Well. After hearing this I've clean forgotten a lot of the SR60's faults, which weren't completely obvious to me stock because I have a thing for organic natural sounding phones. Anyway the drivers have been vented as well, ten holes on one and four on the other due to a previous imbalance which has been corrected but I haven't bothered to cover up the driver vents now. But as it is the bass is both present in volume as well as impact. There is a marked cleanliness to the sound which may be placebo but I'm hoping it isn't
Separation which has already been good has improved, there is now a marked space between a lot of instruments. Soundstaging is roughly the same, retaining the inside-the-head sound, sadly.
The below test tracks are in Apple Lossless converted from flac, though I personally believe anything above 256kbps VBR is perfectly satisfactory. I shall try to do my first ever headphone review
Nightwish, Once: Ghost Love Score
Drum texture is excellent, the bass drum shines through but doesn't overpower everything. The crashes are a tad bit thin, though. Brasses are clean and sharp, which treble-adverse people might shirk from though I suspect they might have been veiled just a bit since the stock. Separation is good until the entrance of the distortion guitars, which considerably muddies up the track. An overall imbalance to the bass frequencies is present though, I will look towards covering up some of those holes in my driver felt. Strings can be heard distinctly but not as individual instruments, though I suspect that might be the recording's fault since I hear roughly that on my analytical DBAs. Voice is very full-bodied, but lacks an edge which makes it sound slightly unnatural.
The London Symphony and London Voices, Star Wars Episode 1 Soundtrack: Duel Of The Fates
My favourite audition track, the choir voices are very nicely separated and can be individually heard in the opening chorus, though the track is rather echo-y, which I suspect might be due to the recording hall. The headphone itself somehow doesn't manage to keep up with the speed required for orchestral tracks, though the texture of every instrument is nicely presented, down from the ostinato in the strings to the motifs in the brass to the rolling of the timpanis. The general "body" in the instrument sounds is present, which colours the overall tone very nicely imo. On the overall the track is rather to my tastes.
Muse, HAARP - Live at Wembley Stadium: Butterflies and Hurricanes
In my humble opinion, the above song is the best they've ever written, discounting the lyrics. I really can't figure out whether the lack of a natural raw tone in voices is a result of track mixing or imperfections in my headphones, but either way it's not present, though Bellamy's breathy voice sounds as good as it does live. Excellent separation once again, which is impressive in a track like this. The tinkling drum ride has just that tad bit of body which keeps it from sounding unnaturally tinny, and the snare sounds great, for lack of a better descriptive. Individual notes in the bass guitar can be picked out easily, and the guitar sounds consistent over the entire tonal range. The piano sounds rather thin though, but I suspect that might be the fault of the Kawai. Soundstaging is unfortunately very in the head and up front though.
Edit: I'm listening to the Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia by Perlmann and Zukermann, and I'm sad to report the headphones do cut off a slight edge (e.g. a bit of the the bite of the bow on the strings), which gives the sound a very smooth tone but may not be satisfactory to those looking for every last detail.
