Ceteru
100+ Head-Fier
Update #3:
I got my Edition S back, along with the wooden caps (And my headphone stand that I ordered from Craig as well).
The stand is perfect. Not much else to say. It's a beautiful smooth wood that fits in aesthetically just about anywhere in my room.
Space-wise, I can fit 2 medium sized cans easily, with the large, long base allowing me to coil the cables there neatly, and 3 cans with some careful positioning. No chance of accidental tipping as long as the base is laid flat.
Regarding the wooden caps.. well that's a bit involved.
Here's my review on them more or less (taken from my email back to Craig after my testing):
Craig told me that the fit was as close as he could get them, and I believe it; it'd probably take a lot of advanced woodworking equipment to get the EXACT fit. Also, because each cut of wood is slightly different, the other 3 pairs of caps he made may seal better than mine do. If anyone wants to jump on those, they're listed in his store (linked in my previous post).
In a nutshell, while the caps do work reasonably well, they aren't really as feasible for portability as the plastic ones are.
However, I'm not quite ready to give up on them, because I can tell there's something there worth experimenting with.
As I told Craig, I'm considering finding a way to seal the gap around the edge of the cup. Currently, I'm considering using liquid silicone to line the gap and see if that seals things better when I have the time (I've used it in the past with my yo-yos. It dries to a firm but flexible solid that is less adhesively damaging as rubber cement or glue).
I'll have further updates about it once that is attempted.
I got my Edition S back, along with the wooden caps (And my headphone stand that I ordered from Craig as well).
The stand is perfect. Not much else to say. It's a beautiful smooth wood that fits in aesthetically just about anywhere in my room.
Space-wise, I can fit 2 medium sized cans easily, with the large, long base allowing me to coil the cables there neatly, and 3 cans with some careful positioning. No chance of accidental tipping as long as the base is laid flat.
Regarding the wooden caps.. well that's a bit involved.
Here's my review on them more or less (taken from my email back to Craig after my testing):
With the wooden caps on, the sound is affected nearly exactly as I remember from my experimentation all those weeks ago; the headphones sound more open even though they are "closed".
However, I think this is partially because the seal is not as good as the plastic caps.
I compared the two, and it was like I feared from viewing the pictures: there is some space between the edges of the wooden caps and the sides of the headphone cups. While this leads to a improvement in sound when the headphones are in "closed" mode, it leaks sound quite a bit more and starts to defeat the purpose of using the caps in the first place.
I experimented a bit more and found that closing the gap (using tissue paper to pack the seam) helped to trap the sound better, reducing sound leakage without making the "new" sound go away too much.
So, while I am relatively pleased with the end result of the wooden caps, I'm not completely so due to their somewhat ineffective seal.
Overall, I'd have to rate the caps as they are now 4/5; aesthetically and structurally, they are very good; functionally, while they do block sound so you're not just blasting sound into the room as you do in "open" mode, they're not quite where they need to be IMO. I don't blame you for that, as I can tell it's tricky to get right.
Craig told me that the fit was as close as he could get them, and I believe it; it'd probably take a lot of advanced woodworking equipment to get the EXACT fit. Also, because each cut of wood is slightly different, the other 3 pairs of caps he made may seal better than mine do. If anyone wants to jump on those, they're listed in his store (linked in my previous post).
In a nutshell, while the caps do work reasonably well, they aren't really as feasible for portability as the plastic ones are.
However, I'm not quite ready to give up on them, because I can tell there's something there worth experimenting with.
As I told Craig, I'm considering finding a way to seal the gap around the edge of the cup. Currently, I'm considering using liquid silicone to line the gap and see if that seals things better when I have the time (I've used it in the past with my yo-yos. It dries to a firm but flexible solid that is less adhesively damaging as rubber cement or glue).
I'll have further updates about it once that is attempted.