To all Bluedio T3 owners:
As you have probably determined, the Turbine models are heavily bass-boosted. The bass is very bloated, and there is usually distortion at higher volumes and also on more congested tracks.
Luckily it's very easy to correct this - eliminate the bloat and distortion - and make them much more enjoyable. They will still be v-shaped, but the bass will be much more tame, tighter, and cleaner sounding.
The whole process takes 10-15 minutes and doesn't cost a dime. The below mod shows the T3, but the mod is basically the same for the other models.
Materials needed:
- Small phillips screwdriver
- Something with a sharp edge - spudger tool, guitar pick, non-serrated paring knife, pocket knife blade, etc
- Some sort of tape - scotch/cello, masking tape, blue painter's, green "frog" tape, clear packing, aluminum HVAC tape - whatever. DO NOT use duct tape or electrical tape, as it will loosen and fall off over time.
Steps:
1. Remove the pads. They are just held on by (4) plastic tabs. You just gently pull them with your fingernail and they pop off.
2. Mark the bottom center of each of the plastic driver cover. I used a Sharpie. This will help later when it's time to reassemble.
3. Only work on 1 cup at a time. Don't move into the other cup until the 1st cup is done and back together.
4. Use a small Phillips screwdriver and remove the (3) screws on the plastic driver cover. DON'T LOSE THE SCREWS! Also, make sure the screws don't fall into the driver, which is easy to do because as soon as they fully loosen, they'll be magnetically attracted to the driver.
5. Next locate the "seam" between the back of the cup and the front plastic driver cover. Insert a spudger tool, guitar pick, or paring knife into this seam, and pry outwards (use the same motion like you are turning a key). The 2 halves are basically clipped together, and the goal here is to pop the clips with the spudger/pick/knife. It doesn't take much pressure, but you may have to pop the clips in 2 different spots (opposite to one another).
If you accidentally break 1 of the clips (as you might be able to see in the Step 6 photos, don't worry as the screws will hold the cups together just fine).
6. Once the halves are split, lay the half with the driver flat on the table so you can work on it. Be careful not to move it too far away or you risk ripping the wires off! Now you will see (2) or maybe (3) vent holes in the driver magnet (some models have 2 holes, and some have 3 but it doesn't matter which you have). What you want to do is completely tape off all of the holes but 1. You only need a tiny square of tape for each hole. If your driver has (2) holes, completely cover (1) hole. If your driver has (3) holes, completely cover (2) holes. Now for the single remaining hole, cover 75-80% of the, leaving only 20-25% of the hole open. You will end up with what I show in this photo. I have also illustrated it on the drawn diagram.
7. Once you are done with the taping, snap the 2 halves back together. This is where the Sharpie mark comes in handy. You also have to make sure that the (3) screws holes are lined up properly before snapping the halves back together (as seen in the photo). Go all the way around the circumference to make sure it's snapped together fully. Once it's all snapped together, replace the (3) Phillips screws you removed before, and reattach the pad (which snaps on with the 4 clips). With the pad - just like with the plastic halves - go all the way around the circumference to make sure the pad is snapped down fully and evenly.
7. Repeat steps 4-7 for the other cup.
8. Once you are all done, listen and enjoy the vastly improved sound (less bloated, cleaner bass, crisp and tight).
Also, feel free to try other variations of the hole taping. I've spent hours testing and tweaking. Covering all holes, covering all holes but 1, covering all holes but varying portions of the final hole.
What you see is what I settled on, but you can dial in as little or as much bass as you want by varying the amount of holes you cover. Just make sure however much you end up with, that you do the EXACT same thing on the other channel. If not, you'll end up with an imbalance between L and R sides.
This mod will also benefit other Bluedio models that use the same 57mm titanium driver (HT, T2-T5, and possibly many others). All of these 57mm titanium driver-based models I've ever tried seem to suffer from the same bloated bass and distortion due to the driver magnet vents. It's kind of Bluedio's house sound, as they were started by ex-Beats engineers.
