[DavidA]

@zombywoof, if you are ever looking for cups again try: http://www.rholupat.com/products?page=2
 
They also have gimbals, leather headband and rod blocks

 

[zombywoof]

  @zombywoof, if you are ever looking for cups again try: http://www.rholupat.com/products?page=2
 
They also have gimbals, leather headband and rod blocks

Thanks!

 

[zombywoof]

The drivers from the 125's were liberated (hair dryer method) from the OEM plastic cups, and installed in the Turbulent rosewood cups.  I couldn't wait until the leather headband arrives later this week to start the process.  The drivers fit perfectly with a firm press fit.  I didn't add any dampening to the back of the drive or inside the cup, and did not open any additional ports in the driver.  The pads are the Earzonk L cushions.  I am listening to Sketches of Spain on the "new" 125's as I write this, and am quite pleased, so far.  Will do some comparisons to my RS2e later.
 

 

 

[DavidA]

@zombywoof, love the headphone holder and build looks great.

 

[xuan87]

Just finished building 2 headphones over the weekend, one with the Symphones Magnum V7 drivers and the other with Nhoord red drivers. A very simple affair, easily the most time consuming portion is the braiding of the cable.
 
I bought the headphones frames from Taobao and it comes fully assembled. The wood are South Africa Ebony and Rosewood. Each frame is about $100 shipped to Singapore, and come with 2 different set of pads, 3M grills and pads which I didn't use.
 

 
The cups are screwed together, with SMC connectors, so it's a simple matter to unscrew the cups, attached the drivers to the cup lids with double-sided mounting tapes (because the drivers are slightly smaller than the lids), solder the connecting wires to the drivers and screw back the lid. At this point, your headphone portion is basically done.
 

 
Here they are with the balanced cables attached. I used silver plated wires terminated in 4 pole XLR plugs.

 

[TheRealMVT]

Just finished building 2 headphones over the weekend, one with the Symphones Magnum V7 drivers and the other with Nhoord red drivers. A very simple affair, easily the most time consuming portion is the braiding of the cable.

I bought the headphones frames from Taobao and it comes fully assembled. The wood are South Africa Ebony and Rosewood. Each frame is about $100 shipped to Singapore, and come with 2 different set of pads, 3M grills and pads which I didn't use.




The cups are screwed together, with SMC connectors, so it's a simple matter to unscrew the cups, attached the drivers to the cup lids with double-sided mounting tapes (because the drivers are slightly smaller than the lids), solder the connecting wires to the drivers and screw back the lid. At this point, your headphone portion is basically done.




Here they are with the balanced cables attached. I used silver plated wires terminated in 4 pole XLR plugs.

Nice work! Don't leave us hanging here: how do they sound?!

Edit: what amp are you using?

 

[xuan87]

Nice work! Don't leave us hanging here: how do they sound?!

Edit: what amp are you using?

 
I will be using the Mimby and Liquid Carbon. Not ideal because the Liquid Carbon is a bit warmer than I like, I prefer a more neutral amp. So likely, I will be doing a short listening session out from my O2 amp, but the majority of the time, the Liquid Carbon will be used.
 
On quick initial listening, the V7's sound signature is more to my preference. 2 other headphones that I like atm is the Audio Technica R70X and the THX00. My dream headphones is the MrSpeakers Ether, while I didn't like the Ether closed. Just listing them for comparison. 

 

[xuan87]

So both my Nhoord and Magnum has about 10-12 hours of burn in and I took 20 mins last night to do a quick A-B comparison. There is nothing objective about this, purely subjective, but the characteristics of these 2 headphones are actually quite different.
 
The Nhoord will probably be the more popular options with most people: it's slightly warmer, and has more of a V shaped FR with more bass quantity, making it the more fun headphones to listen to out of the two.
 
The Magnum will be more popular with critical listeners or what I call the HD800 club: It's more neutral and transparent, more flat and technically more superior compared to the Nhoord (more resolving and more detailed). But it's also more sterile, a little (very little) thin, and I found the trebles to be quite fatiguing, depending on the song I'm listening to.
 
In the end, it's hard for me to pick a winner between the 2, because I do like a flat neutral headphones (that's why I have the R70X), but I like a fun warmer headphones too (that's why I have the THX00).
 
More detailed impressions to come after they both have 50 hours burn-in, but I don't think my initial impressions will change much.

 

[DavidA]

Are these impressions based on both drivers in the same wood housing or on the two different wood types?  I know my ypsilon driver and SR-225i/e drivers sound quite different in the rosewood versus the walnut cups and the style/shape of the cup also makes a difference.

 

[xuan87]

  Are these impressions based on both drivers in the same wood housing or on the two different wood types?  I know my ypsilon driver and SR-225i/e drivers sound quite different in the rosewood versus the walnut cups and the style/shape of the cup also makes a difference.

 
These are different wood types, same cup shapes. The magnum is in south africa ebony, the nhoord is in rosewood.

 

[DavidA]

   
These are different wood types, same cup shapes. The magnum is in south africa ebony, the nhoord is in rosewood.

Thanks for the clarification.  I would think the African Ebony being the harder of the two wood types would give the cleaner sound since there would be less resonance where the rosewood cups that I have will usually impart a slightly warmer sound with almost every driver that I tried in them.  If you ever switch the drivers around I would be very interested in if it changes your opinions/impressions of the V7 and Red.  I should have my Red driver here soon so I'll post my impressions of it versus the ypsilon, PX-100ii, SR-225i and maybe a V7 if I can get it from a friend.

 

[xuan87]

I have no doubt the wood will contribute partially to the sound but given that these are open back, I'm guessing the wood is only accountable for 5-10% of the final sound. What I'm hearing is day and night differences which I think will not matter regardless of the wood I use.

 

[DavidA]

Since the design of the cups you are using are quite different from the ones I use its hard to say how much the wood type will account for the final sound so I'll take your word. 
 
With the cups that I've been using where the driver is press fit in the cup the type of wood makes quite a difference, I would guess 10-25% if I had to put a number to it, hope anyone else reading this thread would chime in with their opinions on the effect of the wood types on the sound along with their mounting style and its effects.
 
@xuan87, Really appreciate your taking the time to post your impressions.

 

[xuan87]

  Since the design of the cups you are using are quite different from the ones I use its hard to say how much the wood type will account for the final sound so I'll take your word. 
 
With the cups that I've been using where the driver is press fit in the cup the type of wood makes quite a difference, I would guess 10-25% if I had to put a number to it, hope anyone else reading this thread would chime in with their opinions on the effect of the wood types on the sound along with their mounting style and its effects.
 
@xuan87, Really appreciate your taking the time to post your impressions.

 
Ahhh ok, that's one part where our design differ then. Mine are mounted into the cups with a layer of double-sided mounting tape which should serve to dampen to some degree any vibration from the drivers.

 

[DavidA]

   
Ahhh ok, that's one part where our design differ then. Mine are mounted into the cups with a layer of double-sided mounting tape which should serve to dampen to some degree any vibration from the drivers.

The first wood cups that I got were to large to press fit the PX-100ii drivers so I used the double-sided mounting tape that came with them. 
 
After a friend made a wood mounting ring were the PX-100ii drivers were press fit into the ring and the ring press fit into the cup, the changes that I heard were quite a shock to me, like a totally different driver was used.
 
Another thing to consider is that I've been using dynamat in the cups and sorbothane on the back of the drivers if they have no damping material on them from the factory (most lower end Grado drivers and the PX-100ii don't have any) which really cleans up the overall sound.
 
After reading your impressions of the Red and V7, I think I'll order a V7 driver next month, used up my entertainment budget for the month, had to buy a new TV since the bedroom one crapped out and GF wanted a new Ultra 4k one which was more than I wanted to spend since we don't used the bedroom TV all that much.