[Dawnrazor]

If you are going to mod these, I recommend only removing the 4 little screws...

The 5 big screws hold the driver and magnets together. Its possible to get the driver back together if you do remove the 5 screws but its not easy and somewhat dangerous. The magnets don't want to grab each other straight on and you have to force it together. I know I made contact with the driver several times. Its a quasi ribbon and so its pretty tough and mine still work even with the indents I made and fwiw I don't see too much to do in there anyhow...

Here is the thread to the mod I have done so far:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/monolith-m565-mods.899477/

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

I completely agree. As I'm listening they will have these flashes of amazing sound that blow me away and hint at its true potential. Another way they remind me of the T50rp. Out of curiosity what other pads have you tried? I have some Shure 1840 pads and my T-X0 pads I will try later.

that, right there...on some songs they sound spot on...and sometimes they are off...

If you are going to mod these, I recommend only removing the 4 little screws...

The 5 big screws hold the driver and magnets together. Its possible to get the driver back together if you do remove the 5 screws but its not easy and somewhat dangerous. The magnets don't want to grab each other straight on and you have to force it together. I know I made contact with the driver several times. Its a quasi ribbon and so its pretty tough and mine still work even with the indents I made and fwiw I don't see too much to do in there anyhow...

Here is the thread to the mod I have done so far:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/monolith-m565-mods.899477/

Dang....I owe you a massive thanks. I saw how DMS f'ed up a set of 1060s and it got me nervous about even taking these things apart. I can't stop myself from modding my headphones, but I am hesitant to mess around and have magnets flying all over and piercing my drivers.... I peeled back the velcro a little to see what was going on under there...then I stopped. I don't want to screw mine up....thanks for taking the leap....I think I will pull mine apart, take out the foam, and call it done. I had a feeling removing that filter would open the sound stage and give it a little more treble....
anyway, thanks for taking that leap, I really do appreciate you going first.

 

[theangelboy]

that, right there...on some songs they sound spot on...and sometimes they are off...

Dang....I owe you a massive thanks. I saw how DMS f'ed up a set of 1060s and it got me nervous about even taking these things apart. I can't stop myself from modding my headphones, but I am hesitant to mess around and have magnets flying all over and piercing my drivers.... I peeled back the velcro a little to see what was going on under there...then I stopped. I don't want to screw mine up....thanks for taking the leap....I think I will pull mine apart, take out the foam, and call it done. I had a feeling removing that filter would open the sound stage and give it a little more treble....
anyway, thanks for taking that leap, I really do appreciate you going first.

I wonder if it's possible to remove the screws without peeling off the Velcro? Maybe with a correctly sized leather hole punch and a good diagram of where the screws actually are? That way just the Velcro over the screw heads could be removed. It's not the Velcro I worry as much about as the driver cover. The last thing is to get a buzzy driver from debris falling in there.

Also, thanks @Dawnrazor for being the modding pioneer on these! Also, based on your experience, I guess I will skip the micro suede Brainwavz I was going to try since it doesn't even out the treble.

 

[Dawnrazor]

that, right there...on some songs they sound spot on...and sometimes they are off...

Dang....I owe you a massive thanks. I saw how DMS f'ed up a set of 1060s and it got me nervous about even taking these things apart. I can't stop myself from modding my headphones, but I am hesitant to mess around and have magnets flying all over and piercing my drivers.... I peeled back the velcro a little to see what was going on under there...then I stopped. I don't want to screw mine up....thanks for taking the leap....I think I will pull mine apart, take out the foam, and call it done. I had a feeling removing that filter would open the sound stage and give it a little more treble....
anyway, thanks for taking that leap, I really do appreciate you going first.

Thats the advantage of having a 2nd pair and them being $80. But yeah I get it. Its hard not to want to improve these once you see the possibilities.

FWIW removing the foam and putting on some Dekoni Fostex TH900 sheepskin pads really transform this headphone. I think most would be exstatic. FWIW I did'nt do that well with any sort of microsuede or cloth. Seems that leather or pleather are a good match for these cans.

That said, knowing what I know now, I could take apart the driver and put it back together without destruction. If you want to open the driver (again I couldnt see much if anything to do there) I can tell you how to get it back together without harm with some patience.

Plan to remove the 2' of fuzz on the stock pads and put the Dekonies over the stock pads.

And fwiw I am running them balanced.

 

[Dawnrazor]

I wonder if it's possible to remove the screws without peeling off the Velcro? Maybe with a correctly sized leather hole punch and a good diagram of where the screws actually are? That way just the Velcro over the screw heads could be removed. It's not the Velcro I worry as much about as the driver cover. The last thing is to get a buzzy driver from debris falling in there.

Also, thanks @Dawnrazor for being the modding pioneer on these! Also, based on your experience, I guess I will skip the micro suede Brainwavz I was going to try since it doesn't even out the treble.

Thats a good question. If you look closely at the picts I posted the 4 screws you want are all closer to the edges. so you could peel back the velcro to get to the screws well before you get to the driver cover. That said, I only removed mine because I was stupid and rolled the velcro down to remove it. That put a ton of adhesive on the cover so that is why I removed it. If I did it now I wouldnt have done that. And fwiw I didnt even think about debris . That said the sides of the driver are OPEN so with some strong breaths you could clear any debris IMHO. And when I had them apart there are 2 little gaskets that are adhered to one of the plates. Like the adhesive on the pads it failed a bit and this little rubbery gasket fell onto the driver and it needed to go between 2 of the screws. I just blew it and blew it till the thing was in place. So for me I am not too worried about debris. The pads have a screen so not a huge deal.

OMG these things rock now.

Plan to do my dynamat mod on the back of the driver and the wood.

And thanks to both you guys for keeping this thread a live and hipping me to the deal...

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

You're welcome...and thank you...and so on, and so forth...
I took the foam out of mine and took some pics. You don't have to take off all the velcro, just peel up the corners:

 

[Dawnrazor]

You're welcome...and thank you...and so on, and so forth...
I took the foam out of mine and took some pics. You don't have to take off all the velcro, just peel up the corners:

Yep. That is what I was talking about. If one is worried about the rest. Nice pict.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

before and after the foamectomy

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

interesting....soundstage seems to get bigger, it gets brighter, of course...
but...the bass seems to dig deeper. I can FEEL the cups vibrating on certain tracks...it's a good thing, it's more visceral, it might be going down into Argon bass territory...very nice mod.

 

[Dawnrazor]

interesting....soundstage seems to get bigger, it gets brighter, of course...
but...the bass seems to dig deeper. I can FEEL the cups vibrating on certain tracks...it's a good thing, it's more visceral, it might be going down into Argon bass territory...very nice mod.

Cool man! Yeah I think one could do the paper towel deal if you wanted. That seems to get rid of some of the brightness. But fwiw the stock pads really suck out the highs so that mod seems to make up for that!

Yeah I knew from my 1060s that the soundstage is a causality for the thick foam on the back. LOL I STILL don't get why removing that would make a difference since its the backwave and its not exactly like there are back wall reflections. Or are there?

 

[Dawnrazor]

Just posted some picts of what I did to the pads.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

Cool man! Yeah I think one could do the paper towel deal if you wanted. That seems to get rid of some of the brightness. But fwiw the stock pads really suck out the highs so that mod seems to make up for that!

Yeah I knew from my 1060s that the soundstage is a causality for the thick foam on the back. LOL I STILL don't get why removing that would make a difference since its the backwave and its not exactly like there are back wall reflections. Or are there?

I was hoping for more brightness, so I am not mad at this mod at all....
these are by far the best sub $100 headphones I have ever bought. Absolutely fantastic and worth every penny.

 

[Dawnrazor]

I was hoping for more brightness, so I am not mad at this mod at all....
these are by far the best sub $100 headphones I have ever bought. Absolutely fantastic and worth every penny.

Cool thats great. Treble is so individual. I like it to a point myself. I have a test song and if that is ok everything else is totally cool.

Remember the guy who returned his because of the treble? Lmao. If he just modded it.

Just listened to Hotel California. This is a very good head phone and with the right mods its revealing and big and fun. Clarity and resolution is high.

Sadly its back around $199.

Modded its not that far behind the M1060. Same cloth just a bit smaller.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

Cool thats great. Treble is so individual. I like it to a point myself. I have a test song and if that is ok everything else is totally cool.

Remember the guy who returned his because of the treble? Lmao. If he just modded it.

Just listened to Hotel California. This is a very good head phone and with the right mods its revealing and big and fun. Clarity and resolution is high.

Sadly its back around $199.

Modded its not that far behind the M1060. Same cloth just a bit smaller.

I do remember that guy that returned them...we have actually conversed over PM about other headphones...He was comparing them to the Fidelio L2...and in stock form, by comparison, the L2 is BRIGHT AF...side by side (in stock form, I haven't compared them modded) the L2 sound super bright and crystalline...the m565, in STOCK form does sound a little lifeless and rolled off...but...where it stands now? Uh...the L2 is on the chopping block, in danger of being sold, because given the choice between the two I will always reach for the M565...they are that good.

 

[Dawnrazor]

I do remember that guy that returned them...we have actually conversed over PM about other headphones...He was comparing them to the Fidelio L2...and in stock form, by comparison, the L2 is BRIGHT AF...side by side (in stock form, I haven't compared them modded) the L2 sound super bright and crystalline...the m565, in STOCK form does sound a little lifeless and rolled off...but...where it stands now? Uh...the L2 is on the chopping block, in danger of being sold, because given the choice between the two I will always reach for the M565...they are that good.

Thats great man so glad you are digging them. I am a planar guy so I know that getting other cans is kind of a waste unless its a planar can. I was just saving up to get some real upgrades to the M1060s and then you guys hipped me to these at $80 . Well worth it.

I will be doing the dynamat mod I did on the M1060s to these and let you know how it goes. Bet its worth it. Though there is a lot more plastic in these vs the M1060s. The 1060s are all metal where these drivers seem to have plastic with some metal/ magnets added. Dynamat mod probably works better on the the full metal driver. Will see.

Just broke out the stock cable and listened single ended. Just like you will always reach for the M565s over the L2, I will always reach for balanced. There is just more there there....

Wish you could try these pads.