HI guys! I just wanted to report on a little experiment I did with my Z1000's. I imagine that this could also work for the ZX700's.
My two problems with the Z1000 have been:
1. There is buzzing at low frequencies (20-100hz) in the left earcup. This is only really noticeable when playing frequency sweeps but is annoying nonetheless.
2. The treble can be a little 'splashy' at times.
3. Bass response is a little weak in the lowest frequencies, and graphs from several sources point out a relatively large amount of distortion in the lower frequencies.
Now I know from a previous experiment of just disassembling the Z1000's that there is in fact no damping material whatsoever. in the cups. I imagine that the Sony engineers must have been very confident that the Magnesium material would not produce any backwave resonances or ringing of any kind in the high frequencies, because apart from a felt pad behind the driver there is no material. I am no believer in the idea that simply adding damping material will improve any driver, but this seemed a little odd. I also know that the cable is not completely secured inside the headphone. I wondered whether or not the buzzing in the left earpiece could have been caused by the low frequencies causing the cable to move around, or whether it was just some component in the left earpiece (where the entire detachable system is situated.)
So I tried filling the Z1000 cup with a thin slice of melamine foam. I like melamine foam because its a porous material that can be cut into many shapes, does not leave fibres around, and besides being a great cleaning material is also used in audio applications to absorb high frequency sounds. It's also very cheap (you can usually find it at Asian supermarkets, it is a cleaning product that is sometimes called a "magic eraser". )
Here are some of the images, and hopefully these pictures will also serve as a guide to what other modding possibilities are possible with these.
The driver cups with the earpads removed. The headphone is easier to work with if you extend both cups to their maxmium length, and 'lock' one against the other as they are in the images.
Note: There are a large number of vents in the baffle. However, each vent is 'ribbed' with plastic. Therefore it would be quite difficult to cover up individual vent segments. You could tape over an entire set of vents, like for instance the vents in the bottom right. This would probably be a very quick and easy mod but I did not do this after putting in the melamine.
NOTE WELL: The peach coloured driver is VERY exposed once the earpads are removed. Be very careful when unscrewing the baffle, or with any other tool around the driver. Also be very careful with the screws at all times - the magnet in the driver is very strong, and will very happily suck screws right into the LCP driver membrane. If this happens, this will deform the driver, as I found out when I accidentally dropped a screw when screwing the baffle back in. If the screw is stuck in the driver, use tweezers to carefully pull it out. I now have a small deformation (but thankfully not a tear) in one of the drivers. My advice is, drop the screws into the thread holes with your fingers instead of trying to keeping the screw on the tip of a magnetic screw driver as you might normally do. Please be careful!
The headphone dissembled. This is the left earpiece. Apart from the note about the screws, this is relatively easy. Be careful when pulling the baffle from the cup as the cable is relatively short.
Notes on the baffle:
1. The baffle is marked as ABS plastic and seems relatively strong. There is a 'wall' in the interior that creates a second chamber with the earcups, and makes contact with the earcups via a soft foam cutout visible in the image. There are no real areas of bare plastic like, for instance, the T50RP baffle. Areas where you could conceivably put plasticine or some other kind of material are also areas where large vents are present. Therefore I do not think it is possible to mass load the baffle for better bass response without blocking those vents, and therefore dramatically changing the signature. Furthermore the baffle seems well built enough - I suspect that distortion in the lower frequencies may be a characteristic of the driver itself and not a product of baffle resonances. I welcome anybody to prove me wrong, as I'm not quite game to stuff plasticine into the baffle when it could pull away the felt that covers the vents if you tried to remove it later.
2. As you can see, besides the notch in the magnesium earcup for the cable to be secured into, the cable does not seem to be secured in the actual cup itself.
3. There is a felt dot on the back of the driver. This seems to be the only treatment for treble backwave.
4. I only noticed this later, but there are two small holes near the driver in the baffle. One is in the white ring that immediately surrounds the magnet, and does not seem to open up on the other side as it is behind the membrane. The other is a hole in the black plastic ring around the driver. You can see it in the first image with the disassembled earcup, around the 10 o clock position.
Notes on the earcup:
1. The magnesium sure is an interesting colour! It also has an interesting powdery feel. Tapping around the earpiece, it seems that the thickest part of the earpiece is directly behind the driver. The magnesium makes a pretty dull noise when tapped on, so this very scientific test makes me believe magnesium actually seems to be a decent choice of material. Sony loves it, so they must be onto something.
2. The giant port at the back of the driver cup? There is no filter on that. (You can see it on the right side of this cup). Therefore the interior of this earphone should slowly fill with dust. Do not take the Z1000's into a sandstorm is all I can say.
Now for the melamine:
Here is a single large melamine block. You could make a careful cutout for the driver, or you could do what I did with a ruler and some guesstimates you can make a cutout the right shape.
Voila! Here is one I prepared earlier. The left and right side are the same shape, so its possible to make one cut out and then slice it into two thinner halves so you end up with an equal volume of melamine in both cups. I ended up with a slice about 8mm thick. Account for the screw holes / threads separately though because I am not sure they are in exactly identical positions.
Here is how the melamine sits in the cup. I just tucked the cable beside one of the binding posts so that it will no longer be suspended behind the driver. (It could be that the cable was originally in this position and I merely dislodged it by assembling it, but I guess I will never know. The melamine will also stop the cable from moving about.
Again when reassembling the headphone, I should repeat my warning about being careful about the screws and the magnets!
Results:
So what was the outcome of the melamine mod?
Pros:
- Treble sounds far less splashy/hot now. While there is no apparent loss in detail and actually the treble seems a bit more natural, the headphone overall sounds darker now. This makes it sound a bit more neutral which may or may not be to your taste. It does bring the headphone closer to the M50's sound, though with better timbre than the M50s.
- Isolation is improved. This seems to be a product of the melamine blocking up the vent at the back slightly.
Cons:
- The soundstage shrinks a little - I would say this is the flip side of the coin of improved isolation, as the headphone sounds a little more solid and closed in now. For people who are not a big fan of the Z1000's slightly off soundstage this could be an improvement.
- Due to blocking the vent holes, the earcups are a bit more stuffy now and get a bit warmer on your ears.
- You may not like the darker sound.
- This mod did not actually fix my original problem of the buzzing in the left earpiece. I suspect it must be a fault somewhere in the driver or the detachable cable assembly.
Overall
Overall was this mod worth it? I am going to give the new sound a bit of a listen but I am not going to say right now this was a "huge improvement" or anything hyperbolic like that. It does fix up the slightly nasal sound of the Z1000 sound a little, but the glossy treble is arguably what makes the Z1000 distinctive. The darker sound naturally increases the perceived bass response, and the headphone, which had great timbre before the mod, now sounds even more solid and resonance free.
I've pointed out before by some that the Z1000 sounds similar to the M50, though overall with a lighter tone, less bass, less potential sibilance and better timbre. After the mod the comparison becomes even more valid, as the Z1000 with the melamine brings it more in line with the M50s darker signature while keeping all the other characteristics.
I am interested to see if following swbf2cheater 's
lovely parting suggestion to Head-FI - using Head Direct HE-300 velour pads - transforms the Z1000 into a beast and report on that. I suspect that in conjunction with this mod, and the larger distances from the ear created by the velour pads which will tilt the headphone again to a lighter sound, you will end up with something pretty special.
I hope the pictures and the guide also give some other more inquisitive and adventurous modders something to think about! I imagine that everything here could also be applied to the ZX700 with even greater effect, as resonances seem to be a greater problem with the ZX700. If anyone else wants to try this mod, please let me know what you think. As the mod is fully reversible I think its worth a go.
Updated impressions after a few days of listening:
I actually think this has been a worthwhile mod. The Z1000's are less fatiguing and actually sound a bit more natural. Timing / detail seems to have improved; the loss of that artificial treble resonance does mean that it has lost some of the sparkly character, but treble is more detailed and articulate and a lot cleaner. The increased isolation and slightly more intimate soundstage makes the Z1000 even better for acoustic. I do recommend folk give this a go
