[LithosZA]

I got used to the sound of the MSR7b after a few hours of listening and it's quite decent. The soundstage is wider than my HD280 PRO, but less than my Shure SRH-940.
Some flaws that I picked up:
- Overpowering one-tone mid-bass thump that most song seems to get. Very fatiguing after a while. Is this what boomy means? <- EDIT: This was directly through my laptop's headphone jack. When I used my old Total Bithead it seemed to lessen the mid-bass problem to an enjoyable level. EDIT2: It actually still is overpowering. I've ended up doing an EQ of -6dB at 110Hz
- Sub-bass <= 50Hz seems to be nearly absent. I played 20Hz to 50Hz test tones and barely feel anything at 50Hz. Nothing is felt at 20Hz. Easily felt with my HD280 PRO

Overall the sound is really nice. Does anyone else think the mid-bass is a bit too much?

 

[tolis626]

I recently purchased a pair of MSR7B’s from Amazon in their Cyber sale. I own many headphones but was looking for a good portable closed back headphone. My “go-to” headphones are the Nighthawk Carbons and Sivga Phoenix but these are both open backs. I also own a fair few closed backs including Nad Viso HP50, Beoplay H6 2nd Gen and Meze 99 Classics.

What intrigued me about the MSR7B’s were the fact they can be run balanced as all my listening is done via my Fiio M11 and/or Q5S or BTR5.

Basically, out of the box these were quite hot at high frequencies. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good amount of warmth and treble, but I just found this a little bit of a distraction. So I persevered and experimented with some different pads. The stock pads are not bad but I did find them a bit uncomfortable after more than 30 minutes. But the treble harshness was the main drag.

So I did a google search for pad swaps/mods for these headphones and found this thread and I am so pleased that I took time to read thoroughly through it because I have found some fantastic information and advice, otherwise these headphones would have been history and returned to Amazon!

To cut a long story short, despite being extremely sceptical and worrying about invalidating my returns warranty, I painstakingly followed the @tolis626 mod to remove the inner felt ring which I performed without any fuss. I also replaced the stock pads with Brainwavz Angled Sheepskin pads.

Wow, wow, wow...what seemed on the surface as a nitsh1t, minor adjustment mod has transformed this into a game changing headphone. Since applying the mod these headphones have not left my noggin! And the Sivga’s and Nighthawks find themselves in temporary semi lockdown retirement!

There is so much I love about this headphone now following the mod and pad swap - bass has a natural warmth with a tad more (and more realistic) rumble. Treble is no longer ringing or substantial, it’s a bit further back than it was but is still apparent and natural. When you hear a snare you definitely hear a snare and cymbals have s nice exacting shimmer. Mids have opened up a bit, vocals are bit more relaxed but not out of kilter with everything else. Soundstage is slightly wider mainly due to the pad swap where the angled pads open the sound up a bit more.

If I was to use words to describe these headphones then I would say “musicality”, “timbre” and “engaging”. IMHO they outperform all the other closed backs I own or have owned. For example, the Meze 99 Classics sound more bloated in sub bass and mids compared to the MSR7B’s and therefore have now been retired. Even when I use the 99 Classics with a balanced cable and different Pads they cannot compete with the MSR7B’s. These are that good that they are currently keeping my open backs (Sivga Phoenix and Nighthawk Carbons) on the bench, which is some feat for a closed back headphone that costs at least a 1/3 of their RRP!

Just one final word - with the M11 these headphones are extremely easy to drive but find that using High Gain provides that extra bit of oomph. I’ve also found that playing DSD files raises the whole audio experience, listening to Dark Side Of The Moon DSD128 vinyl rips is absolutely sublime and competes with my experience listening to vinyl through my Record player and amp!

This is what makes me find this hobby so fascinating that sometimes you can pluck a jewel like this from a reasonable shallow dig in terms of cost, £125/$168 is an absolute steal!

I would just like to thank this community and show kudos for the pearls of wisdom and comments raised on this thread, I am really glad I read them!

Best regards, a happy new MSR7B owner

Hi! Really glad you got to enjoy these gems and that my stupid little idea paid off for a few people!

I also use these a lot with the Fiio Q5s (so pretty similar to the M11 you're using) and the pairing is stellar. They do, however, like power. They are very efficient and get loud quickly, but they sing when power is available to them. I mean, they get plenty loud out of the 3.5mm jack on my laptop, but completely transform balanced out of the Q5s or my THX AAA 789.

If you want to do a fun experiment, hook these up to a sufficiently powerful source and EQ up the bass (EQ everything else down quite a bit). Like, way up, they can handle it. Play a bassy song. Crank the volume. When I try that, I end up laughing like an idiot. The sheer amount of bass these things are able to produce is mind-boggling. Is it usable daily? No, it's ridiculous. But it's hella fun.

Again, really happy you enjoy these cans! Cheers!

 

[zuio]

This headphone is exceptional at low volume listening - if you would recommend a Speaker with a similar sound performance (outstanding at low volumes, lively, great PRAT, good bass quality) for a medium sized to large sized room - what would it be?

 

[Shakmal]

Getting bored during the lockdown.. How hard it is to do the mod and will it be worth the effort

 

[LithosZA]

Will this mod help lessen the mid-bass?

 

[tolis626]

Getting bored during the lockdown.. How hard it is to do the mod and will it be worth the effort

Well, a lockdown is as good a time for this stuff as it gets, I guess. Anyway, on the MSR7 it was slightly trickier, but on the MSR7b it's easy as pie. Remove the pads, unscrew the 4 screws, wiggle the thing apart, remove the foam insert, unscrew the other 4 screws, wiggle apart, remove felt tape and then do everything else in reverse. Pay attention to the foam insert (yellow sponge looking thing), line it up properly so it doesn't mess with your sound. It has a cut out for the wire. As soon as the headphones are back together, put on some Brainwavz pads (or anything, really, experiment with what you have, just please make it leather or pleather) and, hopefully, enjoy!

If, however, it's not your thing, it's perfectly easy to reverse. Just make sure you don't tear or lose the felt stickers! Have fun!

Will this mod help lessen the mid-bass?

Well, depends on what you mean "help". Will it reduce it? Maybe a bit, yes. But it definitely warms the sound up and brings up some long lost sub bass, so the mid bass isn't out of place like some people tend to find with these.

With that said, what modding these does isn't actually improving the bass or anything. What it mostly does is let you actually use aftermarket pads, which are downright unusable in the stock state of the headphones. If you want less bass, maybe try other pads too. Or maybe stuff a bit of cotton in the back of the headphones (on the inside, obviously, behind the felt ring). Anyway, as I said above, it's very easy to do and 100% reversible if you don't lose/destroy the felt stickers, so if you have time and a screwdriver, there's no reason not to try it IMO.

Good luck!

 

[Shakmal]

Well, a lockdown is as good a time for this stuff as it gets, I guess. Anyway, on the MSR7 it was slightly trickier, but on the MSR7b it's easy as pie. Remove the pads, unscrew the 4 screws, wiggle the thing apart, remove the foam insert, unscrew the other 4 screws, wiggle apart, remove felt tape and then do everything else in reverse. Pay attention to the foam insert (yellow sponge looking thing), line it up properly so it doesn't mess with your sound. It has a cut out for the wire. As soon as the headphones are back together, put on some Brainwavz pads (or anything, really, experiment with what you have, just please make it leather or pleather) and, hopefully, enjoy!

If, however, it's not your thing, it's perfectly easy to reverse. Just make sure you don't tear or lose the felt stickers! Have fun!

Well, depends on what you mean "help". Will it reduce it? Maybe a bit, yes. But it definitely warms the sound up and brings up some long lost sub bass, so the mid bass isn't out of place like some people tend to find with these.

With that said, what modding these does isn't actually improving the bass or anything. What it mostly does is let you actually use aftermarket pads, which are downright unusable in the stock state of the headphones. If you want less bass, maybe try other pads too. Or maybe stuff a bit of cotton in the back of the headphones (on the inside, obviously, behind the felt ring). Anyway, as I said above, it's very easy to do and 100% reversible if you don't lose/destroy the felt stickers, so if you have time and a screwdriver, there's no reason not to try it IMO.

Good luck!

Really appreciate for the details instruction.. Do I need to get sheepskin leather pad or any other leather materials will also be recommended. First time opening the hp....

 

[tolis626]

Really appreciate for the details instruction.. Do I need to get sheepskin leather pad or any other leather materials will also be recommended. First time opening the hp....

Don't mention it! Happy to help!

Now, do you NEED a certain pad? No, not at all. You can try whichever pad you want and see what it does for you. I can give you some descriptions of sound signatures from different pads, but keep in mind that these are what I have tried. People have had success with Dekoni Elite Sheepskin pads (supposedly very close to the stock sound signature, but better extension) and Yaxi pads, but I haven't tried those out as they're a bit hard to get here, so I stuck with good ol' Brainwavz.
- Brainwavz HM5 sheepskin flat pads : Closest sound signature to stock among the Brainwavz pads. Much better sub bass extension and great treble response. Keeps the midrange in focus. Aggressive sound, medium soundstage.
- Brainwavz HM5 sheepskin angled pads : Completely different from stock. Even better sub bass extension than the flat HM5, thicker and warmer low end, treble still great but more laid back, mids take a step back and aren't so intimate any more. Insane soundstage for a closed 250€ headphone, equally insane imaging, but again, lacks intimacy so not the best option for vocal tracks. My personal favorite.
- Brainwavz HM5 microsuede flat pads : Meh. Reduced mid bass, somewhat ok sub bass and pronounced vocals. Which would be good, but the mids/highs get shouty and hollow sounding. Retains great imaging though, can be great for some movies and games if you put a piece of foam behind the pads, just because they are SO comfortable.(EDIT : With a piece of foam or felt behind the pads they actually fine, just lacking in bass, I just tried them again)
- Brainwavz HM5 pleather flat pads : Very similar to the sheepskins, just with a darker tilt to the sound. Plus, they're not as nice. But they're cheap, so a good starting point.
- Brainwavz HM5 hybrid flat pads : IMO the worst of the bunch. Somehow keeps the midbass bloated while making the mids shouty and hollow. Probably has the best soundstage among the flat pads, but still beat by the angled ones. Definitely not recommended, can't see how anyone would like these.

Pads I want to try in the future are the angled microsuede HM5, Dekoni Elite Sheepskin and some angled Dekoni pads, but I haven't decided which to go for yet.

 

[Ritu]

Getting amazing bass from ath msr7b with my own custom equaliser setting.
6,4,4,2,0,0,0,0,0,5
Sony nw-a105,

 

[AmpereMan]

Recently I bought the Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7b. These are the best-sounding headphones I have ever listened to and they are insanely comfortable. But there were no long cables in the box, and I was tired of being tied to my PC by that shorten stock headphone cable. I looked up long cable options and there were a few, but the price was just insane ($65+ for 3 meters). And because of rare proprietary A2DC connectors, there were just a few options available. Then I went hunting for cable components on Aliexpress and ended up buying a combo of a couple of A2DC connectors ($8), a 3.5 mm male L-shaped connector ($2), 5 meters of shielded 2 core 22AWG wire (3.5mm to Y split) ($6) and 1 meter of shielded 1 core 22AWG wire (Y split to A2DC) ($0.6). The plan was to cut 3 meters of 2 core wire and solder it to a 3.5 mm connector on one side and Y split on the other side, where 2 core wire will be separated into two 1-core wires with an A2DC on both ends. This cost me less than $20, which is significantly lower than $65. After soldering everything together I got a pretty decent 4-meter cable. Actually, it's even better than I expected. Any thoughts about why the hell didn't Audio-Technica use more common MMCX or 3.5 mm on the headphone side?

Spoiler: Photos

 

[tolis626]

Recently I bought the Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7b. These are the best-sounding headphones I have ever listened to and they are insanely comfortable. But there were no long cables in the box, and I was tired of being tied to my PC by that shorten stock headphone cable. I looked up long cable options and there were a few, but the price was just insane ($65+ for 3 meters). And because of rare proprietary A2DC connectors, there were just a few options available. Then I went hunting for cable components on Aliexpress and ended up buying a combo of a couple of A2DC connectors ($8), a 3.5 mm male L-shaped connector ($2), 5 meters of shielded 2 core 22AWG wire (3.5mm to Y split) ($6) and 1 meter of shielded 1 core 22AWG wire (Y split to A2DC) ($0.6). The plan was to cut 3 meters of 2 core wire and solder it to a 3.5 mm connector on one side and Y split on the other side, where 2 core wire will be separated into two 1-core wires with an A2DC on both ends. This cost me less than $20, which is significantly lower than $65. After soldering everything together I got a pretty decent 4-meter cable. Actually, it's even better than I expected. Any thoughts about why the hell didn't Audio-Technica use more common MMCX or 3.5 mm on the headphone side?

Spoiler: Photos

AT have been pushing this A2DC connector for a while now. I don't know or understand why, but their IEMs use it, some of their more expensive headphones use it (I think both the SR9 and the ADX5000 use it). I mean, I do prefer it over the MMCX connectors on IEMs, those are way too small and fragile. But why they didn't go with 3.5mm or maybe even 2.5mm is beyond me.

It's not a bad connector, it's just that there's really no reason for it. Still, they aren't the first to try a proprietary connector. Worst offender here is Fostex. On their high end headphones they use a connector that's almost the same as Sennheiser's connector from the HD600 series. BUT they reverse the polarity and you can't use cables made for Sennheisers, which are abundant due to the age and popularity of these headphones. Whatever. I'm also using an AliExpress cable and it's been fantastic so far.

As for the length of the cable, do remember that AT intended for these to be a portable set of cans. The fact that they're good enough to be used at home doesn't change that.

 

[AmpereMan]

As for the length of the cable, do remember that AT intended for these to be a portable set of cans. The fact that they're good enough to be used at home doesn't change that.

Yes, I understand that. Just thought that getting long cable wouldn't be that tricky

 

[kman1211]

Just got these in, got the black ones, really liking them, been looking for a brightish pair of headphones to compliment/contrast my Beyer T1 Gen 3 which is very warm and dark sounding. Comfort is great as is for me, so not going to bother with pad swapping. Settled on these after researching them and realizing that they may be what I'm looking for, really enjoying these after breaking them in a couple hours. These seem to be technically very good with excellent drivers without any real issues and they're engaging and musical. They're a bit bright but that's more of a tuning choice than anything on the quality of the driver. I am curious how I will feel about these and their tuning with long-term use, these are my initial feelings of the headphones.

 

[Sunstealer]

Just bought a pair of MSR7b off Amazon Warehouse for £130. These arrived today. Already taken them apart to remove the small felt disk! This has smoothed out the graininess and taken the edge off the highs which were almost bordering on uncomfortable. These provide a maturer, more musical sound compared to my Takstar Pro82 ( which are still a great pair for the price). Ordered a pair of Brainwavz flat pads to see what happens.

 

[tolis626]

Just bought a pair of MSR7b off Amazon Warehouse for £130. These arrived today. Already taken them apart to remove the small felt disk! This has smoothed out the graininess and taken the edge off the highs which were almost bordering on uncomfortable. These provide a maturer, more musical sound compared to my Takstar Pro82 ( which are still a great pair for the price). Ordered a pair of Brainwavz flat pads to see what happens.

Well, after some break-in they will get even smoother, so let them play and you're in for a treat! I just hope you removed the correct felt ring, not the one on the driver!

As for pads, they are awesome with the flat HM5 pads, but man you gotta try them with the angled sheepskin ones. They are SO fun.