[m00hk00h]

Hi everyone.

Shame on me if this has ever been done before. But I wasn't able to find anything using the search engine.

So this is the situation. I was able to listen to to the D2000s at my dealers place and I found out that I liked it. There was only one thing that bothered me a little: bass quantity, too much of it.
So after having bought the Denon and listening to it for a while it was clear that it was to bass heavy for a lot of CDs in my collection. I decided to take it just for the part of my collection it works well with...
...untill one day I was bored and decided to have a look at the "microfiber diaphragm" (you could also call it "paper" but it won't work as well for marketing as "microfiber diaphragm", I guess).
And what I found was just surprising.
Under the earpads and around the driver is a "doughnut" made of some kind of sponge rubber that is held in place by tension and the earpads.
So I decided on the spot to take a listen to the D2Ks without these things and...hello there, telephone!
It was absolutely clear, that these thingys influence bass quantity.
So what I did now is trying to find a better alternative for the rubber. I chose a handkerchief made of cellulose because they were available without having to stand up from my desk.

I rolled and bend it to form a curl and just like it was magical it had the exact right diameter and thickness to fit in the space that the rubber has left.
The first listening check: yep, less bass then before but quite as punchy as before. Awesome!
I continued trying smaller or bigger and looser or tighter rolled curls.
The normal unmodified harndkerchief is just fine for me.
The rule is: the more material and the tigher it is wrapped the more bass you percieve.

Here are some pics to demonstrate what I mean:

At first the earpads detached. Left side shows the original rubber gum. Right side my mod. It looks wrinkly because I handled the earpads and the phone, it looked smoother before I took the pic.

And this is a pic of the space that the rubber gum "doughnuts" fill out and that's need to covered in order to get bass.

I like this mod a lot. It can be done fast, it's reversible and causes very little costs. Plus you don't have to open the earcups and risk loosing your warranty.

Maybe it is a help for some people here!

m00h

PS: I also added a beyer headpad since the Denon is lying on the head quite hard. Fit's like it's been made for the Denon. OK, it looks a little strange but I don't have to see it when it's on my head, right?

 

[jgonino]

This is similar to what markl did to his d5000, is it not? Cool idea though, and nice pics.

 

[johnanderson]

Have you seen this thread?

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/mar...ighlight=markl

Its pretty much the same in containing the bass except you stuff the cups. If you are still curious about the sound you could experiment to see which material is suited for you.

 

[m00hk00h]

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnanderson /img/forum/go_quote.gif Have you seen this thread? http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/mar...ighlight=markl Its pretty much the same in containing the bass except you stuff the cups. If you are still curious about the sound you could experiment to see which material is suited for you.

Ah, damn. I was just searching for "D2000" mods.

My bad.

m00h

 

[johnanderson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by m00hk00h /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ah, damn. I was just searching for "D2000" mods. My bad. m00h

Thats fine. Its great to see another person with a modded D2000. At least this way we can have different opinions or methods to taming the bass.

 

[Lad27]

Quote:

Originally Posted by m00hk00h /img/forum/go_quote.gif PS: I also added a beyer headpad since the Denon is lying on the head quite hard. Fit's like it's been made for the Denon. OK, it looks a little strange but I don't have to see it when it's on my head, right?

Denon headband can be made at least as soft and comfortable as Beyer headband. Undo two small screws on the inside of the square metal plate and the end of headband.

Get cotton wool (I used that) or perhaps some fluffy pillow stuffing and in small quantities push it thru the opening. Then slowly and carefully work it with fingers all the way to the other side.Insert another small batch and push thru. Repeat until happy with the thickness. Inside of the headband must be made from some slippery plastic (nylon?) the cotton wool moves pretty good on it.

Of course if you undo the other side as well, you just work it halfway to the top of headband. Stuff as much as you think it would be comfortable. The pleather on headband will stretch enough.

Screw everything back and you're done. Pic below shows how it looks.

[/IMG]

 

[dantztiludrop]

Yeah, thanks for the mod, mOOh! It looks simple & effective. What the heck...it's never a bad thing to have multiple people trying different strategies to get the best possible sound from our gear, right!?

 

[m00hk00h]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lad27 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Screw everything back and you're done. Pic below shows how it looks. [/IMG]

...looks awesom, thanks!
I'll try it.

m00h

 

[dantztiludrop]

Yeah, there's Lad again with that damn mod of his

! *excuse me while I go get a towel to wipe up the the pool of drool on my desk* I was going to reply with those pics quoted, just so we could see them again, but you beat me to it, mOOh.

 

[dantztiludrop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by m00hk00h /img/forum/go_quote.gif So after having bought the Denon and listening to it for a while it was clear that it was to bass heavy for a lot of CDs in my collection. I decided to take it just for the part of my collection it works well with...

mOOh: Would you say that your mod has widened the part of your collection the D2000 works well with? Do you use them more often now? How much difference in bass quantity/quality has it made?

lad: I'm trying to remember if you did (in addition to the woodies, headband, & recable) a markl or mOOhkOOh-like mod? If so, what's your opinion re: SQ & bass?
....johnanderson?

 

[m00hk00h]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dantztiludrop /img/forum/go_quote.gif mOOh: Would you say that your mod has widened the part of your collection the D2000 works well with?

Pretty much, yes. Although it also did before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dantztiludrop /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you use them more often now? How much difference in bass quantity/quality has it made?

No, I don't use them more often...but that's due to the fact that they are my "brand new toy" couldn't get any more listening time anyway!

When it comes down to "bass quality/quantity" I have to admit that I can't divide these two into their own. Beeing the DT880 lover that I am, a lot of bass just can't be as good as a dry and precise bass may it be even more textured or revealing. There is hardly anything that's more annoying for me than a bassline that draws my attention away from the singer or the lead guitar. And that's what the D2000 in it's stock state did for me and this is the reason to able to listen tracks/productions which kinda lacked bass or live from it.
So that beeing said the D2000 has now a lot less bass. It's not DT880 level and also not HD650s. Somewhere in between for quantity but much more punchy then the last two. Nothing compared to the AD2K though but that phone is just toooooo lively to use it as a backgrund music source when lerning or browsing the internet. And that's what I bought the Denon for!
IMHO it can provide anything that constitutes* the music as music even at very low listening levels without drawing my attention away from what I just do.

I also noticed that this mod not only influences the bass. The effect reaches up into the keynote area to probably 500Hz. So if you thought that voices, esp. female voices, sounded thin (or bright) even before the mod you should be very careful.
But unless it's neither very complicated nor time expensive for the "try and error" method one should be able to find a happy medium between bass qantity and midrange color.
BTW: beeing the audio-technica fan that I can happily live with that "downside" of the mod.

m00h

*I had to look that word up in the dictionary. Not quite sure if it expresses what I wanted to say but I haven't been able to find something better.

 

[Lad27]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dantztiludrop /img/forum/go_quote.gif lad: I'm trying to remember if you did (in addition to the woodies, headband, & recable) a markl or mOOhkOOh-like mod? If so, what's your opinion re: SQ & bass? ....johnanderson?

First of all I won't be doing m00h's mod. I'm coming from DT990 and Darth Beyer basshead phones and hence I cannot classify D2000 as having too much bass to try to reduce it even further with this mod.

But, it got me thinking!

How to increase bass? Man, if I can only get Darth bass out of D2000 and leave the rest of the frequency response intact, I swear, my personal quest for my perfect headphone is over right there and then. (start daydreaming about L3000

).

As for markl mod, still waiting for his final how-to thread. I did taper mod (with cotton wool) to the earpads, it did help with soundstage and instrument/vocal positioning.

 

[TMM]

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnanderson /img/forum/go_quote.gif Have you seen this thread? http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/mar...ighlight=markl Its pretty much the same in containing the bass except you stuff the cups.

I don't see how it is similar at all. What m00hk00h's mod does is adjust the 'port' size to almost 0 (it'll probably still leak around those holes for the pads), making it almost fully closed, but retaining the enclosure size. I'm guessing that markl's mod would have better extension and also be a bit tighter, where as m00hk00h's will probably roll off the bass at a higher frequency then stock and also tighten up the bass.

If you want to increase bass, try plugging about a third or half of the holes on the baffle with blutack. If that decreases impact then remove all the bluetak, and just remove the foam doughnut and be done with it

 

[Philimon]

So does "the doughnut" help provide a seal? Is that why when it is removed it allows for less bass?

I did a little something with the doughnuts but for different a reason:
I removed the cloth backing on the inner of the ear pads, because they were always touching my ears and making them uncomfortable when I would listen to the D2000. They were only glued on so they came off easily. I know they are there to help keep dirt and hair n' such out of the drivers, so I placed them back underneath the doughnuts. Now the drivers still have protection, and now my ears seat neatly in the ear pads without anything on them. And I cannot notice any change in sound by moving the thin material over.
The cloth on the inner of the ear pads are not so bothersome in the cold winter, but in summer when my ears get sweaty from the heat inside closed phones - the cloth becomes very bothersome to me. By the way, my ear pads have the taper mod (about 1/3 front) which helps too.

 

[fordgtlover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgonino /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is similar to what markl did to his d5000, is it not? Cool idea though, and nice pics.

I thought the point of markl's mod was to control (tighten) the bass rather than reduce it.