[DavidA]

try using a chip puller like this:

just be careful you don't push down when trying to get the hooked part under the edge of the opening in the metal grill

These are the splitters that I've been using:

aluminum / carbon fiber, very light and reasonably priced

 

[i-am-iron-man]

If i understand and my eyes didn't play any trickery, you used some aftermarket ypsilon in d5k shell with open woodies right?
These open shells would work on a th900 y/n?
Have you tried the other way around (open cups on th900) like you did the Lawton cups on the homebrew.

This is very interesting, and thx for sharing such wild ideas

Hello Sir, quite right, I had fitted aftermarket Ypsilon drivers into a D5k shell with open wood cups. I didn't persist with this for very long, and I'm currently running them with closed wooden shells. I don't have any means of measuring their performance, and it'd be very difficult doing A>B listening, but I much prefer the closed cups - even more so since yesterday when I changed the dampening material. I was using a disc of Dynamat covered in a 5mm thick felt pad, I've now changed the felt for open-cell acoustic foam. I guess with the closed cups the headphone is able to work more closely to how the designer originally intended - I don't understand how it is intended to work, but it isn't a straightforward closed-cup (micropore on the rings where the drivers are mounted, a few mm gap between the rings and the face where the pads mount, and the foam ring between the open space and driver)

The open cups would certainly work on a TH900 but I haven't tried them. That said, I was using the open cups with TH-X00 drivers and they sounded very good. If I can find another Denon AH-Dx or Fostex THx shell I'd rebuild the X-00 drivers like that - I wanted to try them with something like the felt or foam I've been using for dampening covering the opening in the cup. But for now the X-00 drivers are in a little packet somewhere and I've got plenty of other headphones to listen to.

 

[i-am-iron-man]

try using a chip puller like this ... just be careful you don't push down when trying to get the hooked part under the edge of the opening in the metal grill

That looks like a horrible job! - you're right though, I'm resigned to having to pull from the front, I suspect I might need to use more force than I'd like to though.
The splitter I was going to use was made of wood. That said, I'm an obsessive cable-builder and Y splits give me a headache ... where did you get those ones from? They look a bit like Plussound ones.

 

[DavidA]

Found the splitters on Ebay for $9.95 each but I don't see them anymore from the first vendor that I originally got them from. I found a second vendor that gave a much better deal but you had to get 10 for $26 and with shipping it came out to $30 for the 10 pieces so it was still a great deal.

 

[SHAMuuu]

Hello Sir, quite right, I had fitted aftermarket Ypsilon drivers into a D5k shell with open wood cups. I didn't persist with this for very long, and I'm currently running them with closed wooden shells. I don't have any means of measuring their performance, and it'd be very difficult doing A>B listening, but I much prefer the closed cups - even more so since yesterday when I changed the dampening material. I was using a disc of Dynamat covered in a 5mm thick felt pad, I've now changed the felt for open-cell acoustic foam. I guess with the closed cups the headphone is able to work more closely to how the designer originally intended - I don't understand how it is intended to work, but it isn't a straightforward closed-cup (micropore on the rings where the drivers are mounted, a few mm gap between the rings and the face where the pads mount, and the foam ring between the open space and driver)

The open cups would certainly work on a TH900 but I haven't tried them. That said, I was using the open cups with TH-X00 drivers and they sounded very good. If I can find another Denon AH-Dx or Fostex THx shell I'd rebuild the X-00 drivers like that - I wanted to try them with something like the felt or foam I've been using for dampening covering the opening in the cup. But for now the X-00 drivers are in a little packet somewhere and I've got plenty of other headphones to listen to.

That shell with open cups sounds awesome, and really if you could score some th900 drivers and play/tune them (b/c lawton has shown the th900 can be improved), so maybe open, it could reach new heights. Who knows i would never do such a thing on the stock one, as i mean, those cups are liquid s3xNkandy. In terms of a home-brew shell, that is just pure awesome. Just a matter of collecting as many drivers and playing with the open shell. But i think th900 drivers in open-ness would be fun to tinker with. Anywway i keep an eye. Best of luck getting to audio nirvana

 

[i-am-iron-man]

That shell with open cups sounds awesome, and really if you could score some th900 drivers and play/tune them (b/c lawton has shown the th900 can be improved), so maybe open, it could reach new heights. Who knows i would never do such a thing on the stock one, as i mean, those cups are liquid s3xNkandy. In terms of a home-brew shell, that is just pure awesome. Just a matter of collecting as many drivers and playing with the open shell. But i think th900 drivers in open-ness would be fun to tinker with. Anywway i keep an eye. Best of luck getting to audio nirvana

The 'open' shells I made are mahogany cups from a butchered pair of Massdrop X-00 (I still feel a bit remorseful about about having done this, despite them turning out looking nice). My impression of running the X-00 drivers with open shells is the same as what I thought about the aftermarket drivers - it sounded wider and bigger, but I couldn't tell if what I was hearing was more 'diffuse' rather than a bigger soundstage - like what I said earlier, when a shadow grows bigger but the proportions go out of whack.

I wouldn't run the 900 like that though - there's no point tinkering with them. They sound great.

 

[SHAMuuu]

The 'open' shells I made are mahogany cups from a butchered pair of Massdrop X-00 (I still feel a bit remorseful about about having done this, despite them turning out looking nice). My impression of running the X-00 drivers with open shells is the same as what I thought about the aftermarket drivers - it sounded wider and bigger, but I couldn't tell if what I was hearing was more 'diffuse' rather than a bigger soundstage - like what I said earlier, when a shadow grows bigger but the proportions go out of whack.

I wouldn't run the 900 like that though - there's no point tinkering with them. They sound great.

No No i would never tinker with a th900 stock. I meant if you scored spare drivers to load your experimental shell. Then damp/mass load, lawton pads or something etc etc. I think th900 drivers were like 100-150US a piece or something. But yeah, thats not pocket change

 

[SHAMuuu]

slow internet sry - double post

 

[WoodyLuvr]

These are the splitters that I've been using:

aluminum / carbon fiber, very light and reasonably priced

@i-am-iron-man I have one of those splitters on my headphone cable that @DavidA made for me. Very nice, light weight and durable.

 

[i-am-iron-man]

try using a chip puller like this:
just be careful you don't push down when trying to get the hooked part under the edge of the opening in the metal grill

These are the splitters that I've been using:
aluminum / carbon fiber, very light and reasonably priced

Hey David, can't find those splitters on ebay. Would you be ok to point me in the right direction?
Chip puller is on its way ...

 

[DavidA]

I went looking at my past purchases and the vendor for the splitters does not exist anymore, might take me a while to figure out what I searched for to see if I can find them again. I know you can get similar splitters from Double-Helix but they cost a lot more.

 

[DavidA]

@i-am-iron-man, did a search and got this page: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...RS0&_nkw=carbon+fiber+cable+splitter&_sacat=0

 

[mgh24]

It can also be a lot of fun if the headphone is easy to work with. I didn't like working with the T50RP but the SoundMAGIC HP150 I'm modding now is easy to work with. Openbacks are easier though.

I've found that if the openback driver works in a closed cup you can use the size of the lip for the screen for tuning purposes.

I know your post is from last year, but what did you do to the Soundmagic HP150? What part of the sound signature were you trying to change? I have them, and like them, though the mids can't match the modded 225i that I have.

 

[capnjack]

So what are the differences between the R1 and the G1 respectively, in sound quality and or does it refer to the Grado series?

 

[DavidA]

So what are the differences between the R1 and the G1 respectively, in sound quality and or does it refer to the Grado series?

R1 has a more "reference" sound where the frequency is better balanced but it might also seem to be bass lite to some like my GF and most of her friends, think of the HD800 sound and the R1 is getting close.
The G1 which was "designed" for use with G-pads has more quantity and quality bass than the R1 since the OEM G-pads then to reduce the bass a little but it will also need a GS style cup from what Chris has told me.
After having both for a few weeks I decided to sell the G1 since I liked the R1 over all sound better but just this morning when I was in the living room using my main listening rig I noticed that the R1 and G1 react to different amps differently so I'm currently trying to reassess my thoughts about both.