[hrichard]

Sorry for the double post..

 

[Arkanius]

I've been reading the thread but I couldn't reach a conclusion:

My PC350 is modded, and I need new ear pads since mine are falling apart already.
I didn't understand if I should get the HD595 pads (Which are more open) or the PCX450 pads (Which are more closed)
 
Is it true that the open nature of the HD595 pads will make me lose bass I've gained with hero's mod?
Should I stay with the PCX450 ones which are closed and noise isolating? How are they compared with the original PC350 pads?

 

[Jaawa]

Great info on the mod, will be modding mine soon!

Another question I can't find an answer for anywhere: My headband on the PC350 is very worn. I have replaced the earpads, but can't seem to find any replacement for the headband.

Is there a replacement headband? Or how did you guy's fixed this?

there is a replacement part for the headband, but if it's just the pleather that's worn and the foam beneath is okay, you can strip the pleather off and the foam itself works as a nice headband, I've had mine like that for a while now since my headband pleather got ripped.

 

[Zyrrac]

Is this mod possible to do with the new Sennheiser PC350 Special Edition?

 

[Hezer]

Quote:

I've been reading the thread but I couldn't reach a conclusion:

My PC350 is modded, and I need new ear pads since mine are falling apart already.
I didn't understand if I should get the HD595 pads (Which are more open) or the PCX450 pads (Which are more closed)
 
Is it true that the open nature of the HD595 pads will make me lose bass I've gained with hero's mod?
Should I stay with the PCX450 ones which are closed and noise isolating? How are they compared with the original PC350 pads?

 
PXC450 Pads are close to original, softer material, more isolating and a little increase in bass amount compared to originals. My personal preference is that they feel lot nicer, though at very hot days can become sweaty, but as far as I remember it's the same with originals.
 
HD595 isolate a lot less and allow you to actually hear surroundings. You will probably need add few more holes to get the bass level to what you had with original pads. Material feels like fabric instead of leather-ish feel of the other two and are more comfortable when sweating a lot.
 
Quote:

Is this mod possible to do with the new Sennheiser PC350 Special Edition?

Not sure if there's different design to driver casing, my guess is that probably not.
If you are willing, you may open up the headphones and compare the drivers to pictures in this thread. Look for additional holes, if there is none, there's good chance this mod will work for those as well.

 

[goforthepod]

Can someone maybe measure the frequency response after the mod and compare it with before as well as with HD598 (if available)?
 
I am looking for more ways to optimize this mod, but I don't have proper equipment... (I didn't feel the balance was right in mine, I got a peak around high bass / low mid I think)

 

[Metalcastr]

Has anyone attempted Hero's mod with the PC 360? I can't find any pictures of the inside. Edit: apparently they are open designs, as you can see the drivers and there is no black plastic cover as in the 350's. I was hoping to do the mod on my 360's as the midrange sounds muddy, and on the 350's (after mod) it did not. They're new, perhaps they need to break in.
 

  I've been reading the thread but I couldn't reach a conclusion:

My PC350 is modded, and I need new ear pads since mine are falling apart already.
I didn't understand if I should get the HD595 pads (Which are more open) or the PCX450 pads (Which are more closed)
 
Is it true that the open nature of the HD595 pads will make me lose bass I've gained with hero's mod?
Should I stay with the PCX450 ones which are closed and noise isolating? How are they compared with the original PC350 pads?

I was thinking of making a post about this, as it took me a while to figure it out with the PXC450 leather pads.
1. Take off the old PC350 pleather pads by just pulling them off. Do NOT throw them away.
2. Inside the old earpads on the back you will see a black plastic ring, inside a groove. Pull these out on both old earpads, keep them.
3. Open up the NEW PXC450 earpads, pull out the clear plastic shape-holders, and also pull out the black rings, but you do not need them, and keep them separate from your old rings. Bag and label them.
4. Insert the OLD black plastic rings from your PC350 earpads into your NEW PXC450 earpads.This is somewhat difficult, and requires you to pry and shove them in.
5. Attach new earpads to the PC350. They should snap right in.
 
The reason we switch rings is because although the PXC450 pad rings look exactly the same, they are not and will not fit the PC350, and will just not snap fully. So we switch rings to make a firm attachment.
If anyone needs additional clarification let me know.

 

[Hezer]

 
The reason we switch rings is because although the PXC450 pad rings look exactly the same, they are not and will not fit the PC350, and will just not snap fully. So we switch rings to make a firm attachment.
If anyone needs additional clarification let me know.

 
I've been using PXC450 pads for years now with the the rings that they came with.
Yes, agreed that it's bit tricky to get them to snap in place, and there might be some slight differences between the products that causes mines to fit.

 

[Metalcastr]

I could not get the PXC450 earpads to fit my PC350 with the default rings no matter what, and they kept falling off. The old rings snapped right into place. I changed pads about 2 years ago, so perhaps they changed designs recently.

 

[Yatsuman]

Hey guys!
 
Long story short - I was wondering, if I should buy PC360, PC363 or PC350. Yesterday I found this mod, read all 31 pages, today I found a second hand pair of PC350 just 70km away from me, bought it and moded it successfully. And... OMG! HERE COMES THE BOOM!
 
I want to congratulate and express my gratittude to Ourfpshero for the mod discovery, Jaawa and Porter for their illustrated guides for the mode!
I saw that there were some people asking for a video guide, and since I couldn't find one on youtube, I made a guide myself. You can find it below. Please excuse me for the video quality, unexpected ending and my pathetic English. And for the lack of a video thumbnail - no idea how to set one.
 
I also have one question, though. I am forced to ejoy the modded headset on my onboard crappy Realtec ALC892, and I can't squeeze all the juice out of that headset. I also noticed some annoying static on both the mike and the headphones, so I credit that to the onboard audio. I want the clear and crisp and clean mic sound and the mind blowing soundstage for a gaming headset the modded PC350 provide. So here's my question - what should a laptop user like me do (a.k.a. buy ) in orther to get the full potential of the moded Senn. PC350?
 
Thanks again,
Yatsu
 
Video:
  

 

[Yatsuman]

Just did this - SPDIF-ed audio stream to my Z5500 and connected the Senn. PC350 to the Z5500 Cotrol POD. There's no more static, so the cause for this must be the onboard audio, not the headset. However, the sound is still a bit weak, even though there's the woomff shaking both my ears and the mic. Speaking of the mic, I can't get any sound out of it, when it's connected to the Z5500 Control POD. So I guess I need some sort of headset amp or external audio, right? Please advise what should I get. Also I'm a bit short on funds, since I prefer buying stuff for my daughter, rather than spoiling my ears too much
Thanks in advance,
Yatsu

 

[Jaawa]

  Just did this - SPDIF-ed audio stream to my Z5500 and connected the Senn. PC350 to the Z5500 Cotrol POD. There's no more static, so the cause for this must be the onboard audio, not the headset. However, the sound is still a bit weak, even though there's the woomff shaking both my ears and the mic. Speaking of the mic, I can't get any sound out of it, when it's connected to the Z5500 Control POD. So I guess I need some sort of headset amp or external audio, right? Please advise what should I get. Also I'm a bit short on funds, since I prefer buying stuff for my daughter, rather than spoiling my ears too much
Thanks in advance,
Yatsu

Hi Yatsu, thanks for the video and glad you're enjoying this mod, I sure still am, after all these years.
 
The PC350 uses the HD595 drivers, so giving it some power will definitely get you better sound. Unfortunately your Z5500 is very lacking in the headphone amp area, like most bigger systems it just wasn't made with headphone listening in mind. For the recording side you won't be needing much, I've used a Creative Xmod for years. Problem is, there really isn't anything out there that would bring you the best of both worlds, external sound cards have good recording sides, but they all perform poorly at headphone amplification when compared to a dedicated headphone amp. Then the ones that do pretty well, like an ASUS Xonar Essence One or STU, don't have mic-inputs. So for the money you can once again pick from a huge range of headphone amp/dac combos.
 
So, I'd say buy some small nice quality external soundcard for the recording side of things, that also serves as a better DAC than your laptop's inbuilt chip, like an ASUS Xonar U3, and then look for a headphone amp to connect to that. Really depends on your budget which amp to recommend. I've always loved to pair Sennheisers with Meier-Audio amps, but those might not be so easy to acquire for you and they're not exactly the low-end of amps. Searching Head-Fi for budget amps that people have been using with their HD595's would also give you a wealth of information fairly quick. I really think this Xonar U3 + a budget amp is your best option, tell us the size of your budget and we'll see which headphone amps fit

 

[Yatsuman]

I have downed it all to either Xonar U7 or U3, as next spring I will most likely get a desktop PC with either Xonar Essence STX or Phoebus. So my only concern at the moment is the good mic sound I would expect from one of those two. However, I think I will get the U7 and use it for my speakers on the desktop, which I think is better to supply with the essence card and enjoy my PC350 as far as they go. Not sure I will need an amp in either case. What do you think?

 

[Jaawa]

I have downed it all to either Xonar U7 or U3, as next spring I will most likely get a desktop PC with either Xonar Essence STX or Phoebus. So my only concern at the moment is the good mic sound I would expect from one of those two. However, I think I will get the U7 and use it for my speakers on the desktop, which I think is better to supply with the essence card and enjoy my PC350 as far as they go. Not sure I will need an amp in either case. What do you think?

Sounds good, you will definitely get good mic sound from all those, it doesn't take much since the mic in the PC350 is so good. A headphone amp isn't a necessity for the PC350, but with the mod, they do improve a lot with a good desktop amp. Maybe hold off on buying an amp until you've had a chance to listen how they sound with a good one, if you happen by a chance to do so. They're also so durable, that if nothing bad happens to them, you'll be able to get an amp at any point in the future for them. Good luck

 

[Yatsuman]

Hi again,
 
Since yesterday my laptop's geared up with the Asus Xonar U7 USB external audio + amp + DAC card. The difference between it and onboard is just mind blowing. I tried listening to my heroway modded headset, and after a mere 5 minutes my eardrums started crying for mercy! That was pretty awesome.
As of the mod's effects I think 2x 2mm holes was a bit too much and the bass overtook the soundstage, but using the Dolby Home Theater V4, which goes along with the Xonar Drivers seems to approve the issue for me. However I've experienced something issue-ish, but on that - a bit later. The mic-quality HAS CHANGED. I mean there's still some slight static-hissling-pink noise sound, but it's very very low. My real life friends, who I'm talking with over skype/ventrillo/TS said that my voice is reproducted as if I'm sitting right next to them in the same room. 8/8 people went amazed by just that mic quality improvement.
 
Now about the issue, I've experienced.
TL.DR. - Some naughty hissling-pink-ish sound on higher quality audio stream.
 
Since with my current gear I got the feeling of being a bit closer to a low-end audiophile setup, I decided to update my music library with lossless version wherever possible. So I DL-ed a few albums and launched foobar2000. Daft Punk's Tron: Legacy OST: the soundstage was as wide as The Great Wall. I enjoyed the music I like on a whole new level - the sound of each source was more detailed then ever before. Unfortunately the same went for some annoying hissling sound, the best comparison of which would be to listening to some 3rd hand copy on a stereo casette. I then decided to give it a try for another artist/album. Angelo Badalamenti's Twin Peaks OST was no difference from the beggining till the end. Next was Hugh Laurie's Didn't It Rain. That annoying noise was there as well. Same thing for Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa's Don't Explain (Limited Edition)
Then I though it might be the headset, so I tried the my z5500 via SPDIF and I swear I could still hear this noise, but a bit but not so annoying. So then I thought, it's the Xonar causing it. But the onboard ALC 892 producess it the same way. Then I though it's the foobar, but I could still find that noise on some higher quality MP3's in WMP.
So now I think it's either some stupid codec I have installed or a driver.
 
Any ideas of a good audio source I could check and compare with your results?