Orthodynamic Roundup

[rhythmdevils]

Show and tell time! 
 
My open back YH3 with a metal headband support that I pulled off some cheap airliner type headphones, which keep tension in the headband (it kept stretching out and not sealing against my ears) and fitted with a Beyer headband cushion.  Tight, but works very well. 
 

 
 

 
 
Pappa with baby.  I prefer the tonal balance of the YH3, but the HP1 does have technical superiorities. 
 

 

[rhythmdevils]

And here's some updated and more detailed pictures of my YHD1 transplant.  Pics don't do it justice but at least you get the idea.  Plugs are light wood color (not blown out white

)  they sound nice except for the grain, which I'm not sure where it's coming from.  Maybe my amps aren't up to the task.  (SOHA1 and EHHA reva although I think there's something wrong with it...)
 

 

 

 

 

[gurubhai]

Great stuff RDS!
I wish I had the courage to drill hole in my yammies !
 

 

[rhythmdevils]

Thanks!  I drill holes in everything.  I also drilled holes into the back of my T50rp, T20v1, and even my NAD RP18! 
 
The T50rp was a total fail- that driver needs an enclosed space behind it to function properly.  I drilled 3 holes into 3 corners of the cup of the T50rp (not all 4 corners because of the cable doohinkus in the left cup).  The soundstage increased, but I lost all sense of bass, and even when I damped the holes the imaging was just weird and really funky.  I have no idea why. 
 
The T20v1 was a raging success until I took them to a meet and someone was like "nice treble, but where's the bass?"  I was so hellbent on getting smooth upper mids and treble, which I did with the help of all the holes, but I lost the bass and gave up before I could resolve it all together.  Not sure if both are possible- the airy smooth upper mids with good bass. 
 
The NAD RP18 was a success.  I drilled some holes into the corner of the cup around the opening.  Might seem silly since it's already open back, but I was hearing resonance from this corner around the open back opening, and the 8 or so holes I drilled took care of it, with no downside or tradeoff at all.  That space around the opening that the cups make helps give them the crazy bass, and it was still there (driver with no enclosure has much less bass)

 

[gurubhai]

^Did you try removing the paper on the grilles of RP18?
I ask because I have removed the paper & don't hear any resonance(not entirely sure what that means for you) on my pair. My friend's pair, which still has grille paper sounds much more closed(Is that what you mean by resonance?).

 

[nick n]

Quo

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

What's the headband assembly there? Nova __ is that what I can see? Oh Realistic Nova Pro ? Excellent looking.
 

 

[dBel84]

Nicely done RD, that YHD1 mod is very appealing..dB

 

[wualta]

It is, it is! Thanks for those photos.  I also got a real kick out of the "I drill holes in everything!" HP-1 and YH-3. RD, you would've had a field day back in the day when bike racers drilled their derailleur cages. Do you still have that T20v1 that you gave up on? Throw it in the box if you can. That's a very difficult headphone to get bass from, but even more difficult to get the top end smooth, in my limited experience.
 
The damping-factor theory can be easily (though not with scientific precision) tested on a good speaker amp with a high damping factor. Drive the headphones from the speaker terminals, simply add resistance in series to reduce the damping factor, and do your best to match levels so you're not fooled by the "louder-sounds-different/better" phenomenon. That way you're not testing using amps that are entirely different. Let us all know what you find.

 

[ludoo]

RD, you should get arrested for irreversibly damaging irrepleaceable phones...
 
 
Quote:

Do you still have that T20v1 that you gave up on? Throw it in the box if you can. That's a very difficult headphone to get bass from, but even more difficult to get the top end smooth, in my limited experience.

I have his drilled cups (via Kabeer), and I'm going to "undrill" them, as my other t20v1 are the best phones I ever heard once damped, with enough bass and a sense of spaciousness and impact all the Yamahs I've owned (up to the yh100) lack. What's difficult about the T20v1? Easiest phones to mod ever...
 

 

[wualta]

     Quote:

 What's difficult about the T20v1? Easiest phones to mod ever...
 

Depends on how easily satisfied you are. Of course, I have only one, and that sample size is difficult to generalize from, which is why I was hoping RD still had that T20.
 

 

[rhythmdevils]

Wualta I'm going to send you the holey HP1 as well as my open back YH3 and the YHD1 transplant, along with a big bag of earpads to play with.    Then you can send them to Don.  I'll be going through withdrawls the next few days so please excuse me if I'm grumpy. 
 
Quote:

^Did you try removing the paper on the grilles of RP18?
I ask because I have removed the paper & don't hear any resonance(not entirely sure what that means for you) on my pair. My friend's pair, which still has grille paper sounds much more closed(Is that what you mean by resonance?).

Yeah I removed the paper in the cup opening on one of my RP18's and it took so long to do it (I soaked the cups in water overnight) that I wasn't sure if it made a difference or not.  By resonance I mean stored energy in the cups, or certain frequencies bouncing around and not decaying quickly following the signal. 
 
Quote:

What's the headband assembly there? Nova __ is that what I can see? Oh Realistic Nova Pro ? Excellent looking.
 

Yeah it's Nova Pro I believe (they're been boxed up now).  They are super comfortable with the dual thickly padded headband. 

 
Quote:

RD, you should get arrested for irreversibly damaging irrepleaceable phones...
 
 

I have his drilled cups (via Kabeer), and I'm going to "undrill" them, as my other t20v1 are the best phones I ever heard once damped, with enough bass and a sense of spaciousness and impact all the Yamahs I've owned (up to the yh100) lack. What's difficult about the T20v1? Easiest phones to mod ever...
 

No pain no gain!  But the only one I "damaged" was the T50rp, which is easily patched up or sent to Smeggy for his driver recycling program and they're plentiful headphones anyways.  I bought 3 pairs of T20v1 from a studio for cheap and one of them had a damaged driver, so I didn't feel very worried about damaging one of the extra cups.  Of course until my T10's cup's screw post mounts broke off (evidently it was sold to me with a shoddy hot glue job there...) and I needed that extra cup.  But it's a worthy sacrifice. 
 

 

[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

     Quote:

Depends on how easily satisfied you are. Of course, I have only one, and that sample size is difficult to generalize from, which is why I was hoping RD still had that T20.
 

Yeah I guess I sent them to Kabeer.  I agree that they have an upper midrange peak, but IME it's worsened by the super thin pads.  With the thicker v2 pads I thought their peak was easier to tame than the T20v2.  But still not possible for me until I had my way with the cups. 

 

 

[dBel84]

LOL and a good set of T20V1 cups landed safely in the UK just a few days ago - wonderful to see this love being spread around. Wualta - take that staff of yours to the edge of the lake and part the waters, I will drive over and we can share the T20v1 experience. Mine is truly superb, but it does need the O2 pads to keep it there. I feel more can be irked out of it but it is a general easy listener and never fails to please so why mess with it just yet. I regret not sending them to Tyll to measure but I had to keep something to listen to..dB
 
ps Happy Birthday Ludoo 

 

[wualta]

 
Quote:

1 ) Wualta - take that staff of yours to the edge of the lake and part the waters, I will drive over and we can share the T20v1 experience.
 
2 ) Mine is truly superb, but it does need the O2 pads to keep it there. 

 
1 ) You got it. But don't Minis float?
 
2 ) Ah hah! O2 pads! Well, I did always suspect the pads. Nice to know I was at least partly right.
 
3 ) There is no third thing. But buon compleanno! tanti auguri! 100 di questi giorni! We pull-a your ears! to our software hero Ludovico Magnocavallo, who gave us our search engine 
     and much more. Photo by ludoo himself. My only question: where'd you get the film for this beast?.....................................................................................................................PHOTO OF LUDOO BY LUDOVICO MAGNOCAVALLO

 

[ludoo]

Ahah thanks Don an Walt, I went to sleep in the meantime and this is the morning after, spent all day yesterday in bed with the flu, not the best of birthdays (but I got a chance to watch 2 years of Downton Abbey which I loved, so not a bad day after all).
 
It seems Don and I are the only ones to fully appreciate the t20v1, which I find strange. They are probably still the best bargain in the ortho world, and I should keep quiet and snatch a few more of them while they are still affordable.
 
Walt, the camera I used was an old Cambo Polaroid Miniportrait, one of those monsters used to take 4 password photos on a single sheet of Polaroid packfilm, loaded with Fuji FP3000B (ISO 3200 b&w) which is superb, and a great way to rescue old 9x12 cameras from the '20s once you have plugged a Polaroid back on them. I was testing the Cambo and that self portrait came out, this is the full picture
 

 
As for the search engine, it's broken again. If HF does not stop making changes to its pages it's going to be very hard to keep it updated. I'll try to patch it again today as I'm home from work and have some time on my hands.