randomprecision
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2008
- Posts
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Hi all.
I apologize in advance if this has been covered extensively (and it probably has been). I did try searching for it but the results were spotty.
I've seen a lot of discussion about the blu tak mod making a dramatic difference on closed cans. But I haven't seen much discussion about using it on open cans.
So I was curious. I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 497s. Now these sounded decent right out of the box (They're ugly and somewhat uncomfortable but they sounded OK). So I got myself a few packs of poster adhesive and went to work on them.
I noticed initially that even though they're quite open, if I placed a finger on the enclosures or the headband, I could easily feel vibrations.
When I took them apart, I was gratified to find these are very easy to work with. The cables completely detach so you don't have to worry about ripping them out. I put the putty (I'll just call it putty because it isn't actually brand name Blu Tak) on just about everything inside that could vibrate and cause the enclosures to muddy up the sound.
I did hear a difference at first but not as much as I expected. I messed around with it and experimented and did a lot of listening. I kept working with them until I could only barely feel any vibrations at all even on the loudest portions of music (not as easy as it sounds). I left the parts of the enclosures that have holes alone because even though those parts do vibrate as well, they serve to keep things ventilated and it's very difficult and time consuming to work putty around all these holes (look up a picture of the HD 497 to see how many holes there are on the earcups).
When I finally got it right, I was astonished! It seriously cleaned up the sound! I was amazed how much the enclosures and the headband (I put some putty in little recesses in the headband where you can't see it too) were screwing with the sound. Even with them being open cans, the mod makes a world of difference.
My conclusion is that anything that vibrates will benefit from damping. If the drivers are attached to thin plastic that vibrates, this will affect the sound. Even if the cans are open. I wouldn't say they sound as good as much more expensive cans but I bet they're at least 80% there.
Anyone else try this mod with open cans and experience positive (or negative) results?
I apologize in advance if this has been covered extensively (and it probably has been). I did try searching for it but the results were spotty.
I've seen a lot of discussion about the blu tak mod making a dramatic difference on closed cans. But I haven't seen much discussion about using it on open cans.
So I was curious. I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 497s. Now these sounded decent right out of the box (They're ugly and somewhat uncomfortable but they sounded OK). So I got myself a few packs of poster adhesive and went to work on them.
I noticed initially that even though they're quite open, if I placed a finger on the enclosures or the headband, I could easily feel vibrations.
When I took them apart, I was gratified to find these are very easy to work with. The cables completely detach so you don't have to worry about ripping them out. I put the putty (I'll just call it putty because it isn't actually brand name Blu Tak) on just about everything inside that could vibrate and cause the enclosures to muddy up the sound.
I did hear a difference at first but not as much as I expected. I messed around with it and experimented and did a lot of listening. I kept working with them until I could only barely feel any vibrations at all even on the loudest portions of music (not as easy as it sounds). I left the parts of the enclosures that have holes alone because even though those parts do vibrate as well, they serve to keep things ventilated and it's very difficult and time consuming to work putty around all these holes (look up a picture of the HD 497 to see how many holes there are on the earcups).
When I finally got it right, I was astonished! It seriously cleaned up the sound! I was amazed how much the enclosures and the headband (I put some putty in little recesses in the headband where you can't see it too) were screwing with the sound. Even with them being open cans, the mod makes a world of difference.
My conclusion is that anything that vibrates will benefit from damping. If the drivers are attached to thin plastic that vibrates, this will affect the sound. Even if the cans are open. I wouldn't say they sound as good as much more expensive cans but I bet they're at least 80% there.
Anyone else try this mod with open cans and experience positive (or negative) results?