[pjoliver182]

I'm not sure about portable DAC's but I use my P5's with lossless encoded music from my iphone's line out, in to an O2 headphone amp - sounds just wonderful.  The limiting factor will now will be the DAC circuit inside the iphone.
 
With the ear cushions I think a large factor is how much they compress against your ears since this will change the volume space inside them.  Personally I have to extend the arms to almost Max when I wear mine and I find the force against my ears is probably a little more than it needs to be.  Perhaps those with smaller heads don't compress the ear cushions as much, keeping the sound clearer?

 

[GL1TCH3D]

After several hundred hours of use, without the mod I think these sound fantastic (though in the first 50-100 hours I did notice some of that crap that people complain about).
I'm very interested in doing this mod, though, is there a place I can buy a new pair of earpads in case I screw this up?

 

[pjoliver182]

Yes, you can ring B&W directly - I recently purchased a replacement carry pouch.  It was only about £20 inc p&p.
 
0800 232 1513

 

[DarkSleip]

 
Quote:

I'm not sure about portable DAC's but I use my P5's with lossless encoded music from my iphone's line out, in to an O2 headphone amp - sounds just wonderful.  The limiting factor will now will be the DAC circuit inside the iphone.
 
With the ear cushions I think a large factor is how much they compress against your ears since this will change the volume space inside them.  Personally I have to extend the arms to almost Max when I wear mine and I find the force against my ears is probably a little more than it needs to be.  Perhaps those with smaller heads don't compress the ear cushions as much, keeping the sound clearer?

nope, I have a huge head, for some it's difficult to adjust the ear pads so the headphones sound correctly, something i have found to help many people is to try to align the grill of the headphones with your ear hole (is that it's name?), if that doesn't work you should try many positions to ensure you are getting their full quality

 

[dsp0704]

I checked the blue foam on mine and it is already shaped to the driver (like your modded pics). I guess that is why I haven't really had any complaints regarding its muffled bass or lack of clarity. However, I do notice what others describe in lack of clarity in treble.. compared to listening to my AKG Q701 with NuForce Icon HDP but when I'm on the road I'm not listening to music analytically, I'm just enjoying it. And also I don't know how much of SQ will improve since I'm still burning mine in (while I listen) but to me they sound ok for portable use as is.
 
EDIT: I have listened without the magnet cover and wow.. so much clarity. No bass though.

 

[pjoliver182]

Yup that's what I found too; hence what lead me to think that the drivers themselves were incredibly detailed in their performance; it was the cushions that were the weakest link.  Interesting that yours are already re-shaped...I wonder if it was a design modification?  Perhaps after initial poor feedback?

 

[DarkSleip]

from what i know the initial feedback was the best it got, maybe they got sloppy at the factory for some reason

 

[dsp0704]

I am pretty sure mine was not in the "initial production" line.. I just picked them up ~10days ago... This makes me want to go to Apple Store and open some of the P5s on display

 

[DarkSleip]

mine weren't on the first production line as well, maybe they have returned back yo normality 

 

[GL1TCH3D]

Well the foam might look like it's shaped for the driver but pressed against your ear they squish towards the middle, covering part of the diver.

 

[DarkSleip]

Quote:

Well the foam might look like it's shaped for the driver but pressed against your ear they squish towards the middle, covering part of the diver.

what if we put something like a driver shaped ring in the side of the foam so it doesn't go inwards, I think I'm not making much sense; 

 

[GL1TCH3D]

what if we put something like a driver shaped ring in the side of the foam so it doesn't go inwards, I think I'm not making much sense; 

I thought of something like that... The only thing I could think of was removing more foam to make a cavity all around then use those make-up remover pads to block it from squishing back in but this will probably affect the seal greatly...

 

[dsp0704]

Very interesting.. I didn't realize that the foam would "cover" the driver area when pressed. I put this to test by taking off ear cup and pressing on it to see how much foam is visible. So when it is pressed (by hand) it seems the blue foam spills out a little.. about 1mm. Although I doubt my ears have as much force on the foam as my hand. In conclusion, I don't think snipping off the foam (for me) will have much benefit as other P5's with larger foams.

 

[DarkSleip]

now that I've tested it, the foam only bends inwards when it hasn't "memorized" (memory foam?) a profile, testing it with a table it doesn't appear to do that anymore, it just compresses on itself

 

[GL1TCH3D]

Don't forget pressing it on a table is compressing it straight down... compressing it on an ear, it will most likely only be compressed on the outside of the foam and spill into the middle