Kerry56
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2011
- Posts
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I recently purchased these HE-R9 headphones, for the heavily discounted price of $109, and even at that price I wasn't really pleased with their sound. They were odd headphones, with good sound on certain tracks, and some awful results on others. The main problem was a boomy sound in the bass/lower mids that could overwhelm everything else.
You can see them here: https://store.hifiman.com/index.php/he-r9.html or here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/introducing-the-hifiman-he-r9.961867/
The interior of those huge cups is angled away from the driver, but the driver itself sits square, parallel to your ear. Hifiman has a thin sheet of foam directly behind the driver, but nothing else. It is a big, cavernous space, with lots of reflective surfaces. My first thought was to line the interior with foam and see if that made a difference. The result? Possibly better, but it was a minor change in the sound. I found that EQ was a better solution, but even there, I wasn't satisfied with what I was getting out of the headphone.
So, naturally, I decided to dive headfirst into modding these things. Might as well. I had a thick piece of cherry in my shop, and I decided it would make a couple of cups for this headphone. There was one interesting problem in the way. I have been a woodworker most of my life, but never a wood turner. I haven't got a lathe. So, making round blanks to a specific size was a challenge. I wouldn't advise turning your drill press into a makeshift lathe, but it does work. Once I had the blanks, it was easy to cut and shape them on my router table. They aren't spectacular cups, since the wood I used is just plain cherry, and not figured wood, but they are good enough for my purposes.
The original cups fit together on the driver housings with a little lip that I couldn't reproduce on my wooden cups, and this turned out to be a happy accident. Screwing the wooden cups on the housings leaves a small gap, which makes these headphones semi-open now, instead of closed back. And I believe this is the key to the better sound I'm getting. The straight space behind the driver (instead of the original angled space) did change the sound, and perhaps the wood helps too, but I'm pretty sure the drivers are doing a better job with a little more air.
There are downsides. The cups I made weigh about 96 grams each, while the original plastic cups were 39 grams. So, they are heavier overall. There is less isolation, and I believe, slightly less bass impact. I need to do more testing to be sure of that.
Here's what they look like:
You can see them here: https://store.hifiman.com/index.php/he-r9.html or here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/introducing-the-hifiman-he-r9.961867/
The interior of those huge cups is angled away from the driver, but the driver itself sits square, parallel to your ear. Hifiman has a thin sheet of foam directly behind the driver, but nothing else. It is a big, cavernous space, with lots of reflective surfaces. My first thought was to line the interior with foam and see if that made a difference. The result? Possibly better, but it was a minor change in the sound. I found that EQ was a better solution, but even there, I wasn't satisfied with what I was getting out of the headphone.
So, naturally, I decided to dive headfirst into modding these things. Might as well. I had a thick piece of cherry in my shop, and I decided it would make a couple of cups for this headphone. There was one interesting problem in the way. I have been a woodworker most of my life, but never a wood turner. I haven't got a lathe. So, making round blanks to a specific size was a challenge. I wouldn't advise turning your drill press into a makeshift lathe, but it does work. Once I had the blanks, it was easy to cut and shape them on my router table. They aren't spectacular cups, since the wood I used is just plain cherry, and not figured wood, but they are good enough for my purposes.
The original cups fit together on the driver housings with a little lip that I couldn't reproduce on my wooden cups, and this turned out to be a happy accident. Screwing the wooden cups on the housings leaves a small gap, which makes these headphones semi-open now, instead of closed back. And I believe this is the key to the better sound I'm getting. The straight space behind the driver (instead of the original angled space) did change the sound, and perhaps the wood helps too, but I'm pretty sure the drivers are doing a better job with a little more air.
There are downsides. The cups I made weigh about 96 grams each, while the original plastic cups were 39 grams. So, they are heavier overall. There is less isolation, and I believe, slightly less bass impact. I need to do more testing to be sure of that.
Here's what they look like:
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