Leopanda
New Head-Fier
Finally! I recieved the kit from Lawton and modded my pair of Fostex's with driver dampening!
What can I say about doing the mod?
First of all, that was a challange, because one of the little screws that hold a cup had a completely blured cross, so I couldn't take the left cup off! I tried oh so many different screwdrivers, knives and other stuff, and luckily after an hour of anger and frustration I could unscrew it with sharp hair scissors that could fit tight in to the blured cross!
Sticking dampening material to the driver was not too hard, but required some time. Lawton has put an additional strip of material into the kit, so I was able to cover the part above the wires to please my internal perfectionist. Then I placed the cups back, I handled with the loose screw with scissors again and could screw it tight
Now going to the main part - the sound!
I expected subtle changes in sound, because the only thing that benefit from driver dampening is the resonation inside the cup. But the changes were huge, I won't afraid of this word!
At first I started some soft rock music, Fleetwood Mac and Chris Rea, as I wanted to see if the vocals were more forward. I tried to notice something new and at first it was hard to, and it felt like there was less bass quantity. Later I understood that first tracks that I played were not heavy with low freqs, so the only difference that I could hear were little improvements in clarity, like on the Little Lies song I suddenly could hear two voice lines where before I could find just one! That was great, because music didn't loose engagement but got great separation.
And then I swithed on the Prodigy, and oh my God! That was the right thing to do, because that's where the real drive lives!
Don't get me wrong, I loved how my ebonies played bigbeat before, I just didn't have a chance to listen to anything higher in class.
And they really sounded like much more expensive pair of headphones! The bass was there, but it sounded so natural and smooth, and I could hear a lot of new details in the music that were hidden under low ends. And the drums became faster, the hits started to sound more separate.
I tell you, this modification is a must have for those who listen to fast electronic music!
Under impression, I decided to return to rock music, so I turned on the masterpieces like Hotel California and Shine On You Crazy Diamond. You know, these are kind of tracks that you listen to with eyes closed and setting your imagination free. And there again the new sound shined, as it improved instrument positioning and imaging a lot! And again, bass line was smooth and resilient, and I was able to catch every little detail under it. And what is even better - the vocals were sounding more transparent. By that I mean that I could understand the lyrics where I couldn't ever before. That is very important for me, as I am not a native-speaker and often had to search for lyrics in net
Last thing, as it was already late at night, I played full The Screen Behind The Mirror album of Enigma, and that was a fantastic experience... It was super relaxing and natural, an hour of music, spirit and meditation.
TL;DR
These are the best $45 I ever spent. It is fantastic how several stripes and rounds of material can make a $500 pair of headphones sound that much better, just like a TOTL thing. I highly recommend every th-x00 owner to try this simple and cheap mod.
What can I say about doing the mod?
First of all, that was a challange, because one of the little screws that hold a cup had a completely blured cross, so I couldn't take the left cup off! I tried oh so many different screwdrivers, knives and other stuff, and luckily after an hour of anger and frustration I could unscrew it with sharp hair scissors that could fit tight in to the blured cross!
Sticking dampening material to the driver was not too hard, but required some time. Lawton has put an additional strip of material into the kit, so I was able to cover the part above the wires to please my internal perfectionist. Then I placed the cups back, I handled with the loose screw with scissors again and could screw it tight
Now going to the main part - the sound!
I expected subtle changes in sound, because the only thing that benefit from driver dampening is the resonation inside the cup. But the changes were huge, I won't afraid of this word!
At first I started some soft rock music, Fleetwood Mac and Chris Rea, as I wanted to see if the vocals were more forward. I tried to notice something new and at first it was hard to, and it felt like there was less bass quantity. Later I understood that first tracks that I played were not heavy with low freqs, so the only difference that I could hear were little improvements in clarity, like on the Little Lies song I suddenly could hear two voice lines where before I could find just one! That was great, because music didn't loose engagement but got great separation.
And then I swithed on the Prodigy, and oh my God! That was the right thing to do, because that's where the real drive lives!
Don't get me wrong, I loved how my ebonies played bigbeat before, I just didn't have a chance to listen to anything higher in class.
And they really sounded like much more expensive pair of headphones! The bass was there, but it sounded so natural and smooth, and I could hear a lot of new details in the music that were hidden under low ends. And the drums became faster, the hits started to sound more separate.
I tell you, this modification is a must have for those who listen to fast electronic music!
Under impression, I decided to return to rock music, so I turned on the masterpieces like Hotel California and Shine On You Crazy Diamond. You know, these are kind of tracks that you listen to with eyes closed and setting your imagination free. And there again the new sound shined, as it improved instrument positioning and imaging a lot! And again, bass line was smooth and resilient, and I was able to catch every little detail under it. And what is even better - the vocals were sounding more transparent. By that I mean that I could understand the lyrics where I couldn't ever before. That is very important for me, as I am not a native-speaker and often had to search for lyrics in net
Last thing, as it was already late at night, I played full The Screen Behind The Mirror album of Enigma, and that was a fantastic experience... It was super relaxing and natural, an hour of music, spirit and meditation.
TL;DR
These are the best $45 I ever spent. It is fantastic how several stripes and rounds of material can make a $500 pair of headphones sound that much better, just like a TOTL thing. I highly recommend every th-x00 owner to try this simple and cheap mod.
I'll give it a try
