[ohhgourami]

  My Audeze pads arrived today! I took the ring out of them and stretched the sleeve around the outer shell on each side. I'm going to put the double-sided sticky tape on the HE-6 inner ring like what ohgourami did and press the pad into it. Very initial impression is that the sound is more "out of your head" now, with a slight drop in treble and a slight increase in sub-bass over the stock velours. I like it! Now I can't wait for my sticky felt to get here so i can install that, along with a new headphone cable

I actually kept the stock ring that came with the pads! I figure it shouldn't make much of a difference but I wanted the extra rigidity for the pads.
 
Do the felt mod and make sure you take out the cotton from the rear grill. Taking out that cotton and foam is essential for the HE-6 to sound good with the felt mod!

 

[brunk]

 
I actually kept the stock ring that came with the pads! I figure it shouldn't make much of a difference but I wanted the extra rigidity for the pads.
 
Do the felt mod and make sure you take out the cotton from the rear grill. Taking out that cotton and foam is essential for the HE-6 to sound good with the felt mod!

I think I'll leave out the ring, I don't want to risk any undesired vibrations, and the sleeve being stretched around the earcup keeps its shape pretty good. Hopefully my felt will arrive this week, it took a while for it to ship. I'll make a second set of "Jerg" grills too, taking out the cotton of course. 
 
IMO, if the LCD-3 and HD-800 had a baby, this is it! 

 Soundstage is between the two, bass is between the two, treble is between the two, but the mids of the HE-6 are still its own special brand. The HE-6 is now 'smoother' for lack of a better word, without losing its transparency and HE6-licious mids 

 
I initially was going to use some flat copper cable, but decided it's a little too stiff for my liking, so now I'm going with a Canare Star Quad "permanent install" version type. It's a little larger gauge than the standard, and it has a 100% aluminum foil shield. Got it for $0.44 cents a foot too! 

 

[Silent One]

Things are getting exciting here.... just before the year-end holidays. I need to learn the sound sig of the new pads by themselves before any other adventure. Let's see what happens! 
 
Mark, I know you're listening baby, time to ship me those muffs. 

 

[Clemmaster]

Are the pads vegan or leather?
 
I don't really like the Alpha Pads on the HE-6. They do wonder on the 5LE, though.

 

[LarsHP]

Have you tried removing the rear grill? And taking out the cotton? It makes it sound much much better. Felt mod was congested without removing the rear grill and cotton.

Now I have!
I wanted to go one step at the time to hear for myself what each mod did. I agree that by removing the "cotton" and the foam on the back of the driver opens up the sound.
 
I'm really impressed by the sound after this mod. It's like HE-6 stepped up a level or three in sound quality. There's nothing out there, that I have heard, that even compares on this level of perfection! I mean, this is easily the closest to the perfect headphone I have heard. You can now officially call me profoundly impressed!

 

[brunk]

  Now I have!
I wanted to go one step at the time to hear for myself what each mod did. I agree that by removing the "cotton" and the foam on the back of the driver opens up the sound.
 
I'm really impressed by the sound after this mod. It's like HE-6 stepped up a level or three in sound quality. There's nothing out there, that I have heard, that even compares on this level of perfection! I mean, this is easily the closest to the perfect headphone I have heard. You can now officially call me profoundly impressed!

I am arriving at the same conclusion. I know what the grill mod did to the HE-500, so i can imagine that, with the felt mod combined really puts the HE-6 atleast in the top 5 best headphones of all time. I really need to get my adhesive felt to arrive at my doorstep!

 

[ALRAINBOW]

Well it looks like you people have arrived at audio nervana .

So now I can plan to do the mod. The one thing I do not understand is why didn't hifiman perform a simpler mod during the experimental stage. I mean it's obvious with the cotton stuff at the outside and that triangle on the inside and all. They must of been playing with ideas right?

 

[Silent One]

If push comes to shove... 

 wait, why am I standing in the parking lot at the local USPO again? With a good 2 weeks before my pads arrived, I might have to just go ahead and do it.
 
Actually, I was thinking about approaching someone inside this thread with a bag full of cash and have the mod done.

 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

​
But of course, it'll be a small bag of singles, no Ben Franks. 

 

 

[Armaegis]

Shredded money actually makes very good damping material... you have to use the old stuff though, not the new money which is all plastic fibres and sounds awfully shrill and (ironically) papery.

 

[Xenophon]

  Shredded money actually makes very good damping material... you have to use the old stuff though, not the new money which is all plastic fibres and sounds awfully shrill and (ironically) papery.

Not to mention a nice allegory for most people including myself who visit this site  
 
I once received a compressed 'brick' of the stuff after an official visit to the Federal Reserve Bank building in NY.  Isn't it illegal to shred money yourself?  Don't know about the US but in Belgium it would be the equivalent of a felony.  

 

[Happy Camper]

BUT I DON'T WANT TO.............

How about after the new year?

Since the Hilo is out for repair and then on to Gary's review, now would be a good time to do this.

 

[Happy Camper]

I think I'll leave out the ring, I don't want to risk any undesired vibrations, and the sleeve being stretched around the earcup keeps its shape pretty good. Hopefully my felt will arrive this week, it took a while for it to ship. I'll make a second set of "Jerg" grills too, taking out the cotton of course. 

IMO, if the LCD-3 and HD-800 had a baby, this is it!   Soundstage is between the two, bass is between the two, treble is between the two, but the mids of the HE-6 are still its own special brand. The HE-6 is now 'smoother' for lack of a better word, without losing its transparency and HE6-licious mids 

I initially was going to use some flat copper cable, but decided it's a little too stiff for my liking, so now I'm going with a Canare Star Quad "permanent install" version type. It's a little larger gauge than the standard, and it has a 100% aluminum foil shield. Got it for $0.44 cents a foot too! 

So the silver is out now?

 

[brunk]

BUT I DON'T WANT TO.............

How about after the new year?

Since the Hilo is out for repair and then on to Gary's review, now would be a good time to do this.

What are you waiting for then? 

 

[hawkhead]

I am having fun trying to source some felt
 
Would anyone be willing to post some Creatology felt to the UK?
 
I would of course cover your costs + a beer tax
 
TIA

 

[wewewho77]

I am arriving at the same conclusion. I know what the grill mod did to the HE-500, so i can imagine that, with the felt mod combined really puts the HE-6 atleast in the top 5 best headphones of all time. I really need to get my adhesive felt to arrive at my doorstep!

I can't find thin felt to do the mods. I only have a thick ones that I think would do too much dampening the high frequency. I just wonder if I can use some suede with double sided tape to do this? I'll report later the result. I already did the back vent mods and it did sound more open and spacious but I find the high becoming a bit harsh that's why I want to bring down the treble a bit with the felt mod. Thanks for sharing this mods.