[WayTooCrazy]

Do report back on how it alter the sound profile

I'm quite curious on how it'll result.

I will order soon, but I tried an old trick I did with the DT770/AKG K702 and especially my Sennheiser 424 pads. I filled a bowl with warm water and put in a liberal amount of Hair Conditioner. I fully soaked the pads (squeezed them and filled them with water and conditioner). I did this a few times and then let them sit in the solution for about 4 hours. I let them dry out for awhile in front of a foot heater (my office is in the basement, so I had it on anyway). I'm trying them out now... and they're definitely softer than they were originally. I might try it 1 more time after I test for a bit. If that doesn't help, then definitely a pad swap.

 

[stuck limo]

  This thread has convinced me I want a pair of these. I was saving for the 50x but, honestly, this fits my low-budget life way better and seems like a super solid headphone

 
You won't regret it man. I use mine on a daily basis and while I can nitpick at some of the design, these are honestly almost perfect for me and my desired sound signature. I'm scared to mess with the pads, everything is perfect as is and my ears fit perfectly in the cups. I have no issues with the pads....the only issue I have is from the tight clamping force on my head.
 
On another note, the ATH-MSR7...how do these compare to the 40s? I have heard they're one of the best ATH headphones out there, but I'm a huge fan of the 40s. Would it be an upgrade from the 40s?

 

[stuck limo]

  Winning combination: dynamat xtreme + polyester fiberfill
 

 

 
Tighter, fuller, better textured and detailed bass, more details all over now that they are no longer obscured by the cups' reverb, more detailed midrange, all around better soundstaging, cleaner, more detailed, and harshness-free treble.  There may still be a treble peak that might bother some folks a bit.  FR will vary slightly from one M40x to the next due to manufacturing variance.  Overall tonal balance is the same as before, though the improved bass may give an illusion of slightly increased bass.
 
I mentioned the dynamat before in a past post in this thread, but I didn't demonstrate, or take things farther with fiberfill.  Studio speakers have the same stuff inside to mitigate reverb in their cabinets.  Fiberfill won't be so simple to measure, unfortunately, so that part will take a good bit of trial and error to get just right equally in both cups.  Overdoing it with the fiberfill can lead to a muffled sound, and/or "overdampening" (sound will seem as if you wrapped a pillow around your head).
The depths of the cups facing directly the back of the drivers should never be loaded with dynamat, in my experience, or you will very likely get a sound which you probably won't like.

 
I am going to try this! How big did you make the strips for the Dynamat? And about how much Fiberfill did you put in? What happens if you DON'T put in Fiberfill?

 

[WayTooCrazy]

Update: I've had these on my head for over an hour plus. I can feel the "pressure" on my ears/head... but they don't hurt ANYTHING like they did before. I may not be buying new pads after-all. I may do another treatment, but so far... I don't think it needs it.

 

[Sp12er3]

The stock pads is a actualy quite "alright" after it gets some use, but one thing I don't like about the M series (to her than M70x) and MSR out of the box is their tight clamping force, if you find yourself with a headache after long use, do try to stretch the Headband a bit, I did with mine until both cups doesn't touch each other anymore and it helps tremendously with comfort. They could slip off my head easier with extensive head movement, but hey I wear this at home only anyway!

 

[WayTooCrazy]

I guess the "conditioning" treatment helps them age faster.

 

[stuck limo]

  Winning combination: dynamat xtreme + polyester fiberfill
 

 

 
Tighter, fuller, better textured and detailed bass, more details all over now that they are no longer obscured by the cups' reverb, more detailed midrange, all around better soundstaging, cleaner, more detailed, and harshness-free treble.  There may still be a treble peak that might bother some folks a bit.  FR will vary slightly from one M40x to the next due to manufacturing variance.  Overall tonal balance is the same as before, though the improved bass may give an illusion of slightly increased bass.
 
I mentioned the dynamat before in a past post in this thread, but I didn't demonstrate, or take things farther with fiberfill.  Studio speakers have the same stuff inside to mitigate reverb in their cabinets.  Fiberfill won't be so simple to measure, unfortunately, so that part will take a good bit of trial and error to get just right equally in both cups.  Overdoing it with the fiberfill can lead to a muffled sound, and/or "overdampening" (sound will seem as if you wrapped a pillow around your head).
The depths of the cups facing directly the back of the drivers should never be loaded with dynamat, in my experience, or you will very likely get a sound which you probably won't like.

 
I just did this mod and everything you're saying is correct. I actually did even more and coated the entire the plastic with the Dynamat. So far, like you said...more details, wider soundstage, more bass. The depth is better and it seems I can hear more into recording. The one thing that may or may not be my imagination is that the vocals are little recessed but come across much more clear. I was listening to "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit and the reverb trails that came off her voice came out extremely clearly. I was also listening to some other tracks and heard some very small details I had never heard before, or at least that I had never heard so clearly and presented the way they were. Musically, everything is a little bit more vibrant and punchy.
 
So far I'm waiting on the fiberfill. I could go to the store and grab a bag right now but it's 1 am and my mom has fiberfill for free I can go grab in the morning. So generally speaking (so far) this mod is a BIG plus.
 
Edit: added fiberfill and am unsure how I feel about these now. The depth I previously mentioned kind of flattened out and the bass is less overpowering now. I didn't add that much fiberfill, but I'm wondering how much is too much. Still experimenting.
 
Edit 2: After more experimenting, the fiberfill DOES tame the bass and make everything less boomy...HOWEVER, that less boom, tighter bass comes at the expense of richness and detail and depth (to my ears). The fiberfill flattens out the sound the 3D effect the dynamat has brought on board.
 
So, I'm STILL experimenting with fiberfill (and I didn't put that much in) but I think I'm leaning towards actually having none.
 
On a side note, it sounds like I very slight sound imbalance now. The left side is slightly less trebly and slightly less loud than the right hand side. The right hand side seems to be more bassy with more impact just a tad. I don't know if this is something I did because of the dynamat or if something else is going on.
 
 
 

 

 

[Mad Max]

If the fiberfill isn't very close to exactly the right amount in each cup (and even with the same distribution/positioning), you can get an imbalance of sorts.
 
I found it more 3D with the fiberfill, maybe you are putting in too much?  I don't know.
 
Layering Dynamat on top of itself to thicken the strips led to the addition of treble peaks in HD650 when I tried it, so I avoid doing that to any significant degree.  Adding more of the black rubber underneath a single layer of the Dynamat aluminum foil seems to be the better way to "stack" Dynamat.  I had only begun to experiment with this in a DIY headphone I have (ATH-Pro700 drivers in a JVC RX900 shell), but I haven't worked on that since October or November, I think.
 
Without the fiberfill, M40x is somewhat of a resonance fest to my ears (like having a mediocre reverb effect hardwired into the headphone itself).  But I'm guessing just the Dynamat alone might be enough for you?  Or the extra details were the cups echoing the drivers

.  Well, nearly all closed-back headphones have that issue due to insufficient acoustic dampening in their cups.  It's just a few OCD'd wackos like me or ortho modders that care about this in the end, haha.  But folks trying out various headphones notice, sometimes.  Last time I read anyone else complaining were the DT1990 or T90 folks, saying how DT1770 or T70 is a resonance fest compared to DT1990 or T90 or something.  Yeah, not enough acoustic dampening in either T70 or DT1770 indeed from what I've seen.

 

[stuck limo]

  If the fiberfill isn't very close to exactly the right amount in each cup (and even with the same distribution/positioning), you can get an imbalance of sorts.
 
I found it more 3D with the fiberfill, maybe you are putting in too much?  I don't know.
 
Layering Dynamat on top of itself to thicken the strips led to the addition of treble peaks in HD650 when I tried it, so I avoid doing that to any significant degree.  Adding more of the black rubber underneath a single layer of the Dynamat aluminum foil seems to be the better way to "stack" Dynamat.  I had only begun to experiment with this in a DIY headphone I have (ATH-Pro700 drivers in a JVC RX900 shell), but I haven't worked on that since October or November, I think.
 
Without the fiberfill, M40x is somewhat of a resonance fest to my ears (like having a mediocre reverb effect hardwired into the headphone itself).  But I'm guessing just the Dynamat alone might be enough for you?  Or the extra details were the cups echoing the drivers

.  Well, nearly all closed-back headphones have that issue due to insufficient acoustic dampening in their cups.  It's just a few OCD'd wackos like me or ortho modders that care about this in the end, haha.  But folks trying out various headphones notice, sometimes.  Last time I read anyone else complaining were the DT1990 or T90 folks, saying how DT1770 or T70 is a resonance fest compared to DT1990 or T90 or something.  Yeah, not enough acoustic dampening in either T70 or DT1770 indeed from what I've seen.

 
I've got them filled exactly the same as far as I can tell. I've been VERY careful with measuring. I put not a lot in...just enough to cover the black of the cups. I was extremely conservative with the filling this time. [yours looks cleaner though, and even less than I have, maybe] I've also been very careful with listening and I still believe there's a channel imbalance even with the fiberfill taken out (hard[er] to tell though). I got a new pair at Guitar Center for $80 to test and have a comparison set. If I decide to keep the new pair, I'll open it up and mod those as well. I'm still evaluating the channel imbalance issue on the originals. The new set don't seem to have that imbalance though that I'm hearing on the originals.
 
The channel imbalance I'm/was hearing was where the right hand side of the cup in the high-mids to highs and some drums were richer, sweeter and more detailed with more physical impact on the driver than the left hand side. The instruments were about 50% quieter [left hand side] and you had to really strain to hear them.
 
As far as the dynamat goes, I didn't stack anything together. Just 1 layer all around on the plastic. I'm happy with the dynamat job.

 

[scum123]

Hello guys,

I recently got this headphones and I love the sound of them, but sometimes they are just too harsh on my ears. I'm a completely noob on the subject and cannot get rid of that harshness. Could you tell me what can I do in foobar to set my EQs correct (I have IIR filter and default EQ options, but if you can suggest some other plugin I'll install it)? I paired my m40x with Asus Xonar U7 sound card. Thank you in advance!

 

[donunus]

burn in got rid of the harshness on mine

 

[stuck limo]

Layering Dynamat on top of itself to thicken the strips led to the addition of treble peaks in HD650 when I tried it, so I avoid doing that to any significant degree.  Adding more of the black rubber underneath a single layer of the Dynamat aluminum foil seems to be the better way to "stack" Dynamat. 

 
How are you separating the rubber from the backing??? Are you using a knife and filleting like a fish?

 

[Mad Max]

I just pull it off.  It is neither too easy or difficult.
If some bits remain on the aluminum, use the rubber itself to remove it.  Just like the adhesive of PVC electrical tape, though far less messy, the rubber tends to stick to itself most.  With a little wad, just tap it quickly on the leftover bits.  Gotta love that about the stuff.

 

[scum123]

burn in got rid of the harshness on mine

Thanks for your reply! Actually mine are well burned in, but I found my problem - the drivers for my external sound card for windows 10 are god-awful. It seems that the drivers distorted in some way the sound and everything was so harsh to listen. I rolled out the old version of the driver and wow... it sounds like I got a different pair of headphones.

 

[donunus]

Glad your issue got fixed. You know whats really cool about these cans are that out of my geek out 1000, they really show me the grit/compression artifacts of remastered albums over original masters very clearly and not just show me the difference in tone/eq. With my hd598, I couldn't tell the difference in distortion as much because it had its own distortion glazed over the sound. Such a valuable aspect thats rare for 100 dollar cans.