[Tullebukk]

Right now, I'm 99% sure that it's the felt between the driver and pads that is causing the ringing effect. Been playing around with it, putting the felt under my velour pads (caused ringing, never heard it without), under the stock pads (how it was stock), turning them around so the other side is facing the ear (still ringing), and using no padding between the driver and the stock pads caused no noticable ringing (but not recommended as Cskippy said, could get stuff stuck on the driver itself and cause hell). I "paint"ed this, and it's how I see it working:

http://imgur.com/vx2HMZr

red is sound being bounced off the felt, and blue is sound being shot back from hitting your skin or the pads..

 

[givemetacos]

Right now, I'm 99% sure that it's the felt between the driver and pads that is causing the ringing effect. Been playing around with it, putting the felt under my velour pads (caused ringing, never heard it without), under the stock pads (how it was stock), turning them around so the other side is facing the ear (still ringing), and using no padding between the driver and the stock pads caused no noticable ringing (but not recommended as Cskippy said, could get stuff stuck on the driver itself and cause hell). I "paint"ed this, and it's how I see it working:

http://imgur.com/vx2HMZr

red is sound being bounced off the felt, and blue is sound being shot back from hitting your skin or the pads..

Haha you were the one that recommended us go back and add the stock backing material to the driver side and said it was a big improvement. So now it isn't an improvement? Also, you are using HM5 pads instead of vegans, right? I wonder if that also has an effect on the ringing. Since @cskippy has his with the stock backing material added and it doesn't seem like his has ringing with the vegans.

 

[cskippy]

My mods have also remained the same since inception. It's a subtle V shape that works for the large majority of music. Also remember that your audio chain matters. Anyone who says different hasn't heard enough setups even with the same headphone to know the difference.

 

[RojasTKD]

Depending on the sound you are looking for, not all mods are expensive. If you want to boost treble, there are a couple of free mods for example.

I think is biggest issue was the 5K ringing he couldn't get over. Audeze pads are the recommended solution.

Obviously it doesn't bother me nearly as much, if I notice it at all. I just think they can be a tad bright at times and would like to vegan pads to maybe help with that.

well a lot of people have ran the HM5 velour on them but so far there's no graph of it yet, i'd like to see a comparison between the HM5 and the vegan pads, maybe the difference is barely noticeable

is it "a lot" of people? Either way it would be nice to know, as I'm not sure if those Vegans pads are ever getting shipped to me.

 

[RojasTKD]

Yeah I have been talking to him on the headphones Discord channel about it. These were loaners and he doesn't have vegans (not surprising with how hard they are to get a hold of). He said he couldn't get over the 5 kHz ringing and that the more he tried to EQ it out the more it was apparent. He also said that adding the cost of the pad mod that he couldn't see these being a better value than HE-500 at that point.

It is apparent that some people (like myself) can't ever hear the 5 kHz ringing, stock or modded, and some people can hear it clearly and can't get over it. I might consider sending Metal571 and Ishca (Verum Sonus) my vegan modded pair to see if it is the mods or even just variance between pairs that make this 5 kHz ringing present or not.

I can kinda see that. You can occasionally find the HE-500 for about $400ish on the used market. But used is the only way to get one now, and they hare heavier and more uncomfortable for many.

The weight doesn't bother me much and I've added a Sennheiser HD 600 headband pad to my 500 and find it very comfy on the top of my head now.

But I still say the M1060 is batter looking

 

[Tullebukk]

Haha you were the one that recommended us go back and add the stock backing material to the driver side and said it was a big improvement. So now it isn't an improvement? Also, you are using HM5 pads instead of vegans, right? I wonder if that also has an effect on the ringing. Since @cskippy has his with the stock backing material added and it doesn't seem like his has ringing with the vegans.

haha yup, still found there to be improvement with the foam and the hm5 pads, but at the cost of some ringing. If you can get past that (or if you don't hear it), it's an improvement for my ears

 

[IBJamon]

I pulled out the outside foam because I wanted more airyness and I liked the effect. I put some speaker cloth (from JoAnne fabrics) to cover the driver for protection and it tamed it slightly. I think there may be a slight midrange loss and it's a bit cloudier and maybe rings a bit? more than it did when it was open but it's not bad. I have to wonder what difference having the cloth over the outside cover rather than over the driver would have. Maybe I'll try it...

I have to say if there is anything that these headphones excel at it's L/R separation. When stuff moves around it's just fantastic. I guess they call it soundstage, eh?

 

[cskippy]

@IBJamon If you want more airiness/bass then pull the front driver damping. Less front driver damping = more V shaped. Taking out the back side damping does the opposite, it will increase the frequency response around 1kHz.

 

[givemetacos]

I can kinda see that. You can occasionally find the HE-500 for about $400ish on the used market. But used is the only way to get one now, and they hare heavier and more uncomfortable for many.

The weight doesn't bother me much and I've added a Sennheiser HD 600 headband pad to my 500 and find it very comfy on the top of my head now.

But I still say the M1060 is batter looking

Yeah, it is funny that one minute the community hates Hifiman for their crappy QC and bad customer support, yet Monoprice offers a competing product with good customer support and then the recommendation is to forget that and buy a discontinued, used HE-500 for more money? I'm also curious if the HE-500 is that much objectively "better" than a vegan modded M1060? That seems to be the unanimous opinion these days. Haha I am definitely ruffling feathers on the /r/headphones subreddit for having the audacity to say I enjoy my M1060's.

 

[IBJamon]

@IBJamon If you want more airiness/bass then pull the front driver damping. Less front driver damping = more V shaped. Taking out the back side damping does the opposite, it will increase the frequency response around 1kHz.

I already removed the front driver damping and definitely prefer it. I was just looking for other tweaks also to see what would happen.

To prevent driver damage I put some loose soft cell foam I had from another pad set and it helped tame things and make it safer, so I was messing around with the back side also. With the foam removed it seemed brighter still, perhaps a bit too much. But regardless, it's not really safe that way. I am either going to keep messing with materials, or put the foam back.

 

[gug42]

Anyone have test Zmf oval cowhide pads or Mr Speaker Alpha pads ?

 

[bozoskeletonz]

Any clue if focal elear pads would work? Sounds like some exploration needs to be done since the vegans are off the market.

 

[Tullebukk]

Any clue if focal elear pads would work? Sounds like some exploration needs to be done since the vegans are off the market.

At 150 USD, they don't seem to be worth even thinking about

As for ZMF pads, firstly I don't think they are big enough (and they are flat, not angled), secondly I don't think they are worth looking into since we have the original Audeze leather pads that come big enough out of the box and come with adhesive..

 

[denox]

Dose anyone have the E-MU Teak that they can share the experience compare to the M1060.
E-MU is on Massdrop now and I am tempted to get it as my closed upgrade since they also include free shipping to Canada.

But if the M1060 sound quality is superior or overall better then the E-MU I would pass as that is a $500 headphone, 2x more then the M1060.

I currently have both Teaks and M1060s. If I have to choose one, I would pick Teaks as a winner. Teaks have better build, looks beautiful and the bass, yummy..... While mid slightly recessed on Teaks, their high is well extended and sparkly, a little sparkly in fact for me, I put felt underneath ZMF Ori pads to make it warmer. Bass hit harder and deeper on Teaks, no comparison about that, maybe a little overwhelming for most people but I love it.

 

[MrTie84]

@Tullebukk I have had the older cowhide and Pleather ZMF pads for testing, and they actually are a closer fit to the stock pad than the vegan which is a little TOO large. I didn't find either of them really worth using though.

ZMF Cowhide and stock damping.

ZMF Pleather and stock damping.