[Kursah]

Gotta admit I came very close to buying a set of these, especially after reading about the mod for bass. But then ourfpshero showed me the JVC HA-RX700's, now I dunno how the modded senns sound in comparison, but I do know my 700's are great! TS is clear, games sound great, music sounds solid, got an Auzen Forte on the way to replace my aging X-Fi Xtreme Music.

I performed ourfpshero's mic + zip tie mod, the mic from hong kong truly sucks though, but you can't expect too much for around $2 shipped from HK to the US.

But I'll replace it with an HPA2 mic shortly, my test showed the HPA2 mic is much superior, but it costs 6X more at $12 shipped from turtle beach. Still cheap enough to justify. I'll have a tough time looking at headsets again, though I would still like to try these out, just to hear their sound stage, quality, recording quality, and see how well they truly block noise. I might still pick up a set someday, but if they can't compete with my $33 set of cans, I can't justify spending $150 on em. So thanks ourfps, your recommendations saved me money and got me where I needed to be sound-wise.

 

[ourfpshero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kursah /img/forum/go_quote.gif Gotta admit I came very close to buying a set of these, especially after reading about the mod for bass. But then ourfpshero showed me the JVC HA-RX700's, now I dunno how the modded senns sound in comparison, but I do know my 700's are great!

i prefer the rx700 sound to the modded senns, though the senns have more bass and less colored sound. the mic is fantastic too.

 

[Kursah]

Wow so drilling those holes on the senns makes that big if a difference going from next to no bass to more than the 700's? Wow...I don't even need all the bass the 700 puts out just being fed from my x-fi at this point! I still think I might pick up a set of them at some point in the future just to give them a go, that is if I can find them for much cheaper than current market price. I don't mind the zip-tie mic mod, but would like a more solid mount, I might modify the LH cup on my 700's..dunno yet. But it does work quite well in the end.

How do the sound stages compare? I know that was one thing that impressed many on the pc350's...but I'm pretty damn impressed by the 700's overall..I know they're ok for a closed set, and not as wide as the 900's, but for me they're about right at this point.

 

[Jaawa]

Thank you ourfpshero! This mod really does work, I mean REALLY. I drilled 11 smallish holes into the plastic inner casing, first on the right-side earpiece only, to compare the difference with a few bass-left/right-equalized tracks ... and boy was there a difference!

I modded the other earpiece too, and then tested, nice bass, there's really a lot of more oompf to these cans with such a neat little mod. Then I wanted to control the bass a bit more, it was maybe a tad too much colored. I stuffed the cans with clothing filler wool, and that really did the trick, more control, no overblown flapping. After a while, I found myself wanting a bit of air, the pleather earpads isolate so much that the renewed bass started to feel a bit overpowering. So I fetched a pair of HD 595 velour pads, and they're a perfect fit, easing the flow of the lows, giving a fresh breath of HD 595-like feel to the PC 350.

So yeah, I am very very happy with this mod, the wool and the 595 pads, my PC 350 have never sounded so awesome! They're now what closed 595's should sound like IMHO

Here are some pics: (click the links for 1024x768 pics)

1st can opened up

1st can with holes drilled

1st can with holes and wool

2nd can with holes drilled

2nd can with holes and wool

 

[ourfpshero]

wow -ty for nice pics
i had my pc350 for sale and just removed it. i will try some of what you did here to further improve the sound

 

[Jaawa]

The pleasure is mine!
This mod works, and it should be presented out more, maybe edit the OP and quote some of the modder's opinions and posts in it and arrange things nicely?

Gosh I love my new PC 350 <3

 

[crapback]

I don't have the pleasure of owning a real set of phones to compare my modded 350's to until my dt990's arrive tomorrow afternoon.

I was wondering how any of you folks that do own real cans would now compare your modded 350's? Do you now think they are worth the money you spent?

 

[Jaawa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crapback /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't have the pleasure of owning a real set of phones to compare my modded 350's to until my dt990's arrive tomorrow afternoon. I was wondering how any of you folks that do own real cans would now compare your modded 350's? Do you now think they are worth the money you spent?

They've been worth the money from the beginning, mainly because of the superb microphone, but due to their overall performance too, and I was one of the first to get them in Finland, I paid over $200 for them. They weren't comfy enough for me though, I didn't like the pleather, because I was so used to HD 650 velour pads, so the HD 595 pads fixed that one (though they removed some isolation, which I know is bad for some people, but I actually like more air in my closed cans, for example that's why I like the Denon AH-D2000). The sound quality was good, not as good as the HD 595 though, even with the same drivers. They lacked the elegant, smooth mids-to-lows curve, and their overall sound was a bit flat because of that. Now I really do think that they sound very close to the HD 595, I need to test that soon, do a real comparison, but right now I've compared them with my HD 650, and I must say, not a bad job, pretty much like another smaller brother. The PC 350 have very suddenly come a long way, and are now really not only a good pair of gaming headphones, but good for music and movies too.

So yes, they're definitely worth the money, especially if you can get them for around $150 with the HD 595 pads.

 

[crapback]

Thanks for the quick reply Jaawa. I'm up to seven 1/8" holes in my 350's and i think that's where i'm going to stop. The bass doesn't sound loose at all to me so i haven't tried adding any dampening material yet. I was gonna try some egg crate foam when i had them open earlier, but i've broken the little red wire in the left can every time i've opened them up so i decided not to. I'll wait to see how they compare to the dt990's before i deal with having to solder that stupid wire again.

Right now, the bass response can actually be overwhelming when listening to certain electronic music like some songs by vibrasphere. The difference from the stock sound absolutely amazes me. The mids have smoothed out much more since the mod. I think i have about 50 hours on them so far so i'm hoping the upper mids will smooth out some more. I'm a little sensitive to that range so the stock sound was pretty painful especially while playing fps's. Now there is much more balance. That and i'm wondering if my icon mobile is burning in and smoothing out as well.

I was also wondering if anyone has removed those small pieces of black tape that are on the driver enclosures, right near where we drill the holes. It would be really interesting to find out if there are vent holes there already. lol

 

[Jaawa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crapback /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was also wondering if anyone has removed those small pieces of black tape that are on the driver enclosures, right near where we drill the holes. It would be really interesting to find out if there are vent holes there already. lol

I had to check that out since you mentioned it

They're just elevated plastic slabs, not tape. I'm guessing their purpose is to support the driver enclosure on the headphone chassis cup to provide that little bit of space between the two, probably for the already existing tiny two holes right on top of the driver.

So they didn't design openable vents for us modders, they just didn't go far enough with the holes, but we fixed it now didn't we

 

[crapback]

I just got my new beyer dt 990/250's about 5 hours ago now. Many here at head-fi have said that they are bass powerhouses. Maybe it's that im only running an icon mobile amp and the 350's have 100ohms less resistance. Maybe the 990's need a little time for the drivers to loosen up a bit. I don't know why.

My modded pc350's just plain outslam my new dt990's. The bass from both is really fat, round and tight with the 350's rolling off somewhere before the 990's. Even though they don't go as low, they are a lot louder. I've had to turn some music down with the 350's cause the bass hurt my ears and that was not even at full volume.

My wallet really hates me now. I think i want an rsa predator next. I need to see if the 990's just need more juice to outdo the 350's. Of course, having a high end amp can't hurt no matter what i'm running it into.

 

[Jaawa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crapback /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maybe it's that im only running an icon mobile amp and the 350's have 100ohms less resistance. Maybe the 990's need a little time for the drivers to loosen up a bit.

It's definitely both, a 100 Ohm difference in impedance is huge when you're using an amp that's meant for low impedance portable setups, and the burn-in doesn't happen in a snap.

Your DT990 really would like a darkvoice or a meier-audio amp.
Like a CORDA SWING or CANTATE.2 would rock, or a 336 if you wanna go tube

 

[crapback]

I can't wait to see how bad i get chewed up for posting in a thread http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/sib...-blame-431180/about sibilance. I mentioned that i can hear sibilance in certain recordings and that the modded 350's are a decent set of cans.

I think I might have to plug a couple of holes in mine. They seem to be getting boomier as they get more time on them. They may not have the range of the 990's but they are do sound good and they are really freakin loud.

 

[Jaawa]

 

[crapback]

Well, i just caved in and purchased an RSA predator. I have to admit I'm developing a real love/hate relationship with this site. A week and a half ago, before finding head-fi, I had about $800 more in my bank account. I also had a set of pc350's that sounded like soup cans. Now I have them and my 990's that I'm really growing to love more every day, for different situations of course.

The other night I ran white noise thru my 350's for about 6 hours and they seemed to get quite a bit louder, to the point where the bass is a bit too boomy at times. Last night the 990's got the white noise treatment for 6 hours and they are noticeably smoother today. I think I'm going to try that the next few nights before I have to go back to work on sunday and see If they can smooth out more.

Now I'm gonna break out the hot glue gun and try pluggin 2 holes on each of the 350 cans to try and tighten the bass back up a bit. I hate sloppy bass with a passion.