[andreiru]

I don't think changing the volume affects it at all. It's there just before or after audio input. On my Mac it stops about a second after input while on the iPad around 10 seconds after audio input. It's not bothersome and hardly audible to my ears with these. I've owned Sennheiser's Kleer headphones for a while and the hiss was much more prominent there. More audible on mm450-x, too, I'd say. I the hiss on these doesn't bother me. I don't think it's there with quiet music at all until you go right down - to the point were the sound itself is hardly audible. Sennheisers were much worse.
 
If they'd have fully sorted the headband feedback issue and perhaps added AC these'd be pretty close to perfect. There are always tradeoffs, unfortunately.

 

[tinyman392]

  I see, thank you. Is the hiss very audible? Does it occur only on higher volumes or throughout the bar? Does it occur on quieter parts of music or videos as well or only when there is no sound input whatsoever?

 
Hiss is more audible if you have the amplifier on the HK BT to the max (press the volume button all the way up).  You can circumvent this (and should) if you max the volume on the source device and limit the volume on the headphones.  

 

[Tigrowski]

I see, thank you both very much and thank you a lot for pointing out how I can limit the hiss Already ordered a pair, hoping for a great experience

 

[Tigrowski]

Could anyone please share their EQ settings used with the BTs? The SQ is decent but for my noobish ears, on some occasions it's a bit muddy... For example Sweet Child O' Mine lacks this sharpness in the intro, same goes with Freddie's voice when listening to Queen.

 

[andreiru]

 

[tinyman392]

 

 
That's quite a treble boost for the HK...  It'll give them a nice v-shaped sig though.  

 

[schkorpio]

Hi All,
 
I have a pair of Harman Kardon BT's and after a few hours I'm finding that the ear pads are not cushioning my ears enough and they are getting very sore. Is there something I could do to make the cushions bigger? E.g. attach something, or anyone know of replacements?
 
Thanks

 

[MrPhilicorda]

  Hi All,
 
I have a pair of Harman Kardon BT's and after a few hours I'm finding that the ear pads are not cushioning my ears enough and they are getting very sore. Is there something I could do to make the cushions bigger? E.g. attach something, or anyone know of replacements?
 
Thanks

First post here...
 
There is a youtube tutorial for just that!
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ooIlyoeebw
 
I don't Think his mod looks that good, but if you'd use some other black material I'm sure it would look nicer.
 
Another solutions could be to bend the metal head band outwards so that the earcups are not pressing so hard against your head. I think I might try that on mine, not because I think they are uncomfortable, but because they get too close to my ears and therefore the sound is more bass heavy and muffled. If I grab the earcups and pull them outwards just a few millimiters I think the sound opens up a bit and becomes a clearer. I think it should be possible to carefully bend the metal frame into a new shape.

 

[thepiper92]

  First post here...
 
There is a youtube tutorial for just that!
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ooIlyoeebw
 
I don't Think his mod looks that good, but if you'd use some other black material I'm sure it would look nicer.
 
Another solutions could be to bend the metal head band outwards so that the earcups are not pressing so hard against your head. I think I might try that on mine, not because I think they are uncomfortable, but because they get too close to my ears and therefore the sound is more bass heavy and muffled. If I grab the earcups and pull them outwards just a few millimiters I think the sound opens up a bit and becomes a clearer. I think it should be possible to carefully bend the metal frame into a new shape.

This is risky, unless you bend from the middle. The mounting area of the drivers to the band is weak (not weak that it will break during wearing it) and if you try to stretch them past the normal point, a driver will snap off the band. I did this, luckily H/K sent a new band out to me for free. As for your ears hitting the plastic over the drivers, I have gotten used to the feeling. It did it from day one for me.

 

[MrPhilicorda]

  This is risky, unless you bend from the middle. The mounting area of the drivers to the band is weak (not weak that it will break during wearing it) and if you try to stretch them past the normal point, a driver will snap off the band. I did this, luckily H/K sent a new band out to me for free. As for your ears hitting the plastic over the drivers, I have gotten used to the feeling. It did it from day one for me.

Aaargh! Wish I read your reply a few hours earlier. That is exactly what happened...
 
Actually, the whole thing went quite well at fist. I removed the earcups and bent the head band around that area with the slit/opening and got a quite nice shape that fit my head better. There was less pressure on my ears too. Finally I just wanted to make a minor adjustment and grabbed the earcups to bend them slightly outwards and...... Snap!!
 
I will contact the support to see if they can be that kind to me too and send over a new head band. I have learnt my lesson now.

 

[thepiper92]

 
Aaargh! Wish I read your reply a few hours earlier. That is exactly what happened...
 
Actually, the whole thing went quite well at fist. I removed the earcups and bent the head band around that area with the slit/opening and got a quite nice shape that fit my head better. There was less pressure on my ears too. Finally I just wanted to make a minor adjustment and grabbed the earcups to bend them slightly outwards and...... Snap!!
 
I will contact the support to see if they can be that kind to me too and send over a new head band. I have learnt my lesson now.

Did you try the larger headband? I find the larger one too large for me, but maybe the small one is just too tight; the small one doesn't clamp that bad for me. H/K has great support...pretty sure they'd send me new phones if I said the left side had a buzz (which it doesn't after they had a tumble at work). They didn't ask any questions, like where I bought it. I just said that the headband broke, and the immediate reply was asking me what size and my address.

 

[MrPhilicorda]

  Did you try the larger headband? I find the larger one too large for me, but maybe the small one is just too tight; the small one doesn't clamp that bad for me. H/K has great support...pretty sure they'd send me new phones if I said the left side had a buzz (which it doesn't after they had a tumble at work). They didn't ask any questions, like where I bought it. I just said that the headband broke, and the immediate reply was asking me what size and my address.

I'm using the larger headband now since it's my only choice. I do still feel it's a bit too big. The small one was close to perfect before it snapped.
 
I took a picture of the headband and my receipt of the purchase and mailed it to Harman Kardon's service point here in Sweden (which is where I live) and told them it broke after one day's use. I chose not to tell them HOW it broke though... Let's se what happens.
 
Meanwhile I have bought some two-component epoxy adhesive and glued the pivot back in place. That stuff is supposed to be really strong. If I don't get a new headband I hope the adhesive will do the trick.
 
Update: the glue didn't work, it snapped off again right away. Good news is HK will send me a brand new headband for free.

 

[MrPhilicorda]

I haven't really been happy with the BT's soundwise. I feel they are way too bass hevy and definately lacking mid range clarity. In the music I listen to I feel I lose a lot of detail in vocals, guitars, keyboards and such where as the bass feels overpowering. Today I sat down and tried to EQ the BT's to match my AKG K240 and here is the result.
 
Now, to be fair, the K240's are perhaps on the thin side but they are still regarded as balanced and flat monitoring headphones. Also, the EQ on my phone might not be super responsive so the settings might be a bit exaggerated, but I do agree with that curve. It illustrates what I think is wrong with the BT's. I'm VERY surprised that some think they sound "balanced".
 

 
Edit: Hmm, that image is supposed to be embedded...

 

[thepiper92]

The FIIO E12 is a balanced amp, and having used the E17 with the BT's before it malfunctioned, I can definitely say the E12 shows no coloration during amping of the BT. Mids are very forward...actually similar mids to the AKG 172s I recently bought, but treble is more laid back and bass is brought forward. With the bass boost on the E12, bass can be overpowering, but the BT's are fairly balanced.

Furthermore, I think they should be similar to AKG, as AKG is owned by harman.

 

[MrPhilicorda]

I took a shot at a small modification of the BT's... As I had seen on some pictures on the internet, they have a bass port (a small hole) on the back of the driver. So I opened up the earcups and put a small piece of electrical tape over the hole and... Voila! Now I got a clear reduction of lower bass frequencies!
 
Now, compared to my AKG K240's which I've been A/B testing against the BT's still have their distinct sound of their own. They still sound meatier and have slightly scooped mids, but most importantly, I got rid of that thickness in the lower bass frequencies that had been annoying me and to my ears they sound much more pleasent now!
 
I know that everyone have their own idea of whata balanced sound is. My ears have been accustomed to my Yamaha HS50M studio monitors and K240 headphones which are rather focused on mids and highs so in comparison the BT's represent a different world.