[BeatsWork]

I intend to perform both the grill and fuzzor mods over the weekend, so with any luck the measurements you can offer will be relevant.

 
 
Hmmm, using REW to take measurements doesn't look too bad but will have to dig for a suitable mic for in-ear placement ...

 

[Djinnenjous]

Grill mod completed!
 
It took longer than I thought and I kept having to make subtle adjustments to the edges of my new grills in order for them not to block the four niches for the retainer ring; however, I got it done. They're not nearly as pretty as the stock grills, though: some of the superglue left white residue on the outer side of the grating after I attached some black tulle netting as a dust filter.
 
Unfortunately, one of the retainer rings completely lost one tab and half of another in the process. It seats well to the eye but I'll order a new pair as a safeguard. I'm about 100% certain that I didn't get any debris inside of the driver, as I was careful never to cut any of the grating anywhere near the headphones themselves, and I used compressed air to blow the grills off each time I tried to fit them.
 
Given how complicated this was for me I'm honestly afraid to try the fuzzor mod even though I picked up all of the materials for it tonight. Does anyone here have any horror stories about that one that I need to be aware of before I try it?

 

[BeatsWork]

  Grill mod completed!
 
It took longer than I thought and I kept having to make subtle adjustments to the edges of my new grills in order for them not to block the four niches for the retainer ring; however, I got it done. They're not nearly as pretty as the stock grills, though: some of the superglue left white residue on the outer side of the grating after I attached some black tulle netting as a dust filter.
 
Unfortunately, one of the retainer rings completely lost one tab and half of another in the process. It seats well to the eye but I'll order a new pair as a safeguard. I'm about 100% certain that I didn't get any debris inside of the driver, as I was careful never to cut any of the grating anywhere near the headphones themselves, and I used compressed air to blow the grills off each time I tried to fit them.
 
Given how complicated this was for me I'm honestly afraid to try the fuzzor mod even though I picked up all of the materials for it tonight. Does anyone here have any horror stories about that one that I need to be aware of before I try it?

 
Dust filter is really not needed unless you're filing metal near your cans or EPA has declared your home an environmental hazard. In Hi-Fi Man blog they commented that original prototypes were just fine without dust filter 4 years later!

 

[Djinnenjous]

I caught that but I also felt like it was a better-safe-than-sorry situation since I cannot afford to replace these things if something goes wrong. (And knowing my life, I would be the stark exception to the rule.)
 
Additional Fuzzor question: I just realized after having bought soft adhesive-backed felt sheets tonight that jerg's mod specifices "stiff" felt. Will this mod not work properly if my felt isn't a very specific kind—or should what I have be sufficient? Even if my improvements aren't 100% of what jerg's are, am I still likely to experience benefits?

 

[mikey1964]

  Well, the whole conversation started when I name dropped the Gustard and folks said I should look elsewhere. I was looking at several of Schiit's amps a little while back, but then folks recommended the Gustard to me. Now people are saying I should look into this, that, and the other thing and I have absolutely no way to know who's "right." Trying these things before I buy one is out of the question for me.
 
Sometimes this hobby is like a ball of horrendously expensive yarn that I just cannot ever seem to untangle. The more I try, the more wrapped up I get; and even if I could get out of it all I'd just go back to it like some kind of drug-addled cat.
 
/sigh

I had the HE500 for a while now, as well as a HE400i, and I was seriously thinking of selling the former as, well, I was unimpressed with it. It sounded similar to the HE400i with less bass. I'd actually contacted a guy who was scouring the local forum for a HE500. Anyway, without reading the impressions here about Gustard, I saw an ad in a local forum from a guy who was selling Gustard gear (amongst others) locally, decided to jump right in by snagging a H10 + X12 stack. Wow, suddenly the HE500 opened up, greater detail, transparency. airiness....just wow. Compared it against the HE400i and now the HE400i came up short, it beats the HE500 when it comes to bass, but loses in just about everything else (to me anyway). Been putting the H10 + X12 stack through its pace by using my other cans. I did note some sonic improvements (coming from a Lyr + iFi iDSD Nano stack), I actually enjoy listening to my HD700 and my PS1000 with the Gustard, hearing details that was lacking in my previous setup. Funny thing is, I was severely criticized by a fellow forum member in a local forum for going 'cheap' with the Gustard stack, he basically said my cans deserved TOTL source.....

 

[Djinnenjous]

Fuzzor mod completed! It's taken me several straight hours of work and it's clearly imperfect but here are the results of the first two hardware mods I've ever personally attempted (and on my most expensive headphones!):
 

^ Fuzzor - Left
 

^ Fuzzor - Right
 

^ Fuzzor - Both (w/ retainer rings re-installed)
 

^ Grill Mod - Both (w/ black tulle net for dust filter)
 
I know the work isn't perfect but I tried my damnedest and went slowly and carefully. The felt managed to stretch slightly during cutting, even with a brand-new X-acto blade for each set of dampers. Things didn't fit perfectly in the end but I think it's got to be worth something that I managed to get it done this well.
 
Next up: Sennheiser HD600 headband mod, and then I'm done for a while since I know jack s**t about cables.

 

[Hansotek]

Fuzzor mod completed! It's taken me several straight hours of work and it's clearly imperfect but here are the results of the first two hardware mods I've ever personally attempted (and on my most expensive headphones!):



^ Fuzzor - Left



^ Fuzzor - Right



^ Fuzzor - Both (w/ retainer rings re-installed)



^ Grill Mod - Both (w/ black tulle net for dust filter)

I know the work isn't perfect but I tried my damnedest and went slowly and carefully. The felt managed to stretch slightly during cutting, even with a brand-new X-acto blade for each set of dampers. Things didn't fit perfectly in the end but I think it's got to be worth something that I managed to get it done this well.

Next up: Sennheiser HD600 headband mod, and then I'm done for a while since I know jack s**t about cables.

You did a great job! It looks a heck of a lot better than mine.

 

[mikey1964]

@Djinnenjous, nice job!

  Please post impressions on the difference the mod made.....

 

[BeatsWork]

   The felt managed to stretch slightly during cutting, even with a brand-new X-acto blade for each set of dampers. Things didn't fit perfectly in the end but I think it's got to be worth something that I managed to get it done this well.
 

Looks great! If anyone else considering I highly recommend getting an 'expensive' pair of Fiscal craft scissors rather than exacto knife. They where like $12 at Walliworld and I did not have the stretching issue I had when trying to use exacta knife. 

 

[ThurstonX]

  Looks great! If anyone else considering I highly recommend getting an 'expensive' pair of Fiscal craft scissors rather than exacto knife. They where like $12 at Walliworld and I did not have the stretching issue I had when trying to use exacta knife. 

 
+1 for the Fiskars scissors.  Worth every penny, and you'll end up using them for other things.

 

[Djinnenjous]

 @Djinnenjous, nice job!

  Please post impressions on the difference the mod made.....

Alright, here's the thing . . . I honestly cannot say for sure. I've owned the HE-500s for all of like four days and already modified their grills and damping. I never really acclimated to their out-of-the-box signature to begin with. Moreover, human echoic memory is extremely short-lived so even A/Bing gear can be more than a bit unreliable if you're unable to switch signatures extremely rapidly. What I can say for sure is that the sound stage width has definitely increased, and I feel like both treble extension and bass quantity have improved (and prior to the mods I feel like the HE-500s had my favorite treble presentation). As for things like resonance in specific frequency ranges, my ears simply aren't trained well enough to identify that stuff. I'd love to be more specific but I won't delude myself or mislead anyone else. I'm sorry if in this case honesty is disappointing.
 
Suffice to say I was extremely happy with these headphones before the mods and now that they're done I have zero regrets. At a bare minimum I didn't hurt anything and I proved to myself that I could do at least some of this stuff reasonably well. (Heck, with a pair of the recommended Fiskars scissors I might even have been able to improve upon what I accomplished.)
 
I'm happy I did the mods, even if I cannot pinpoint exactly why on a jaggedy green line in some graph. These beauties own; I call them my "sexophones."

 

[BeatsWork]

   
+1 for the Fiskars scissors.  Worth every penny, and you'll end up using them for other things.

 
Damned auto-spelunking ....

 

[mikey1964]

 

  @Djinnenjous, nice job!

Alright, here's the thing . . . I honestly cannot say for sure. I've owned the HE-500s for all of like four days and already modified their grills and damping. I never really acclimated to their out-of-the-box signature to begin with. Moreover, human echoic memory is extremely short-lived so even A/Bing gear can be more than a bit unreliable if you're unable to switch signatures extremely rapidly. What I can say for sure is that the sound stage width has definitely increased, and I feel like both treble extension and bass quantity have improved (and prior to the mods I feel like the HE-500s had my favorite treble presentation). As for things like resonance in specific frequency ranges, my ears simply aren't trained well enough to identify that stuff. I'd love to be more specific but I won't delude myself or mislead anyone else. I'm sorry if in this case honesty is disappointing.
 
Suffice to say I was extremely happy with these headphones before the mods and now that they're done I have zero regrets. At a bare minimum I didn't hurt anything and I proved to myself that I could do at least some of this stuff reasonably well. (Heck, with a pair of the recommended Fiskars scissors I might even have been able to improve upon what I accomplished.)
 
I'm happy I did the mods, even if I cannot pinpoint exactly why on a jaggedy green line in some graph. These beauties own; I call them my "sexophones."

Honesty is refreshing.....and appreciated. I myself am not really good at these sorta things.....my hearing's somewhat shot as well. Anyway, I like the HE500 as is with my Gustard stack, and am presently trying out my Denons before moving on to others. So far, the clarity and crispness I hear on my HE500 makes it my 'go to' can for the Gustard. The Denons are proving to be pretty fun on the Gustard as well.

 

[daerron]

@Djinnenjous, great work on those mods, looks much better than my effort! 

 

[DaemonSire]

  Fuzzor mod completed! It's taken me several straight hours of work and it's clearly imperfect but here are the results of the first two hardware mods I've ever personally attempted (and on my most expensive headphones!):
 

^ Fuzzor - Left
 

^ Fuzzor - Right
 

^ Fuzzor - Both (w/ retainer rings re-installed)
 

^ Grill Mod - Both (w/ black tulle net for dust filter)
 
I know the work isn't perfect but I tried my damnedest and went slowly and carefully. The felt managed to stretch slightly during cutting, even with a brand-new X-acto blade for each set of dampers. Things didn't fit perfectly in the end but I think it's got to be worth something that I managed to get it done this well.
 
Next up: Sennheiser HD600 headband mod, and then I'm done for a while since I know jack s**t about cables.

 
Very nice job!  Congrats on stepping into the modding arena!
 
I see why it would have taken you so long to do the mod.  It looks like you did the Fuzzor mod on both sides.  Most just do the side where the pads fit onto because that makes the biggest difference.  Doing both is even better of course, but the side with the grills will make much less of a difference.  The fact that you did both shows your dedication 

 
Another choice for a padded headband is the ZMF Pilot Pad.  May be a good alternative depending how much the HD600 costs.
 
Next up would be to get a better set of pads than the default velour/pleather.