[dementor338]

Most headphones have either thin paper or a cotton material blocking the holes on the back of the headphones drivers. Why are they even there if removing them seems to make the sound better. They materials blocking the holes in the back of the driver seems to reduce the lower frequencies, as removing the paper on the xb700s boosted the lower frequencies, making the lower bass maximum potential much easier to reach. It's as if the paper there is to make headphones less efficient in the lower bass by making it roll off too soon. Is there another purpose of the paper behind drivers except for reducing dust or reducing bass response?

 

[xnor]

Do you mean directly on the back of the drivers, or behind the drivers, or in the back of the cup? It's a lot easier if you have pictures.

 
I guess you mean directly on the back of the drivers. That's there to tune the frequency response and maybe even to reduce distortion.
Don't the XB700 already have pretty strong/boosted bass?

 

[dementor338]

Duh I meant directly on the back of the drivers. That's the only place there is paper blocking the holes on the drivers. And if the paper is there to tune frequency on even extra bass headphones, why were they there in the first place if it reduces the amount of bass and narrows the soundstage? The xb700s had strong bass already compared to other headphones, but I think my ears are more deaf to bass compared to the average person. I need like a 20 decibel bass boost for the bass to sound almost as loud as the bass and mids.

 

[xnor]

You probably listened to too much bass at too high level for a too long time.

 
But yeah the XB700 does seem to have quite some energy in the treble and sucked out mids. Would be interesting to measure what changing the paper does exactly.

 

[dementor338]

Listening to loud bass for too long shouldn't make you deaf at all, since you ears are less sensitive to the lower frequencies. It's like saying, whether you want to be punched 60 times a second (60 hertz) or punched 5000 times a second (5khz).
What is weird is that I removed the paper behind the drivers on some cheap $20 headphones, but there was no change in sound.

 

[xnor]

Quote:

 What is weird is that I removed the paper behind the drivers on some cheap $20 headphones, but there was no change in sound.

Cheap headphones often (not always!) come with crap drivers that have a high resonance frequency, low excursion limit ... and are bad at reproducing bass. If the driver is bad at reproducing bass to begin with then tuning with paper or the cup construction will only have very limited effects.