Monoprice Monolith M1060 and M560 Planar Headphones
Feb 26, 2019 at 2:23 PM Post #7,696 of 8,051
Here are some preliminary mods I did. Wood Fazor + dynamat + thermolam + wood grilles :D
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So far, it reduced some peaks. Nice and evened out. Piano is noticeably more mellow with a gentle attack. Subbass is tiny bit boosted thanks to the center of the nautilus grille acting like the paper towel mod. It has to be noted that this is one of the material properties of 3d printed wood compared to regular PLA where it almost feels like the entire thing is a fuzzor that adds controlled damping. There is a noticeable atmosphere in decay and a bit extended air with the percussions. Jazz sounds very sessiony with the snares. Male and female vocals are improved. They sound seductive almost like installing burson v6 classic albeit not warm. Soundstage is less cramped with better imaging and separation in the highs and mids. The damping really made it well behave and competent. Brass instruments are full bodied both in quantity and quality. It is less harsh in Moanin' by Art Blakey.

I'll be testing soon the front fazor mod. I think I can draw its full potential with an R2R dac particularly pcm1704. It does sound like it has plenty of headroom for detail extraction.
 
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Feb 26, 2019 at 2:52 PM Post #7,697 of 8,051
Nice! I am very intrigued. I've got felt tape to do the fuzzor mod on inside and outside but wondering what the difference to the fazor mod is if any. I am also going to be experimenting a bit. Some version of the LCD-3/LCD-2 I've seen have felt covering the outside driver and then sandwiched with foam and cover. Wondering what would happen if I take the original pads felt/mesh and put it on the other side of the driver and then sandwich a thinner less dense foam in as well. In a way it should act like some of these paper towel mods just on the other side of the foam. It's all theory and i've got all the parts already so just will give it a go.

I really enjoy the sound with the Brainwavz Micro Suede pads as the only change from stock. I don't have any 4/5k spike or dip on my set but I do see more exaggerated dip between 1k and 2k that was not there with stock pads. I'd much rather have that than the 4/5k spike but I am betting if I try the mod above it might bump that dip I see out. Could be wrong but worth a shot.
 
Feb 26, 2019 at 2:58 PM Post #7,698 of 8,051
I finally get a pair of vegan pads from a shop, their last ones, the new ones are made off egg protein xD

Who said that you loose a little bit of bass? They sound better than ever. Now I'm turning the knob almost a quart less to get the same anount of bass and subbass. I think this are my endgame, M1060 vegan+3D parts+r2r-11.

My next mod will be a pair of fazors and a open grill. I'll post more impressions whoen the modsmare concluded. Thank you guys for sharing those amazing designs.
 
Feb 26, 2019 at 3:01 PM Post #7,699 of 8,051
^Interesting that we reached the same conclusion of going R2R dac with this particular headphone. I'm planning to build a PCM1704 + Burson v6 classic dac for some sweet syrupy warm sound signature! :D

edit: Listening to Lara Fabian's voice in You always knew... OOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMGGGGGGG! YES! YES! YES! The vibrato! WOW just wow!

It's amazing how much behaved this headphone became just by changing the cross sectional profile of the fazors with a crapload of dynamat. lol

edit: Rionos' voice is also transformed from just an intimate lullaby to something more emotional and velvety. The added gentleness is now like being sung by a loving mother T_T
 
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Feb 26, 2019 at 3:35 PM Post #7,700 of 8,051
After years I finally saw that I much prefer a musical combo rather than a analitical setup. I'm not saying that this combo can't reproduce details at all, but they reproduce them in a very enjojable way.

I looked to a new lcd-2, but after reading and reading a ton of pages, finally I choosed the M1060. Reasons? Here in europe the lcd-2 costs almost 1000€, and for that price I get my beloved m1060, vegan pads, r2r-11 and 3D printer to mod it in every possible ways.

Putting in the jumpers warms the sound signature enough for me hahahaha xD
 
Feb 26, 2019 at 3:39 PM Post #7,701 of 8,051
My HE-350s sound very analytical but doesn't hold a candle when it comes to detail. This modded m1060 manages to be thoroughly textured and at the same time sounding very musical. It's ridiculous!

Gonna test it with the c3g's next! :D

I'm so curious how it sounds with tubes

by the way, if you're gonna 3d print mods, definitely use wood filament. It's so much better than PLA and ABS
 
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Feb 26, 2019 at 4:33 PM Post #7,702 of 8,051
From my testing, I've felt that the fazors were better served on the ear side rather than the outside as the wave guide would have more effect directly towards the ear rather than radiating out. The fuzzors were more useful to me on the outside to further reduce resonance.

While the fuzzors may help on the ear side with the resonance reduction I don't believe there would be as much of a direct impact compared to the fazors on the ear side.

But these mods are all about experimenting, I'm happy you're all having fun with them to see what works best!
 
Feb 26, 2019 at 4:47 PM Post #7,703 of 8,051
From my testing, I've felt that the fazors were better served on the ear side rather than the outside as the wave guide would have more effect directly towards the ear rather than radiating out. The fuzzors were more useful to me on the outside to further reduce resonance.

While the fuzzors may help on the ear side with the resonance reduction I don't believe there would be as much of a direct impact compared to the fazors on the ear side.

But these mods are all about experimenting, I'm happy you're all having fun with them to see what works best!

Thanks for that overview. I am definitely in the having fun camp. I honestly think my m1060s sound great the way they are but with nondestructive mods just to see what happens, I am all about it. I'll have to get either a 3D print file or order some of these Fazors for the inside.
 
Feb 27, 2019 at 7:37 AM Post #7,704 of 8,051
OMG! PockyG, those baffled front fazors! The vocals are even more defined than what I tested yesterday. Increasing the cavity to 3mm seem to improve bass quantity even fully open without electrical tape sealing it. It sounds almost like a woody cabinet speaker. Me thinks the sound signature is now super duper flat. I can't detect the peaks any more. Comparing the topmost octave of my piano seem to indicate that the 5k ortho wall has been ironed out. The guitar twang in the good the bad and the ugly is less harsh.

Edit: Hmmm... I sealed the open baffles. Now, they sound more natural, crisp and tidy. Fully open is like having high resolution with anti aliasing. Fully sealed is like upscaling the resolution and ditching the anti aliasing. Fully open was too analytical after 3 hours of testing. My brain couldn't keep up with the amount of detail being shoved in my brain with the C3G + v6 vivid's ability to extract so much detail.
 
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Feb 27, 2019 at 9:03 AM Post #7,705 of 8,051
The 1060s have really taken me down a dark path. :o2smile:
1st hit, Picked up an Audio-GD, r2r-11
Now I have the MP THX AAA 788 on order & a Periapt balanced cable

This will be the end of the road for me, with the 1060s. If the 788 (with the built in 5 band PEQ) can’t shape these Princess Leia cans to my liking.

No fault to the 1060s, I just prefer the combo of the r2r-11 —> a Darkvoice —> either MD Sennheiser 6xx or 58x
 
Feb 27, 2019 at 11:02 PM Post #7,706 of 8,051
If you guys are going balanced and have balanced sources I strongly recommend you pick up a pair of the Behringer P1s. They are super cheap at $49 each. Run them on rechargeable batteries and only send one channel into each one. Its pictured in my avatar photo. Plenty of power and the sq is ridiculous. Dual Mono battery power for $100. And you can support 2 sources. Its hard to describe but its super clean and somehow musical at the same time....

Just need readily sourced 3.5mm to 2.5mm cables to connect to the M1060s and enjoy. As long as you have a vc in the dac or preamp this works well.
 
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Feb 27, 2019 at 11:04 PM Post #7,707 of 8,051
Feb 28, 2019 at 6:19 AM Post #7,708 of 8,051
OMG! PockyG, those baffled front fazors! The vocals are even more defined than what I tested yesterday. Increasing the cavity to 3mm seem to improve bass quantity even fully open without electrical tape sealing it. It sounds almost like a woody cabinet speaker. Me thinks the sound signature is now super duper flat. I can't detect the peaks any more. Comparing the topmost octave of my piano seem to indicate that the 5k ortho wall has been ironed out. The guitar twang in the good the bad and the ugly is less harsh.

Edit: Hmmm... I sealed the open baffles. Now, they sound more natural, crisp and tidy. Fully open is like having high resolution with anti aliasing. Fully sealed is like upscaling the resolution and ditching the anti aliasing. Fully open was too analytical after 3 hours of testing. My brain couldn't keep up with the amount of detail being shoved in my brain with the C3G + v6 vivid's ability to extract so much detail.

I hate to be a broken record, but you should hear Stax if you're into detail. I firmly espouse my own idea that you should take two entire WEEKS to become used to them before doing serious comparisons with other HPs. I call this "brain burn-in", but there's almost zero chance I coined the phrase myself. Unfortunately, this also means that (my opinion only) you shouldn't put much stock in mere "auditions" of a few hours or less when it comes to Stax. After 2 weeks, though? Compare away!

Apply the same theory to your M1060 experiments, though. Take a bit more time to become used to the more detailed-sounding configuration before switching back. Give your brain time to adjust. It might take more than a few quick sessions.
 
Feb 28, 2019 at 7:03 AM Post #7,709 of 8,051
Stax are WAAAAAY out of my budget range. I can only compare them with cans I have access to. I have been running the C3G + v6 vivids for at least 3 months. I just didn't expect the m1060s to pick up so much stuff compared to what I'm used to and you're right, I need time to calibrate my brain to it. In the mean time, sealing it is just like shamelessly having training wheels on for my brain. :D
 
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