[pompon]

I got mine's D5000 coming from Marlk today.

Burn-in begin ...

Will be interesting to hear the improvement over time.

 

[zmorris]

I recently finished this mod on my D2000, and I immediately noticed drastic improvements. Thanks for creating this guide.

I used a few different parts, though, since I had some parts left over after doing a silent PC mod. Here are a few notes about my latest revision of the mod (I've done three so far) and some others mods I've done that may help those who want to do this themselves and improve the quality of their D2000.


For the plastic disposable cup step, I used the rim of a Tree Top 4 oz. apple sauce cup instead and attached it to the white plastic ring on both sides with Scotch tape after it was taken out of the earpad. They fit perfectly together. [size=small]PICTURES[/size] (see side frame and read picture descriptions for more details)

I shred some cotton balls and stuffed them in between the white plastic ring and earpad. I was able to check the fit of each pad by squeezing them against my ears while adding the cotton. The distribution that I found best fit the contour around my ears was 60% to the back of the ear, 20% to the front of the ear, 10% to the top, and 10% to the bottom. Having more padding at the front of the ear than at the top and bottom areas improved the fit. Since I had removed the grills on my headphones, I was concerned that the cotton would fray and interfere with the driver, so I applied a thin layer of rubber cement around the cotton. If you find it impossible to remove the earpad by pressing and turning counterclockwise, try this.

I removed the round, gray weight epoxied to the D2000 cups, which are 0.5 oz each, before applying the Dynamat Xtreme. The Dynamat Xtreme already adds enough substantial weight to the headphones so removing any unnecessary heavy components help.

I had some left-over Dynamat Xtreme from the silent PC mod and purchased it cheap on Amazon (free shipping & no sales tax). I recommend buying at least a 12" x 12" sheet (they only sell these sheets in pairs for $15), but I find a 18" x 32" wedge for around $20 to be more cost-efficient.

Instead of using the gray, dense foam that sits around the driver, I replaced it with polyurethane foam purchased at McMaster-Carr (I used item# 5692T13 but #5692T15 might work better) and cut into the same shape, since it resembles the yellow polyurethane foam inside the Sony MDR-R10 more in consistency.

Rather than using cotton balls or fiberloft for the padding inside the earcups, I used the gray, dense foam ring that sits around the driver and a round piece of Armaflex insulation tape at the center. The ring fits perfectly inside the cup and it doesn't cover any of the holes.



These other mods are not associated with the markl mod but they also improve the overall quality of the D2000:

The Denon drivers have a metal grill that's epoxied to them and I wanted to be absolutely certain that the vibrations coming off of the grill won't add to the sound, so I removed it with some needle-nose pliers. Note that using pliers will slightly deform the grill. If you're concerned about that and want to be able to reattach the grills, you can thread strong fishing line through the holes and pull it until the grill comes off. This won't damage the grill and it can easily be reattached with epoxy.

I applied some loctite threadlocker to the screws and nuts beneath the frustum-shaped chrome caps to make sure no connections become loose over time. [more]

I was able to hear something rattling inside while moving my head when no sound was coming out of the headphones. I later found out it was because of a loose connection at the left and right sides of each phone. After applying a bit of grease (I used Arctic Silver 5 thermal grease, but I'm sure any other thick and greasy substance would work) at each joint the rattling was gone.

After adding Dynamat Xtreme behind the driver, I glued a 1" OD x 1/4" ID x 1/4" thick N48 neodymium magnet to the center of each driver. Having the magnet lean against the round piece of Armaflex tape improved the sound more than without the Armaflex. more

Lastly, I wanted more clamping strength out of these headphones, since when I had nodded my head to the music or tilted my head up or down, they would move or fall off respectively, so after looking at how noise cancelling earmuffs are constructed, I stuffed two wires cut from a metal clothes hanger and McMaster polyurethane foam for extra padding inside the headband. [size=small]INSTRUCTIONS
[/size]

Weight of stock D2000 without cable: 364 g or 12.8 oz

Weight of modded D2000 without cable: 462 g or 16.3 oz
- Gray, dense weights and white padding inside the cups
- Black metal grills
+ Two clothes hanger wires and McMaster polyurethane foam inside the headband
+ Two N48 neodymium rings
+ Dynamat Xtreme
+ Armaflex insulation tape
+ TreeTop apple sauce cup rims
+ Cotton balls inside earpads
+ McMaster polyurethane foam rings
+ McMaster polyurethane foam rectangular pads

Pictures:

 

[Gradofan2]

What improvements did you notice?

Did these mods:

1. clear up / tighen up the bass to the point that its at least as clear and tight as the Senns? Or better yet, the Grados, or ATHs?

2. clear up / smooth the mids to remove any vestige of vibration, or rough mids?

3. cleary up / emphasize the highs to brighten the phones to equal at least the HD580/600s, or, better yet, the AD2000s?

That's all I want - absolutely tight / clear bass, tight / clear mids, and accented highs - the texture and refined details of the D2000/5000s and the clarity of the HD580/600s or AD2000s!

 

[markl]

Quote:

As the guide says, you won't want too much of this or fiberloft inside the cups as adding too much will remove the bass, so keep this in mind when stuffing your cups. It's a balancing game.

Yes, this would be quite tricky with foam like you've used zmorris. 1 inch thick is going to be quite thick and it will have to compact quite a bit behind the driver. I went through using material like this (detailed in the original thread), and I found it over-damped the sound (YMMV), which is why I recommend using a tiny bit of pulled-apart Fiberloft.

Quote:

The Denon drivers have a metal grill that's epoxied to them and I wanted to be absolutely certain that the vibrations coming off of the grill won't add to the sound so I removed it with some needle-nose pliers.

The only I would caution here with a "naked" driver, is you will need to be extremely careful about keeping hair and dust out of there.

In any case, zmorris, good for you for continuing to experiment, and glad your mod is working for you. Cheers.

 

[stevenkelby]

Thanks for the info.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zmorris /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was able to hear something rattling inside while moving my head when no sound was coming out of the headphones. I later found out it was because of a loose connection at the left and right sides of each phone.

Could you explain exactly where this joint is?

 

[pompon]

I have done short audition stock D5000 vs full modded through predator dac/amp.

Me and my friend agree it's not night and day ... it's still Denon but with somes changes in levels.

- Stock have more energy in highs and bass. Like listen a speaker from 1 foot vs 3 foot.
- Mid are more laid back on the mod and focus more on the lower mid compared to upper mid. I tend to tell if give a warmer coloration and bring more body.
- The driver on the modded have moved away a bit from ears ... it's create more space.

I never heard something worng with the stock's bass ... except is create push pull with my ears drum like a subwoofer. I don't like that very much. With the mod, I almost not have this feeling.

I am happy how he tuned the D5000, it's fit my tastes. My friend prefer his stock version because he have more highs and lows are louder and go deeper but he prefer the modded for the "air/space".

Next time I will use my own gear and hear more carefully ... for now, my headphone need more burn in (only 35 hrs done and my friend have 100).

Question for Markl:

With my friend's stock D5000, he able very very easily to take off his pad off the headphone. With mine, it's seen stick on it. Is-it "glued" or simply have to work harder to take it off ? He want try my pads on his headphone to know what the mod's pad do exactly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gradofan2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What improvements did you notice? Did these mods: 1. clear up / tighen up the bass to the point that its at least as clear and tight as the Senns? Or better yet, the Grados, or ATHs? 2. clear up / smooth the mids to remove any vestige of vibration, or rough mids? 3. cleary up / emphasize the highs to brighten the phones to equal at least the HD580/600s, or, better yet, the AD2000s? That's all I want - absolutely tight / clear bass, tight / clear mids, and accented highs - the texture and refined details of the D2000/5000s and the clarity of the HD580/600s or AD2000s!

 

[markl]

Hi pompon,
Your impressions of the unburned in pair are spot on. Repeat the comparison when the mod-ed cans have at least 150 hours on them (200-250 to be "done" based on reports I'm getting). One of the chief things that happens with more burn-in (mod-ed or un mod-ed) is the upper mids and highs will come to life and move forward. You will also start to hear the mid and upper bass start to to bloom where the unbroken-in Denons start out sounding relatively "one-note".

Another factor that should not be overlooked is the "break-in" of the pad mod. Over time, the fiberloft will compact a bit and this will move the driver slightly closer to the ear, also bringing the highs more forward.

The pad on the mod-ed phone is very heavily stuffed with the fiberloft so it tends to lock in place (not a bad thing, IMO, as the stock pads can get too loose over time and I've seen one fall out of its sockets). If for some reason you need to open them up, you have to be sure to place a lot of pressure evenly distributed on the palm of your hand and make the twist. They are not sealed in place with anything.

The main thing you have to watch out for is having the ring turn within the ear pad. The way they are placed on there is very precise for best fit. If you take them off, you may have to monkey with them a while to try to get the right placement.

I would recommend your friend just try stuffing some cotton under his own pads just to get a feel for it.

Cheers.

 

[John E Woven]

Just a question:

In that picture, it shows the punched out dynamat around the front and the back. Would it work better if you did the whole thing instead?

I know what I'm going to be doing when I get my denon's.

 

[HDen]

I'll be doing this mod soon enough (thanks a million jessielussier), my d5000's have a silver dragon v2 recable on them, so I'm not sure if there will be a huge difference but when I get the mod done and the burn-in is complete I'll try to post impressions

 

[siddiquehanif]

hi,

I have posted this question before but no reply!

is there any major difference of SQ b/w
stock d2000 and d5000? can we get the approximate same sound quality after applying the mark mod to the d2000's!

My setup is headamp pico and using laptop as source. Would SQ difference b/w moded and unmoded be clearly audible in this setup or it is only for a high resolution heaphone system.

thanks in advance.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

The stock D2000 has a worse cable and doesn't sound as good as the stock D5000. However my APureSound re-cabled D2000 sounds better than a stock D2000 or D5000 (to my ears), without needing the markl mods (not sure what else APS did to these to make them sound so good).

PS: Pico and laptop is a high resolution system, and my D2000 sound great with my Pico.

 

[zmorris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gradofan2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What improvements did you notice? Did these mods: 1. clear up / tighen up the bass to the point that its at least as clear and tight as the Senns? Or better yet, the Grados, or ATHs? 2. clear up / smooth the mids to remove any vestige of vibration, or rough mids? 3. cleary up / emphasize the highs to brighten the phones to equal at least the HD580/600s, or, better yet, the AD2000s? That's all I want - absolutely tight / clear bass, tight / clear mids, and accented highs - the texture and refined details of the D2000/5000s and the clarity of the HD580/600s or AD2000s!

I did not compare my D2000 with any of those headphones, but comparing from the stock with Mogami neglex cable, I noticed a clearer, more refined bass, not muddied as before, and the imaging definitely improved, becoming slightly brighter than before and voices sounding much more clear and real.


Quote:

Originally Posted by markl /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, this would be quite tricky with foam like you've used zmorris. 1 inch thick is going to be quite thick and it will have to compact quite a bit behind the driver. I went through using material like this (detailed in the original thread), and I found it over-damped the sound (YMMV), which is why I recommend using a tiny bit of pulled-apart Fiberloft.

I agree that 1" is too thick, but as I said earlier that's all I had laying around. I eventually cut around 2/5" off until it sounded right. This is a great tweak, btw, because the owner has ability to change the bass and treble characteristics by determining the substance to air ratio in the cups.


Quote:

Originally Posted by stevenkelby /img/forum/go_quote.gif Could you explain exactly where this joint is?

 

[stevenkelby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zmorris /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Thanks, mine aren't noisy there, but it can't hurt to grease there anyway.

 

[fordgtlover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by siddiquehanif /img/forum/go_quote.gif hi, I have posted this question before but no reply! is there any major difference of SQ b/w stock d2000 and d5000? can we get the approximate same sound quality after applying the mark mod to the d2000's! My setup is headamp pico and using laptop as source. Would SQ difference b/w moded and unmoded be clearly audible in this setup or it is only for a high resolution heaphone system. thanks in advance.

There are a couple of threads around where people compare the D2000 and the D5000. Have a search around. I'll if I can find them and edit this post if(or when) I do find them.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/com...-denon-235536/

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/cab...-w-pic-250230/

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/d20...o-good-246508/

 

[siddiquehanif]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fordgtlover /img/forum/go_quote.gif There are a couple of threads around where people compare the D2000 and the D5000. Have a search around. I'll if I can find them and edit this post if(or when) I do find them. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/com...-denon-235536/ http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/cab...-w-pic-250230/ http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/d20...o-good-246508/

thanx fordgtlover for the links.