[justinliu]

 
Quote:

I just tried to open the cans and listen to them only holding the drivers and pads like OP says.
And as I thought, and concur with Obify, the sound is vastly improved, with larger sounstage that helps better instrument separation; I would guess they are easier to listen to them for hours now, my main complain along with comfort, since they feel less pungent on the highs, more airy, obviously.

There is no much work to do, just unscrew and drill a hole on the cups.

I would say they sound very similar to my fully open SA5000, with the later having more kick, soundstage and refined sound overall.
I'm wondering if open AT models sound like this.

Does this mod make the M50's leak an incredible amount more?

 

[scottie584]

Presumably.

 

[roBernd]

Just unscrewd them and hed both of them to my ears...

I can confirm what OP wrote...
-less agressive treble (was suspecting the opposite, lol)
-bass more loose, but that's okay in my book, it gives a bit of a K240S warmth, but not compareable
-tad arier, less body
 
all in all, I'd really like to mod them... but since I use THIS pair to commute and I don't have a spare m50 I won't destroy the housing yet...
wait... Is there a way to buy just the back part of these phones?

Switching is no big deal... add neodym magnets and... wait, now that's silly, but is there an affordable way to get these parts?
 
Edit: ... wait I forgot about the cable management... so no quick swapping, meh.

 

[roBernd]

Hi guys, I was writing a mail to Audiotechnica Germany (I live in Germany) and got a friendly reply. They stated that they don't sell spareparts, except pads .etc , but they offered me to send some second hand parts for free! I was quite delighted and obviously agreed to that offer.
 
Today the parts arrived from England via Royal Mail, when I opened the box, I found this:
 

 

 
I don't know if you can spot it in this picture... but these parts have the drivers and everything else inserted as well. Quite nice for €0
 
Haven't opened them atm, I can spot that some screws are missing which is no big deal. loking through the holes in the sides, there is the dampening inserted. Nice.
 
I'm still in the middle of exams. After I'm done with the next batch of exams there will be some additional freetime I can use to disassemble, check the drivers and mod one of the pairs into an open ATH-M50s...
 
 
I just wanted to let you guys know, that the guys and gals over at Audiotechnica are lovely people.
That said, go and buy their products, or what ever...

 

[SixthFall]

Sweet!

 

[MattTCG]

And I was a little nervous about replacing the pad on mine!! 

 

[roBernd]

Had some time on my hand... well actually I should study, which I'll be doing right now with these on my ears:
 

 
Pro:
-tamed some of the lower treble, which I didn't like stock --> don't have to EQ anymore.
-added warmth to the mids.
-a tiny bit more bass quantity
-****yeah, soundstage
 
 
contra:
-took some time to do
-isolation suffered ----> bought 'em for portable use... atm, they defeat their purpose (will continue to use my HF5)
-sound leakage
-bass extends a bit less (minimal if at all)
 
So far I really like them a lot... 30min in though. Had some thoughts about isolation/dampening -> want to test different dampening but due to the construction of the driver with it's included dampening and the current results, I'm afraid there isn't much to do anymore... they're good. Good indeed.
 
I will report back after some further listening and answer questions if there are any. Cheers mates.

 

[SixthFall]

Quote:

Had some time on my hand... well actually I should study, which I'll be doing right now with these on my ears:
 

 
Pro:
-tamed some of the lower treble, which I didn't like stock --> don't have to EQ anymore.
-added warmth to the mids.
-a tiny bit more bass quantity
-****yeah, soundstage
 
 
contra:
-took some time to do
-isolation suffered ----> bought 'em for portable use... atm, they defeat their purpose (will continue to use my HF5)
-sound leakage
-bass extends a bit less (minimal if at all)
 
So far I really like them a lot... 30min in though. Had some thoughts about isolation/dampening -> want to test different dampening but due to the construction of the driver with it's included dampening and the current results, I'm afraid there isn't much to do anymore... they're good. Good indeed.
 
I will report back after some further listening and answer questions if there are any. Cheers mates.

 WOW! Nice!
 
 

 

[roBernd]

re,
 
after some intensive listenng I really like them for classic and orchestra.
With the better soundstage/seperation and more prominent mids, plus the body the M50s are still capable to convey, they manage to especially shine with cello and bass.
 
Other genres are fine as well, but classic is where I spot myself reaching for these cans atm.
 

 

[roBernd]

If anyone is interested, I'm selling them on German ebay due to having a K240 Sextett MP, lol

 

[kore]

wow it looks like beyer headphone.... nice mod...

 

[takato14]

No tutorial...
 
Bah. Who cares. My M50s haven't been used in a long time; I'll give this a whirl.

 

[Supreme Ruler]

I like the original m50 with no mod way better. 

 

[takato14]

Quote:

I like the original m50 with no mod way better. 

Cool? MY M50s aren't getting any eartime because every other headphone I own sounds better, so I'm gonna try this mod.

 

[invalid404]

Can someone try this and do a tutorial with pics?