[dougms3]

The problem I had with the Sonorous IV is that the drivers weren't well integrated. It often sounded like they were just each doing their own thing at the same time rather than forming a cohesive whole. It's actually why I bought the IIIs, because I thought the dynamic driver in the IVs seemed fairly capable, so I figured the non-hybrid might be more cohesive. But the III has its own acoustic design shortfalls, so I didn't end up keeping either.

I feel like if Final had worked with just the dynamic driver and improved the acoustic design they would have ended up with a better headphone than the hybrid design

Thats very interesting. Maybe thats the reason why no one else is making these hybrid type drivers.

I think the driver in the IIIs are highly capable, its so fast for a dynamic. I think the material of the cups and earpads are the weak points. After the mods, its become my new favorite headphone. That soundstage, shimmer and sparkle is so addictive.

I may try to grind off the plastic tabs in the plugs to see if it yields any further improvement with a balanced cable. I have a few that will work with the IIIs.

 

[dougms3]

Pardon the dirty desk.

I finally got around to grinding off those plastic tabs on the IIIs. Tested my Wywires platinum cable on it.

I didn't think it would yield much of an improvement because its such low impedance to begin with but this headphone is pretty amazing, the driver is so capable.

It cleaned up the bass even further, really tight, clean bass with powerful impact and slam, the sub bass extension seems to reach further, doesn't drop off as sharply. The mid bass is monstrous, safe to say its become a bass cannon at this point. Vocals come forward a bit becoming more inline with the rest of the FR, midrange dip is not as recessed, The treble sounds super clean, more resolving, clear and unusually not as sharp and peaky as SE. Soundstage is even wider with alot more depth and height enhancing the holographic effect to the sound. Separation and imaging is a also a little better. While it seemed pretty fast before its even faster balanced.

Overall, while the bass has become dramatically more powerful, the treble is still the star of the show, still has that wonderful shimmer and sparkle but almost seems stretched and smoothed out, less fatiguing and harsh. Quite a leap in improvement run balanced. I'm kind of shocked that this headphone improved this much from stock form, it has yielded the most improvement out of all the headphones I've been playing with.

I'm gonna have to get a cable for this thing, it just sounds too good not to run it balanced.

If anyone is curious about the plug configuration, the hifiman TRS pinout will work on this headphone where the ring is ground. The Sony TRS pinout where sleeve is ground will not work.

 

[GGSuperMe]

I guess its part of their pricing strategy. I'm curious what the difference is with the Sonorous II because they appear to be visually identical.

I can see the purpose of the balanced armature in the IV and VI, I would guess that if they were using the same 50mm driver, it helps to neutralize the dip in the upper mids and provide a fuller sound.

I'm really dissappointed with the creaking of the plastic in the outer ring of the earcups. The build quality is excellent except for that part. Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me?

My right ear cup is creaky. Until you posted this I figured that maybe I had done something. I do enjoy these ear phones but I'll need to try your mods as I find it a little bright for me.

 

[dougms3]

My right ear cup is creaky. Until you posted this I figured that maybe I had done something. I do enjoy these ear phones but I'll need to try your mods as I find it a little bright for me.

Mine came out of the box with both sides creaky. Not a big deal but seems like something that shouldnt get past QC.

It is a bit too strong in the treble. I think creating more distance from the ear to the driver helps alot with the added benefit of increased bass and soundstage. I would recommend starting with the pads, after rolling through about 6 different sets that $15 95mm sheepskin pad from aliexpress with the perforated inside worked the best for me as it helped to attenuate the sharpness of the treble.

Even if you stop here, I think it still makes for a really good headphone but with the dampening tape, it makes it an amazing headphone. I know its a bit hard to swallow for about $60 for that tape but the improvement more than makes up its value. It works kind of like sorbothane but its much more powerful by volume.

 

[GGSuperMe]

Mine came out of the box with both sides creaky. Not a big deal but seems like something that shouldnt get past QC.

It is a bit too strong in the treble. I think creating more distance from the ear to the driver helps alot with the added benefit of increased bass and soundstage. I would recommend starting with the pads, after rolling through about 6 different sets that $15 95mm sheepskin pad from aliexpress with the perforated inside worked the best for me as it helped to attenuate the sharpness of the treble.

Even if you stop here, I think it still makes for a really good headphone but with the dampening tape, it makes it an amazing headphone. I know its a bit hard to swallow for about $60 for that tape but the improvement more than makes up its value. It works kind of like sorbothane but its much more powerful by volume.

Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely do the pads, and look into raw tape.

 

[dougms3]

Had a silver cable made for my IIIs terminating in 2.5mm.

Really accentuates this headphone's high end capabilities.

 

[dougms3]

Decided to open her up to make sure the sliver of fo.q ta32 tape wasn't coming off. It was such a small piece I thought it might come undone and I was right. Decided to put a piece of 3m copper tape over it to secure it and see if anything improved further.

It opened up the sound a bit more, the stage is vast. Imaging still not a strong point but it ain't no ham on rye. The bass quantity seems about the same but slams harder, theres more weight to the notes and mids are less recessed especially vocals. Female focals especially seem more forward. Presentation is very rich with alot of body. Bass is just ridiculous, its become the Thunderdome.

I'll be attending canjam nyc and bringing these if anyone wants to check it out.

 

[borrego]

I'm not sure which vents you are referring to. The aftermarket pads don't block anything more than the stock pads. I've inspected the stock pads and if anything the aftermarket pads block less than the stock pads. If I'm missing something, maybe you can point it out in the image.

The stock pad has a breathing hole on its edge and the round cross section/inner fabric side of the pad create some sort of air vents to balance the pressure inside/outside the earpad cavity. My experience with many Beyerdynamic headphones (with stock round cross section velour pads with underside breathing holes) is the sound would get "stuffy" when square cross section pads are used.

 

[dougms3]

The stock pad has a breathing hole on its edge and the round cross section/inner fabric side of the pad create some sort of air vents to balance the pressure inside/outside the earpad cavity. My experience with many Beyerdynamic headphones (with stock round cross section velour pads with underside breathing holes) is the sound would get "stuffy" when square cross section pads are used.

Not sure what that tiny hole is going to do to the sound, its definitely not doing much since nothing seems to change if I put my thumb on it.

The fabric is extremely thick and will only attentuate sound, I imagine they use that thick fabric to cover the driver to reduce the ear piercing treble. My guess is that they made the ear pads very thin because the driver has very recessed mids with thicker earpads. I mean unusually recessed to the point where it sounds like the vocals are pushed behind the music. Keeping the ear close to the driver with the super thin stock pads seems to mitigate that somewhat but then creates a problem with the aforementioned treble.

After all the mods I've done, its become more balanced, less recessed mids, less sibilant and not as sharp treble but still maintains a good amount of shimmer and sparkle, soundstage is like an ocean. I would say its still mid recessed but only mildly and nowhere near what it was before the mods. I think the recessed mids are just a characteristic of the driver.

The thing thats really surprising is the level of bass. It has so much bass and hits so hard, its a bit distracting. Its really amazing that Final left so much on table for improvement with this headphone.

If you see this headphone at canjam ask me for a listen, I'd love to hear what others think.

 

[borrego]

Not sure what that tiny hole is going to do to the sound, its definitely not doing much since nothing seems to change if I put my thumb on it...

The fabric is extremely thick and will only attenuate sound, I imagine they use that thick fabric to cover the driver to reduce the ear piercing treble....

If you see this headphone at canjam ask me for a listen, I'd love to hear what others think...

If you check the inner side of stock pads, there are also 8 breathing holes. The fabric dust screen you mentioned, as thick as they are, do allow air flow between inner/outer sides of the ear pad cavity (nothing to do between the pads and drivers) and ensure those 8 breathing holes are not blocked even when the earpads are pressed against.

You are right that hearing is believing. Buy my experience with this sort of thick/stuffy ear pad swap would kill treble (thus your description of thumping bass) and stuffy/congested sound (thus your description of sub par imaging).

 

[dougms3]

If you check the inner side of stock pads, there are also 8 breathing holes. The fabric dust screen you mentioned, as thick as they are, do allow air flow between inner/outer sides of the ear pad cavity (nothing to do between the pads and drivers) and ensure those 8 breathing holes are not blocked even when the earpads are pressed against.

You are right that hearing is believing. Buy my experience with this sort of thick/stuffy ear pad swap would kill treble (thus your description of thumping bass) and stuffy/congested sound (thus your description of sub par imaging).

I think you're overestimating what those earpads do.

They are brand new with probably less than 2 hours on them. Nothing is blocking the holes. Also I believe they made the fabric / dust screen as thick as it is for comfort because the earpads are so thin that the ear will be pressing against it and will become extremely uncomfortable after a short period of time.

The thick earpads don't kill the treble, they just create distance so the driver is not touching your ear and make the treble enjoyable for human listening. The added benefit is that the increased air space also increases the bass. The mids are the problem, the mids are already recessed as is in stock form and creating distance causes the mids to be even more recessed. This is where the fo.q tape does its magic, along with tightening up the bass and cleaning up the treble, it brings the mids forward. Even so theres only so much it can do.

I've also been experimenting with this extended part of the metal headband. I've noticed theres alot of vibration on the metal rods, especially on the tips. I put some fo.q ta102 tape on the inside, that increased the bass further, then later on I put the dots on the outside where the L and R are printed. That last one had an unusual result, the mids came forward but the bass was reduced.

Still kind of playing with it, I may try the thinner ta32 tape to see if that works better. I like the balanced mids but I don't want to lose the bass.

 

[borrego]

I've also been experimenting with this extended part of the metal headband. I've noticed theres alot of vibration on the metal rods, especially on the tips.

Wow! I wonder how loud you listen to music to cause the tips of the headband vibrating. Fair enough, listening volume contributes much to one's preferred tuning.

I actually like how cup resonance of the Sonorous III very much when listening to cello performance, very tasteful. I could imagine the cup resonance will be too much at higher listening volume which could use damping works you did.

 

[dougms3]

Wow! I wonder how loud you listen to music to cause the tips of the headband vibrating. Fair enough, listening volume contributes much to one's preferred tuning.

I actually like how cup resonance of the Sonorous III very much when listening to cello performance, very tasteful. I could imagine the cup resonance will be too much at higher listening volume which could use damping works you did.

If you touch the metal part of the headphone while listening to music, you will notice it vibrates alot. I dont listen to music that loud, it just transmits alot of vibration to the metal rods. Its the design, its inherent that it will transmit vibrations to the metal rods.

 

[borrego]

If you touch the metal part of the headphone while listening to music, you will notice it vibrates alot. I dont listen to music that loud, it just transmits alot of vibration to the metal rods. Its the design, its inherent that it will transmit vibrations to the metal rods.

You may not like what I say and I might be wrong. But if you feel you are not listening that loud, you may already suffer certain degree of hearing loss.

 

[dougms3]

You may not like what I say and I might be wrong. But if you feel you are not listening that loud, you may already suffer certain degree of hearing loss.

You're just making assumptions, please let me clarify for you that you are wrong.

I imagine you assume that because in stock form you have to blast the volume to get the metal rods to vibrate, you believe its the same case with the modified headphones. Perhaps its not the case with the stock headphones but the metal rods vibrate at even at very low volume after the mods. As I mentioned, the modifications made to this headphone increase the bass to ridiculous levels.

For reference, this headphone now has more bass than the Sony Z7m2 which I have also modified into a bass cannon. The z7m2 wins in the sub bass dept but from 60hz and up, the Sonorous III blows it away. The only other headphone that has anything close to these two headphones in terms of bass that I've heard is the Kennerton Gjallarhorn which cannot match the bass in the modded Sonorous III or the Z7m2.