BigAmish
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 24, 2007
- Posts
- 283
- Likes
- 10
The Equation Audio RP-21s are a nice set of inexpensive closed cans. However, many experienced head-fiers have (justifiably) described the upper-mids and highs as areas where these cans could use some improvement.
Spurred by the success of mods on the K81DJ & KSC75, I was curious how removal of the foam pad covering the driver would affect RP-21 performance. Head-fi member Sulcata_geo had done this & reported positive results, so I decided to follow his advice & remove the foam that covers the drivers & give these cans another listen. Simply put, removing the driver foam opens up the upper-mids and highs, making them sound less artificial (some described cymbals as sounding like they came from a beat-box), more detailed, and more airy! This is a similar result to the K81DJ & KSC75 mods, and it really extends the bang-for-buck factor of these cans, IMO. I’m not saying it makes the upper mids & highs absolutely perfect, but IMO, it does improve them greatly.
Anyhow, I was real nervous doing this mod, so I thought I’d take pictures & walk you through the process step by step to minimize any critical screw-ups by anyone else who wants to try it out!
Start: My shiny “new” RP-21s…unmodded. FYI, they have about 300 hours pink noise burn-in.
Step 1a: Carefully pull back the earpad from the edge of the driver housing. Avoid overstretching the earpad as I envison the plastic tearing if you pull too hard.
Step 1b: Work around the driver housing, releasing the earpad as you go. After you release about ~50% of the earpad, the whole thing should come off of the driver housing with ease.
Step 1c: Pic of my headphone with the earpad completely removed. Notice the thick circular pad that covers the driver at the center. THAT is what we really want to remove.
Step 2a: Pinch the edge of the foam pad & pull back carefully. The tape adhesive that keeps it in place is pretty strong, but eventually it will release and start to peel back.
Step 2b: Work around the circumference of the foam pad pulling it away from the driver housing as you go. It should be much easier to pull back once you get it started (in Step 2a).
Step 2c: The thick foam pad has now been completely removed! Note the double sided tape that was used to keep the pad in place. Should you wish to reverse this mod, just (1) reaffix the foam pad (if the tape is still sticky), or (2) put 3 small drops of Elmer’s glue in a triangular pattern around the circumference of the driver where the tape residue is and put the foam pad back in place. The Elmer’s glue is more than strong enough to keep the pad affixed to the driver housing.
Step 3: Reinsert the earpad in the slot around the circumference of the driver housing, working around the pad until it is completely in place.
Step 4: Repeat steps 1-3 on the second driver housing.
DONE!
Again, this mod was done based on the encouragement and observations of Sulcata_geo…I am just corroborating his positive feedback about the mod results and am reporting detailed instructions on how to do it for those (like me) who are nervous about ripping apart $100 cans!
As you can see from my signature, I don’t exactly have a huge laundry-list of full-sized cans to compare sound qualities with, so I am really interested to know how experienced Head-fiers with RP-21s feel about the usefulness of this mod. All I know is that I no longer think about RP-21 issues with the upper-mids/highs like I used to. Again, I’m not saying this mod makes the upper-mids & highs perfect, but they are (to me) improved to the point where I focus on the music rather than any minor inadequacy in my RP-21s.
Enjoy!
Spurred by the success of mods on the K81DJ & KSC75, I was curious how removal of the foam pad covering the driver would affect RP-21 performance. Head-fi member Sulcata_geo had done this & reported positive results, so I decided to follow his advice & remove the foam that covers the drivers & give these cans another listen. Simply put, removing the driver foam opens up the upper-mids and highs, making them sound less artificial (some described cymbals as sounding like they came from a beat-box), more detailed, and more airy! This is a similar result to the K81DJ & KSC75 mods, and it really extends the bang-for-buck factor of these cans, IMO. I’m not saying it makes the upper mids & highs absolutely perfect, but IMO, it does improve them greatly.
Anyhow, I was real nervous doing this mod, so I thought I’d take pictures & walk you through the process step by step to minimize any critical screw-ups by anyone else who wants to try it out!
Start: My shiny “new” RP-21s…unmodded. FYI, they have about 300 hours pink noise burn-in.
Step 1a: Carefully pull back the earpad from the edge of the driver housing. Avoid overstretching the earpad as I envison the plastic tearing if you pull too hard.
Step 1b: Work around the driver housing, releasing the earpad as you go. After you release about ~50% of the earpad, the whole thing should come off of the driver housing with ease.
Step 1c: Pic of my headphone with the earpad completely removed. Notice the thick circular pad that covers the driver at the center. THAT is what we really want to remove.
Step 2a: Pinch the edge of the foam pad & pull back carefully. The tape adhesive that keeps it in place is pretty strong, but eventually it will release and start to peel back.
Step 2b: Work around the circumference of the foam pad pulling it away from the driver housing as you go. It should be much easier to pull back once you get it started (in Step 2a).
Step 2c: The thick foam pad has now been completely removed! Note the double sided tape that was used to keep the pad in place. Should you wish to reverse this mod, just (1) reaffix the foam pad (if the tape is still sticky), or (2) put 3 small drops of Elmer’s glue in a triangular pattern around the circumference of the driver where the tape residue is and put the foam pad back in place. The Elmer’s glue is more than strong enough to keep the pad affixed to the driver housing.
Step 3: Reinsert the earpad in the slot around the circumference of the driver housing, working around the pad until it is completely in place.
Step 4: Repeat steps 1-3 on the second driver housing.
DONE!
Again, this mod was done based on the encouragement and observations of Sulcata_geo…I am just corroborating his positive feedback about the mod results and am reporting detailed instructions on how to do it for those (like me) who are nervous about ripping apart $100 cans!
As you can see from my signature, I don’t exactly have a huge laundry-list of full-sized cans to compare sound qualities with, so I am really interested to know how experienced Head-fiers with RP-21s feel about the usefulness of this mod. All I know is that I no longer think about RP-21 issues with the upper-mids/highs like I used to. Again, I’m not saying this mod makes the upper-mids & highs perfect, but they are (to me) improved to the point where I focus on the music rather than any minor inadequacy in my RP-21s.
Enjoy!
