[Totally Dubbed]

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lol this is what I was trying to tell you totally dubbed. Unless you do this as well you won't get the right sound.  They will sound muddy and slow due to the bass. So in essence you really didn't get the intended effect of the open back mod .
 
When I made this mod permanent I decided to buy Velcro and used that to fasten the pads to the driver instead of locking them in place. This allows for the same effect without having to Ma-giver the ear pads.
 
Hans I really wish you could hear what these denon 5000s sound like with this mod. Just amazing. And with the O2 amp it really shines.

well the bass didn't sound muddy, just not as present to me.
 
I felt the mids and highs were a bit too bright for my likings.
 
Bear in mind here, what I'm saying is VERY minimal differences - thus why even if I liked them - going to the trouble isn't worth it FOR ME, as I don't have the tools nor workspace...as much as I love assembling and disassembling things
 
 

 

[lee730]

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well the bass didn't sound muddy, just not as present to me.
 
I felt the mids and highs were a bit too bright for my likings.
 
Bear in mind here, what I'm saying is VERY minimal differences - thus why even if I liked them - going to the trouble isn't worth it FOR ME, as I don't have the tools nor workspace...as much as I love assembling and disassembling things
 
 

The difference is much more than subtle once you complete the mod. If you keep the pads locked in place it will be a subtle change and a downgrade due to the drivers sounding slow
 
I don't find these modded Denon 5000s to sound anything like the stock .
 

 

[hans030390]

Yeah, you can tell from the FR measurements Tyll did for mine that they don't sound anything like stock. Keep in mind I did a bunch of changes/experiments on mine that I suggested others avoid if possible, so the measurements aren't exactly what most people will get.

 

[jmcdrummer]

OH MAN!! You may have just saved me a LOT of money...I have had my Denon 2000 for about 2 years and have been happy with them, EXCEPT for what I felt was a recessed midrange and a bit of a closed in soundstage...especially noticeable on vocals. I started searching for new headphones (open back types) by coming on this site and reading up on everything I could..I was about to take the plunge and buy some orthos (LCD 2's or Hifiman 500 or  a Sennheiser 700 or 800. I stumbled on your thread with the mod suggestions and did it a bit differently...but I now have exactly the sound with the fullness in the midrange. I was seeking, a slightly bigger depth of soundstage and no apparent loss of that wonderful sub bass and bass. I hear less peakiness in the highs...the treble doesn't seem adversely affected in any way. What I did was remove the cups and simply left them off altogether. The sound is sublime. I experimented with also leaving the pads off and having the drivers almost touching my ears.....this seemed close to what an ortho would sound like...but having no pads was both not comfortable and I'm sure, dangerous. I did try your suggestion to slightly vent the pads by leaving them with a gap (not fully clamped onto the body of the phone)...but noticed no difference from simply attaching them as normal. This is the best freebie I've ever found on an audio web site. Thanks, again.

 

[lee730]

Glad you like it. I'm a bit baffled though that you don't notice a difference between the pads being locked into place vs being attached to the fram with a little bit of room between the driver. This really tightens up the bass and brings speed to the denons. Either way glad you like the mod. Its done wonders for my denon 5000s which had too much sub bass before and now its just right and tight.
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OH MAN!! You may have just saved me a LOT of money...I have had my Denon 2000 for about 2 years and have been happy with them, EXCEPT for what I felt was a recessed midrange and a bit of a closed in soundstage...especially noticeable on vocals. I started searching for new headphones (open back types) by coming on this site and reading up on everything I could..I was about to take the plunge and buy some orthos (LCD 2's or Hifiman 500 or  a Sennheiser 700 or 800. I stumbled on your thread with the mod suggestions and did it a bit differently...but I now have exactly the sound with the fullness in the midrange. I was seeking, a slightly bigger depth of soundstage and no apparent loss of that wonderful sub bass and bass. I hear less peakiness in the highs...the treble doesn't seem adversely affected in any way. What I did was remove the cups and simply left them off altogether. The sound is sublime. I experimented with also leaving the pads off and having the drivers almost touching my ears.....this seemed close to what an ortho would sound like...but having no pads was both not comfortable and I'm sure, dangerous. I did try your suggestion to slightly vent the pads by leaving them with a gap (not fully clamped onto the body of the phone)...but noticed no difference from simply attaching them as normal. This is the best freebie I've ever found on an audio web site. Thanks, again.

 

 

[hans030390]

Yes, I am also surprised that raising the pads didn't make much of a difference. Either way, all that matters is that you're enjoying it!

 

[jmcdrummer]

I checked again with the pads raised and then back to unraised on a number of recordings (CD's from my Musical Fidelity A5...there is a difference, but for me it is not an improvement to raise the pads..I noticed a definite increase in sibilance...so I am happy with the mod of simply removing the cups and the paper covering the center hole of the drivers.

 

[lee730]

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I checked again with the pads raised and then back to unraised on a number of recordings (CD's from my Musical Fidelity A5...there is a difference, but for me it is not an improvement to raise the pads..I noticed a definite increase in sibilance...so I am happy with the mod of simply removing the cups and the paper covering the center hole of the drivers.

Aww to bad you did that paper mod already... I would have suggested you try what I did. I cut out a few slices of toilet paper to the size of the interior driver piece and locked it in place by placing the pads back onto the frame using velcro. Sibilance issue solved and sound is still amazing .

 

[hans030390]

Yeah, I trimmed up the KSC75's foam earpads and placed those in front of the drivers. Made a world of difference.

 

[treal512]

I'm glad I found this thread. My BNIB D2000s are in transit 

 

[hans030390]

It's been a while, but I finally have my D2000s back! Yes, they've been out this entire time. LFF took some time to listen to them, and here's what he had to say about them (hope he doesn't mind if I share):
 
"I think they sound quite good to be honest. A bit bloated in the bass if I was going to nitpick but they were SOOOO much better than other Denons I have heard. You did a great job with them."
 
I then inquired about the large dip measured around 2.5-4KHz. I was curious if he had noticed it or any other particular oddities about the sound:
 
"Yes...the mids were a little recessed but not too much to make me dislike them. I think Denons in general have a very recessed middle section...probably due to the overpowering flabby bass and stringent highs. Since you reduced that flabby bass (by quite a bit to my ears at least), the mids shine through a bit more and the openness helps reduce the stringent highs as well. 

As I said, your Denons are so much better than the regular stock variety. Much better.

Dips are extremely hard to hear because they can get masked by other surrounding sounds. Learning to hear dips really well is a challenge and one I haven't perfected after 12 years of practice. I can hear them well but not as well as I would like. In other words...don't expect to hear narrow dips all too well. That is one of the reasons a good mastering engineer will reduce rather than boost."
 
Having spent a considerable amount of time with my modded T50RP and recently having received a pair of the Paradox T50RP from LFF, I was afraid my modded D2000s wouldn't sound as good as I remembered. Not the case! They have a difference sound signature and overall "feel" to the sound, but they do sound nice!
 
I think the measurements don't adequately convey the amount of bass these put out. The graph makes them look a bit weak. They are not. They have lost some extension and do drop off pretty rapidly below 40Hz, but they do not sound thin at all to my ears. I was able to validate the bump around 1KHz and really heard that dip at 2.5-4KHz when running these through Sinegen. It's a pretty nasty dip, and I'm not going to lie about that.
 
I've been doing some tests, and I believe I've narrowed the cause of the dip down to the paper backing on the drivers. I strongly suggest that everyone leaves the paper on the back of the driver. If you are having trouble with sibilance, try placing material in front of the driver instead. I'm going to be testing various materials to see what might act as a suitable replacement for mine.
 
The good news is that the dip is fixable. I placed some felt over the back of the driver where the paper used to be, and it dramatically helped. There's still a small dip in that area, but it is much less pronounced and covers a much smaller frequency spectrum. Looking at the stock D2000 graph, it has a few small, sharp dips in this area to begin with. 
 
The real trick is finding a material that will both fix this dip and not kill off the bass at the same time. I also tried stuffing the cups with some dampening material (much like cotton or polyfill), but this did not help the dip. Neither did reducing the size of the hole in my cups (which is already fairly small). It looks like it all comes down to the material on the back of the driver.
 
I do believe that my current mod configuration has some advantages that won't present themselves otherwise. Still, I think the overall best open mod for the D2000 is simple:
 
1. Drill large hole in the cups
2. Lift pads off frame and attack with velcro
3. Optional: place some earpad foam in front of the driver to help fix sibilance
4. Optional: apply dampening and acoustic foam to the cups and/or on back of the driver
 
Had I come across the idea of placing earpad foam material in front of the driver earlier, I'd have never taken off the paper on the back of the driver. 
 
 

 

[lee730]

Also putting cut out pieces of TP can help with the sharp highs. I did do this at first but reverted back as I kinda like the slight sizzle the treble brings. Reminds me of the EX1000s and in that respect I like the sizzle. Just can't stand too much of it. At a reasonable volume its not a problem at all. Now if you wanna pump up the volume, you'll destroy your ears in no  time. Then again with any headphone you'd do this at such volumes. BTW I did sell off my Denons 5000s but who knows. Maybe one day I'll go down the same path, maybe this time trying out the Denon 7000s and maybe even modding them. But until then I am very happy with my W3000 ANVs. I'm more into IEMs at the moment TBO. Glad to hear you are still enjoying your Denons. The Mod really does take them to another level. .

 

[Taowolf51]

I tried out the mod, and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with what I heard. Tighter, airier, less bassy, and WOW the soundstage! Unfortunately, the added sibilance is killing me (I added foam in the driver hole). I really wish there was an easy way for me to detach and reattach the cups on the fly.
I'm definitely going to have to make a decision. Does anyone know how many times you can screw and unscrew the cups into the wood until it doesn't screw in anymore?
And one last thing I noticed is that while it feels just as dynamic and exciting (even more so perhaps), they lose some of their warmth. The Denons sounded like you were being hugged (a homey and comfortable sound) that is somewhat lost with this. I'm not sure if I prefer it or not.
The tactile sensations have also moved from being in the bass to being in the lower mids.
 
EDIT: I noticed something else. When listening to Laika by SBTRKT, the *super* deep bass has gotten extremely punchy (but still tight).

 

[hans030390]

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I tried out the mod, and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with what I heard. Tighter, airier, less bassy, and WOW the soundstage! Unfortunately, the added sibilance is killing me (I added foam in the driver hole). I really wish there was an easy way for me to detach and reattach the cups on the fly.
I'm definitely going to have to make a decision. Does anyone know how many times you can screw and unscrew the cups into the wood until it doesn't screw in anymore?
And one last thing I noticed is that while it feels just as dynamic and exciting (even more so perhaps), they lose some of their warmth. The Denons sounded like you were being hugged (a homey and comfortable sound) that is somewhat lost with this. I'm not sure if I prefer it or not.
The tactile sensations have also moved from being in the bass to being in the lower mids.
 
EDIT: I noticed something else. When listening to Laika by SBTRKT, the *super* deep bass has gotten extremely punchy (but still tight).

 
Yes, sibilance is a problem with this mod. I'd keep experimenting with material in front of the drivers. Not a whole lot else I'd recommend to fix that. 
 
As for the screws, they wear out pretty fast. I mean, they're good for at least 20 times (well above what the average user would need). Beyond that, it can vary.

 

[lee730]

Quote:

I tried out the mod, and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with what I heard. Tighter, airier, less bassy, and WOW the soundstage! Unfortunately, the added sibilance is killing me (I added foam in the driver hole). I really wish there was an easy way for me to detach and reattach the cups on the fly.
I'm definitely going to have to make a decision. Does anyone know how many times you can screw and unscrew the cups into the wood until it doesn't screw in anymore?
And one last thing I noticed is that while it feels just as dynamic and exciting (even more so perhaps), they lose some of their warmth. The Denons sounded like you were being hugged (a homey and comfortable sound) that is somewhat lost with this. I'm not sure if I prefer it or not.
The tactile sensations have also moved from being in the bass to being in the lower mids.
 
EDIT: I noticed something else. When listening to Laika by SBTRKT, the *super* deep bass has gotten extremely punchy (but still tight).

 
 
If there is a will there is a way lol. I really do miss my open-backs =D...