[subwoof3r]

I made some DIY new experiment yesterday, I swapped the original PK2 drivers from the DIY PK2 Docomo that I received 3 days ago, and placed original 150 ohm PK1 red film drivers instead. With stock foams on the shells, I can confirm that the PK1 drivers are clearly a true upgrade from PK2 drivers (without any surprise). Better imaging and instrument separation, overall clarity and details, more grainy mids, etc.
But when it comes to bass area, I feel that the PK2 drivers are better (for those who wants more). PK1 bass is tight and clean, while the PK2 is more punchy and present, especially in mid-bass impact. Mids and highs are more smoothed out in PK2 drivers, but they performs really good too. I still believe that the original PK2 drivers included in the DIY from Chitty's store is already the best and good choice for Docomo shells, while PK1 drivers performs better in original PK shells. My advice is that It's better to keep that configuration then and do some fun mods into Docomo shells directly than trying to swap drivers.
I really enjoy the form of the Docomo shells, as they sits very well and stays in place into my ears. A nice discover!

 

[KevDzn]

If i'm not mistaken these docomos variants and the pk2 docomos came free with their DoCoMo mobile phones long time ago. And they were recabled or copied and sold now. Imagine those days they already have excellent sound quality. The japs really know their stuff.

 

[robar]

Is there any source where they sell empty docomo shells? Also have you tried dp100 shells with regular mx500 drivers, can they snap on or only the dp100/mx760 covers are compatible?

 

[subwoof3r]

I made some DIY new experiment yesterday, I swapped the original PK2 drivers from the DIY PK2 Docomo that I received 3 days ago, and placed original 150 ohm PK1 red film drivers instead. With stock foams on the shells, I can confirm that the PK1 drivers are clearly a true upgrade from PK2 drivers (without any surprise). Better imaging and instrument separation, overall clarity and details, more grainy mids, etc.
But when it comes to bass area, I feel that the PK2 drivers are better (for those who wants more). PK1 bass is tight and clean, while the PK2 is more punchy and present, especially in mid-bass impact. Mids and highs are more smoothed out in PK2 drivers, but they performs really good too. I still believe that the original PK2 drivers included in the DIY from Chitty's store is already the best and good choice for Docomo shells, while PK1 drivers performs better in original PK shells. My advice is that It's better to keep that configuration then and do some fun mods into Docomo shells directly than trying to swap drivers.
I really enjoy the form of the Docomo shells, as they sits very well and stays in place into my ears. A nice discover!

A little update on that point.
Yesterday I made some new experimentations still based with those Docomo shells. I removed the stock cotton shoes tuning that were glued to cover the main 3 holes behind the shell, and I replaced it with different porous medical tapes and unfortunately, the result was disappointing with PK1 150 ohm red film drivers, the sound was too bright for my taste, and much accentuated in the highs, while bass was not much present. So definitely, that confirms my theory, this DIY PK2 docomo is already at their best with full stock and the included original PK2 drivers. I will now stop to play with docomo shells for a while, unless I find one day another good 14.8mm drivers variant that could sonically suits the shells

 

[robar]

Have you tried 14.2mm speakers like these? Do they fit Qian39 in your opinion? Thanks!
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000272267259.html

And there are 3 listings of drivers that look very much like one of the recommended ones in this thread (the 19-21khz one), both in terms of specs and look. I've wanted to buy one for a while but this is the first time it is sold in small quantities. If I had to guess the first one is that. I've asked the seller what's the difference:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000281063945.html (bass focused)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000250922044.html (almost same as above just different material)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000272216678.html (more clear and wide, classic version)

 

[subwoof3r]

Have you tried 14.2mm speakers like these? Do they fit Qian39 in your opinion? Thanks!
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000272267259.html

They looks to be the same plastic grid used in NiceHCK EBX.
Maybe they are the same drivers..

 

[Themilkman46290]

Hi guys, I been watching and reading over this thread, and the idea of making my own earbuds is very provoking, so I was hope you guys could tell me how you feel your buds compare to some totl level buds, and other mid to high level buds like k's samsara, ty hi z hp320, hp150ts and other high impedance buds, I want to try with higher impedance for use with zishans and walnuts, how would you guys rate the drivers, I have seen 400-600 ohm graphene, and also the 130ohm and 600ohm beryllium drivers, if I wanted to build a pair that would be similar level or higher then my beloved samsaras or seahf 400ohms where should I start? Does a silver cable make a huge difference? What combination of tuning foams do you guys use?and how difficult is it to solder? What temperature?

 

[robar]

If anyone's interested, CKLewis put up wooden shells for very cheap, there are both 15.4mm and 14.2mm variants and they cost only 3usd/pair. (they look similar to other listings but less than half the price) I asked him if any of the covers snap on without glue, I'll update the post if I get any answer.

 

[ricesteam]

This is the sound signature of the original VE Zen 1.0 (and possibly Seahf 320 v1)

Anyone know if there's a driver with the same or similar sound signature?

 

[SiggyFraud]

Always wanted a pair like this

 

[robar]

Always wanted a pair like this

Looks nice Have you taken photos of the inside of red vido? I'd be interested in the tuning/driver. Don't you have channel imbalances because of the different shells/tuning foams?

 

[SiggyFraud]

Looks nice Have you taken photos of the inside of red vido? I'd be interested in the tuning/driver. Don't you have channel imbalances because of the different shells/tuning foams?

No channel imbalance as far as I can tell. The shells are exactly the same, just different colour, and I can't see any difference between the drivers and tuning foams. It seems like the foams differ from each other, but I guess it's just the poor lighting.

 

[robar]

No channel imbalance as far as I can tell. The shells are exactly the same, just different colour, and I can't see any difference between the drivers and tuning foams. It seems like the foams differ from each other, but I guess it's just the poor lighting.

Thanks for the pics! Interesting, red vido is widely regarded as significantly different sound signature from other variants. And I personally have different colors/version of vido (white, blue from different batches) which do sound very different from each other and the tuning foams have indeed different thickness. It's possible that in your case the density of foam is different, or you got lucky and found two indentically tuned vidos
Here are my two newest vidos (I bought them in summer from e-tech store) which are both quite different from each other and older whites too. The blue has 2x thick tuning foam and sounds flat compared to white, the measurement shows it too. (Maybe your red has the same tuning?) In fact I put RY4S UE drivers in that blue shell and it sounds awesome now, much better than original tuning of RY4S UE (much more natural mids/timbre, smoother highs, deeper bass)

 

[SiggyFraud]

Thanks for the pics! Interesting, red vido is widely regarded as significantly different sound signature from other variants. And I personally have different colors/version of vido (white, blue from different batches) which do sound very different from each other and the tuning foams have indeed different thickness. It's possible that in your case the density of foam is different, or you got lucky and found two indentically tuned vidos
Here are my two newest vidos (I bought them in summer from e-tech store) which are both quite different from each other and older whites too. The blue has 2x thick tuning foam and sounds flat compared to white, the measurement shows it too. (Maybe your red has the same tuning?) In fact I put RY4S UE drivers in that blue shell and it sounds awesome now, much better than original tuning of RY4S UE (much more natural mids/timbre, smoother highs, deeper bass)

Or I just really suck at this and can't tell the difference
I'll give them a closer look once I'm home.
Thank you for your valuable input!

 

[robar]

Or I just really suck at this and can't tell the difference
I'll give them a closer look once I'm home.
Thank you for your valuable input!

I don't have red version this is why I'm so intrigued haha. Before I started to measure, my method to spot channel imbalances was this: set up Foobar with a Mono effect, so both channels should have the same sound, then switch them in the same ear every few seconds. Maybe you could give it a go