[avitron142]

I was quite inspired by this thread http://www.head-fi.org/t/610542/mod-monoporice-8323 and decided to be open to modding my own 8323's. Just was wondering if anybody has any suggestions how to go about it.
 
What I'm looking for:
 
Microphonics: Any way to get rid of these would be absolutely amazing. As of now I'm hearing a rustle every time I touch the wire. Other wire recommendations that minimize these are welcome.
 
Bass: same level in quantity or a bit higher. I'm not a Beats guy, but I definitely savor my bass, to an extent that I don't even like certain Bose headphones.
 
Mids & Highs: Better clarity (?) But not so bright to an extent that it'll hurt my ears.
 
Isolation: Just fine how it is now, but can't hurt to add a bit more
 
Overall, the ideal mod would be to have bass like Skullcandy Titans and to have mids and highs like Bose. But any suggestions are welcome 

 
Thank you!
 
P.S. - This would be my first mod, and I'm new to terms. So when using terms like "cup vents" and "drivers", please explain what&where they are. Pictures would also be awesome 

 

 

[Armaegis]

Microphonics is hard to deal with. A soft wire with cloth covering might minimize it.
 
You can increase bass by improving the seal of the cups (difficult to do), and improving the seal between pads and baffle (some tape). You can also try softer pads. Something like the Shure 840 pads are wonderful and may improve isolation as well. They're a bit bigger though, so you'll need to tape or mount them properly somehow. If you're feeling destructive, you can also increase the size of the bass holes in the cup (in my thread, they're the small ports in part 4 that I taped over).
 
Start with those and the rest will follow.

 

[avitron142]

Thank you! Will start soon

 

[avitron142]

Hey, is there any difference between the Shure 840 pads and the Shure 240 pads? They look the same on amazon (and are much cheaper)... 

 

[Armaegis]

The 840 pads are different (and better) than the 440, so I would assume so for the 240 as well.

 

[avitron142]

How would you say they compare to the Beyerdynamic DT250 earpads in terms of both comfort and sound change (Assuming you have the pads, of course, lol)?
 
BTW, thank you so much for your help 

 I really appreciate it!

 

[Armaegis]

I don't have any DT250 pads on hand. I used to own a set, but it's been a while. Aren't they velour?

 

[avitron142]

Yep 

 Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

 

[Armaegis]

Velour typically has less bass than pleather/leather, but usually smoothes out the highs a bit if there are resonance problems.

 

[avitron142]

Hey! Just finished your mod with a few nondrastic changes (supply limitations).
 
1) Instead of the felt, I put velvet.
2) didn't have any blutack/silly putty, so I had to skip that step. Still did the taping, though.
3) Skipped step 7. I found I didn't like the sound after I put the velvet between the cups and the pads, so I just took it out.
 
The mod definitely helped!
Was just wondering, though. Is velvet a viable substitute for felt? And, just one little problem; the clarity improved a lot (I think

) but sometimes the music has a annoying sound, as if there are 2 of the same song playing at the same time (tiny bit destroyed/maybe delayed[?]). Would you know anything to do about that?

 

[Armaegis]

If the velvet is breathable, it should be ok. If it isn't, you might get some odd reflections happening.
 
I'm not too sure what the "as if there are 2 of the same song playing at the same time" is supposed to be. There's no way you're getting any sort of echo effect from reflections. If you have a loose ground wire connection, that could result in something that sounds like echo, but there would be a very obvious drop in volume.

 

[avitron142]

I listened to it some more, and it seems as if you're right; What I was hearing was a distortion (destroyed) in the sound, but I got rid of that once I replaced the velvet with felt I found out that the velvet wasn't breathable, so you got a point there as well 

 
The quality is MUCH clearer now, thanks to your mod, but, as you said, there was a drop on bass. Was just wondering if there is any way to bring it back without sacrificing the clarity - much of the clarity I have now was produced because a triple taped the holes on the sides of the cups (as you know - so making the holes wider will take away much of the clarity, I think). So the only options I have now (that I'm aware of) is improving the seal between the pads and the baffle and doing step 7 of your mod. Do you know any other way to improve the quantity of the bass?
 
I'm really appreciate your help on this - I know you probably have much better things to do, and your headphone inventory is something of a dream to me, lol. I'm just excited with my first mod, and hope to do a lot more 

 How would you say your modded Monoprice 8323's compare to other headphones you have in the $10-100 range in terms of overall sound and clarity?

 

[Armaegis]

After a certain point, there's only so much you can expect from a $20 headphone.
 
You can try fewer layers of tape over the holes (are you using breathable tape?), or put a pinhole into the tape.
 
New/better pads should make a big difference and I think that should be the next step. Shure 840 pads can be had for around $20 I think, and those pads can always be used on other headphones too down the road when you eventually upgrade.

 

[avitron142]

I wouldn't mind buying the SRH840 pads, but I don't want them moving around when I listen to music; the measurements are 6.8 x 6 x 1.4 inches as opposed to the stock ones which I believe are 5 x 4 x 1 inches.
 
I tried replacing the pads with some ATH-M40fs pads (I don't like the headphones anyway) and found out that they wouldn't even stay on my 8323's properly. I'm just afraid that I'd have the same problem with the 840 pads - that's why I'm leaning more towards the Beyer 250 pads, even though they're velour. What do you think?

 

[Armaegis]

There's almost always going to be a bit of give when you try different pads. Double sided tape is your friend