[Monsterzero]

Should I continue on in the "Grado'd" thread rather than in this newcomer one?

I am reading through it currently on page 49. Am listening to Marillion - screw everyone and run (their latest album) and these headphones seem to struggle with the flooded middle. The bass is lovely, the snares, toms and cymbals are delightful and the whole sound is really good for a traditional "live" sound but once the middle is filled up with a couple of guitar tracks, sound effects, 2 keyboards, heavy reverbed singing etc it takes over and can sound quite blended rather than separated if that makes sense. The clarity in there disappears when the middle is overloaded.

I have taken a break from the "Grado'd" thread just to check out images of other people's headphones to try and gauge their pad thicknesses. Maybe these pads are far too soft. the pleather is fine, no cracks but they are very soft sponges compared to the HD438 velours which are much less "squishy."

I'm going to try some 70s Rush or similar next where there are much fewer tracks and not such a "wall of sound" going on.

p.s. LPs or not, I've turned the bass down. lol. It is centred on 12 o clock) with treble at 2 o clock.

If you feel the LPs are too much bass you can disregard all the other suggestions in this thread.The LPs (to me) are too bass lite for me to enjoy,but even the EP(bass heavy) cannot compete with the bass of the Fidelio X2.

You can try to post in the Grado'd thread but its a rather dormant thread...Not sure if anyone keeps up in there anymore,but worth a shot.

I have no experience with Marillion so I cant say whether or not that album is too complex,but I do not recall any of my sextetts having trouble,except for my EPs on death/melodeath metal.

 

[GreenNeedle]

I think the newer Marillion (post Fish) has a lot more going on in the centreground. The quieter and simpler parts sound amazing but they are masters of the crescendo even moreso as technology advances so many songs will have what would have taken 40 people to play going on which they reproduce live because you can do so much more these days with loops, triggers etc. The quieter parts with 1 guitar or a guitar and a lead and just one keyboard track sound great. I think it may be overload because................

..........I just put the second side of Fleetwood Mac rumours on (vinyl) and just WOW WOW. Absolutely sensational. Didn't change bass or treble so bass is still at 12 o clock with treble at 2 o clock and everything sounds absolutely lovely. I sat down about 30 seconds into the Chain because it just sounded right.

You may be right r.e. my bass taste. These sound gorgeous. bass notes are there, crisp, clear without rumbling and without dominating. I don't mean thin or tinny bass. They sound like I want a bass guitar to sound.

Any metal you suggest would be a good test?

Searching through for metal....I have...
Megadeth Countdown to extinction & Youthanasia
Metallica black album & ride the lightning
Sepultura Chaos AD
Iron Maiden Number of the beast & Seventh Son
GnR - Appetite for Destruction
Def Leppard - Hysteria
Infectious Grooves - Grrove family Cyco and Sarsippius' Ark
Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory
Extreme - Pornograffiti (lol)

A few I don;t think you would class as metal:
Nirvana - Never mind, Pearl Jam - Ten, Creed - Human Clay & Weathered, Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese dream, Prong - Cleanising, Soundgarden - Superunkown.

The majority of my collection is rock or UK indie with a a sprinkling of other bits and bobs like Depeche mode or Prodigy.

 

[Monsterzero]

The sextetts should handle all of that easily,nothing really extreme or lightning fast in there...They will give the guitars an edge and texture and bring them much more forward than most other headphones though.

You can check my metal music thread for some good new(and older) metal

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-other-metal-thread-no-blastbeat-metal-zone.831579/

 

[GreenNeedle]

The sextetts should handle all of that easily,nothing really extreme or lightning fast in there...They will give the guitars an edge and texture and bring them much more forward than most other headphones though.

You can check my metal music thread for some good new(and older) metal

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-other-metal-thread-no-blastbeat-metal-zone.831579/

I'll open that and have a look.

I just listened to the Prodigy album - Music for a jilted generation and if these headphones are bass lite then there's something wrong with these ones. lol. Maybe its the pads.

I have GnR -Appetite on now and it is an album I have listened to frequently from 1987 right through to now. I am uber familiar with it. Sounds amazing BUT I notice that the rythmn guitar is sooo dominant. In Welcome to the jungle it was much louder than the main solo. On the plus side I just heard a little riff in "Its so easy" that I didn't ever know existed. Subtle in the background but I have never heard it before through (I would guess) more than 1,000 listens to the album and god knows how many more of that track in particular. I was only listening to that track last night on my laptop with the Sennheisers and I didn't hear it then.

Is that something you experience? The riff heavy rythmn being quite dominant? I understand what you said in another thread now when you said these headphones make it sound like the guitars are next to you rather than 2 rows back or 10 rows back etc. I am quite literally the groupie allowed on stage through the gig at the moment.

 

[GreenNeedle]

Just looking through your thread now. Lots of names I remember there but don't have any. I live in a city called Lincoln in the UK. A lot of these type of bands played our cinema/theatre as their popularity was diminishing. I remember Magnum, Uriah Heap, Saxon playing there. Some of the other might have as well. NWOBM was old hat and they were doing the 1,500 venues like our theatre on their way down. I remember 2 gigs I went to see there were Fish (Once he had gone solo) and the Kinks!!! yep the real Kinks with ray and Dave Davies.

One thing to note is that where the US sees the death of "hair metal" as the "N" bomb, hair metal was already dying here because the rave and Indie scene exploded in 87/88 and metal was already being ridiculed at that time...........yet my reord collection is full of metal as well as the "alternative" from that era. I was 15 in 1990 so this revolution in the UK as well as the grunge revolution in the US was right in my early years of being "legal to drink." 1993 RATM...........I was 18 and had my B-day in a metal nightclub. I requested Killing in the name of..... What a time to be alive.

p.s. Loving these headphones. I'm glad you picked something I had already in my list. ACDC - Back in black album on vinyl just had me OMG. Dumbstruck. And to think I thought those Sennheisers sounded good. lol.

I am still saying these are bassy though. They must be a freak because ACDC was really bassy.

Got a bit of earache on the left ear just at the top from the grills. lol. Had these phones on since 9-30pm

I've put Ride the Lightening on seeing as that seems to be fast aggressive old school like in your thread. Not listened to this for literally years. lol.

EDIT: Ride the lightning has virtually no bass!!!

 

[GreenNeedle]

I know it might be the alcohol but "Never mind the bollocks" has never ever sounded like this before. It sounds like a live album. Absolutely ridiculous.

 

[raf1919]

Are you getting clean sound out of the rotel? I have same receiver i tried using headphones with it but was just to much like "hiss" from speaker outputs. Headphone was a better but not loud. I ended up getting schitt stack and night/day improvement. Still using my rotel for speakers but i didnt have good luck with it for headphones.

 

[GreenNeedle]

Are you getting clean sound out of the rotel? I have same receiver i tried using headphones with it but was just to much like "hiss" from speaker outputs. Headphone was a better but not loud. I ended up getting schitt stack and night/day improvement. Still using my rotel for speakers but i didnt have good luck with it for headphones.

No hiss from mine. I am using the headphone input on the front not the speaker outputs. I also use some thick co-axials rather than RCAs from the turntable because I was getting buzz as the phono is right behind the power unit.

 

[GreenNeedle]

I am considering modding these so.............

1) I want to change it to having a detachable and was wondering if people had any advice / warnings / discouragement on doing this? I am looking into "pimping" the headphones as follows:

After reading through lots of threads on these phones many people that have put "quality" cables on them have stated that it didn't really have the desired effect. Of course there are also many that said it improved quality. I have read lots of posts supporting the view that the stock cable is very good though so.........

..........I am not looking to replace the cable. I want to sleeve the stock cable but make it detachable. I was getting carried away looking at all the contrasting coloured cables on here but I managed to restrain myself thinking about maintaining an essence of "vintage" and have settled on some black paracord with white dots along it rather than anything more eye catching.

Still just going in one side as it does at the moment. In effect I am just putting a "joint" in the centre of the stock cable. Any views on this? I know it will be hit and miss whether a female 3.5mm will actually fit inside the cable housing there.

2) Inner headband mod which is a must for me. I am going to re-elastic the headband with thinner elastic as it originally had (currently have hairbands around the outside) but there is a problem. Not sure if the vinyl inner headband has stretched from head heat over time but even with the elastic, the headband only just touches my head and it won't go further as the side adjusters are already at their lowest possible position. So I am going to make a different headband. Same design with the holes across the top but in leather. I will use the original as a template and then play with that template to make a shorter version of the original so it fits my head better. About 1cm difference either side should do it. Will see once I get down to doing the mods. This will be cut from 4mm thick "vintage(d)" dark chocolate brown leather. It is "raw on the underside and edges.
Any thoughts/suggestions/personal preferences as to whether I should just leave this raw? Or use some quality shoe polish/wax? Bear in mind this is the side that touches the head so raw will over time develop a natural "coating" from hair/head. Should I burnish the edges or leave them raw? Bear in mind it will have the holes along the centre so these will be harder to burnish than the outside edge of the leather.

There is no stitching going on here. The leather is already 4mm thick so not 2 thinner pieces stitched together as many normally are.

3) Pads. I have read a lot about pads and thus have come to the realisation that many people with this headphone end up staying with the stock pads (or replacements of stock pads.) Beyer pads fit an so do many others but there is no agreement on pads that maintain (or improve) the Sextett sound. I am well aware here it would be trial and error buying pads until I am happy with one that works soundwise.

So this is more just advice on the aesthetics rather than any practical advice on which pads work soundwise. I have looked at the Brainwavz pads because they come in all sorts of colours however not the round ones that would fit these because they only come in Black, red or white. I know some people will not understand this especially if they have a penchant for stealth or black/black/black. I used to wear nothing but black till I hit 18ish and I would use to spray everything black. I even had my bedroom walls painted black for a few years but I developed a love of contrasts. These contrasts must not clash of course an be complimentary to each other nor detract from the vintage appearance of the earphones.

So colourwise with the pads they need to be suitable to maintain a "vintage" vibe although I am not against coloured pads. They have to work with the black plastic / silver cup rings and brown leather headband. I have seen headphones with bright yellow pads which I think would be fine if these headphones were completely black, no silver, no brown leather so that would not work for me. (That is an example.) I initially liked the idea of a dark red but thinking on that I am not sure it would go with brown leather headband. I also thought about white but I think that will be too "in your face."

I have bought some ebay cheapies, one pair in brown and one pair in a light grey, to try out. China specials so no idea if they will turn up and seemingly be using "air" as padding compressing more than the old stock pads do but hey-ho. I can always buy a more expensive version once I have decided on colour. I want to (if possible) move away from black which is all the stock comes in. I understand that velour is a no go on these (although there is one post on a reddit post that says the opposite in the case of HM5 pads.)

I am looking through mods (not just AKG ones because there are so few) at the moment to get advice on connectors to use at the joint. I am not changing the original 1/4 inch / 6.35mm jack so I will just feed the sleeving inside it. I am just putting a "split" in the headphone end and dressing the existing cable up.

One more thing. I took all the brittle foam from inside the cup out. Hearing conflicting opinion on whether it sounds better without or with new foam/fish filter foam. Any additional opinion on that would be cool. I am not a shuffler or a fiddler so once the headphones are in position they don't move around and nor do I. I am the type that sits down and sits still to listen on headphones. If I want to do something while music is on which requires moving I would either use my speakers or if that isn't an option do without music. I don't use headphones at all in a "portable" sense. I like to hear the world when I am out and about and don't own a smartphone, ipod or anything like that.

 

[Monsterzero]

Regarding pads that improve comfort and maintain and/or improve the sound look into the Shure Alcantara

 

[GreenNeedle]

Regarding pads that improve comfort and maintain and/or improve the sound look into the Shure Alcantara

Wowee £41.50 a pair? Are these cheaper in the US? £41.50 is $57.67!!! Looks like they are only available in black too.

 

[GreenNeedle]

Just an addition. I have a good look inside the left side as well as a lot of researching on the detachable cable idea and have decided I'm just going to pretty up the cable and put it back hardwired as it is. There's not much room to play with in there to fit the 3.5mm female and I'm not overly confident in getting the 4 wires bit right in terms of soldering to the female and male. All the mods I see are of headphones with 3 wires.

So it will just be sleeved with the paracord. Paracord is already here so just waiting on the black heatshrink.

Prototype leather inner headband is done but not quite as perfect as I want it so waiting on some new tools to get the second one perfect. Looks lovely though. Chocolatel. yum, yum.
And I've redone the elastics with thin elastic like the originals. Had to cut some tiny bits out and utilise the 2 holes at the top of the circular disc to put knots in. Works a treat and looks like stock.


Will post up some before and after pictures when I get round to it.

 

[GreenNeedle]

OK some pictures but not to the point I am at:

These headphones were pretty clean when got them. I mean clean as in not many scratches or marks. Baby wipes (my tool of choice) revealed a lot of muck but they looked nice when I got them. These are pics with just the additional bit of elastic to pull the headband in:









And this is the wiring before I took the cable off. I am going to put it back the same way after so no alterations here.




And the re-elastication of the "discs" because I want this part at least to look like stock (p.s. worked slightly better with the thick "unsightly elastic):





CONTD........

 

[GreenNeedle]

Now onto the headband. I wanted a chocolate caramel(y) colour and this headband is that colour. On the photos it comes out lighter but in real life it is darker and the creases are not at all obvious like these pictures show but hey ho.

This is the old original headband next to my prototype leather one. I am going to do a cleaner cut one. I have reduced the length of the new one by 1.5cm either side (3cm total) because the original was not touching my head much. I guess some of that was from the old one stretching over time. So this is the small head version. Keep quiet about that or it will destroy many arguments against me. lol:



And this is it fitted:









I have done the cable sleeving, which was a bitch of a job, but I won't carry on tonight with photos and typing because I've drunk a bottle of tawny port and this post (2 posts) has take an hour to sort. lol. I'm not going to attempt soldering the cable back tonight either.

 

[GreenNeedle]

A couple of posts (and a surprise.)

First off a picture of the cabling. Still the stock cable. Just unsoldered, sleeved and then resoldered back in place. I had to use some heatshrink sleeve over the exit grommet because it split a bit. Had to be very careful with the heatgun because this old plastic does not like heat at all so it was a half second blast at a time: