I hope its OK that continue to document my modding process here...
Yesterday, I attempted to remove the shelf lining from the outer grills to compare with stock, as the shelf lining made the Jade 2 lose some transparency and the liveliness that I remember from stock. I hit a major road block though as removing the blutak stripped off the dust cover off the drivers to my dismay! I had been careful not to disturb the dust cover when I first made the mods, but removing them was a different story. The dust cover is very thin, flaky, and cracks easily. Thus, I can no longer recommend the mods as the potential for damage is too high (disclaimers added to my previous posts). Even Spritzer found a crack in the dust cover when he opened up his pair.
Since there were cracks in the dust cover in multiple locations, I went ahead and removed them completely, which was a PITA to get every bit out so that they don't fall into the drivers. Now I have naked drivers, and holding my breath that no dust ever finds its way in. Anyhow, I removed all the mods and took a listen to them in stock from, and thankfully the headphones still worked fine. However, the issues that I mentioned previously about the stock came back, too thin and bright without a coherent center focus. The plasticky sound was back as well. The sound in stock form just doesn't suit me.
Not learning my lesson, I went ahead and re-did the mods, but this time, with one layer of shelf-lining (as opposed to two layers previously) inside the outer grill, reapplied the bluetak (more densely this time filling up all holes and cracks), and removed the rectangle-patterned filters that is part of the inner baffle.
Just listened to the mods for one night, but they actually sound better than the first iteration of mods...more transparent, more natural, better flow, punchier bass, more weight to the sounds, and more euphonic. No more plasticky sound which I had even after the first mods, which makes me now wonder if it was due to the rectangle-patterned filters. Its odd that I previously would consistently hear this plasticky sound early on in my listening sessions but went away after an hour or so, (brain burn in?) which made me initially think it was due to my system warming up, but this time there was no plasticky sound from the beginning.
With the mods, I've never heard my system sound so good. They were even more enjoyable than the 009s and 007s which are my favorite cans. I have to listen to them more to better discern the flaws, but my first impression was that I really like the new mods. My impressions may have been been influenced though by my relief that they were even playing music at all.
In total, my Jade 2 now have the following mods:
1. one layer of shelf lining in outer grill area (two layers was too much = loses transparency and liveliness).
2. blutak in all the holes and crevasses.
3. removal of dust cover (drivers are naked!)
4. removal of rectangle pattern piece of the inner baffle
Without the dust covers, I realize it is a matter of time my Jade 2's hit the fan, but I'm going to enjoy them as much as I can until then. I put them in a large zip lock bag when not in use, and hopefully the outer shelf lining will prevent dust from getting inside. I think I'm going to hold off on any more mods, as they sound so good right now and don't want to risk any dust from getting in.
but for sure is much much much thinner than Z1R 
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