M1060c- open soundstage mod
Nov 3, 2019 at 9:27 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 41

Dawnrazor

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i say open because I have already removed the outside grills and foam and am running without that stuff. Even then the soundstage is not as wide as the M1060. So i did a mod to fix it.

I call this the “Kitchen Drawer” mod because you take that stuff they sell in the grocery stores to line kitchen drawers and put it around the metal case. Idea is to absorb and diffuse reflection points.

With this mod the m1060c now has a bigger stage than the M1060 even modded as I have it.

Depth is probably the same but because the stage is wider it seems depth is a bit less. Its stretched enough that there is now black between instruments.

Here are some picts

https://postimg.cc/ZC9WkMZN

Chose this stuff because it is cheap, readily available, easy to work with, and because it is spongy and shaped should both diffuse and absorb.

For the ocd looks people do note i dont care how my cans look. Sound is everything. You may be able to find this stuff in black.

The 3 black strips are damping sheets like dynamat and the gooey stuff painted on most of the metal is C37 lacquer. I left the horizontal traces un painted in case I want to add damping.
 
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Nov 3, 2019 at 9:55 PM Post #2 of 41
Dust, dirt, and hair now have access to your driver. Those things will kill a planar magnetic driver and make it sound horrible. At the very least put some thin speaker grill material over it. It can be found thin enough to be audibly transparent, so it would sound the same as you have it now but you would be protecting your cans.
 
Nov 3, 2019 at 10:02 PM Post #3 of 41
Very interesting stuff! But damn to me the aesthetics are almost just as important as the sound! I could never Frankenstein my cans like that!
 
Nov 3, 2019 at 10:16 PM Post #4 of 41
Dust, dirt, and hair now have access to your driver. Those things will kill a planar magnetic driver and make it sound horrible. At the very least put some thin speaker grill material over it. It can be found thin enough to be audibly transparent, so it would sound the same as you have it now but you would be protecting your cans.
Its been about a year since I had the grill off of my m1060 and about 5 months for the M1060c with no issues. FWIW I had planar magnetic speakers for over 10 years without the grill cloth in place and no issues. Those speakers had a glue that was sticky that held the wires in place. It was a dust magnet I am sure. No issues.

And so what lets say its a horrible ticking time bomb. Worse case scenario I open the driver to clean. Lets say I pull a DMS and destroy the driver. Oh well I have to buy another pair or a new model. I still don't see that happening. Certainly it would have happened by now.

I will be removing the covering on the pad side soon. Already ditched the foam for the pad, so that thin stuff on the metal is on my list.
 
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Nov 3, 2019 at 10:19 PM Post #5 of 41
Very interesting stuff! But damn to me the aesthetics are almost just as important as the sound! I could never Frankenstein my cans like that!
Yeah its been a surprise to me since I got into headphones how different it is. Looks almost seem to trump sound. I get soo frustrated at all the review videos that wax on and on about comfort and build quality and talk more about that than the sound.

Its just me and do your own research but I can't see what they look like when I am listening...
 
Nov 4, 2019 at 1:51 AM Post #6 of 41
Though I don't doubt you are getting altered SS presentation, this kind of mod across head-fi threads was usually most effective in an earside + closed-back application or earside + semi-closed back cup application or grills application for dealing with backwave reflections.....à la....Fostex T-X0 Mk2 or 3/ HFM HE-xxx models...

Excuse if I'm seeing/picking things up wrong, early rise...and just skimmed over everything regarding my comments in the other thread....interesting to do it on the full outer openback of 1060C (I thought that was an earside photo at first to address the back-wave) with no reflecting surface except the very thin mesh really.
I'm guessing removing the mesh could give that instant wider presentation, ignoring other mods. but it could them pull in tiny bits/metalic bits and you get distortions/driver damage.
 
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Nov 4, 2019 at 10:29 AM Post #7 of 41
0F79B16F-FC32-4663-831B-04B6363344A7.jpeg
4027C2C9-E8BA-4F14-9496-06567893EDAB.jpeg
0F79B16F-FC32-4663-831B-04B6363344A7.jpeg
4027C2C9-E8BA-4F14-9496-06567893EDAB.jpeg
Though I don't doubt you are getting altered SS presentation, this kind of mod across head-fi threads was usually most effective in an earside + closed-back application or earside + semi-closed back cup application or grills application for dealing with backwave reflections.....à la....Fostex T-X0 Mk2 or 3/ HFM HE-xxx models...

Excuse if I'm seeing/picking things up wrong, early rise...and just skimmed over everything regarding my comments in the other thread....interesting to do it on the full outer openback of 1060C (I thought that was an earside photo at first to address the back-wave) with no reflecting surface except the very thin mesh really.
I'm guessing removing the mesh could give that instant wider presentation, ignoring other mods. but it could them pull in tiny bits/metalic bits and you get distortions/driver damage.
No worries. I am probably not being clear. Picts above show the back side. On the pad side i just removed the foam but not the mesh so far
 
Nov 4, 2019 at 10:36 AM Post #8 of 41
in case its not clear the material is cut to size and oversized a bit so its a friction fit. Totally removable. You could do adhesive i suppose.
 
Nov 11, 2019 at 3:14 PM Post #9 of 41
i say open because I have already removed the outside grills and foam and am running without that stuff. Even then the soundstage is not as wide as the M1060. So i did a mod to fix it.

I call this the “Kitchen Drawer” mod because you take that stuff they sell in the grocery stores to line kitchen drawers and put it around the metal case. Idea is to absorb and diffuse reflection points.

With this mod the m1060c now has a bigger stage than the M1060 even modded as I have it.

Depth is probably the same but because the stage is wider it seems depth is a bit less. Its stretched enough that there is now black between instruments.

Here are some picts

https://postimg.cc/ZC9WkMZN

Chose this stuff because it is cheap, readily available, easy to work with, and because it is spongy and shaped should both diffuse and absorb.

For the ocd looks people do note i dont care how my cans look. Sound is everything. You may be able to find this stuff in black.

The 3 black strips are damping sheets like dynamat and the gooey stuff painted on most of the metal is C37 lacquer. I left the horizontal traces un painted in case I want to add damping.

Dang! I got rid of my M1060C because I really enjoy the sound stage of my modded M1060, despite liking everything else (minus weight) of the M1060C. Now I want to get another pair to try this out!
 
Nov 11, 2019 at 3:52 PM Post #10 of 41
Dang! I got rid of my M1060C because I really enjoy the sound stage of my modded M1060, despite liking everything else (minus weight) of the M1060C. Now I want to get another pair to try this out!
Dude I never listened to the 1060c because of what you mention. 1060 had a better soundstage and I played it all the time. Now I listen to the m1060c exclusively. Though the 1060 might benefit from a similar mod. Do try it if you can. With the new models coming out prices will fall
 
Nov 14, 2019 at 12:10 AM Post #11 of 41
Really digging this mod. Made some home brew xlr cables, moved to a SD card hdd and did this mod. The system sounds the best it ever has and all added positively to the sound. This mod is working well. I keep my work phone close by since most of my listening is when I am working. Couple times a day I think I hear my phone ring and its almost always the music. Little elements of the music that sound like they are outside the headphone and in the room. Its scary sometimes.

I have one upgrade I will be posting soon...
 
Nov 14, 2019 at 4:41 PM Post #12 of 41
That was coooool! While I have a question here about changing something closed to open: How do you figure out that the soundstage is correct after modding? And since the back is now opened, some sound that was supposed to be reflected will directly go out, are there methods to fix that?
 
Nov 14, 2019 at 5:26 PM Post #13 of 41
That was coooool! While I have a question here about changing something closed to open: How do you figure out that the soundstage is correct after modding? And since the back is now opened, some sound that was supposed to be reflected will directly go out, are there methods to fix that?
Couple of things. There were lots more people before me opening up the M1060c. DMS has a whole yourtube vid about it and adds some tape, etc. I think he had measurements.

In my case I have the M1060 which is by nature open. In my case I bought the M1060c as well to make it open. The M1060c is a great headphone and well open it is good its not as wide as the M1060. So that is an answer about the soundstage being correct. I compared it to an open version. Also its just from experience of when I had planar speakers.

Its a good point about the reflected sound. The unmodded m1060c has a bunch of foam presumably to absorb those reflections so I am thinking that removing the back and the foam is probably just a better way of "absorbing" things. FWIW I think opening it created an issue where the metal ring of the cup is creating reflections. This mod fixes it.
 
Dec 19, 2019 at 10:00 AM Post #14 of 41
i say open because I have already removed the outside grills and foam and am running without that stuff. Even then the soundstage is not as wide as the M1060. So i did a mod to fix it.

I call this the “Kitchen Drawer” mod because you take that stuff they sell in the grocery stores to line kitchen drawers and put it around the metal case. Idea is to absorb and diffuse reflection points.

With this mod the m1060c now has a bigger stage than the M1060 even modded as I have it.

Depth is probably the same but because the stage is wider it seems depth is a bit less. Its stretched enough that there is now black between instruments.

Here are some picts

https://postimg.cc/ZC9WkMZN

Chose this stuff because it is cheap, readily available, easy to work with, and because it is spongy and shaped should both diffuse and absorb.

For the ocd looks people do note i dont care how my cans look. Sound is everything. You may be able to find this stuff in black.

The 3 black strips are damping sheets like dynamat and the gooey stuff painted on most of the metal is C37 lacquer. I left the horizontal traces un painted in case I want to add damping.
Oh I have some thick foam I could squeeze on the sides. But I still have that white tape over the driver. What changes does it make removing that tape?
 
Dec 20, 2019 at 10:04 PM Post #15 of 41
Oh I have some thick foam I could squeeze on the sides. But I still have that white tape over the driver. What changes does it make removing that tape?
SOrry i don't recall. Pretty sure I just thought it was bad and removed it. Maybe DMS talked about it in his vid.
 

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