headphone, it is in my experience necessary to touch all  the link in the gear chain  for obtaining the outmost potential experience, it is  necessary to damp the DAC, the AMP, the SPEAKERS, the ENERGIZER, and the TURNTABLE if you have one... the subtle transformation of the imaging depth of the SR-5 is not the result only of the sorb put in the headphones but of the damping process occurring in each links of my gear chain ...