[FLACm0nkEy]

Open your HA-DX1 or DX3 by twisting the housings (twist the driver plate off like a lid off a jar) and take a look at your drivers.
Compare your drivers with the ones pictured and post which one you have, like left, center or right like in the picture.
Left and center are DX1 drivers, different looking, very different sounding.
Driver on the right is DX3, if you have a different DX3 driver please post pictures.

So what prompted this?
A long time ago I bought a pair of DX1 from a member here and have enjoyed it. Then I was in position to aquire another pair from another member on here, and the pair I got this time (left in the picture) sounds outright awful compared to my original. Same impedance, similar overall design, but you can visually tell that they aren't the same.
I am showing only the back of the driver as I don't want to pry out the drivers fearing denting or damaging them... yet anyway.
Why should you care? There is a common belief that DX1 is an overrated headphone that isn't anything special, and then there are those who like them. This holds true for my newer pair. However the old pair sounds... magnificent. Perhaps having two different types of drivers in the same model of headphone might be the source of the disagreement.

You will notice that I have swapped drivers between my old DX1 and DX3. The drivers themselves have not been modified, only the drivers themselves are in question in this thread.

I would also like pics of drivers from other 50mm JVC models to see which are closer to which.

Please feel free to post your thoughts on this.

 

[burgunder]

Why not try to remove the dustcap ad see if the sound improves?

 

[micmacmo]

Very interesting. I managed to get my DX1 open and the drivers look exactly like the new set you have, the ones with the dust cap.

I haven't managed to get my DX3 open and won't spend too much effort trying, lest I bust them. These phones I really enjoy.

 

[FLACm0nkEy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by burgunder /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why not try to remove the dustcap ad see if the sound improves?

Very tempting. Even more tempting to do it on DX3, because I have 2 pairs, and don't like either of them.
I think if this topic gains enough momentum this might be inevitable. If I don't do it then someone else out there will.

 

[ljokerl]

Well, the driver on my DX3 looks exactly like the one on yours:

 

[FLACm0nkEy]

I did some more poking around. Although the drivers in my magic pair of DX1 still appear to be different, I found one improvement that the previous owner has done to it(which I bet they won't confess to, even after I stick my soldering iron in their eye). The previous owner removed the dampener which is located right under the pad. Since it was missing all along on my pair, I never knew it was supposed to be there.

Both DX1 and DX3 have identical dampener. I removed the dampener on one of my DX3 pairs and more mid and treble texture was added, as well as some sparkle to the treble. The sound is more satisfying and wholesome.

Then i razored off the dustcaps off the backs of DX3 drivers, but I cannot quanticize the improvement, if any. There was definitely no harm to sound however.

Then I tried removing the outer driver dampener (white C shape), and that unleashes absolutely uncontrollable bass that just floods everything. You get an RX900-like boom. Stick it back and its all back to normal again.

All in all there is improvement on DX3 from removing that circular gray dampener, however the treble is still rolled off like it always was and the phones are still very closed sounding and fatituing even for 5 minutes of use.

So, now that I had a dampeners in hand that i was missing on my first DX1 pair all along, I stuck them under my pads where they should be, and compared the two DX1 pairs. My first pair still sounds astonishingly better. It is considerably louder and there is a lot of decent (and very tight) bass, which the newer pair of DX1 lacks.
It is clear however that the headphone lost its openness, airyness and soundstage with the dampener applied as well as there is no more sparkle to the treble, so it is quite clear you want that dampener gone.

So go ahead and try your headphone without it. To remove it just slowly peel it off. There are 4 glue spots which you can see in the picture. If its glued too firmly to safely peel it off, carefully razor it off so it stays in one piece.
In the unlikely event that you don't like the improvement in sound, you can always glue your carefully removed dampener back on like it never happened.

As to what makes my magic black-drivered DX1 pair sound so good is still a mystery however.

 

[ourfpshero]

lol- i was the previous owner, and i remember removing those, tho i forgot about it after i did it.
i still have a dx3, and the treble doesnt roll off at all. in fact i would consider the treble very bright and aggressive. also, the dx3 likes a lot of amp for the bass to come out

 

[FLACm0nkEy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ourfpshero /img/forum/go_quote.gif lol- i was the previous owner, and i remember removing those, tho i forgot about it after i did it. i still have a dx3, and the treble doesnt roll off at all. in fact i would consider the treble very bright and aggressive. also, the dx3 likes a lot of amp for the bass to come out

Haha sorry about that eye. The eyepatch looks good on you though.

As far as the bass goes on DX3, I'm having plenty with both of my pairs. I might not have the most powerful amp (AMB mini3 HPE), but its still an amp. So anyway the treble is in fact bright and aggressive, but to a point. There is a frequency after which there is nothing, and I can confirm this with 3 different treble-heavy phones, dbi PRO700, dbi PRO705, and finally the DX1.
If I never heard what was on the tracks with a different headphone, I would have never said that DX3's treble is rolled off, but unfortunately I've been spoiled by the said phones.

 

[ourfpshero]

i have the dbi , i will have to do a comparison

 

[ourfpshero]

did a little side-by-side- pro700 and dx3. the pro700 indeed reaches higher highs, but ever so slightly. the dx3 is overall brighter.
my main love for the dx3 is in gaming. it never gets congested, no matter how many sounds are coming at you