[allennokisi]

So after reading all the praise about them I broke down and got them during my lunch break. I figured that everyone had found a real sleeper in the budget market.

So armed with the new cans and my commuting rig, a portable MD player and the 888's and ex-70's I usually use on the train ride to work, I got a quick bite and then found a quiet place (not easy to do around my office) to try them out. Well to tell the truth I was a little underwelmed. Don't worry, no one has to be sorry about my wallet. But I could think of a few other things I could get with that 8000 yen!

The main complaint, I was wondering where that bass was that everyone was talking about. So what do I do on the first day that I buy anything? Of course I open them up. I do this with everything, amps, DVD players, DAC's, most of my headphones, whatever, I just like seeing what's inside everyting. Oh and they have less isolation than the ex-70's.

Low and behold, they look just like most of the Sony headphones I've seen. An undamped rear chamber with a bunch of vents leading into the ear chamber and a vent leading out the back of the earcup. I've modded a pair of CD850's with great success by damping the chamber and sealing some of the vents. I've also modded the hell out of some v600's. (don't ask me why I have them, but they were almost free) I've gotten the v600's to sound bad instead of sounding like crap.

So I sealed the vent that's under the silver button thing on the back of the earcup and I put asmuch speaker damping material inside as I could.

So what happened? Almost nothing. The sound got a little darker. There aren' t really any internal resonances to damp, and I guess just sealing that one vent didn't do much to improve the bass. I'll keep fooling around with them though.

So I hope this encourages someone else to experiment with other things, damping material, vent sealing combinations etc.

 

[Mike Scarpitti]

Quote:

Originally posted by allennokisi So after reading all the praise about them I broke down and got them during my lunch break. I figured that everyone had found a real sleeper in the budget market. So armed with the new cans and my commuting rig, a portable MD player and the 888's and ex-70's I usually use on the train ride to work, I got a quick bite and then found a quiet place (not easy to do around my office) to try them out. Well to tell the truth I was a little underwelmed. Don't worry, no one has to be sorry about my wallet. But I could think of a few other things I could get with that 8000 yen! The main complaint, I was wondering where that bass was that everyone was talking about. So what do I do on the first day that I buy anything? Of course I open them up. I do this with everything, amps, DVD players, DAC's, most of my headphones, whatever, I just like seeing what's inside everyting. Oh and they have less isolation than the ex-70's. Low and behold, they look just like most of the Sony headphones I've seen. An undamped rear chamber with a bunch of vents leading into the ear chamber and a vent leading out the back of the earcup. I've modded a pair of CD850's with great success by damping the chamber and sealing some of the vents. I've also modded the hell out of some v600's. (don't ask me why I have them, but they were almost free) I've gotten the v600's to sound bad instead of sounding like crap. So I sealed the vent that's under the silver button thing on the back of the earcup and I put asmuch speaker damping material inside as I could. So what happened? Almost nothing. The sound got a little darker. There aren' t really any internal resonances to damp, and I guess just sealing that one vent didn't do much to improve the bass. I'll keep fooling around with them though. So I hope this encourages someone else to experiment with other things, damping material, vent sealing combinations etc.

I added cotton balls to the chamber and placed plastic over the opening. It does add a little to the low end weight and helps reduce outside noise.

 

[Mike Scarpitti]

Quote:

Originally posted by allennokisi So after reading all the praise about them I broke down and got them during my lunch break. I figured that everyone had found a real sleeper in the budget market. So armed with the new cans and my commuting rig, a portable MD player and the 888's and ex-70's I usually use on the train ride to work, I got a quick bite and then found a quiet place (not easy to do around my office) to try them out. Well to tell the truth I was a little underwelmed. Don't worry, no one has to be sorry about my wallet. But I could think of a few other things I could get with that 8000 yen! The main complaint, I was wondering where that bass was that everyone was talking about. So what do I do on the first day that I buy anything? Of course I open them up. I do this with everything, amps, DVD players, DAC's, most of my headphones, whatever, I just like seeing what's inside everyting. Oh and they have less isolation than the ex-70's. Low and behold, they look just like most of the Sony headphones I've seen. An undamped rear chamber with a bunch of vents leading into the ear chamber and a vent leading out the back of the earcup. I've modded a pair of CD850's with great success by damping the chamber and sealing some of the vents. I've also modded the hell out of some v600's. (don't ask me why I have them, but they were almost free) I've gotten the v600's to sound bad instead of sounding like crap. So I sealed the vent that's under the silver button thing on the back of the earcup and I put asmuch speaker damping material inside as I could. So what happened? Almost nothing. The sound got a little darker. There aren' t really any internal resonances to damp, and I guess just sealing that one vent didn't do much to improve the bass. I'll keep fooling around with them though. So I hope this encourages someone else to experiment with other things, damping material, vent sealing combinations etc.

I added cotton balls to the chamber and placed plastic over the opening of my D-77's. It does add a little to the low end weight and helps reduce outside noise.

 

[base2]

I'm really doubtful that anything can be done to significantly increase the isolation. Putting tape over the silver button (even on the outside) significantly reduces the howling wind noise--which is a big annoyance in windy Rochester NY. I've yet to open mine up to try to mod it from the inside. What sort of plastic did you use on the button?

 

[tortoise]

Just a note on the bass: after burning mine in for about 5 nights or so, the bass seemed to improve. Yes, it could be psychological, but the bass seems quite sufficient now.

 

[Mike Scarpitti]

Quote:

Originally posted by base2 I'm really doubtful that anything can be done to significantly increase the isolation. Putting tape over the silver button (even on the outside) significantly reduces the howling wind noise--which is a big annoyance in windy Rochester NY. I've yet to open mine up to try to mod it from the inside. What sort of plastic did you use on the button?

Just a sheet of soft plastic, like from a baggie. Then I placed the cotton wads (not too much, mind you, or it will be hard to close) under and around the driver.

 

[WATERWINGS]

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