huge improvement for k701. sq+comfort. $1+5 minutes!

[music_man]

huge improvement for k701. sq+comfort. $1+5 minutes!

you need 4 nylon wire ties. 1/8"x6" long.

look at the headphones from the left(cable) side. with the front of the headphones facing you. grasp the leather headband by the bottom towards the earcup. pull up on it towards the top of the headphone. you will see two white plastic pieces that come together as they slide up the two "rails". hold the headband all the way up. slip a wire tie around the two plastic pieces on the front of the phones facing you. so that the eyelet of the wire tie is pointing to the bottom outside of the phones. pull the tie shut. put another wire tie on the back side of those same plastic pieces on the left side of the phones. repeat this procedure on the two plastic pieces on the right side of the phones(front and back of the plastic pieces again). tighten the ties so that the headband is fully extended. do not force them. cut off the excess wire tie.

the phones will now clamp tighter because the leather piece being all the way up pulls the rails tighter together. they will still stay put on your head because of this. the leather headband will no longer touch your head(unless it is huge). even though it is clamping tighter, not having the leather dig into your head should be much more comfortable(it is for me). you should only have a problem if your head is very small.

>for some reason this also improved the sound quality a whole lot,imo<

you have nothing to loose here. just be carefull. it is $1usd for the wire ties. this should take you 5 minutes. if you don't like it just snip them off with a scissors. this is like the best value tweak i have ever found imo. ymmv of course.

music_man

 

[sschmeichel]

interesting idea... but do you have a picture?

 

[music_man]

i have a weird personal policy of not posting pics to the internet. unless they are others pics already in the public domain. sorry, long story.

anyhow, this is so simple,cheap and reversable that if anyone is intrested whatsoever they might as well just go for it. the difference for me in sound and comfort was huge. nothing to loose on this one.

music_man

 

[music_man]

there i thought a lot of people would be very intrested in this. oh well.

music_man

 

[AudioCats]

I don't have a pair of K701's.....

But if I do and I am interested in this mod, what will my first reaction be? I'd ask "do you have a picture?", or wait, you already say no pictures, oh well.....

 

[nelamvr6]

I may be in the minority, but I don't find the K701's to be uncomfortable in the first place.

 

[Todd R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by music_man /img/forum/go_quote.gif there i thought a lot of people would be very intrested in this. oh well. music_man

Thanks for sharing, I've discovered that one myself as well. White twist ties work too.

 

[beerad]

Hmmm, this is easily simulated by simply squeezing the white headband endpiece against the white headband stop with your thumb and fingers. I get no change in comfort or sound, but the K701 seems to fit me pretty well. Maybe I have a big head, or its oddly shaped, I dunno..

 

[laxx]

I don't think this is going to help me. I already wear the 701's with the headband fully extended, lol.

 

[music_man]

i found that if the headband is always fully estended it improves comfort and sound. it will not put pressure on your head so that makes it more comfortabe. it will also cause the cups to clamp harder because the headband is pulling the rails together. that i think is what improves the sound. the tighter seal. it could also be that the headband transmits secondary sound vibrations into your skull. it sounds and feels a lot better to me. even if your head is large and fully extends the band having it all the way up by itself will relieve pressure and still clamp tighter. if the band is floating free it is pressing on your head regardless of your head size.

trying this with your hands will not work. having your hands on the phones will seriously degrade the sound. plus you will be pulling up on them causing improper placement of the earcups. if you just want to try it, use some white bag twist ties like todd r suggested. if you like it i think the nylon ties are much better.

there is one down side to this i thought of. if you leave this for a long time and than want the headband floating again. you may have completely stretched the bands so it no longer applies any pressure.

anyways i am very happy that i discovered this. for myself at least.

music_man

 

[beerad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by music_man /img/forum/go_quote.gif trying this with your hands will not work. having your hands on the phones will seriously degrade the sound. plus you will be pulling up on them causing improper placement of the earcups. if you just want to try it, use some white bag twist ties like todd r suggested. if you like it i think the nylon ties are much better.

Ok, I did:
1) Wired stops together with twist ties.
2) Pinched white stops together with my fingers.
3) Fit k701s normally.

I hear no difference between 1, 2, and 3. Maybe your mod is fit dependent, and the fact that you hear a difference between 1 and 3 means that you can't do 2 without degrading the sound (although I don't see how)?

When I do 2) my hands are not touching the earcups, my fingers are not pulling up on the white stops any more than the wire ties are, and I'm not pulling in or out on the frame.

 

[labmat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nelamvr6 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I may be in the minority, but I don't find the K701's to be uncomfortable in the first place.

I don't find the K701s to be uncomfortable either. In fact I think this mod would make the phones very wierd to wear at least for me (my ears are pretty close to the top of my head)

I can see however why this mod would improve comfort for someone with ears that are lower than mine.

 

[music_man]

well i guess it is not for everyone. i figured i'd just throw it out there. since it worked great for me.

music_man

 

[cswann1]

I came up with this exact same mod too. Although it took me a bit to realize zip ties were the best way to go about it. I have links to some pics HERE.

I was so happy with the results that I was going to post a new thread, but a search brought this one to my attention. The thread linked above showed me that there are a lot of K701 users who are unhappy with the comfort of these phones.

I wanted to mention to anyone wanting to make their K701's more comfortable that my particular case may not be best for everyone. I guess I have a big-ol-melon, because the maximum extension of the headband was needed for me.

Anyone trying this should wrap the zip ties loosely around the slider piece and the stop, and allow some movement of the band assembly. Try on the phones and tighten the zip ties up in small increments until you have just the right pressure of the band on the top of your head. Once you have the band sitting right where you want it, go ahead and clip the zip ties.

If you look further down the thread I linked above, you'll see some pics of another mod for the band. It involves small pieces of foam tape placed between the bumps on the underside of the headband. It looks like it would go even further in making these cans more comfortable.