[khbaur330162]

Dude, I was just talking to Pavel about maybe souping that PPAS up with a lithium ion battery and such. He told me not to do it, but it sounds so good, I almost wanna just force him to do it if I can. Gahhh, I don't need another portable amp, and my friend is using it plugged into the wall as a desktop amp, it suits that function. Why mess with things? But my friend is located near him and I really wanna hear my portable rig through that, haha, it's such a nice little amp, sounds like a big boy in a lot of ways, imo. Might be better suited for me over my current portable amp due to gain difference, I'm not sure. Bloop.

I bought a YHD-3 and old Sony headphone today, waiting on shipping. I'll have to restitch the pads, they are way too far gone, I bought some hopefully super supple leather for the job. But most of these old Sony headphones had angled drivers so I'm confident the headphone I bought will too and they are 40mm, AFAIK, so should be good foster phone. Idk, maybe leave YHD-3's stock if they sound nice, but would be cool if they were comfortable, I hate supra-aural's.

But for you, maybe check out Fostex T10. I preferred the T10 to SFI, they had a more laid back sound I'd say, but not too laid back, like perfect, and possible most comfortable supra-aural? I think they also sound clearer than SFI/ATH-2, at least in certain frequency ranges maybe, definitely flatter, imo. Not sure, maybe YHD's were a tiny bit clearer than SFI but I ended up selling my YHD's not thinking they were really that special. I still own T10's. YHD didn't sound that much warmer to me than SFI's and I wouldn't classify either as really "warm." I guess I'd call T10 neutral and SFI "honky" due to upper mids peak.

 

[Philimon]

YHD3 do sound a little honky. T10 very good, but not comfy.

 

[Philimon]

YHD-3 probably overdamped. First attempt with the driver in YH-2 enclosure. I've tried stock enclosure and Koss KHP30i enclosure before, detailed earlier in thread. I added extra damping material to these thinking the more closed YH-2 cups would benefit from extra reflection/absorption but maybe not like this (non-specific) because now overdamping driver.

edit: Will share measures after final mod.

 

[Philimon]

Mod2: Removed exactly half of mod damping materials. Much less damping required vs HP/YH-series.

edit: Will try halfing materials again. Forgot that this time I'm using pleather pads whereas with stock and Koss enclosure I used open foam pads.

edit2: Subjectively, better. More bass! Less honk obvious. Squiggly treble not bad for a closed phone. Not too peaky or fatiguing.

 

[Philimon]

So YHD are tensioned and YH-series are not. Damping has different effects. Here is YHD3 in YH2 enclosure with zero damping material. In general, in an untensioned vintage ortho less damping would add more negative tilt frequency response at cost of bass extension. YHD3 on the other hand seems to just lose bass extension. There are other effects line linearity of treble, transients, and dynamics... YHD3 seems to get effected to different degrees here too...

I'll revisit. I ordered new supply of modding materials. Second Skin Audio has a sale on damplifier pro. They sell extra small sheets for hobbyists and the five-pack is currently 37% off.

Would like to try in open enclosure. I have prepped a DT880 enclosure for that purpose but for use with an RP18 driver, however that NAD may be lost in mail... RIP sad

edit: mod3 treble peaks don't seem to be an issue thus far. Mid-bass boost is a plus.

 

[khbaur330162]

YHD-3's measure pretty well. Will be interesting to get the new materials and get to work on my pair. I wonder what they would sound like transplanted...

 

[khbaur330162]

So that's stock Sony MDR-CD280. Cloth pads, 40mm angled drivers, vented baffles, good knock around cans.

This is the pads turned inside out and swapped left for right, right for left, I've posted this mod in this forum before. The underside pleather is not poorly suited for face side duty, seals in bass a bit, although i think these drivers are less bassy than the other headphone I bought.

And these are the Sony MDR-CD550's. The pleather had turned to this sticky paste almost, you could scratch it off in like malleable wads sort of? Weird. Got everywhere.

And here they are with new genuine leather hand stitched pads.

I later scratched off the black specs of remnant stock pleather. They sound really really good actually, just not detailed like an ortho. I like the way these feel on head more than CD280. It's tough to choose a foster phone. CD280's great knock around cans, but I feel the handstitched pads on CD550's and deeper ear chamber are nice, and there's bass, is it the pads? Would these frames imbue the YHD-3's with bass? Idk. Still haven't made up my mind.

 

[khbaur330162]

I decided to transplant YHD-3 drivers into CD550's even though they are creaky and possibly fragile. The pads are better and seal in bass.

So the left side ear pad I didn't stitch up as nicely and it didn't seal with the EARS baffle so I had to press the earcup onto the baffle with my hand, hence the weird bass rise at 20Hz.

They sound decent. They can be a little glary in the upper mids with some stuff, I guess, like "The Incredibles" 1 and 2 OST's. I wish that 6-7kHz peak wasn't there. Also with certain passages of orchestral they can sound a little small, like tiny and shouty like a phone speaker trying too hard. With other stuff they sound great, it's almost strange how colored they can sound at times. I feel like they sound colored to a point that I have to say YH-1's sound more neutral to my ears although maybe a tiny bit thin in comparison. But YH-1's sound much more effortless and I feel like they are less grainy than YHD-3's, and their image is larger and perhaps more natural to life and they also are more detailed, I feel. I don't feel YHD-3's are bad, just that 6-7kHz peak is a little nasty at times, but really they are quite good, I'd say the transplant is a success, quite a bit better than stock enclosure, imho.

 

[Philimon]

I too feel the tiny closed enclosures hold back the Yamahas. Ill get to an open back transplant eventually. Working on some other mods .

Since RP18 may be lost in mail (under investigation) Im going to use Beyers for another project. Those are Peerless Tymphany 50mm drivers, Hifiman Focus-a pads, and decupped Beyers. Grills can be reinserted later. I use Peerless Tymphany 3.5” drivers (mids/highs) in my speakers so thats neat.

edit: Still working on Yamahas. Waiting for some materials etc.

 

[Philimon]

Beyer fittings a few mm small. Backup plan:

For another thread.

 

[khbaur330162]

Looks dope. Would love to hear them.


Funny how YH-1's sound more neutral to me, idk if they really are any more neutral, maybe in the 2-4kHz range, and then YH-1's rise back up after the dip just a bit later than YHD-3's which maybe make them sound less honky? YHD-3's are a good listen though, maybe they're growing on me.

 

[khbaur330162]

I think the U70's even sound clearer and sharper than YHD-3's and the U70's were the fuzziest of the bunch: YH-100, YH-1, U70. Given your tendency for warmer headphones, Philimon, you might like the U70 more than YH-1, its 6kHz is mega scooped out, pretty hi-fi sounding compared to YHD-3 given a transplant, yet still plays nicely with most stuff due to 6-7kHz recession. All U70 needs is a transplant and constant pressure over the rear center pins or else it cuts out, I don't even remember if I damped the U70, I don't think they need need it. Still sounds more neutral to me than YHD-3.

Nice and mellow. Incredibles sounds great, big image.

 

[khbaur330162]

These are the insides of Sony MDR-CD280 earpads. So not only is the baffle-side-fabric pleather, but they rubberized the insides of the face-side-fabric even though face-side portion is like fuzzy, ultra cheap velour I guess.

Here you can see one is nice and the other is all cracked. Idk what the difference between sides was for this headphone, but if you can find a CD280 in decent condition they might actually seal in the bass... for the most part.

And here are the restitched jobbies.

So I have plans for this headphone. I'm either installing SFI's or ATH-M2 drivers in them. This headphone is 40mm drivers, so the little planars are drop in basically. I found this website that sells SFI's... Check it out. Shipping is free, so I got a pair for $24.99... Not bad! I haven't decided what I'm building yet. I spent more time with SFI's, I feel, but originally what made me sell my MDR-CD3000 was a pair of ATH-2 drivers in a CD380. So, for nostalgia, I was thinking Sony ATH-M2 drivers in CD280, basically same headphone, but this time do it right and don't botch the pads up. I tried to rubberize the pads and it never was right, felt horrible on your ears. These pads I can be proud of.

So, we will mayyybe see how far off SFI's are from YHD-3's, I can get some measurements for comparison, Idk if anyone is interested. MDR-CD550 (home to YHD-3's now) and MDR-CD280 (home to SFI's or ATH-M2's) aren't far off from each other physically (not comparing their stock drivers), so fair comparison for the ortho's, imo, one is just more open than the other, but... it's close.

 

[Philimon]

So, we will mayyybe see how far off SFI's are from YHD-3's, I can get some measurements for comparison, Idk if anyone is interested.

Totally interested. Please let us know how those SFI’s fair. I wonder if they are specced to same as vintage. They dont look molded from a new press or anything though. NOS

Modded T50RP impressions okay here? I finally bought a TH500RP to mod. In case you didnt know, TH500RP js same old T50RP driver just in another shell. Not expecting miracles, just want to try another T50RP after learning so much from this thread. Ive previously owned (some twice) four different official T50RP variants, this would be my fifth.

Fostex T30 is being kindly repaired by @dBel84 (cable issue), if he is able to fix maybe he will comment on sound. And RP18 is lost in mail @BucketInABucket . Not giving up hope yet.

I am sending a YH-1 to @AJZ0 as a surprise. I meant to include YH-2 but I accidentally killed with super glue while prepping with one last mod… RIP you lovely little headphone that survived decades making sweet music until a dumbass took superglue near your driver.

 

[takato14]

I'll be clearing out some of my collection soon, which includes a handful of interesting orthos and electrets. I bought these with the intent to restore and/or modify them but eventually bit off a bit more than I can chew...

If anyone here wants first dibs on these please hit me up in DMs. I'm not really interested in making money off these, and I'd rather they go to members of the modding community than some random collector on eBay.