[Moonwalker]

Hi!

Few days ago, I bought and DISASSEMBLED the Senns HD201.
More on that later, modding them just begun...
I tried to increase bass extension and of course loked for damped/undamped space inside the earcups.

BTW - their construction - very high standards - not material wise, byt nearly everything can be changed, and there's so many screws for just everything...

Moonwalker

 

[Mercuttio]

Recable those things. That stock cable drove me nuts.

 

[Moonwalker]

Hi, Mercuttio!

Did you recabled them already? I'm asking because that was the first thing I wanted to do, but the cable must be cut somewhere inside the cups, it is going straingt into the driver housing, which is solidly glued to the baffle plate, so I don't want to brak the platic housing trying to remove the hard glue from the connection point. I'm afraid it would break, since it seems so strong and the plastic not so strong

What I'm trying to say the connector where the cable terminates on the driver is hidden below the glued plastic enclosure, so the cleanest way to re-solder the cable directly on driver seems impossible for me now

The secon option would be leaving 2-3 inches of old cable from drivers and then solder the new cable inside cups - using masking isolating tape and so on..

And that's too dirty and complicated comapred to leaving the cable until it fails itself and I'd be forced to do something..

And because you said it DROVE you nuts, i'm assuming you make something to improve them

Moonwalker

 

[Gibo]

pics

 

[Moonwalker]

Sorry, it was late at night and I was too tired to remember take shots for this great community

Still, they're back together now until next mod, so nothing to show either

I put foam pieces under silver part of the enclosure. - 5x7x1.5cm medium density, pink color

because it is not visible

i would not use it in transparent phones like Beyer231Galactic.

Moonwalker

 

[Moonwalker]

Hi to all there!

Last night I disassembled the HD201 again

It was because I felt the pink quite large foam sacrificed too much bass level and extension too.
I measured them stock, drivers floating free in air without rear enclosure, with large pink foam in place and finally with thinner (but denser) white foam there.

I found interesting that the drivers are very precisely matched (say 0.3 dB apart), from 30Hz - 3kHz, then some differences around 2-3 dB in the range of 4-6kHz occur, then the rest of treble is again very close together.

I also noticed the white (paper?) lining around the actual driver acts as tuned bass resonator, much like the driver surrounding diaphragm on my HD600 and HD650.

Sonically, they're balanced, with preference going towards mids, bass is weaker but nice and tuneful, treble again not too pronounced, but never harsh or sibilant. They're maybe sounding too distand at times, like you have to catch the music and not be forced to listen to it, as opposed for example to Beyerdynamic DT231 I have. The large soundtage still sounds a bit hollow for me, unoccupied would be the right word here, or maybe even lean? Like too large place for too few actors there.

There's also trace of 'cheapness' if I can say so. Their response just reminds me more of mid-fi radio (of good quality - never harsh, but not too extended, say perfect AM station - OK, I'm exaggerating here) than hi-end rig with balance over entire audible spectrum AND BEYOND

Did someone found something similar, different or just plain interesting about sound of these phones or have modding tips?

Hope this info will help

Moonwalker

 

[Moonwalker]

Hi!

I did some extensive mods to my poor HD-201 to make them sound more to my tastes.

I'm sorry, but the pictures will be taken next time I open them for some reason other than just taking pics.

Here is the short version of the mods taken. If you need some more info, just ask for it.

Mod #1: removing the plastic basin from the rear side of the driver - pry it open and then cut the cable from it.

Mod#2: replacing stock gummy long microphonic cable with shorter from some sony buds - thin and not microphonic at all

Mod#3: Opening the damping holes on back side of the driver - paper is glued and needs to be ripped up from each hole. The hole must be cleaned. Caution must be taken to not let the remains of paper fall in driver.

Mod#4: (Foam mod 1) - glued thin yellow foam on back of the driver - diameter 25 mm, thickness 3 mm.

Mod#5: (Foam mod 2) - filled silver cup cavity with foam - rectangle large enough to fit tightly there, thickness 8 mm.

Now they have stronger bottom, and seem to sing happier for me. Really, they just sound quite different, richer and not, dare I say overly lean and tight like the stock ones.

I'm afraid it's irreversible mod, there's no way back (I discarded plastic basin already). For example, returning the driver damping to original state is delicate enough for me to even attempt it

Moonwalker