[nehcrow]

For anyone outside of the US
Try this: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/390871040382?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
They come in many colours but I dig the red felt. 1mm thickness too.
When it arrives and I've installed it, I'll give impressions

 

[hatrack71]

I'm gonna jump on this too. I am liking the Beyer sound so I figued these could be up my alley after reading so many reviews.....again- the HE-400. So I opted to part with my HD650s over these after comparing the two for quite a few hours over different genres. I never used these much due to their weight and fit but remembered there was something I liked about them so I kept them to work on later. Alot of it is they seem a better build quality than the HD650s. The Hifimans seem a lot more durable but certainly not as light. I don't deel like I have to be as careful moving them or putting them on my head. Grills are very stiff and durable. Fast forward to a few days ago. So far after pulling these out, I am finding they are irritating me after a bit. I think I could like these with the fuzzor mod... as the sound balance really isn't that far off from my preference as of lately. I've gravitated toward slightly bright phones recently with less bottom end quantity, not quality. I am liking the flatter sounding cans over the smiley face and mid heavy stuff. To me the HE-400 is more capable than the HD650, which to me is veiled sounding. I am trying to get as neutral a sound as possible without being veiled in either end of the spectrum or the middle for that matter. Or an irritating high frequency ring as is present in stock HE-400. It hurts! But if it wasn't there, these would be sweet! The Hifiman HE-400 are not really as bright as the Beyers and certianly not overdone in bass either. Actually a good balance the more hours I put on them.... other than that damn standing "hollow sounding" high pitched ring. Almost can describe it as a closed can phenomena. I can see why people change the grills out for more breatheable ones- it lessons the "ocean" effect. It seems my limit on the HE-400 is about an hour and I'm fatigued. I'm gonna wander over to the crafts store to get the thinnest adhesive felt I can find. My question on the HE-400. Is it best to make big felt disks and cut out the inner square. Then fill in the strips? I notice there is open space under and around the plastic frame on the sides. Is this open space needed or would it be better to cover them with a big round felt disc with the square precisely cut to fit the center square?  Understand?

I added this photo from another Headfier's ad as it had the only pic I could find of a fuzzored HE-400 :^). Notice all the plastic in a circle that isn't covered around the center square. That's what I'm thinking of covering, including over the gaps betwwen the plastic that isn't over the planar ribbon.. Or is that just too much? Of course I'd leave it back a fuzz (no pun intended) so the pads fit in easily still. Anyone tried this? I'm wondering if it would lose some body on the mids or have the opposite effect and focus them with out the added color of the open space. Am I looking at this correctly?

 

[daltonlanny]

My modded HE 500's...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[daltonlanny]

Not perfect by any stretch, but I did ok, I guess. Lol.
Something about the baffles and stuff on these reminds of when I did mods on a couple of pairs of AKG K340's in the past.

 

[ThurstonX]

  Not perfect by any stretch, but I did ok, I guess. Lol.
Something about the baffles and stuff on these reminds of when I did mods on a couple of pairs of AKG K340's in the past.

 
Looks pretty good.  I know we talked about the sound.  Hopefully your brain will adapt.  If not, it's always reversible/re-doable/reversible/re-doable/... Going through that cycle might almost make one believe in reincarnation, if one didn't already hold that belief 

  But I think you know what I mean.  Eventually you'll figure out which sounds best to you.
 
Will you try it on the HE-6 when you get them?  I think some people have, but not being an owner, that info slipped through the mental cracks.

 

[daltonlanny]

Thanks Thurston X!
Yes, I will probably do the HE-6 when I get them, if I get enough patience.
Lol.
Where is your description of how you attached the knock off AKG pads to the rings?
Maybe I didnt search the right post or far enough back.

Lanny

 

[daltonlanny]

To other folks out there who have tried it, is the fuzzor mod worthwhile on the HE-6?
What about the grill mod?
Or do they benefit the HE-500 more?

 

[ThurstonX]

Where is your description of how you attached the knock off AKG pads to the rings?
Maybe I didnt search the right post or far enough back.

Lanny

 
Start with this one and read on down the page
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/551345/hifiman-he-500-he-as-in-high-end-proving-to-be-an-enjoyable-experience-in-listening/15810#post_11418098
 
After that you'll see one that's pretty detailed, mostly about what I did to mine specifically, and maybe why I did it.  As noted in a post or two after that, my elaborate mods are not necessary, just something I wanted to try, and the only thing you need to make those pads work for HFM cans is a way to attach them to the HFM mounting rings.  Further modding is left up to you and your imagination, with some generous contributions from jerg, a Master Modder 

 

[LarsHP]

I did the "fuzzor" mod on my HE-6 and I can safely say that I will never undo it. It's the perfect mod for HE-6 IMO. It tames the excess treble and enhances resolution, transparency and depth at the same time.

Please note that you most likely will prefer to remove the fibres and foam (and grill) on the outside too - after the fuzzor mod. This will open up the sound.

 

[AstralStorm]

The excess treble in HE6 is all thanks to reflections within the ear-cup and from the grille.
This is why the fuzzor mod helps a lot when used with standard pads, esp. included high impedance velours, both focuspads, all versions of jergpad and of course the most with pleather.
Without pads (suspended in air) - HE-6 does not produce any important amount of reflections from the front side.
 
I'd recommend getting the most leaky pads you can get and removing that bit of unnecessary metal from the back.
While at it, also stuff foam or cotton (recovered from the grille side) into the cup, right behind the driver itself into the cavity in the plastic.
If you can, replace the plastic driver mounting ring with something that is not resonant and reflective PET and/or install a thin layer of felt on top of it. I recommend a rubber gasket.
 
Results are excellent - better ones require modding the cups to remove the horn shape from the back side, which causes a bass reflex like effect, completely unnecessary as HE-6 drivers are linear in bass in free air.

 

[LarsHP]

Why do you recommend the most leaking pads?

I have gone the exact opposite direction and sealed as much as possible to get as much sub bass as possible. Just by taping my Audeze pads instead of using the stock mounting ring made a noticeable better sub bass response.

 

[AstralStorm]

HE-6 driver has linear bass and subbass down to 18 Hz at 1 cm distance. If you want a boost, I'd recommend using an equalizer instead.
 
The pads actually boost all bass except subbass (3 dB for Focuspads, 4 dB for pleather) which results in the appearance of a rolloff.
 
Velours made by Hifiman are suprisingly non-leaky - high density foam was used in them and the material is very dense. They boost bass by 2 dB.
Full jergpad mod is more leaky than either and boost higher bass much less, so you only get a sizable low bass boost at around 40-50 Hz, boosting the rest of the bass by about 1 dB.
 
The Audeze mounting practices and such cause additional "shaker" effect - coupling very low frequency distortion (driver off axis rattle) onto your bone conduction system. This is also why firmer pads can sound bassier, same with larger surface area pads or tightly clamping headphones. That is generally not captured by measurements at all - and is not realistic, as speakers (even perfectly linear) or instruments do not produce this effect until you get to huge volumes.

 

[cskippy]

So what is your current HE-6 configuration? Which pads are you using? I'm using the Audeze Vegan pads and enjoy the slightly darker sound, although having the drivers further away softens the sound.

 

[LarsHP]

  HE-6 driver has linear bass and subbass down to 18 Hz at 1 cm distance. If you want a boost, I'd recommend using an equalizer instead.
 
The pads actually boost all bass except subbass (3 dB for Focuspads, 4 dB for pleather) which results in the appearance of a rolloff.
 
Velours made by Hifiman are suprisingly non-leaky - high density foam was used in them and the material is very dense. They boost bass by 2 dB.
Full jergpad mod is more leaky than either and boost higher bass much less, so you only get a sizable low bass boost at around 40-50 Hz, boosting the rest of the bass by about 1 dB.
 
The Audeze mounting practices and such cause additional "shaker" effect - coupling very low frequency distortion (driver off axis rattle) onto your bone conduction system. This is also why firmer pads can sound bassier, same with larger surface area pads or tightly clamping headphones. That is generally not captured by measurements at all - and is not realistic, as speakers (even perfectly linear) or instruments do not produce this effect until you get to huge volumes.

What are your numbers and assessments based on?
 
I don't recognize any of this in my own listening experience or measurements.
 
The Audeze "vegan" (micro suede) pads are much softer than any of the HiFiMan pads (though I have no experience with the Focus pads).
 
In my understanding you will generally maximize sub bass when sealing the pads, while a completely open cup will loose bass and especially sub bass.

 

[AstralStorm]

 
What are your numbers and assessments based on?
 
I don't recognize any of this in my own listening experience or measurements.
 
The Audeze "vegan" (micro suede) pads are much softer than any of the HiFiMan pads (though I have no experience with the Focus pads).
 
In my understanding you will generally maximize sub bass when sealing the pads, while a completely open cup will loose bass and especially sub bass.

 
Softness does not have a linear relationship to acoustic impedance, which is what matters.
Harder pads can have trouble maintaining seal for obvious reasons and lack of seal means much lower impedance.
 
That said, generally a harder material is higher density, so if the seal is just as good it will have higher acoustic impedance and will also absorb less vibration (shaking).
Surface area touched is important too for transmission of those vibrations.
 
 
The assessment of linearity was based on a free air recording of the HE-6 driver using cheap (but calibrated) Dayton EMM-6 measurement microphone connected into verified linear DC-coupled microphone preamplifier (custom job), later into my Lynx Hilo interface.
 
When not sealed, reflections from the face were inaudible in my subjective opinion. Tonality was noticeably smoother and slightly lighter, but no rolloff seemed to be present. In fact, if you put them closer than 1 cm from ear or rotated the driver to not be coplanar with the earlobe, you got the usual proximity effect bass boost.
 
Placing them further away (e.g. 1.5 cm, 2 cm) causes a slight subbass roll with a slight general bass boost, as well as slight high frequency rolloff. My bet would be a planar source converting more and more into a point source, plus additional air absorption.
Placing them yet further cuts bass a lot.