[MrBapti]

cool mod, makes my m50s sound more clear
 
sadly i ripped the foam on one of my pads
 
oh well, wasn't planing to reverse the mod anyways

 

[eriktheg]

Taking off the soft white disk foam thingy is something I have never ever seen attempted on head-fi... Are you sure it improves anything? I mean... I would think that the manufacturers put it specifically there for good purposes.. but bigger sound stage does sound sorta nice...
I'm not so sure, so can anyone confirm the foam disk mod??

 

[FearSC549]

Quote:

Taking off the soft white disk foam thingy is something I have never ever seen attempted on head-fi... Are you sure it improves anything? I mean... I would think that the manufacturers put it specifically there for good purposes.. but bigger sound stage does sound sorta nice...
I'm not so sure, so can anyone confirm the foam disk mod??

Why don't you try it and judge for yourself? The mod is not permanent. 

 

[MrBapti]

I also like how the pads inside don't touch your ears anymore

 

[jerg]

Quote:

cool mod, makes my m50s sound more clear
 
sadly i ripped the foam on one of my pads
 
oh well, wasn't planing to reverse the mod anyways

Cool, but does it increase the soundstage noticeably? IMO the stock M50 treble is enough clarity and any more would be too sharp for my ears, but if it's accompanied by a good boost in soundstage then I may very well do this mod too.

 

[MrBapti]

IMO, yes but slightly
 
it makes it sound more "open" if that helps

 

[jerg]

Quote:

IMO, yes but slightly
 
it makes it sound more "open" if that helps

Alright brb trying the mod now, wish me luck!
 
Edit: done, wow I'm surprised at how much the treble changed. Hopefully it is all pros and no cons to the sound quality though - will be auditioning this for the next hour and report back.

 

[MrBapti]

Quote:

Alright brb trying the mod now, wish me luck!
 
Edit: done, wow I'm surprised at how much the treble changed. Hopefully it is all pros and no cons to the sound quality though - will be auditioning this for the next hour and report back.

haha, did you remove both the foam on the pads and the ones in the driver?
 
because i only removed the foam on the pad D

 

[jerg]

Quote:

haha, did you remove both the foam on the pads and the ones in the driver?
 
because i only removed the foam on the pad D

Yeah same, I'm not brave enough to do the driver pad removal either. Anyway I'm really liking this new sound...much clarity is added, treble seems even further extended now but still mighty smooth, bass is unaffected, mids seem more open now. Only possible grudge I have is it seems to expose the outer rim of my ears to the hard plastic bumps of the driver cover (the foam pad of the pleather cushion masks that away), only a little though (don't feel it until maybe 1 hour into wearing the cans), so my ears will likely adapt to it in a day or two.

 

[MrBapti]

Quote:

Yeah same, I'm not brave enough to do the driver pad removal either. Anyway I'm really liking this new sound...much clarity is added, treble seems even further extended now but still mighty smooth, bass is unaffected, mids seem more open now. Only possible grudge I have is it seems to expose the outer rim of my ears to the hard plastic bumps of the driver cover (the foam pad of the pleather cushion masks that away), only a little though (don't feel it until maybe 1 hour into wearing the cans), so my ears will likely adapt to it in a day or two.

yes, i guess your ears are larger than mine then
 
because mine don't touch the drivers at at all
 
 

 

[FearSC549]

Removing the foam on the back of the driver increases soundstage. 

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Removing the foam on the back of the driver increases soundstage. 

Still, the M50 designer put the foam there for a reason - probably to dampen any reverb within the driver chamber. 

 

[FearSC549]

Quote:

Still, the M50 designer put the foam there for a reason - probably to dampen any reverb within the driver chamber. 

The only reason I can think of as to why there's a foam on the back of the driver is to get rid of resonance within the enclosure or to equalize the impedance or to modify the frequency response that they couldn't fix/alter in the initial driver design.
 
Ears judge, not necessarily facts.

 

[mvmv]

Just did the first foam removing mod and i found quite a reasonable change. I've found the bass to drop off a little but i have a bass boost on my amp and EQ is always there if necessary. The mids do sound more forward and there is a bit more clarity to my ears, female vocals sound noticeably improved. The treble is slightly more piercing though, i've found this to be similar when going from comply tips back to silicone on my TF-10s, if you listen for many hours with these modded M50 it could get a bit fatiguing. For my circumstances though it's a change for the better, cheers FearSC549.

 

[blacknile]

The mids on my ATH-M50 are not recessed. ATH-M50 might have other minor defects but not recessed mids.
 
This is of course my opinion and is based on the following listening conditions:
 
Analog: Rega Planar 3 + Denon DL110 Cart  -> Musical Fidelity V-LPS Phono -> Creek Evolution Integrated
Digital 1: EAC/FLAC data + Foobar2000/Wasapi -> HRT Music Streamer II DAC -> Creek Evolution Integrated
Digital 2: EAC/FLAC data + Foobar2000/Wasapi -> iBasso D2+
Digital 3: Marantz CD6000OSE headphone jack
Digital 4: Sansa Clip + Fiio E5
 
Other headphones I own/have owned for comparison: Alessandro MS-1, Beyerdynamic DT880 600ohm, AKG K240 MKII, Koss Porta Pro, Sennheiser PX100. The mids on the ATH-M50 are slightly worse than those on the DT880, comparable to those on the AKG, better than all the rest.
 
Cheers