HD 58X Sound impressions:
I'm running a Yulong D100 II through its high impedance output-->HP
The 58X is quite warm (kinda funny how I adjust, go back to brighter hps ie: msr7 and feel it sounds sibilant when I usually don't) & how they do the imaging & soundstage is very Sennheiser like. They have a very specific kind of expansive, airy, & well imaged soundstage quality that I've found in the 6 series so far.
I passed on the Sennheiser 6 lineup before because their veiled mids coupled with their airier spatialization along with their laid back sound wasn't my cup of tea. A lot of vocals just sounded really airy, and an example for the laid back sound is having detailed but slow decay on the bass as opposed to a tight & fast transient response.
The HD650 sounded unnaturally warm throughput the spectrum to me, and the HD600 became the ATH R70x instead.
The 58X are definitely more dynamic. It loses it's more laid back quality for a tighter sound, but still keeps the very nice airy spatialization. I approve of this.
Sound wise, treble is amazing, bass quality was a relative meh, mid or upper bass quantity felt slightly boosted, running into the still somewhat airy mids a bit.
How they fit into the lineup for me:
Overall, it's the combination of a tighter sound and how they presented that in their airy spatialization that sold it for me. I don't like warm headphones, but I do like this sound as a whole.
As to what this is not, and will never become, are...
1. My planar M1060. That is a different sort of bass and sound. The 58X doesn't have great bass quality or the extremely detailed & fast quality of a planar bass.
2. My MSR7. Which is a bright headphone & has quite the shiny & shimmery treble, as I'd call it. The 58X treble is not as present due to the volume, but the quality is there.
Mod impressions:
I found that the mids were still a bit airy & with the airy soundstage, it felt like the mids was just like air trying to escape through the grille and away from me rather than registering as someone singing to me from somewhere else. I also felt part of the bass was boosted and wanted to see what I could do.
Modding became a battle of
1. What to add or not add to reflect sound back to keep the sound present
2. ^^Same but in regards to dampening distortion or modifying dB curves.
Removing the black dampener against the grille:
Airier sound in general. Would not recommend. I know some people who do this and just turn up the volume because they couldn't hear the sound as well anymore. Now they can't really hear anything real well anymore.
More present & airier treble that actually fatigues, decreased bass, and just not for me.
DIY audio heaven's felt mod: I could only find red stiffened felt from the same brand.
Disclaimer: His green felt has a 50/50 composition while mines had a 85 poly/15 acrylic composition. Couldn't find his specific one anywhere online or in stores.
I think the mid & upper bass might have been lowered, but I was too focused on how completely covering the bass port with the felt closed up the soundstage & how the imaging became the biggest cluster__*. A lot of sounds running into each other, not a mod for me if I'd like to keep the original presentation.
Cutting ovals into the red felt & putting it back on the port:
So I just cut ovals into the circles so that a small part of the oval actually goes over the port, but if I'm not going insane, it actually firms up the mids of bit. Whether I'm hallucinating, it be from reflection dampening, or from partially covering the port, I hope it still keeps sounding good.
It looks kinda wonky but it sounds different if only 1 side is covering the port a bit, so it's doing something.
Mod conclusion: I'm quite happy with the firming up of the mids. As for the bass, don't think I can do much without something too adverse for me to handle, without going back to housing or driver design. Think I'm happy enough with how the mids are doing.
Edit: I wear glasses so the decrease in bass volume is kinda there now due to the imperfect seal.
