[Leopanda]

I'm very happy with stock EB. Don't need the weird mod, no thanks.

That's fair

I was very happy with my stock ebonies for 3 months, spent every free minute with them.
Lawton upgrade made headphones sound a little cleaner in my opinion, but there is no must of doing this mod. I am glad you enjoy them that much!

 

[gLer]

That's fair

I was very happy with my stock ebonies for 3 months, spent every free minute with them.
Lawton upgrade made headphones sound a little cleaner in my opinion, but there is no must of doing this mod. I am glad you enjoy them that much!

I bought the Lawton mod all excited to hear the difference, but ended up selling my TH-X00 and getting an Atticus instead!

Let’s just say I haven’t looked back since, but still wonder how the Fostex would have sounded with the mod. Still have the mod sitting in a brown envelope in my desk with nowhere to go

Mind you, getting an Atticus is significantly more expensive than the mod, so I’d recommend to most people (especially newcomers) to try the mod out first before deciding whether or not to move onward and upward.

 

[koover]

Nice review.

The seal of these is increased with headband adjustment. They have low clamping force with no adjustment, but you may stick a pad from sennheiser headphones to the headband, so they will stop falling from your head and get better clamping force. It would look like that:





You may get a headband pad of sennheiser HD600 or HD650 on amazon or ali, they don't cost much.
It can be attached with a two-side sticky strip.



Lawton dampening applied on the driver housing "take away the oddest and most off time reflections that have hit the metal portions of the driver which will increase phase coherence and thus soundstage", as was said by headphone guru fjrabon about 2 years ago. He has written a lot of great posts in this thread describing the mods and their impacts.

If you want to get deeper into that you may start reading with a post there.

Thanx for that post and pics. I think I’m gonna go for that Senny headband enhancement. Looks comfortable and slick!

 

[jmills8]

That's interesting. Only way you can compare for any noticible differences would be to AB two pairs side by side, with and without mod.

I thought it's the quality of drivers matter most when it comes to transient response and detail retrieval. What is involved in this mod for such a change?

I had six TH900s: stock, Lawton Level 1 , Lawton full mod, TH900 Silver Dragon cable, TH900 Black Dragon cable, TH900MKII with Lawton totl cable. Theres a big difference and I would never sell the full Lawton modded headphone.

 

[FaezFarhan]

Guys, looking for a headphone for R&B / rap / mainstream. Is the mahogany one of tbe best for it? Or is there a better option?

I have the Grace M9XX & the AC CTH amp now, but don’t have a headphone currently. Had the purpleheart for a while but the peaky treble was bothering me so sold it. Budget maybe $500-750?

 

[SilverEars]

The Ebony has me listening to a bit hiphop for the woofer bass. Cardi B particulary. Especially the bass on Drip track(I've listen to it several times so far ). It's a nice track.

There so much bass, anymore would be too much IMO.

 

[jmills8]

The Ebony has me listening to a bit hiphop for the woofer bass. Cardi B particulary. Especially the bass on Drip track(I've listen to it several times so far ). It's a nice track.

There so much bass, anymore would be too much IMO.

The Abyss has way more bass.

 

[SilverEars]

The Abyss has way more bass.

So does Cascades. A bit overwhelming with Cascades and a bit warmer in the mids causing less coherency there, but upper range is quite smooth. A bit of bloominess due to bass excess(and probably combined with being closed).

If I compare Ebony to Cascades, Ebony wins in clarity with such a bass response. I like such style of bass response, but also want high coherency above with smoothness.

I would think Abyss would be a different type of bass presentation. I read that it has an interesting low-end.

I'm finding dynamic driver bass to be interesting(Focal and Fostex stuff I've tried so far). Focal being open, bass doesn't have as much of a significance as cupped.

 

[VRacer-111]

I'm very happy with stock EB. Don't need the weird mod, no thanks. It doesn't sound muddled or congested.

If you happy with the stock sound there's nothing wrong with that, but the Lawton dampening WILL improve clarity, detail, and image separation from what you are currently hearing. For ~$30 it's definitely worth it. There is absolutely no reflection and resonance mitigation in a stock TH-X00 chamber, which is what the Lawton kit helps to provide. The drivers are powerful enough to back out the cup mounting screws if played LOUD on a powerful setup (which happened to mine from somebody listening to them at a headphone meet.)

 

[SilverEars]

If you happy with the stock sound there's nothing wrong with that, but the Lawton dampening WILL improve clarity, detail, and image separation from what you are currently hearing. For ~$30 it's definitely worth it. There is absolutely no reflection and resonance mitigation in a stock TH-X00 chamber, which is what the Lawton kit helps to provide. The drivers are powerful enough to back out the cup mounting screws if played LOUD on a powerful setup (which happened to mine from somebody listening to them at a headphone meet.)

$30 is quite reasonable to try(unless it mods the headphones to a point of not being able to revert as I like the EB the way it is, which is what I'm concerned with). Which cupped X00 have you A/B'd with and without the mod? I don't trust comparisons that is done on long term memory. I will take into consideration of direct comparison of EB and Lawton modded.

If you want to really persuade me, and you can trust me, send me the modded, and I can give an honest opinion. Check out my trader history and I've been involved in many demo tours. I promise I won't run off with them.

It would be quite cool to have a Lawton modded demo tour!

 

[VRacer-111]

My comparison was with two TH-X00 Purplehearts (one 100% stock and the other with the Lawton driver frame dampening but otherwise stock) and it was a direct, simultaneous comparison with them on my TASCAM MH-8 eight channel headphone amp. The mod is reversible, you will just likely destroy the material in taking it off - its a dense clay like material with adhesive backing.

I'd be willing to send you my custom TH-X00 Palo Santo (originally the second PH I bought - has been modded with E-MU Palo Santo wood cups, Lawton Audio driver frame dampening, ZMF Ori suede pads, and custom pad attenuators) and also include the stock pad set. They are a more neutral, mid-forward sound than the Purpleheart cups, and overall fall somewhere in between the Mahogany and Purpleheart cups in their sound.

 

[SilverEars]

My comparison was with two TH-X00 Purplehearts (one 100% stock and the other with the Lawton driver frame dampening but otherwise stock) and it was a direct, simultaneous comparison with them on my TASCAM MH-8 eight channel headphone amp. The mod is reversible, you will just likely destroy the material in taking it off - its a dense clay like material with adhesive backing.

I'd be willing to send you my custom TH-X00 Palo Santo (originally the second PH I bought - has been modded with E-MU Palo Santo wood cups, Lawton Audio driver frame dampening, ZMF Ori suede pads, and custom pad attenuators) and also include the stock pad set. They are a more neutral, mid-forward sound than the Purpleheart cups, and overall fall somewhere in between the Mahogany and Purpleheart cups in their sound.

Cool! Is this your best sounding headphone? I have no experience in hearing modded headphones(curious how the Auteur sounds like as well, but a bit pricy to take a risk with the return policy), this will be a new experience I will gladly share. I will share comparisons.

 

[Pahani]

My comparison was with two TH-X00 Purplehearts (one 100% stock and the other with the Lawton driver frame dampening but otherwise stock) and it was a direct, simultaneous comparison with them on my TASCAM MH-8 eight channel headphone amp. The mod is reversible, you will just likely destroy the material in taking it off - its a dense clay like material with adhesive backing.

I'd describe the Lawton material as more of a quite thin Dynamat..but it's been a long time and my memory may be bad.

Cool! Is this your best sounding headphone? I have no experience in hearing modded headphones(curious how the Auteur sounds like as well, but a bit pricy to take a risk with the return policy), this will be a new experience I will gladly share. I will share comparisons.

Don't want to put words in his mouth, but I think Vracer is currently into new-Stax-mania (been there, done that!) with his new Stax rig, and likely considers them his best pair. He may be reluctant to share an opinion so soon, which I agree with.

Speaking for *myself* now, my Stax are my top Neutralish-sounding pair, and my modded Purplehearts I consider the bass-heavy compliment to them.

 

[VRacer-111]

Cool! Is this your best sounding headphone? I have no experience in hearing modded headphones(curious how the Auteur sounds like as well, but a bit pricy to take a risk with the return policy), this will be a new experience I will gladly share. I will share comparisons.

Techically no, the new STAX SR-L300LEs are, but they are electrostats with a specialized and dedicated setup just for them.

It also depends on DAC/amp combo. The modded Gustard H10 amp I use with DFR is on the warm side yet highly detailed and dynamic which works very well for them, much better than a more neutral setup. It's also a toss up with my other modded TH-X00PH, which is the subbass monster of my collection with a really sweet rich sounding midrange. But overall the TH-X00 'Palo Santo' is the more neutral one of the two with slightly better detail and finesse and more forward mids which I think you'd appreciate more since you seem bass impact adverse.

 

[jsmiller58]

Question... I have the th-x00 Ebony, with the driver only mod installed... I have NOT added the extra dampening foam that comes with the Lawton mod kit to the inside of the cups. Any idea what that extra foam would do to the sound? Everyone keeps saying “driver-only mod” like it’s a Gregorian chant, and installing the cup foam would bring about the end of days...!