HD800 modification thread

[pompon]

Mod done here.
It's cut a lot of "reverb" and it's very apparent.
With the mod, it's less "etheral" (less reflexions).

It's very very easy to do. You don't have to remove the dust cover ... just left the half in place, it's give you the place to put your fingers inside and position the cloth.

I don't know if it's better or not but for sure it's apparent.

 

[achristilaw]

Hey Phil,

Have you looked at the applied Geometry of the HD800 from the side view?

Notice the center-line of the driver tilt? If you place the headband flat on your head the axis shifts and the resulting driver center-line is placed higher on the Z axis.

Like the 580, 600/650 you have to wear the head-band more forward on the top of the head and the image will drop accordingly. That and your new Beta will help!

Rock forward or even more reversed! Not everyone has the same outer ear arrangement or construction.

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by achristilaw /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey Phil, Have you looked at the applied Geometry of the HD800 from the side view? Notice the center-line of the driver tilt? If you place the headband flat on your head the axis shifts and the resulting driver center-line is placed higher on the Z axis. Like the 580, 600/650 you have to wear the head-band more forward on the top of the head and the image will drop accordingly. That and your new Beta will help! Rock forward or even more reversed! Not everyone has the same outer ear arrangement or construction.

Hi Alan,

No, that really doesn't help. I've tried every position in the book, including wearing the headphones backwards with L & R cables reversed. The imaging is still too high and the soundstage isn't focused properly. Of course lowering the headphones on your head will drop the tall imaging, but that doesn't rectify the situation on its own.

You just need to try it for yourself to hear what is happening. I actually took the mod out the other day when I got a new cable to try, since the cable brought life back to my music. I couldn't stand it for more than 3 minutes. The mod was immediately put back in place.

The HD800 is the best dynamic phone on the market imo, but to these ears it needed a little adjustment. Of course I will try it again sans mod on the Beta, but I don't expect that to fix what I consider to be inherent (but minor) flaws in the headphone.

 

[johnwmclean]

I’ve tried this mod and whilst it crudely dampened the HD800, it was at the sacrifice of treble extension and air. Some music did benefit from the mod (harsher recordings), well recorded music lost a fair amount of transparency. Bass felt over accentuated (not deeper) leaving a slightly hyper sense of timing - for my tastes. The soundstage lost width as well, probably due to the over dampened treble.
The difference is very apparent and could work for some systems and tastes depending on upstream components, in my system I definitely prefer sans mod.
IPodPJ I definitely believe you might be on the right track with this mod, for me it would need refining to control any inherit resonance problems with the HD800 housing frame or driver. There are some interesting products such as Marigo dots which might be a slicker alternative and may offer better passive resonance dampening control. I believe the mod as it stands is a little heavy handed and the deviation from stock is little to severe.

 

[IPodPJ]

Glad you tried it, John! I plan on experimenting with other materials as I can. I'm curious to know how thick the material you used was. Was it a 6.1 oz. t-shirt and was the cloth placed in the exact position as the picture?

Thanks for the feedback. I feel it does cut out some of the air, yes, but that's a good thing in this case since it brings out more detail and a focused soundstage. I do not think it kills the treble extension, just tones it down a few dB -- on my system anyway.

But at least you tried it, and maybe on the Beta22 it doesn't require the same level of tuning. Kudos!