[JSBachFan]

Active coal form! COVID-19 resistant headphones!

At least these little bastards will not enter through my ears!

 

[jmills8]

At least these little bastards will not enter through my ears!

Ear guards

 

[Christoph]

Where to get the mod material for zolkies mod in the EU?

Since I have been asked, where to get the ingredients in Germany (which would most likely then also work for the rest of the EU) there you go:
Circle Cutter
The cutters are easy to get from any Amazon location. I took the cheapest one and it did the job.
Foam:
I went to Amazon UK to order the active coal foam. The german account data also works for the UK and you pay just a little more for shipping
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005AK9FQ0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I took 25mm, since it lets me model one pad in one piece. The cutter doesn't go through this in one piece, but the rest (2-4mm) you can cut with the nail scissors.
Felt:
The felt I bought from this company: Meaningful Crafts. This is the material and company zolkies recommended. They just changed the company name.
https://meaningfulcrafts.com
Design Felt 2mm - 20x30 cm - 819 White (#MV4171.819)
They do EU-wide shipping (maybe even worldwide)

Thanks that's helpful. Quite a while ago, I had a look at the website meervilt.nl that was mentioned by zolkies. But at this time, they hadn't opened the new webshop and did only deliver to the Netherlands and Belgium. Luckily this now has changed.

The initial post from zolkies mentioned also 5mm felt. Have you only used 2mm felt as written above or also experiment with the 5mm?

The mod basically consists of two parts, the inner felt damping and the coal foam modified earpads.

Have you heard the two parts separately?
I mean, the felt damping with the stock pads or the modified earpads with the non-modified cups?

 

[JSBachFan]

Have you heard the two parts separately?
I mean, the felt damping with the stock pads or the modified earpads with the non-modified cups?

No, I have very little (peaceful) listening time in which I could do such a comparision and I just trusted zolkies having done a lot of trials. So I did it all at once.
But my strong feeling is, that the more difficult part of doing the pads mod is the more important one. The new foam is very "open" for sound so it is only natural, that it opens the soundstage and reduces some sound reflections.
My next step (no prediction when) will be to do the pad mod on the Lawton sheepskin pads. Hope it will still have a similar sound effect. I like real leather more than the original fake leather that Fostex is using. But if the sound is getting worse I will definitely switch back. I am amazed by the improved quality of the sound of my modded TH900 every day. Highly recommended if you don't mind the more open TH900 (collegues / family will definely participate more).

 

[zolkis]

@zolkis: Thank you so much for sharing your experience and instruction of how to mod the TH900!
After some ordering procedure to get the recommended tools and material to Germany, this weekend I finally managed to give it a try.
Your step by step guide worked like a charm and now I have my first set of modded pads.
Since I have more than one pair of TH900s I was able to afterwards do an extensive AB testing session.
What can I say. All genres are sounding way better now. The difference is way bigger then the different cables that I use or balanced vs. unbalanced.
It basically turned the (half)closed TH900 into open ones. And the stage, openness and details improved a lot. The musicality luckily didn't suffer, but maybe even got a bit better. I am missing nothing in comparision to the original stock pads!
For my first try I used worn out old TH900 pads. Now I will buy a new pair and do the same. In the picture below you can see, that I went into mass production already
At some later point in time I will try modding the my Lawton shepskin angled pads and the Dekoni Elite Velour with the active charcoal foam. They are otherwise useless anyways since your mod is way better.

Wow, your desk, tools and results look exactly like mine a few years back . Congrats for having the courage to go through all this!

I still have those worn-out pads and put them on sometimes. They have a sweet smoothness in the sound that remind me to the D7000. Small changes in the shape and mass of the carbon foam inserts affect the sound quite much.

FWIW, nowadays I am using the modded Stax 009 pads also on the TH900, but this mod sounds nearly the same and is far-far cheaper.

 

[zolkis]

The initial post from zolkies mentioned also 5mm felt. Have you only used 2mm felt as written above or also experiment with the 5mm?
The mod basically consists of two parts, the inner felt damping and the coal foam modified earpads.
Have you heard the two parts separately?
I mean, the felt damping with the stock pads or the modified earpads with the non-modified cups?

The felt in the cups is good for the newer units. After about 2 years, for some reason the cups didn't show resonances in the measurements, and I took out all damping from the cups, improving clarity quite much.
Right now I have nothing in the cups and the modded Stax 009 pads directly on the housing (attached with double sided adhesive).

 

[JSBachFan]

The felt in the cups is good for the newer units. After about 2 years, for some reason the cups didn't show resonances in the measurements, and I took out all damping from the cups, improving clarity quite much.

Good to know! I changed the felt in an older and a newer pair of the TH900. But even the newer one is more than 2 years old. Since the change is easy I will try over the weekend.

nowadays I am using the modded Stax 009 pads also on the TH900, but this mod sounds nearly the same and is far-far cheaper

Sorry, but I don't get this. The original TH900 pads cost Euro 58 a pair and the whole set for modding was Euro 40. The original Stax pads on the other hand seem to be pretty expensive. So what do you mean with far-far cheaper? Have I been looking at the wrong Stax 009 pads?

 

[Christoph]

The felt in the cups is good for the newer units. After about 2 years, for some reason the cups didn't show resonances in the measurements, and I took out all damping from the cups, improving clarity quite much.
Right now I have nothing in the cups and the modded Stax 009 pads directly on the housing (attached with double sided adhesive).

Thanks for sharing, very interesting.
Do I get it right that the original Stax SR-009 pads are protein leather, but there are also even more expensive real leather pads available?
The reason why I'm asking is that I'm not a fan of protein leather pads.

 

[zolkis]

Sorry, but I don't get this.

I meant that the Fostex pads were far cheaper (to buy). Sorry if it was confusing.

But in the long run, the Stax pads might be far cheaper. The protein leather pads disintegrate in short time, while the Stax pads last multiple times (they also cost more, I bought TH900 pads from Fostex for 75 euros, 007 pads for 90 euros and 009 pads for 120 euros but price might have increased since then).

Do I get it right that the original Stax SR-009 pads are protein leather, but there are also even more expensive real leather pads available?
The reason why I'm asking is that I'm not a fan of protein leather pads.

They are not protein leather, at least the 3 pairs I've had were not.
But they are between 2-4 years old by now and I don't know about the newer 009 pads.
The flaps are some kind of textile reinforced artificial leather, the pads are lambskin, very soft at that. Very comfortable.
The 009 pads are slightly larger diameter (both inside and outside) and thinner than the 007 pads.
The same mods can be done for both. If someone is not comfortable with thinner pads, I suggest the 007 pads.
Out of dozens of pads I have tried and modded, the Stax pads sounded best, were the easiest to mod, are comfortable and last long.
Expensive, but cheap.

 

[JSBachFan]

The felt in the cups is good for the newer units. After about 2 years, for some reason the cups didn't show resonances in the measurements

I gave it a try yesterday and indeed, when I removed the felt, the sond didn't get worse, but even a little more clear. Not night and day, but slightly better. So no need for felt any more. Someone with young TH900s who wants to buy my cut outs? (just kidding)

I meant that the Fostex pads were far cheaper (to buy). Sorry if it was confusing.

OMG. I have to be sorry. Your statement was very clear.

 

[JSBachFan]

Lawton mod mod

Do I get it right that the original Stax SR-009 pads are protein leather, but there are also even more expensive real leather pads available?
The reason why I'm asking is that I'm not a fan of protein leather pads.

I am not a fan of the protein leather either. so I did another mod.
This time I took my Lawton sheepskin angled pad and applied Zolkies mod.
This needed a different, but also not really difficult aproach as you can see on the pics.
I definitely like the sound of the Lawton pad mod better than the original Lawton pads.
But since now I have quite a range of pads and cables to compare (around 20 variations) it will take some time until I will post (my personal) results and prefrences.

 

[zolkis]

I have the same kind of Lawton pads. Not among my favorites. You could try trimming the carbon foam insert a little more so that it's not such a tight fit.
My favorite size is rather small on foam inserts, maybe 16 mm high on the back and 8 mm in the front. Of course YMMV.

 

[JSBachFan]

My favorite size is rather small on foam inserts, maybe 16 mm high on the back and 8 mm in the front.

I tried and indeed smaller (less height) inserts are better. The music is somewhat more coherent and intense with smaler inserts. This might be another explanation why the Lawton pads didn't impress me. They are thicker than the original pads.
Thanks!

 

[GL1TCH3D]

Hey guys, hoping to get some advice here. Trying to take pads off my TH900s and even though I feel the ring rotating, they're not coming off. Any advice?

 

[jmills8]

Hey guys, hoping to get some advice here. Trying to take pads off my TH900s and even though I feel the ring rotating, they're not coming off. Any advice?

Theres a video on youtube showing how. Hold onto the plastic ring along with the pad.