[TomKure]

Hello.
Yesterday I got angry because I started hearing weird noises from my DT 770 (ed. 2005 600 ohm)'s left phone when loud deep bass was present in a track. So I took the left can apart and while doing so I accidentally pierced the dampening paper on the ring around the driver with my screwdriver. Does anyone know whether this will affect the sound? I pierced only one layer, the one closer to the ear. The hole is about 2 x 3 mm large and about 1 cm from the outer edge of the driver unit. Better yet, I did not find the cause for the rattling cause by bass sounds.
When I listen to them I do not notice any difference in sound. Does anyone know if and how will the hole in the dampening paper affect the sound?
Thanks.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
If you don't hear anything different, or significant, then you can probably just continue to enjoy your headphones and not sweat messing with the dampening material (or perhaps keep looking for that rattle... maybe a hair in the driver?).
 
Very best,

 

[TomKure]

Well... I was kinda obsessed with this issue now, and I was thinking whether I should RMA the phones. But then I realized that they could find out that I broke into the phones, damaged them, and I would end up with the phones as they were, paying the postal fees for sending them to the service company. So I decided not to RMA them and I looked into them once again. Once again I saw the ugly hole in the dampening material, and I managed to kinda fix the hole by gently folding the torn pieces of the paper back to their place with a small stick from my swiss knife, now I don't think the hole affects the sound. But the rattle was still there. One of the many things I did was blowing into the driver from the back side, and I think that fixed it for a while, but then the rattle was back. So I blown some more, and more and now I'll see if the rattle will or will not come back. I would like to take the driver apart to see the diaphragm, but the piece holding the diaphragm and magnet is glued to the rest of the driver. I pray to God (even though I'm not exactly a religious person) to keep the rattle away from my headphones
BTW is there any technical explanation for what is the function of the dampening material in the phones and what effect on sound could be expected from the dampening paper being pierced? I personally think that the audible difference is none but could anyone tell me for what to listen to to really be able to hear anything? I know there is a high risk of me hearing what I want (don't want) to hear after reading the answer...

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
RMA them. They don't care, they re-coupe from the manufacturer.
 
Very best,

 

[TomKure]

Yeah so I RMAed them between the holidays and now I'm waiting what happens. I hope the people who will be looking at them don't notice or mind that I damaged them slightly...anyway the rattle was there before I even tried to take them apart so it's not my fault... Anyways, I did some research and I found out that there are two versions of the DT770/600, one with bass ports and one without. I have the one with the bass ports and that's probably why I, even with their sibilance and slight brightness, sharpness and harshness, enjoyed them that much. Their bass is just lovable. Kinda reminds me of my D2000... I want my DT770 repaired and given back to me NOW!!!! AAAAaaaa!!!! I have some things to do for school but all I can think of are those DT770s... DAMN!!

 

[TomKure]

It took a while, because there was a "misunderstanding" between the Czech distributor/service and Beyerdynamic and it took a while before Beyerdynamic sent the spare parts/drivers to the Czech company, but after nearly two months, I have finally my DT-770 back, with a new left driver I'm very happy and I'm listening to them now and I just love the sound. While my most favorite 'phones are the HD 650s, the Beyers have quite a different sound which I find very interesting. The deep bass and extremely forward treble are a good distraction from the HD650's sound (which I will always be coming back to though)... I'm thinking about buying the DT-880 (600 ohm) because sometimes I find that the added treble of the Beyers in comparison to the HD650s is just what the record needs and I would like to know how a bit more opened Beyer sounds like.
Anyway, my Beyerdynamic DT-770 are finally home and I feel complete again. I'm extremely happy I bought one of the last available ones, because I can hardly imagine a closed back 'phone to sound better, I think they even sound better to me than the AH-D2000s...

 

[Kodhifi]

The paper having a small hole in it will make 0 diference in the sound. It's there to keep dust out. However I am doubting you actually disassembled your phones enough to find the source of the bass buzz which you will likely discover is human hair.
 
Did you take the drive out of the enclosure, and carefully heat and pry it out of the hot glue on the back to expose the actual voice coil/driver mechanism without that huge felt pad and the paper you pierced covering it?
 
When I had this problem it was some of my hair that had made it's way through the 2mm felt covering the driver enclosure and it was buzzing right up against the driver membrane, some of them had even welded themselves to the driver!!! Removing these hairs got rid of the buzz and my 880's have been great for several years after that.
 
If you use Beyerdynamics CLEAN YOUR HEADPHONES at least once a month.

 

[TomKure]

The paper having a small hole in it will make 0 diference in the sound. It's there to keep dust out. However I am doubting you actually disassembled your phones enough to find the source of the bass buzz which you will likely discover is human hair.

Did you take the drive out of the enclosure, and carefully heat and pry it out of the hot glue on the back to expose the actual voice coil/driver mechanism without that huge felt pad and the paper you pierced covering it?

When I had this problem it was some of my hair that had made it's way through the 2mm felt covering the driver enclosure and it was buzzing right up against the driver membrane, some of them had even welded themselves to the driver!!! Removing these hairs got rid of the buzz and my 880's have been great for several years after that.

If you use Beyerdynamics CLEAN YOUR HEADPHONES at least once a month.

Actually I sent them to RMA and they replaced the driver, free of charge of course
Well I kinda clean all my headphones almost every time I use them...

 

[Noone025]

For future reference;
The paper also forms a semi-seal. If the paper is flapping around, it could create noise from the low frequency air movement.
I instantly thought about cutting the sticky 3mm strip of a tobacco paper to 'stitch' across the opening with a little water to activate the sticky material.
 
If it would work, not proven, but worth a try if someone stumbles across this, looking for a solution to similar issue.

 

[TomKure]

I had similar ideas after I pierced mine. Luckily now with the new driver I don't have to worry anymore... I've been listening to some music (Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, some ambient and trance) with the DT770 and I must say I like their sound more and more. One great thing I noticed is that from their sound I would not say they're closed at all. Well maybe just the deepest bass kinda hints they're closed but overall the sound is incredibly open, at least to my ears. Rock and metal is great through them, but they really shine with electronic. (Psy-) trance sounds just great, not to mention how beautiful ambient is through them (just listening to "Koan - Argonautica", very excellent album). I have to try jazz and classical with them soon...

 

[Kodhifi]

Quote:

Actually I sent them to RMA and they replaced the driver, free of charge of course

Well I kinda clean all my headphones almost every time I use them...

Beyerdynamic has great customer service. I wore out the clicky bits that hold the headphones in the position you adjust them. I checked their website but couldn't find that part listed anywhere. I wrote them and they ended up sending me the parts for free and I had them 3 days later. It was great to have a company stand behind their product like that.

 

[TomKure]

I would like to update this old post with my recent experience with the DT-770 / 600. About three months after the driver replacement, the left phone stopped playing. So I sent them to the authorized Czech service center for repair again, and about three weeks later I had them back, driver replaced (for the second time...). But there was something weird about the sound which I just could not put a finger on. After about an hour of playing with foobar, comparing to other phones etc. I tried inverting the phase of one of the channels (I've got a plugin for foobar which can invert the phase of both or one of the L/R channels). And that fixed the sound! So I opened the left phone (again...) and noticed that the cable is soldered to the driver exactly the same way it was before the last repair, just the driver had the "positive" yellow color mark on the other side... I did not want to wait another month for the service center to fix the polarity, so I re-soldered it myself, switching the left positive and ground connections, leaving the ground going to the right phone soldered to the input cable ground of course, and all is well since then. I just hope I won't have any more problems with those headphones because I think they sound just great, better than my Denon AH-D2000.
I also bought myself the DT-880 / 600-ohm yesterday, and so far I'm enjoying them very much. The only thing that surprised me is that I expected them to have a little bit less aggressive treble than the DT-770, which to me seems to be not true, maybe even the opposite.
None of my headphones come close to sounding as good as the HD-650 though, they are still the king of my collection.

 

[vid]

Get the original 1980s DT 990 (the 880 or 880 S might do, too) if you want one without a treble hike.

 

[TomKure]

I think I have enough Beyers in my collection. My next targets right now are the HD-25 and Fidelio X1's, and after that I'm done with buying headphones. I actually like the boosted treble the Beyers have, but not in every song/composition. The HD 650 are more universal IMO, even though they do not provide the sub-bass needed to enjoy some electronic music, I've got the AH-D2000 and DT-770 for that.

 

[BigMikeBass]

The paper having a small hole in it will make 0 diference in the sound. It's there to keep dust out. However I am doubting you actually disassembled your phones enough to find the source of the bass buzz which you will likely discover is human hair.

Did you take the drive out of the enclosure, and carefully heat and pry it out of the hot glue on the back to expose the actual voice coil/driver mechanism without that huge felt pad and the paper you pierced covering it?

When I had this problem it was some of my hair that had made it's way through the 2mm felt covering the driver enclosure and it was buzzing right up against the driver membrane, some of them had even welded themselves to the driver!!! Removing these hairs got rid of the buzz and my 880's have been great for several years after that.

If you use Beyerdynamics CLEAN YOUR HEADPHONES at least once a month.