[gurubhai]

I tried the DT880 velour pads on my T20v2 today. They fit nicely but unfortunately all bass disappeared(probably even less than the stock form). Curiously, the headstage appeared to have widened a bit.I ended up removing them pretty quickly

@BMF : Can you tell me what effect does the O2 pad have on the T20 sound.

On other note, I got hold of some better felt today & revised the mod. The bass is very satisfying now. Now If only these stock pads didn't hurt my ears, I probably won't take them off my head.

p.s. I am not getting any resonances with my pair.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gurubhai /img/forum/go_quote.gif I tried the DT880 velour pads on my T20v2 today. They fit nicely but unfortunately all bass disappeared(probably even less than the stock form). Curiously, the headstage appeared to have widened a bit.I ended up removing them pretty quickly @BMF : Can you tell me what effect does the O2 pad have on the T20 sound. On other note, I got hold of some better felt today & revised the mod. The bass is very satisfying now. Now If only these stock pads didn't hurt my ears, I probably won't take them off my head. p.s. I am not getting any resonances with my pair.

Did you try the inside out stock pads?

Your dampening scheme will have to change.

The O2 pads act as a bass lens, limit the volume of the ear pad that the driver has to fill, and move the ears farther away from the driver thereby making them sound brighter. The leather also seals better than the stock pad so they will sound a little more closed too, but it's offset by the treble extension so it's not as bad as thinner pads.

My theory on the resonances isn't so set in stone and I haven't really sat down to study acoustic physics, yet, but the cup size difference definitely effects the mids and highs slightly, enough that I bet the resonance peak shifts up out of the upper midbass/lower midrange and into the upper mids or low highs. the cup size certainly has a much larger effect on the bass, but since we're dampening the drivers anyway, it's not as large an influence as undamped drivers in larger cups.

That said, IMHO, for small driver orthos like the Yamahas and small Fostex, I think the solid leather pads like the O2 pads are a great benefit, but on the big boy drivers like the T50v0 and T50v1s, a suede pad helps tremendously. SO much so that I may sacrifice my O2 pads to the seam ripper to get the pattern pieces for suede versions. Hmmm... red suede pads and headband anyone? Nah, natural brown or slate gray for me.

 

[gurubhai]

^^ The bass only decreased when using the Beyer pads. I did revise my dampening scheme after I tried them.
Right now, with the inverted pads & updated dampening, I find them highly enjoyable.Actually I am enjoying them more than any of my other cans.

My only issue right now is comfort. I wear specs & these stock pads or what remains of them are making my ears ache.So, the new pads would have to come sooner than later.

BTW, how do I know the dampening is adequate ?

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gurubhai /img/forum/go_quote.gif BTW, how do I know the dampening is adequate ?

When you like the way they sound and enjoy them.


Or you can spend months chasing a potential 5% improvement. I did that once with my old Yamaha YH-3s. I finally did achieve that goal and they sounded great, but I hated them by that point and sold them.

 

[gurubhai]

Hmm, That does make sense. No point trying to mend something which does not sound broken.
I was curious because I just used the felt & chamois for the mod. As I progressed reading this thread, people seemed to have tried all kind of fancy stuff. Just wondering how much of a difference those make.

 

[scompton]

Everyone has a different level of satisfaction. Some people want every last bit of improvement that they can get, so try all different types of materials and damping schemes. I tend to be a minimalist. I tend to get my headphones to the point of liking the sound and stop there. The most times I've opened a headphone to change the damping is three times.

I've not used a lot of different materials. Three types of felt and micropore tape as damping material, aquarium foam or fiberfill to hold the damping to the back of the driver and back of the cup, and small self adhesive pieces of paper for reflex dots.

 

[JadeEast]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gurubhai /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hmm, That does make sense. No point trying to mend something which does not sound broken. I was curious because I just used the felt & chamois for the mod. As I progressed reading this thread, people seemed to have tried all kind of fancy stuff. Just wondering how much of a difference those make.

Everything makes a difference but finding that optimum point can be a bit of a chase. One things that I think is good is to experiment and go too far in the dampening. Make it sound bad and then dial back the amount or style of dampening. It can be fun but just remember to have a baseline that you can return to.

It's interesting to me to hear the way the different cans respond to different treatments. In general orthodynamics seem to have a bump somewhere and rolloff in the extremes of frequency. I should mention that I doubt that my dampening skill or results are anywhere near optimal. It's just more playing around with them and collecting scraps of felt.

 

[Kabeer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gurubhai /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hmm, That does make sense. No point trying to mend something which does not sound broken. I was curious because I just used the felt & chamois for the mod. As I progressed reading this thread, people seemed to have tried all kind of fancy stuff. Just wondering how much of a difference those make.

If you dont think it sounds broken then enjoy it as it is

.
After a while, maybe you will (or maybe you wont) feel there is something amiss about a certain part of the sound, in which case you can mod aiming to change that aspect.

The main thing people do here is damp to get to an equilibrium point between under and over-damped, where the transients are as good as it would be, and the response fairly 'flat' (whatever that really is...). But sometimes people like under or overdamped sounds.
(I have heard examples of peoples damping on here where I have found it under or over compared to what my thoughts and tastes are). We all have different likes and dislikes. Be happy that you are happy with the sound as is

 

[dBel84]

I thought this might tickle Walt a little pink

..dB

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gurubhai /img/forum/go_quote.gif BTW, how do I know the dampening is adequate ?

My rule of thumb is to damp harder and harder unti the frequency response is quite obviously slanted to treble (with bass suffering greatly), and then back it off until the bass comes back. And then perform whatever tweak is needed to bring back treble sparkle.

 

[wualta]

I tend toward a "minimalist" approach myself, but I think JadeEast's and ericj's suggestion of damping too hard just so you know what "too hard" sounds like, then back off until the badness goes away is excellent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dBel84 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I thought this might tickle Walt a little pink ..dB

I'm glad they recognize me as the founder of fake edges! I worked decades on those!

 

[gurubhai]

Thanks everybody for their replies.
What I have currently is this mod from Faust2D : http://www.head-fi.org/forums/4166901-post2410.html

I covered the lateral side of chamois with a micropore tape. This resulted in diminishing of bass but the bass became very tight. However the mid-range became too dry for my taste.Is this how a over-dampened T20v2 sounds like?

I ended up removing the micropore tape.I recognize that I would like the bass to have bit more tightness while not reducing its amount.
I would try to get close to that sound once I change the pads & see how they impact the cans sonically.

 

[iQEM]

i prefer TransPore than MicroPore now...

 

[gurubhai]

^^err

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gurubhai /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^^err

TransPore is another 3M surgical tape, but it is more open and a clear plastic tape. I've only seen it on a dispenser and it is 3/4" (19mm) wide.

It's what I primarily use on the backs of drivers and it does not drop the midrange, but usually I attribute recessed midrange to felts that are too dense.



I listened to my RP18s late last night before heading to bed, after about 47 hours of burn in. Well, I wasn't really a believer of cable burn in, and maybe some of it is still driver burn in, but wow did the RP18s improve. I thought I would have to make some dampening changes, but right now I think they my be fine with just pad adapters for the AT W11JPN pads. Can't wait until they hit 72-96 hours, but final burn-in will have to wait until the weekend do to work schedules.