[earphiler]

Yeah its definitely quite airy for pleather, which is awesome.
 
Kaskade sounds great to female vocals
 
I was actually kinda worried about the way I cut it (imprecise, mix of center holes, upper holes and lower holes not quite the pattern in your schematic but elements of it anyways and I had to make it sort of random to keep each one relatively consistent in its random ness and uglyness) that it would make the channel balance off, but doesn't seem to be the case.
 
I like the sound alot, will have to analyze more later (and get better adhesive between pad and ring). Do you think that 3M 77 spray would work well? Against the ring and then just touch the pad to it?
 
and by ripping off that flap, the side doesn't look as clean anymore. But I guess sound quality definitely before looks.
 
And I always have velour if I want to go clean (though until I clean up the stick between ring and pad, i don't want to pad swap for a while... too difficult to get the clips to attach in its current state)

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Yeah its definitely quite airy for pleather, which is awesome.
 
Kaskade sounds great to female vocals
 
I was actually kinda worried about the way I cut it (imprecise, mix of center holes, upper holes and lower holes not quite the pattern in your schematic but elements of it anyways and I had to make it sort of random to keep each one relatively consistent in its random ness and uglyness) that it would make the channel balance off, but doesn't seem to be the case.
 
I like the sound alot, will have to analyze more later (and get better adhesive between pad and ring). Do you think that 3M 77 spray would work well? Against the ring and then just touch the pad to it?
 
and by ripping off that flap, the side doesn't look as clean anymore. But I guess sound quality definitely before looks.
 
And I always have velour if I want to go clean (though until I clean up the stick between ring and pad, i don't want to pad swap for a while... too difficult to get the clips to attach in its current state)

I don't really know what the effects are if you use glue instead of tape. The whole design of my mod is to maximize resonance damping while still retaining the sound signature of the pleathers (which the velours will never ever have), so anywhere the resonant waves can escape (whether into the foam through the holes, or out the sides) should theoretically be contributing to the improvement.
 
Gluing the whole thing so it is airtight around the outer rim may have detrimental effects, but again, I'm not sure.

 

[earphiler]

Very true, i'll just swap out the electrical tape for mild amounts of duct tape when I get the chance and til then just be careful with them as they are for now.
 
Do I have to be worried about naked drivers without mesh?
 
While I'm not a fan of gutting things like this mod, I figured even if all went wrong, I could always just buy another pair of pleather for $20 from head direct. That and when you started asserting these are/could be better sound sig than J$ means saving me some moolah.

 

[hifimanrookie]

Did u use this mod with ur already open cups mod u already did on ur he500 or did u try it also with closed unmodded sides?

 

[earphiler]

Jerg you should work for Hifiman earpad R&D department..
 
or just Hifiman mod-turned-stock department that they should now create

 

[jerg]

IMO these sound way better than J$'s (sorry people who have already paid for the J$s 

). The J$'s are nice and all, but are tuned toward Beyers so there is some mismatching of tonalities. Stock pleathers are specifically designed to complement Hifiman sound signatures, and all it needed was better damping like how the J$'s does it, this mod does that precisely.
 
 
 
On a more positive note, the original post now has 66% more photos!!!!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Did u use this mod with ur already open cups mod u already did on ur he500 or did u try it also with closed unmodded sides?

The effect of the open grills mod is extremely subtle compared to this earpad mod. They are so different in magnitudes of sound change, that you needn't worry about them having any additive effects.

 

[beaver316]

I desperately want to try this but I'm afraid of messing up. If only I could send my pair of pads to you to mod them.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

I desperately want to try this but I'm afraid of messing up. If only I could send my pair of pads to you to mod them.

Slow and steady wins the race. Read my guide carefully, take notes if you have to, and observe all the photos I've taken, which help explain exactly what I did at each step. Also, take off the pleathers from the headphones, and play around with them, get to know how they are made up, before you delve into modding them.

 

[Clemmaster]

I'm gonna try that with a drill through the existing plastic holes, as suggested.
I might also add some tiny holes all around the outer side of the pad.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

I'm gonna try that with a drill through the existing plastic holes, as suggested.
I might also add some tiny holes all around the outer side of the pad.

Just holes through the mounting ring = 9 holes, that's only 1/3 of the holes I suggested in the guide, so I can't guarantee you get anywhere close to a similarly positive result as we did.
 
I REALLY don't think piercing holes on the outside is a good idea. All the holes in the guide are done on the underside, which is a rubber/fabric material and takes holes quite well, but the outside is pleather which could get nasty over time if you puncture it. Also I can't think of any sonic benefit that drilling holes on the outside would serve - the point of the holes are to absorb chamber resonance, so they have to be facing somewhere inside the ear/pad/driver enclosed zone.
 
If anything IMO you should try this tried-and-true method first, and then explore other venues with other pairs of pleathers.

 

[Clemmaster]

I meant the outerside of the rubber/fabric, of course
 
It's 9 holes but bigger ones. That's just a start anyway

 

[jerg]

Quote:

I meant the outerside of the rubber/fabric, of course
 
It's 9 holes but bigger ones. That's just a start anyway

I trust you did cut out the dust screen first? That is between the mounting ring and the underside of the actual pleathers (where you want the holes to be). If you drill right though without removing the dust screen you'll be tearing that fabric up. But yeah I don't think the holes need to be lined up to the holes of the mounting rings at all; the mounting ring sits flush with the cup, and there's a gap as the pad curves up to the opening, so really just any evenly spaced holes would work well.

 

[hifimanrookie]

Jerg you should work for Hifiman earpad R&D department..

or just Hifiman mod-turned-stock department that they should now create

Hey jerg..how bout i sent u my pleather pads and pay u for the mod work and postage of the return sending ofcourse..would u be willing to help me...? As i am not handy at all...and am to scared to **** it up..Pm me if u are pls..

 

[pp312]

What about those of us who've never really been able to hear any difference between pleathers and velours? Where do we stand?
 
Or should we be cutting small holes in our eardrums for better damping? 

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Hey jerg..how bout i sent u my pleather pads and pay u for the mod work and postage of the return sending ofcourse..would u be willing to help me...? As i am not handy at all...and am to scared to **** it up..Pm me if u are pls..

I'll consider it down the line. Right now I'm really busy with both school and work, the only way I pulled off this mod was by missing 4 hours of sleep last night, and the only way I pulled off writing up this guide was by procrastinating at my lab today lol. 
 
If you don't want to wait for only a possibility of me helping you to mod some indeterminate time in the future, you could either start getting handy or perhaps ask someone else who tried or will be trying this mod. Wje is a good candidate, he loves helping and is good at allocating time out for headphone modding stuff.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What about those of us who've never really been able to hear any difference between pleathers and velours? Where do we stand?
 
Or should we be cutting small holes in our eardrums for better damping?  

 

"Low-fidelity hearing" is both a blessing and a curse 

 Velour and pleather are radically different to my ears, polar opposites, really. Bright vs dark, light vs heavy, clean vs lush, open vs closed.