The one small thing that bugged me about the HE1000s has always been a very slight imperfection in the treble. It didn't sound quite as clean as the treble you get from 'stats. I didn't think about it much for a long time, except to wonder if a cable change might help (it didn't).
While I was keeping the occasional eye on various mods, I came across the Sony MDR-7Z tape mod which I applied successfully to my own pair. One of the significant things about the mod is that is removes some harshness in the treble of the Z7s. Returning back to the HE1000s, after searching through @jerg's mods the other day I wondered if the same trick might work on them. The basic premise is to remove internal reflections without interfering with air flow in the headphones. This is not dissimilar to the rubber-like coating inside the aluminium sleeves that the Grado HP1000s had to effect the same thing.
Basically, it works! Now the whole presentation of the HE1000s has been given an upgrade: The treble is cleaner and everything sounds more precise without the headphones losing their fundamental presentation.
The mod is easy: Buy a roll of 12mm wide surgical tape and apply to major sources of sound reflection. I only did it in a very basic way, but it was enough. Maybe someone with more time and dedication can experiment.
BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL NOT TO TOUCH THE DRIVER!
I applied a length of tape thus, then since it was on a curve, snipped cuts and folded the tape down.
I then added two more strips on the wave guide (?). I wasn't game to get out the exacto knife and attempt to cut strips for the cross bars, but wanted to see if the basic idea would work.
The result. Not everything is perfectly covered, but the effects were good enough I have stopped here.
One might ask why the green ring doesn't have some kind of felt or anti-reflective coating. I suspect the answer might be the tediousness of applying it. I'm guessing there were other priorities, like the rigidity and weight of the materials and, more important, their longevity. It's one thing to apply something like felt to a part of the headphones, but another to have that felt not fall off in a few years after the glue dries out, then damage the drivers. This is what happened with the foam inside many pairs of Sony R10s, ruining them.
While I was keeping the occasional eye on various mods, I came across the Sony MDR-7Z tape mod which I applied successfully to my own pair. One of the significant things about the mod is that is removes some harshness in the treble of the Z7s. Returning back to the HE1000s, after searching through @jerg's mods the other day I wondered if the same trick might work on them. The basic premise is to remove internal reflections without interfering with air flow in the headphones. This is not dissimilar to the rubber-like coating inside the aluminium sleeves that the Grado HP1000s had to effect the same thing.
Basically, it works! Now the whole presentation of the HE1000s has been given an upgrade: The treble is cleaner and everything sounds more precise without the headphones losing their fundamental presentation.
The mod is easy: Buy a roll of 12mm wide surgical tape and apply to major sources of sound reflection. I only did it in a very basic way, but it was enough. Maybe someone with more time and dedication can experiment.
BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL NOT TO TOUCH THE DRIVER!
I applied a length of tape thus, then since it was on a curve, snipped cuts and folded the tape down.
I then added two more strips on the wave guide (?). I wasn't game to get out the exacto knife and attempt to cut strips for the cross bars, but wanted to see if the basic idea would work.
The result. Not everything is perfectly covered, but the effects were good enough I have stopped here.
One might ask why the green ring doesn't have some kind of felt or anti-reflective coating. I suspect the answer might be the tediousness of applying it. I'm guessing there were other priorities, like the rigidity and weight of the materials and, more important, their longevity. It's one thing to apply something like felt to a part of the headphones, but another to have that felt not fall off in a few years after the glue dries out, then damage the drivers. This is what happened with the foam inside many pairs of Sony R10s, ruining them.
