Orthodynamic Roundup

[Philimon]

So very awesome. Thank you. Love the case.

A speaker to headphone adapter from @dBel84

 

[Philimon]

I sent @dBel84 my T30 for bad wire connection repair, which he fixed for free. I also sent him a headphone as gift because he would not accept payment. And look what I got back in return! A lovely speaker to headphone adapter for my diy Pass ACA amp, and a YHD-2 made from my old YHD-3 drivers. I gave the drivers to him so he could use but I guess not. I bought the YHD-1 after dB dropped the YHD-2 in the mail as a suprise so I did not know Id end up with two YHD. You guys are the best. Ill ask dB if he wants the YHD-2, otherwise Ill pass on.

 

[Philimon]

Quick mehsures. No mods, except slapping some leather pads on top of stock foams for the "leather pads" measurements. "On top of" means there is not an actual seal, just held in between stock foam pads and ears by friction/pressure, which means there is more bass to be gained with properly sealed pads or damping mods to back of driver.

The big thing vs the center-pinned Yamahas is the lack of treble peaks (with leather pads). Also, not sensing any immediate ear fatigue, which means more likely to have less serious ringing in the mids-highs like in the center-pinned Yams. The ringing seen in CSD graphs of YH/HP series appears to be inherent in the driver and not a consequence of the small closed cups (same ridges are still apparent even when drivers are transplanted to open cups). And the higher you go up in tiers the worse the ringing (I went from YH-2, YH-1, YH-100).

These are good first impressions. With the leather pads it's obviously too warm, however that is a great place to be pre-mods as its easier to add trebles than add bass (without resorting to front filters). I'll be looking to use dense foam pads, to get a nice balance, and to have an open/airy sound.

Will add YHD-2 impressions and mehsures later.

 

[Philimon]

Yamaha YHD-2 came with some damping mods already installed in the cups. I do not know what exactly. I've never opened one of these before. Since there are no visible screws they must be hidden under the pads. I'll ask dB first since I dont want to accidentally damage.

With leather pads first impression is that they are smooth minus small bass defecit. They sound more balanced and detailed than the YHD-1. Damping mods...

These YHD-2 are actually a YHD-1 headband combined with YHD-3 drivers. From factory, YHD-3 and YHD-2 apparently share drivers. YHD-2 and YHD-1 appear to share enclosures.

The frequency response measurements may not be good. Supraaural headphones are difficult to measure with EARS due to getting a seal with shallow pads and silicone fake ears and usually requires a bunch of trials to setup correctly. I took these measurement of YHD-1/2 with just a few passes since I know these headphones are not in final mod form, and because stock form is going to be near impossible to get a good seal for good measurements with EARS. Subjectively, tonal balance sounds more linear than appears on graph. Better seal with soft human ears... And there is theory (can't link to other sites in North Korea-Fi) that 2kHz with supraural headphones sound different (less severe) in actual use vs measurements. YHD-3 was imo the best sounding Yamaha I had tried and compared it to Koss 95X (except ortho has much improved bass dynamics). I think the open back version YHDs may be even better, we'll see. I don't have 95X anymore so will have to compare to Fostex T30 and TH500RP instead.

These YHD-2 are definitely damped. I had to switch my amp to high gain. I'll be ordering some Geekria pads that I've found work fine getting seal with EARS, so I'll have better mehsurements later.

 

[Philimon]

I found that pads / front baffle mods are just as important as back of driver. I can get a warm signature a little nicer than stock in a more open configuration, however I cant get deep bass extension and retain this warm profile. I am missing some ingredient because Ive seen others accomplish before.

 

[khbaur330162]

Are those baffle vents? Try sealing those with blue tac from the back and see if bass extension recovers?

 

[Philimon]

Are those baffle vents? Try sealing those with blue tac from the back and see if bass extension recovers?

I missed your post… I tried both extremes of sealed and open, and a few in between. What I liked best was in between: damped grills + baffles + front baffle ring.

The front baffle ring is the little circular foam piece by the front of the driver. Designed to sorta seal / restrict the front ear chamber volume to assist with bass. Known concept and has been modded by various ways by others in T50RP mk3 and THX00. The stock medium density foam works well as a compromise. You get some bass without it sounding like a very closed headphone. The best way I found to improve bass extension and amplitude was modding this foam ring. I settled on ordering the Mayflower T50RP baffle ring upgrade foam that way I dont have to play around with micropore tape anymore. If the Mayflower piece doesnt work well for me then Ill go back to micropore or cutting my own foam. However, my guess is that Im not going to like the outcome of the Mayflower ring because I didnt like the equivalent mod using micropore (covering foam in micropore tape). Bass much improves but the sound is way too enclosed sounding, like through a pipe. Ive tried the Mayflower foam on a mk3 before and didnt like at all. Hoping TH500RP is different due to the rest of combination of extra semi-open cups and different pads.

I dont know. Now thinking the TH500RP is not going to be great unless its modded to be closed (with tiny venting). But I dont want it to be closed, I couldve bought a T60RP for that. Semi-open / stock TH500RP is a fine mid-fi headphone. Much prefer to lower tier Hifiman.

 

[Philimon]

Fostex T30 driver diameter a little small for DT880. Seats deeply into cup. I would want it to be flush. Need to make an adapter / baffle.

 

[khbaur330162]

Philimon, nw, wasn't any sort of insight as it turns out.

ZX1000 earpads showed up. Check out measurements versus other earpads on YH-100:

ZX1000 has sloping peak at 2.4kHz but it's not really noticeable, and treble is nicer and not as splashy I think.

Here is YH-1 versus YH-100, both sporting ZX1000 pads. I feel like the gap has closed some with this last pad iteration, YH-1's sound so good with ZX1000 pads, imo. There is still that last bit of detail out of the YH-100's, and tiny bit of cleanliness, but it's less apparent with these pads, imo, and these pads are pretty cheap. I will have to swap back to flat pads for YH-100's, but so far I think it's improvement for both headphones. Too bad there's a portion of the pad that isn't genuine leather...

Chinese planars sounding better, no mods performed, nothing changed. They still sound a little washed out coming from YH-100's but it quickly goes away and they almost reveal another layer to vocals and stuff sometimes it seems, they are like pristinely clean, not quite effortless but getting there. They are actually quite good, just a bit different than the others. They have good imaging, imo, it's much easier to tell a whole gradient of left-right versus three blob (left, center, right) sound sort of. They image inside your head a bit, so again, you have to get used to them, but once you get rocking with these they are quite enjoyable, I just have soft spot for Yamaha's maybe.

 

[Philimon]

Philimon, nw, wasn't any sort of insight as it turns out.

Usually I document my mods at every step with pics, graphs, and impressions. Today I didnt feel the desire because T50RP has been done by so many better people. @bluemonkeyflyer made the most comprehensive T50RP mod data in the history o f t h e w o r l d.

Ill revisit TH500RP after the Mayflower front baffle foam arrives. If I have something decent then Ill share but thus far havent really arrived at something I like better than stock. Not saying it cant be done, I just dont have the knowledge nor the inclination to research. I like the challenge - its a puzzle. When it gets too difficult I will cut to the answers sheet or sell.

 

[Philimon]

T30 driver fits HFM baffle well.

While this 400s has an *extremely great frequency response with focus-a pads it still lacks in dynamics and resolution conpared to T30 (which measures even better imo in terms of frequency response). The 400s (like 400i and 4XX) has some ringing at 8kHz that makes the headphone not recommendable.

*see my measurements of both at that other friendly site

 

[Miiksu]

I found that pads / front baffle mods are just as important as back of driver. I can get a warm signature a little nicer than stock in a more open configuration, however I cant get deep bass extension and retain this warm profile. I am missing some ingredient because Ive seen others accomplish before.

Is that ur headphone measuring station? what microphone and is the ear soft like real one?

 

[Philimon]

Is that ur headphone measuring station? what microphone and is the ear soft like real one?

Minidsp EARS. Fake ears are not as soft as real ears. This is a budget measuring rig thats not super accurate. Mostly just fun comparing and tool for modding, not for science. They are well worth the cost if youre into modding headphones. Saves so much time. Record keeping system for previous mods by saving measurement files, and overlaying graphs for comparisons.

 

[Miiksu]

Minidsp EARS. Fake ears are not as soft as real ears. This is a budget measuring rig thats not super accurate. Mostly just fun comparing and tool for modding, not for science. They are well worth the cost if youre into modding headphones. Saves so much time. Record keeping system for previous mods by saving measurement files, and overlaying graphs for comparisons.

I wonder why they make it hard like a wood. I use a soft ear (like a real one) on my setup.

 

[Philimon]

I wonder why they make it hard like a wood. I use a soft ear (like a real one) on my setup.

Not hard, silicone. Just not skin soft. Works well enough for our purposes as poor hobbyists.

Ive seen nicer fake ears used in diy rigs - Im guessing thats what you’ve done. Ive also seen people use a small mic in their own ears then measure with headphones on with great results. Also there is flat plate coupler (no ears).