Vicomte
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2006
- Posts
- 699
- Likes
- 10
Being new to the world of headphone modification (and headphones in general) I seemed to have stumbled upon a rather effective mod for the Sennheiser HD280 Pro that I think might be very useful to audiophiles everywhere.
Allow me to set the scene.
A dark room, late last night. A storm rages outside, rain pelts the window panes, flashes of lightning cast eerie shadows upon the walls. In the distance, a lonely dog howls. A man sits quietly, listening to a pair of headphones.
And so I sat, with my HD 280s atop my head, and Eddie Van Halen in my ears. It sounded quite good, a touch bright, perhaps, and weak in the low end, but still, not bad. My head, bobbing not too subtlely, directed my eyes toward the shelf, where sat my Bose Triport IEs. I began to ponder the finer points of the two 'phones: The Senns are bright, good treble, mediocre bass, sizeable noise floor. The Bose are a touch dark, fantastic bass, virtually no noise floor, yet the high end is definitely recessed and rolled off. Midrange is good all around. If only I could somehow take the low end of the IEs, and the High end of the 280s, and put them in the same can...
And then the thought occured to me: my Total Airhead does have two headphone jacks...
I quickly removed the cans, inserted my IEs, and replaced them again, remembering to make full usage of the second input jack. I set the switch of the amp to the 'on' position, and unpaused my iPod. Lightning flared across the sky, thunder boomed, and, somewhere far away, a mad scientist got his wings.
I'm not saying it was particularly comfortable, but it wasn't that bad. It also sounded surprisingly good. The treble was clear, high, and somewhat less grating than on the 280 alone. The bass was deep and punchy. The mids sounded fantastic. There was a sort of quasi-soundstage effect created by the two 'phones together, sort of like the airy, echoing feel of a large concert hall, tinted by a layered feel not unlike that of a chorus effects pedal on a guitar. This effect was increased when crossfeed was engaged.
The only downside was that things became rather muddled during more complex passages, and there was an occaisonal creaking fom the contact of the buds on the pads. My ears seemed to grow slightly hot after about half an hour of listening, probably due to the pressure of the rig. It did become quite uncomfortable after a time.
I eventually took it off, not only because my head was starting to hurt, but I just felt kind of...dirty. I might still use the Bose mod for my 280s once in a while, however.
I don't have a digital camera, so I will do my best to demonstrate the process using pictures from the internet. (So you may attempt the mod for yourselves.)
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Happy Modding!
Allow me to set the scene.
A dark room, late last night. A storm rages outside, rain pelts the window panes, flashes of lightning cast eerie shadows upon the walls. In the distance, a lonely dog howls. A man sits quietly, listening to a pair of headphones.
And so I sat, with my HD 280s atop my head, and Eddie Van Halen in my ears. It sounded quite good, a touch bright, perhaps, and weak in the low end, but still, not bad. My head, bobbing not too subtlely, directed my eyes toward the shelf, where sat my Bose Triport IEs. I began to ponder the finer points of the two 'phones: The Senns are bright, good treble, mediocre bass, sizeable noise floor. The Bose are a touch dark, fantastic bass, virtually no noise floor, yet the high end is definitely recessed and rolled off. Midrange is good all around. If only I could somehow take the low end of the IEs, and the High end of the 280s, and put them in the same can...
And then the thought occured to me: my Total Airhead does have two headphone jacks...
I quickly removed the cans, inserted my IEs, and replaced them again, remembering to make full usage of the second input jack. I set the switch of the amp to the 'on' position, and unpaused my iPod. Lightning flared across the sky, thunder boomed, and, somewhere far away, a mad scientist got his wings.
I'm not saying it was particularly comfortable, but it wasn't that bad. It also sounded surprisingly good. The treble was clear, high, and somewhat less grating than on the 280 alone. The bass was deep and punchy. The mids sounded fantastic. There was a sort of quasi-soundstage effect created by the two 'phones together, sort of like the airy, echoing feel of a large concert hall, tinted by a layered feel not unlike that of a chorus effects pedal on a guitar. This effect was increased when crossfeed was engaged.
The only downside was that things became rather muddled during more complex passages, and there was an occaisonal creaking fom the contact of the buds on the pads. My ears seemed to grow slightly hot after about half an hour of listening, probably due to the pressure of the rig. It did become quite uncomfortable after a time.
I eventually took it off, not only because my head was starting to hurt, but I just felt kind of...dirty. I might still use the Bose mod for my 280s once in a while, however.
I don't have a digital camera, so I will do my best to demonstrate the process using pictures from the internet. (So you may attempt the mod for yourselves.)
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Happy Modding!
