I am really surprised at what a positive response the iM716 is getting by experienced Head-Fi's after comparisons with other, usually much more expensive, IEMs.
I have Head-Fi to thank, and Old Dave for his early thread on these phones, for my informed purchase.
OK, that aside, on to the mods that will take a very good IEM into the "these effin' things cost HOW MUCH?????" level.
FOAM DANCE:
To get the best bass possible with an IEM you need to completely isolate off a very small space in your ear canal. This 'bass loading' is common among ALL drivers. For example, a good 2-way speaker system can load a small room adequately, and give a nice, balanced bass response. But move it to a large room and the bass will sound decimated. Too much air to load.
Obviously, custom molds would be optimal in truly isolating the ear canal space. A step closer to custom molds from the supplied tips are urethane foamies (yes, I’ve been on this soap-box before). They are more opaque to sound than either the supplied open-cell PVC foamies or the silicon flanges. You will be surprised at the difference in bass response you will hear from this mod. It was good to hear the true potential of these little drivers. They sound much more balanced, more like the Ety chart (flat) than the Altec/Ety real world in-ear response (tipped up). It's not that the drivers are tipped-up, it's the lack of balance with the bass that gives this effect.
You'll be tappin' your feet, and dancin' in the streets with this mod.
PODLESS (aka, the Marie Antoinette mod):
The other major step in modding these phones was mentioned, and first performed, by BushGuy (above poster). Cut off her pod and join the revolution. You'll never look back. And neither will Marie.
Better, more refined SQ across the board. Plus, an added advantage, as if SQ improvement is not cause enough to roll out the guillotine, is that you can tweak the freq response to your taste and style of music by varying the impedance. BushGuy does this via impedance switches in his amp (sweeeeet). For those poor souls among us, condemed to wander Head-Fi for all eternity ampless, you can also do this by simply adding a resistor in-line as you solder the wires back together.
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I know this is contrary to the Head-Fi code, so my time on this site might be limited. But if, like me, you go the DIY route on both of these mods, your total price will be less than $10. Heresy you say?
If you’d like to send me a thank you pre-Christmas present/donation with the remainder of the money, I assure you it will go to a very worthy cause.
Thanking you in advance,
jS
