JaZZ
Headphoneus Supremus
Like others, I often doubt if I should content myself with the sound my headphones generate, including all of their tiny, but sometimes decisive flaws which make it difficult just to lay back and enjoy the music. So I share the justly mentioned reservation vis-à-vis the Sennheiser HD 600’s «sobriety», maybe a certain lack of elegance… although a more neutral and accurate phone is hard to be found.
My notorious modifying appetite finally has led me to a really satisfying, if not enthusing result. Nevertheless it’s easy to do – and without any risk for the valuable cans. (And please don't insist on the standpoint that Sennheiser would have done the improvements by themselves if they were so obvious...)
First step: remove the thin foam pad covering the diaphragm. Admittedly, as Moonwalker stated, this results in a slight loss of «magic» of sound – although personally I can’t exactly reproduce the foam alternative as such –, by all means, the bass hump disappears, and the sound changes to very clear, if not a bit coolish, though lacking the kind of roughness/dryness or primness the foam variant provokes.
To prevent this, I replaced the foam by some nylon gauze, acting at the same time as a dust protection. This restores, or I would say: brings to bear the «magic», without the roughness of the foam solution. Anyway, there’s a slight sharpness in the upper treble, accentuated by the fabric on the other hand. But there’s an ideal cure: I covered the inner plastic ring (of ~6 mm diameter) by some self-adhesive artificial suede (or velours, e.g.). Thus the treble gets pleasantly smooth, without losing the least bit of resolution and accuracy – quite the opposite! Finally the HD 600 gains the long-awaited elegance, liquidity and musicality, without any restriction – to my ears. It’s fun! (Special regards to Beagle: with the X-Cans, the sound is wonderful, too.)
JaZZ
My notorious modifying appetite finally has led me to a really satisfying, if not enthusing result. Nevertheless it’s easy to do – and without any risk for the valuable cans. (And please don't insist on the standpoint that Sennheiser would have done the improvements by themselves if they were so obvious...)
First step: remove the thin foam pad covering the diaphragm. Admittedly, as Moonwalker stated, this results in a slight loss of «magic» of sound – although personally I can’t exactly reproduce the foam alternative as such –, by all means, the bass hump disappears, and the sound changes to very clear, if not a bit coolish, though lacking the kind of roughness/dryness or primness the foam variant provokes.
To prevent this, I replaced the foam by some nylon gauze, acting at the same time as a dust protection. This restores, or I would say: brings to bear the «magic», without the roughness of the foam solution. Anyway, there’s a slight sharpness in the upper treble, accentuated by the fabric on the other hand. But there’s an ideal cure: I covered the inner plastic ring (of ~6 mm diameter) by some self-adhesive artificial suede (or velours, e.g.). Thus the treble gets pleasantly smooth, without losing the least bit of resolution and accuracy – quite the opposite! Finally the HD 600 gains the long-awaited elegance, liquidity and musicality, without any restriction – to my ears. It’s fun! (Special regards to Beagle: with the X-Cans, the sound is wonderful, too.)