[Cruelhand Luke]

I've had mine for a little over a week now. The looks have grown on me somewhat, they look good sitting on their stand on my desk, so I am not going out of my way to replace the headband right away. On the other hand I am avoiding looking at myself in the mirror while wearing them, because they look like orthopedic headphones...I look like I am wearing prescription headphones, man! I love the padded headband @theangelboy made for his, that looks really cool and comfortable... but I don't have access to a sewing machine, so that's not in the works either.
The pads I have on them are the HM5 Hybrid. They are the regular flats, not the angled, so to create more space in the cups I added some foam backer rod, that's why they look so thick in the pictures. I'd like to put a set of the Dekoni Elite Velours on them, but I'm just not in the mood to spend more money on headphones right now. (I literally had been thinking about selling some of my other headphones the day before they dropped the price on these for a few hours and I couldn't resist). I am going to buy some velours off of Aliexpress and add some backer rod to those. It won't be the same, but maybe close.
I like the way they fit, they sound really nice.... I guess I have a little more tuning I can do, but honestly I'm in no big rush to do the mods.

 

[MonolithShadow]

Hello all, first post here. I recently purchased the Monolith M565s at $80, first headphones I ever got over $50. I saw on Zreviews that it could use modding, so I looked around here and saw what others were doing. I decided to try out a Dr. Scholls gel insert instead of the foam tubes I've seen. Here are pics of my mod. https://imgur.com/a/1CQPwZQ

 

[Dawnrazor]

Hello all, first post here. I recently purchased the Monolith M565s at $80, first headphones I ever got over $50. I saw on Zreviews that it could use modding, so I looked around here and saw what others were doing. I decided to try out a Dr. Scholls gel insert instead of the foam tubes I've seen. Here are pics of my mod. https://imgur.com/a/1CQPwZQ

Cool! Now I know what to do with my old insoles! . I bet they sound better broken in!

Seriously though thats a cool idea. I put some pads over the stock pads so it does the same thing, but hey now I could add this or the foam to the stock pads and get even more separation.

Thanks for posting. Hopefully this weekend I can finish my mods and just enjoy the phones.

 

[dweekie]

The Brainwavz Angled Velours finally came! I purchased it based on Antdroid's testing earlier and the relatively low price ($24) compared to other options. I think I'm also satisfied enough for now with just this earpad change and removal of foam in the back of the cups. This modded M565 is a very forgiving headphone with great bass and an overall thicker sound. I wish it had just a bit more air up top, but I'm really enjoying the overall sound right now.

 

[Dawnrazor]

The Brainwavz Angled Velours finally came! I purchased it based on Antdroid's testing earlier and the relatively low price ($24) compared to other options. I think I'm also satisfied enough for now with just this earpad change and removal of foam in the back of the cups. This modded M565 is a very forgiving headphone with great bass and an overall thicker sound. I wish it had just a bit more air up top, but I'm really enjoying the overall sound right now.

Glad to know that the Brainwavzs work well. Do they have those in leather or pleather? When I tried the brainwavz non angled valor, it took out some of the air up top, but lambskin brought it back.

Anyhow glad you are digging things. If you have some dynamat or rope caulk or blutak, you could try those mods too. Super easy to do.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

The Brainwavz Angled Velours finally came! I purchased it based on Antdroid's testing earlier and the relatively low price ($24) compared to other options. I think I'm also satisfied enough for now with just this earpad change and removal of foam in the back of the cups. This modded M565 is a very forgiving headphone with great bass and an overall thicker sound. I wish it had just a bit more air up top, but I'm really enjoying the overall sound right now.

I posted some pics of my bluetack mod in the other M565 thread...it's cheap ($1.00 at the dollar store) and easy, you just peel back the corners, unscrew the four screws, carefully pull the drivers out, mush a bunch of bluetack in place and put them back together. It gives them a bigger soundstage and it increases the clarity. They are still bass oriented and warm, but it's clearer in the mids and treble.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/monolith-m565-mods.899477/page-4

 

[dweekie]

Glad to know that the Brainwavzs work well. Do they have those in leather or pleather? When I tried the brainwavz non angled valor, it took out some of the air up top, but lambskin brought it back.

Anyhow glad you are digging things. If you have some dynamat or rope caulk or blutak, you could try those mods too. Super easy to do.

They have velour, pleather and pleather/velour hybrid options in the angled models. I wish I could grab a few to test, but the costs add up so fast. I'd have to buy a few more headphones to justify more pads, hehe.

https://www.brainwavzaudio.com/coll...s/headphone-memory-foam-earpads-angled-hybrid
https://www.brainwavzaudio.com/collections/headphone-pads/products/headphone-pad-angled

 

[MonolithShadow]

Cool! Now I know what to do with my old insoles! . I bet they sound better broken in!

Seriously though thats a cool idea. I put some pads over the stock pads so it does the same thing, but hey now I could add this or the foam to the stock pads and get even more separation.

Thanks for posting. Hopefully this weekend I can finish my mods and just enjoy the phones.

Thanks, yeah, they do sound better after a few days of play. The separation from your ears is probably the biggest difference. If anyone else has these, do get those drivers away from your ears, it changes everything. BTW, I used the Brainwavz Hybrid Memory Foam pads, with velour, very comfy.

 

[Dawnrazor]

Thanks, yeah, they do sound better after a few days of play. The separation from your ears is probably the biggest difference. If anyone else has these, do get those drivers away from your ears, it changes everything. BTW, I used the Brainwavz Hybrid Memory Foam pads, with velour, very comfy.

FWIW I was making a joke about the insoles being broken in but yeah planars respond well to burn in and often sound terrible at first.

 

[dweekie]

Glad to know that the Brainwavzs work well. Do they have those in leather or pleather? When I tried the brainwavz non angled valor, it took out some of the air up top, but lambskin brought it back.

Anyhow glad you are digging things. If you have some dynamat or rope caulk or blutak, you could try those mods too. Super easy to do.

Is there a link where I can read about the effect of velour vs suede vs leather on it's effects on sound? I just can't find anything in my searches, and I'm kind of curious about the direction I can go to tune the sound.

 

[dweekie]

It snapped on when I tried to put it on my head today after 3 weeks of minimal indoor wear. I know I have a big head, but it shouldn't break from stretching just enough to place it on my head. This looks like a horrible design since only the tiny edges of the plastic circles held contact. Maybe it's a sign telling me not to buy the M1060 on sale today....

 

[Dawnrazor]

It snapped on when I tried to put it on my head today after 3 weeks of minimal indoor wear. I know I have a big head, but it shouldn't break from stretching just enough to place it on my head. This looks like a horrible design since only the tiny edges of the plastic circles held contact. Maybe it's a sign telling me not to buy the M1060 on sale today....

man that sucks. Sorry to hear that. Never had any issues myself with either the M565 or m1060.

FWIW I wouldnt let that stop you from buying the m1060. 1st of it is better sounding and worth the dough. And the head band while the same design, is bigger so the likelyhood of that happening there is less bacause the band is bigger.

 

[dweekie]

man that sucks. Sorry to hear that. Never had any issues myself with either the M565 or m1060.

FWIW I wouldnt let that stop you from buying the m1060. 1st of it is better sounding and worth the dough. And the head band while the same design, is bigger so the likelyhood of that happening there is less bacause the band is bigger.

I'm lucky it is an extremely easy fix with nuts and bolts. Fixing it doesn't require gluing together broking pieces, so the structural integrity will be much improved over the original. I guess I was just initially upset at the extremely poor design choice and having it break apart under minimal use. At least it can't look any uglier with nuts and bolts than it already does

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

Over in the Modhouse Argon thread I was asked to compare the Argons to my M565, I figured it would be helpful to post it here as well:
I did some quick a/b comparisons....I'm kind of wishing I hadn't because I love my Argons, and I don't want to not love them...
I should say first, the last time I listened to them back to back was when I first got the M565 and they were stock. In stock form they weren't thatdifferent: Argons had a little bit deeper bass, the soundstage was larger and overall the sound was smoother, more laid back. But they weren't drastically different.
Then I started modding the M565: I removed the thick foam disk from the back of the driver and replaced it with a very thin piece of cloth. I swapped out the shallow stock pleathers for HM5 hybrids with foam backer rod added to make the cups even deeper. (the depth increased by about 1 inch: 5/8 in vs 1 5/8 in approximately) finally I damped the whole back of the driver with bluetack.
In it's current form (I have velour pads on the way, and I may adjust the damping scheme at some point) I like the M565 much more than the Argon.
Bass: The bass depth is very similar, both are pretty awesome, deep and punchy....but the M565 is more detailed and textured. For example on a song like Lou Reeds Walk on the Wild Side you don't just hear the bass notes, you can hear the plucked strings vibrating, but on the Argon it's faint, with the M565 you can clearly hear it, it's more like you're in the studio.
Mids: both are fairly realistic and natural sounding. The M565 has more forward mids, it's not 'in your face' like my Grado 325e, but comparatively the Argons are a step back, not recessed, it's just not as intimate as the M565 (neither one is better or worse, just different)
Treble: Treble on the M565 extends further, it's more detailed and the overall sound is brighter...by comparison the Argons are very laid back, almost rolled off sounding. The M565 isn't a bright/sparkly/sibilant headphone by any means, compared to something like the Grado 325e or the SHP 9500s it's a warm, bassy headphone...but the Argon is Bassy warm and dark by comparison.
Soundstage/instrument separation: The M565 has excellent soundstage, all the instruments sound like they are in the right place, there's no congestion or crowding, separation and placement of instruments is accurate. The Argon of course has a massive soundstage. The clear advantage in this category goes to the Argon ...it's a big space that the Argon creates.
Comfort: goes to the Argon, even though it is a heavier headphone, it's a big comfy leather sofa of a headphone. The M565 is plenty comfortable and I have no problems with long listening sessions...I'm still not a huge fan of the headband. It's not bad, but it could be better.
Power requirements: M565 is very easy to drive for a planar. It actually sounds good straight out of my phone and improves with amping. The Argon is a power hog, I have to play it at almost full volume on my Magni 3, and it is pointless to try to listen to it straight out of the phone

I haven't had the Argons all that long, and I hadn't anticipated getting rid of them any time soon, if ever...but as of now, for the types of music I use the Argon for, time after time I reach for the M565 first...and to be honest, I like the M565 for genres I would never listen to with the Argon, so I spend a lot more time with the M565. I know this is the Argon thread and I am speaking heresy, but the M565 is a really surprising value in the planar category (especially for the $80 I paid) It responds really well to mods and it's a more well rounded sounding headphone than the Argon...the Argon is more like a niche headphone to me now.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

@theangelboy I was re-reading your comparison to the HE 4xx ...have you thought about modding the M565 any further? It seems like doing some internal damping with bluetack or dynamat would bring the clarity/details closer to what the Hifimans provide.
The more mods I do, the more time I spend with my modded M565, the less likely it seems I am picking up a set of the 4xx!