[iliketowrap19]

Waiting on the second revisions to come out. 

 

[MrTie84]

I preface all of this by warning that driver variance, differences in mics,couplers, correction curves, and software exist. My measurements are only useful relative to each other.
 
Shout out to cskippy for having the gumption to tear into this first and light a fire under my ass to build a measuring rig and see what could be done.
 
I thought I would give some info and measurements on the mods I settled on for M1060. All measurments preformed today on the same system at the same volume, and as close to the same coupler position as possible.
 
Mods Measurements:
 

Purple=Stock
Green=Vegan Only
Gold=cskippy Mods
Red=My Current Mods
 
My main goals in "Fixing" the M1060 were to lessen the 4.5khz spike/ringing that I found offensive and even out+raise treble if possible. In the end vs cksippy's mod in my measurements I ended up with a few areas worth looking at. First I maintained a bit more energy through the 200-500hz range which is a critical region for vocals, I find versus cskippys mod vocal are a bit more forward in the mix. Second, my slope from 1khz is a bit more drastic, I'm not entirely sure if this is preferable, but it resulted in the most blunting of the 4.5khz spike/ringing I've measured. Finally by using the stock foam as a ear-side filter I managed to create a very flat elevated ridge in the critical 6-10khz treble region, this was goal in trying to get this driver to behave close to the early measurement I've looked at with LCD3 prefazor, cskippy's mods give a bit more sparkle here but measure more jagged through the treble region on my rig. Combined with my more aggressive slope from 1khz my mod  sounds a bit more forward than cskippy's to my ears. The final rise to 20khz remains similar on both mods, and I don't hear much of difference there. Eventually I need to get my hands on some different density foams to try and see what effect this has as a ear-side filter.
 
Paper Towel vs 2ply and stack position Measurements:

 
Higher Purple=Stock
Green=3"Paper Towel under grill
Blue=3"Paper Towel under felt disc
Lower Purple=3" 2ply under felt disc
Red=3" 2ply under grill(Final Mod)
 
Not much to say on this section the largest ares of difference I find with the papers and position is it's effect on 100-500hz, 3" of 2ply directly under the grill seems to give the flattest response in my measurements. Looks a bit silly, but it sounds the best to my ears.
 
-35db 5ms Waterfalls:
 
Stock:

Nasty Spike and ringing behavior preceding the orthowall at 4.5khz, lots of high treble nulls, I do not like this can stock.
 
Vegan:

Some lesson of spike/ring behavior, overall treble smoothing, more gradual slope from 1khz.
 
cskippy:


A bit smoother treble, and a bit broader over all treble energy in the 6-10khz range.
 
Final Mod:


Significant measurable reducing in ringing, further blunting of the 4.5khz spike, near flat 6-10khz treble ridge.
 
Spectral Decay:
 
Stock:

 
cskippy:

 
Final Mod:

 
Pictures on what I did to follow in next post.

 

[MrTie84]

Picture guide to my current M1060 Mods:
 
Sorry in advance for my poor photos and strands of polyfil all over everything for previous experimenting.
 
Step 0:
Remove grills, stock pads, stock damping foam, stock ear-side driver fabric.
 
STEP 1:
 
Cut a square of felt slightly wider than the driver exit, this is how Audeze's original damping scheme worked. Apply with a thin strip of double sided stick tape.
 

 
Step 2:
 
Cut a felt disc the same size as a the internal diameter of the cup, again mirroring Audeze's damping scheme. Place on top of the felt square.
 

 
Step 3:
 
Cut a 3" disc of 2ply toilet paper, place this centered above the felt disc.
 

 
Step 4:
 
Place the stock M1060 damping foam inside the rear of the Vegan Pad, between the hard plastic ring and hair filter.
 

 
Step 5:
 
Using double sided tape, or the Vegan adhesive ring, align the Vegans theistic line approximately to the bottom of the head band gimble.
 

 
Enjoy!

 

[timgt]

Not sure these mods are for me. Looks like it messes up the mids to me. Mids are the most important to me, more so then gaining some treble.

 

[MrTie84]

  Not sure these mods are for me. Looks like it messes up the mids to me. Mids are the most important to me, more so then gaining some treble.

 
if you're getting that from my waterfall, note they cut off at 500hz on the low end. all of the mods measurements are essentially flat to 1khz with a -4db slope through 2khz. none of the variations sound sucked out in the mids to me.

 

[timgt]

   
if you're getting that from my waterfall, note they cut off at 500hz on the low end. all of the mods measurements are essentially flat to 1khz with a -4db slope through 2khz. none of the variations sound sucked out in the mids to me.

It looks like in your chart as well as the other users chart that performed the mods that from around 400hz to 3khz or so (Its hard to see the numbers on my screen) the measurements took a fairly large drop in this area.

 

[cskippy]

If you have a common reference headphone such as the HD650, DT880, etc that would be helpful as a baseline measurement.  I know people can compare our measurements of the M1060 but I'm sure it would help others.  
 
NOTE TO ALL READING MEASUREMENTS:  
 
Measurements are a tool.  They are not what should drive the headphone modding.  Measurements can easily bias our opinions and influence the changes that we hear.  You should always verify that a change is beneficial by ear, then check with measurements to see if they validate your impressions.  

 

[timgt]

  If you have a common reference headphone such as the HD650, DT880, etc that would be helpful as a baseline measurement.  I know people can compare our measurements of the M1060 but I'm sure it would help others.  
 
NOTE TO ALL READING MEASUREMENTS:  
 
Measurements are a tool.  They are not what should drive the headphone modding.  Measurements can easily bias our opinions and influence the changes that we hear.  You should always verify that a change is beneficial by ear, then check with measurements to see if they validate your impressions.  

Agreed. If you need to see other measurements and don't have a meter on your own then http://www.innerfidelity.com/headphone-measurements is a good starting point. It has all kinds of measurements for all kinds of headphones.

 

[MrTie84]

  It looks like in your chart as well as the other users chart that performed the mods that from around 400hz to 3khz or so (Its hard to see the numbers on my screen) the measurements took a fairly large drop in this area.

Yeah HF makes the image pretty small, now they all measure fairly flat from 20hz to 1000hz, then start a slope ending at about -6db at 4-5khz.more or less. Stock has a similar behavior as well but it's flat out to around 1.5khz before it's slope begins. This behavior is more or less mirrored in the LCD3, which I don't think is a can people accuse of having a mid-range suck out.
 

 

[cskippy]

@timgt Here are my measurements of a stock HD650 in red, and my modded M1060 w Audeze Leather Free Vegan pads and 3 inch paper towel outside:
 

 
Like @MrTie84 says, measurements will differ due to coupler design, type of mic, and compensation applied.  

 

[timgt]

Thanks for that chart, whats strange is I have the HD650 and the M1060 and feel the bass is a lot more present on the M1060 to me compared to the HD650. But if I were to look at only this graph it would say otherwise to my eyes. According to that chart it looks like the HD650 would be slammin harder. Its true that we have to go by what our ears tell us and not what our eyes tell us. Also being 2 different technologies doesn't help either. One Dynamic vs One Planar Magnetic.

 

[MrTie84]

Give me a little bit to eat dinner, then I'll fire up a quick measurement of your mods in ARTA at that scale so it's more comparable ok.

 

[MrTie84]

NM that is just dark background on REW. let me simply adjust scale and color then.

 

[cskippy]

Make sure you use the distortion measurements not the other plots as they change the frequency response, accounting for mic calibration, etc.  Your waterfalls look closer to my measurements than your frequency charts. 
 
I made a calibration file to mimic the adjustments made so that they could be compared.  BTW, I've seen this elsewhere by seasoned measurers, so it's not a newb mistake.

 

[MrTie84]

Well I am a self admitted noob, hence the caveats preceding my post. but here it is in at least a comparable scale.
 


Purple=Stock
Yellow=cksippy
Red=current mods