[hemipowered007]

Headphone modding looks cool, wish I had time for that sort of thing lol

I really don't, I did this over the course of months randomly on work lunch breaks and tiny bits of time at home. I rarely have time to do any projects due to small children and long hours at work. This one was worth the time and effort though

 

[Jimster480]

I really don't, I did this over the course of months randomly on work lunch breaks and tiny bits of time at home. I rarely have time to do any projects due to small children and long hours at work. This one was worth the time and effort though

I've got long work hours and a little one at home too!
He was enjoying my Aeon last night on a rather boring track, but he was fine with it!

 

[leeperry]

Ori, however, I thought was fairly nice sounding. Warm and strong bass while still remaining articulate. The wood definitely seems like it's well-made. At the asking price of 899 USD though, I don't think it's worth it in terms of sonic performance. It's more like a "variation" in sound to a stock T50RP MK3 IMO.

We call it polishing a turd, a $75 phone that drastically improved with damping suddenly went $150 and then price kept going up and up, no matter what you do to T50RP MK2/3 drivers you are still listening to a low-cost $75 phone as in barely any deep bass let alone percussive bass at all but at one grand a pop everyone's got a freebie to sing along. I'm sure there must be $2K mods out there lol.

 

[ruhenheiM]

We call it polishing a turd, a $75 phone that drastically improved with damping suddenly went $150 and then price kept going up and up, no matter what you do to T50RP MK2/2 drivers you are still listening to a low-cost $75 phone as in barely any deep bass let alone percussive bass at all but at one grand a pop everyone's got a freebie to sing along. I'm sure there must be $2K mods out there lol.

yes. it's called cable upgrade

 

[Feilong4]

We call it polishing a turd, a $75 phone that drastically improved with damping suddenly went $150 and then price kept going up and up, no matter what you do to T50RP MK2/3 drivers you are still listening to a low-cost $75 phone as in barely any deep bass let alone percussive bass at all but at one grand a pop everyone's got a freebie to sing along. I'm sure there must be $2K mods out there lol.

I gotta admire the craftsmanship from ZMF headphones though. The wooden cups on ZMF's various headphones definitely look like well-made and attractive.

 

[leeperry]

Wooden cups certainly look cute but you could buy some big wooden statue for a grand, CNC does wonderful things these days but slapping wooden cups on a $75 phone and selling it for a grand is a fantastic business.....if gullible people bite.

Reminds me of kickstarter and so, a lot of promises then you pay in advance and you can guess how it'll end.

But then again $1K Kennerton Vali runs $10 drivers: https://www.digikey.com/product-det.../HPD-50N25PR00-32/HPD-50N25PR00-32-ND/6211129

 

[Feilong4]

Wooden cups certainly look cute but you could buy some big wooden statue for a grand, CNC does wonderful things these days but slapping wooden cups on a $75 phone and selling it for a grand is a fantastic business.....if gullible people bite.

Reminds me of kickstarter and so, a lot of promises then you pay in advance and you can guess how it'll end.

But then again $1K Kennerton Vali runs $10 drivers: https://www.digikey.com/product-det.../HPD-50N25PR00-32/HPD-50N25PR00-32-ND/6211129

I wouldn't say it's like your analogy of Kickstarter. Some Kickstarters don't come to fruition and it's more for business startups with a concept that they think that works. Or possibly a quick cash grab.

Just wondering though, have you heard any of ZMF's headphones?

Driver cost doesn't always equate to performance if that's what you were getting at. It's the materials used, R&D, and some other things that I may not know of.

Tuning and refining is key.

You could also argue that only gullible people would buy a headphone made in the 70s or 80s for 500 bucks No, that was not a jab but let's be real: that is a lot for those pair of headphones.

 

[leeperry]

I know what square T50RP drivers are capable of and you can slap them in any kind of cups you like, it'll never be worth a grand. You can buy fosters with ebony cups for 30 bucks so that makes for a quick and effective trial.

Regarding kickstarter and such they always make wild promises, like they came up with a new invention that even NASA wants to buy from them lol.....so gullible ppl pay upfront, they wait for a (long) while, they finally receive their turd and all they can do is whine on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/BATBAND/dp/B0753Z134K

Backed it on Kickstarter and the product that I received was nowhere near what they promised. Essentially it's 2 tiny speakers that play music leaking sound to everyone around you

I have no explanation as to why some people would drop a grand on that Sansui for instance, especially as it's supposedly bass-shy but I guess it's more of an investment. Much like I sold a cd3k for $450 a few years ago and they now sell for a grand, I guess I shoulda waited duh. Irony has it that its drivers are made of bio-cellulose and its case is pretty much airtight so a lot of those must be in pretty bad shape by now.

 

[Feilong4]

I know what square T50RP drivers are capable of and you can slap them in any kind of cups you like, it'll never be worth a grand. You can buy fosters with ebony cups for 30 bucks so that makes for a quick and effective trial.

Regarding kickstarter and such they always make wild promises, like they came up with a new invention that even NASA wants to buy from them lol.....so gullible ppl pay upfront, they wait for a (long) while, they finally receive their turd and all they can do is whine on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/BATBAND/dp/B0753Z134K

I have no explanation as to why some people would drop a grand on that Sansui for instance, especially as it's supposedly bass-shy but I guess it's more of an investment. Much like I sold a cd3k for $450 a few years ago and they now sell for a grand, I guess I shoulda waited duh. Irony has it that its drivers are made of bio-cellulose and its case is pretty much airtight so a lot of those must be in pretty bad shape by now.

There's definitely different crowds in this hobby. Some would think it's definitely worth the asking price. I can't say I'm one of those, but they do sound charming and the overall headphone is a solid can (in the case of the ZMF Ori).

I remember the Bravo Sharkk headphones was on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, which I believe they paraded around saying that they "created" a headphone with electrostatic drivers at a low price. It was basically a rebadge of a headphone in Taiwan(?) and apparently sounded mediocre at best. Oh, and it was an electret/dynamic hybrid. They were going for 200 bucks or so on Kickstarter about a year ago. Now you can find them for 50 bucks on Amazon. 30 bucks from a third party seller. I kinda wanna get a pair just to mod with.

Yeah, I read this thread about the SS-100 and I believe someone mentioned they got a pair for like 25 bucks which is unheard of these days. The post was back in 2005 I think. What an investment though.

Apparently the drivers on the CD3K were like a ticking timebomb each second you use them. The constant use would eventually cause the copper to break or something because the copper didn't allow for much excursion(?). I watched MrTechAgent's video about that. I would be terrified to use them. Apparently also a problem on the R10.

 

[Jimster480]

yes. it's called cable upgrade

I read some very funny claims about cables on ebay. If you read their marketing babble you might as well just have a cable without headphones or a DAC!
They talk about "resolving" and "detail retrieval" and "wide sound-stage" and "incredible instrument separation"

 

[Ishcabible]

Update on my YH100: @dBel84 sent me some damping material and after taking a leap of faith and removing pads, I took to some quick modding. They sound pretty solid now other than some very noticeable upper midrange ringing and noticeably less sub extension. I think I overdamped them.

Before:

After:

I'm going to try to figure out how to bring that subbass back but they're pretty listenable now.

 

[Feilong4]

Update on my YH100: @dBel84 sent me some damping material and after taking a leap of faith and removing pads, I took to some quick modding. They sound pretty solid now other than some very noticeable upper midrange ringing and noticeably less sub extension. I think I overdamped them.

Before:


After:


I'm going to try to figure out how to bring that subbass back but they're pretty listenable now.

Wow, the channels seem to match a lot better after damping them. Do you know what could have caused the imbalance before damping?

I also got a YH-100 on the way (I swear it's my last old ortho headphone haha). Seeing those before damping measurements and reading some not so positive impressions makes me regret impulsively buying them.

 

[Ishcabible]

Yup, the pleather on the channel with no extension separated from the backing so they just weren't sealing so some double-sided tape fixed that problem. Right now they sound alright for what I paid but I think the enclosure is the limiting factor. I kind of want to find a cupmaker to make something a Donut design like people did a few years ago:

Right now they're kinda like a less extreme Grado with bass and a little more compressed-sounding.

 

[Feilong4]

Yup, the pleather on the channel with no extension separated from the backing so they just weren't sealing so some double-sided tape fixed that problem. Right now they sound alright for what I paid but I think the enclosure is the limiting factor. I kind of want to find a cupmaker to make something a Donut design like people did a few years ago:


Right now they're kinda like a less extreme Grado with bass and a little more compressed-sounding.

Wow, that's quite the mod. I think Head-Fier "fleasbaby" might be able to whip something up.

I was thinking of getting an ATH-AD chassis and just plopping them in there with some damping whenever I get mine.

 

[Feilong4]

Just wondering, but does anyone wanna buy a T20v2 with one working driver? I have the other non-working driver as well which I can include.