[rakinkeen]

Haven't tried it but that page says improved deep bass and not much else. The old HT-21 I had was pretty average in terms of bass extension so that wouldn't be a bad thing at all.

Okayy, this pretty interesting. So this cans is pretty 'agressive' right? It's great for metalhead? Could you slightly compare it with ksc75 and px90?

 

[NeenerPhones]

So I did something to my HT-21s. I've been wanting to buy some new headphones and i'm torn between bass and soundstage (if someone could point me in the right direction). I'm going to segway real quick, I had someone 3D print me adapters for my HD558s that let me put HM5 or ZMF pads on them, the same guy modded a pair of T50RPs that is supposed to make them sound as open as possible and bumped up the bass a little bit. http://www.modhouseaudio.com/argon/argon
 
SO WHAT DID I DO TO MY HT-21s?!
Well I'll tell you!
I took the backs off of the cups. They popped right off! I took an X-acto knife, wedged the blade between the plastic with the logo and the housing for the driver, not too deep, maybe less than a quarter inch but enough for me to pull the plastic up to get the blade under and undo two small clips. 
 
The soundstage widens a little bit, upper mids and treble is bumped up a bit which was expected. I did this in search of possibly modifying these headphones to get the signature I want and I don't have money to buy quality, fun headphones. I got them from massdrop and I have VE Monk Plus earbuds on the way from Massdrop so I figured, why not turn these into a project? I've started my research and I've considered adding an extra 40mm driver to each side as I've noticed the terminals are exposed and it's perfect. I just need to pry out (refrain from cringe, I got these for free and it's a weird story, later got M20Xs for 99%off) two of the 40mm drivers inside a pair of Razer Tiamat 2.2s... Because why not? Since that's the hardest thing to do, what can I do to dim down the treble? I know the only way to do that since I'd prefer that these stay open, is to put something in front of the drivers. What might be a material I could either find online, is thin or I can find locally. Good ol' toilet paper kind of does the job. Feels nice on the ears too. These little things have low end, it's just a matter of dimming the highs which in all honesty, is not too fun for me when I removed the backs. 

 

[actorlife]

Hey is there any differences between the first gen and thesecond gen? http://www.meelec.com/MEElectronics_HT_21_Portable_Headphone_p/hp-ht21-bk-mee.htm

14.99 now. Thanks ordered them. Sent back some other phones I didn't like. I had the first gen HT21 and I liked them, so hopefully these will be just as good. I called them my mini AT M50's when I had them.

 

[actorlife]

They are a keeper. They sounded just a bit veiled then I removed the layer on top and now they sound awesome naked. These sound great with Jazz. They did a great job on the 2nd. gen for sure. Will be my walk around stress phones.

 

[actorlife]

  So I did something to my HT-21s. I've been wanting to buy some new headphones and i'm torn between bass and soundstage (if someone could point me in the right direction). I'm going to segway real quick, I had someone 3D print me adapters for my HD558s that let me put HM5 or ZMF pads on them, the same guy modded a pair of T50RPs that is supposed to make them sound as open as possible and bumped up the bass a little bit. http://www.modhouseaudio.com/argon/argon
 
SO WHAT DID I DO TO MY HT-21s?!
Well I'll tell you!
I took the backs off of the cups. They popped right off! I took an X-acto knife, wedged the blade between the plastic with the logo and the housing for the driver, not too deep, maybe less than a quarter inch but enough for me to pull the plastic up to get the blade under and undo two small clips. 
 
The soundstage widens a little bit, upper mids and treble is bumped up a bit which was expected. I did this in search of possibly modifying these headphones to get the signature I want and I don't have money to buy quality, fun headphones. I got them from massdrop and I have VE Monk Plus earbuds on the way from Massdrop so I figured, why not turn these into a project? I've started my research and I've considered adding an extra 40mm driver to each side as I've noticed the terminals are exposed and it's perfect. I just need to pry out (refrain from cringe, I got these for free and it's a weird story, later got M20Xs for 99%off) two of the 40mm drivers inside a pair of Razer Tiamat 2.2s... Because why not? Since that's the hardest thing to do, what can I do to dim down the treble? I know the only way to do that since I'd prefer that these stay open, is to put something in front of the drivers. What might be a material I could either find online, is thin or I can find locally. Good ol' toilet paper kind of does the job. Feels nice on the ears too. These little things have low end, it's just a matter of dimming the highs which in all honesty, is not too fun for me when I removed the backs. 

AWESOME! Can you post pic? Thanks!

 

[NeenerPhones]

OOhhh. I kind of left the headphones at a relative's house recently. Whenever I get my hands on my precious gems, I'll be sure to post those pics ASAP! Just as un update to my post, I took some foam out of my PC case and put them behind the drivers to dampen the sound. There was just too much echoing for me. I now have somewhat similar material that's thinner, not as porous and should absorb piercing highs that still remain. That fluffy, airy foam only does so much but it is a MAJOR improvement to my ears. I'm going to test a few configurations. 
 
 
Config 1: Open back with athletic prewrap covering the driver to tone down over bearing high end.
 
Config 2: Closed back with first dampening foam (unidentified stuff from my PCs drive bay covers)
 
Config 3: Closed back with athletic prewrap which seems to do well with maintaining low and, mids (kind of) and dimming highs as tested by a new cheap project headphone of mine, Superlux HD 668B. 
 
Config 4: Closed back with pre wrap behind and infront of driver. I'm predicting a very M50X vibe from that.
 
Config 5: I already know what these would be like with material only in front of the driver. It doesn't clean up the sound any, it only masks the highs.
 
Config 6: This is a wild card. I think I'll try a nice triple fold layer of pre wrap with the backs removed. This should retain some openness and maybe help tighten up the low end as i've found what sounded like 50hz move upwards to 60hz and with some extra wobble, if that makes sense. 
 
I shall show a picture of each and explain them all. Any song recommendations? 

 

[actorlife]

Whoa seems like alot of work. Thanks. Any music will do. I just want to widen the stage a bit more. Other than that they are great.

 

[NeenerPhones]

@actorlife So I didn't do the several configurations but I did do something that more or less combined some extra dampening while trying to retain some sparkle and sound stage. Compared to closed, I'm sure these are just a bit more open sounding. Compared to totally open, these aren't quite there. This is a bit scattered. Basically I originally had foam folded away from the largest port, I put some green athletic prewrap on top of it, drilled holes in the cups and voila. A bit what I would think M50Xs would sound like just with more soundstage, lighter, cheaper, maybe not as clear. The last two holes I drilled I tried to get on top of the largest ports. I wanted those to stay kind of open. Towards the bottom of the cups I couldn't quite estimate where the holes would be apparently... I might add on to this later with a smaller drill bit.
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

[actorlife]

Thank you NP! seems easy enough. Would you say it bought more soundstage or just a bit? I may order another pair, so I can do the mod just to compare. Takes for the pics.

 

[NeenerPhones]

I'm glad I can help! Since there is some dampening and the back is on, there isn't as much as open or doesn't feel as open but the soundstage is still very much there. I personally like how the sound is cleaned up though I'll probably drill a few more holes which should bring up the highs after I've killed them. Depending on what you listen to, you could either hear someone talking six feet behind you or three feet to your right. I don't really have any good way of testing it. The highest quality source I have is some FLACs from a friend that produces music and premium spotify. The method to my madness was to keep sound in, keep the bass balanced and deep yet help out the soundstage a little bit. These are somewhat irreversible changes. I say somewhat because I could always get some blu tak and fill the holes. I'll probably put some more holes in it. The materials I've used haven't affected the sound stage or at least not any more than sensitive ears could notice. What the materials have done is clean up small echos which did also kind of help a sense of space since the mids and highs from the drivers back wave weren't echoing in that small space after the mod. All I can really say is that you should try it for yourself. I don't know where you could find the black foam I found in my PC tower but I can link the athletic prewrap. Surprisingly it does something. Even a single layer, i've noticed a little bit of a difference in sound. It filters mids, highs are barely touched and bass remains M50X-ish. If you've been jamming out with the backs open, I wouldn't think you'd have a problem making a few holes. Keep in mind where the holes are will probably affect the sound. I drilled one hole directly over one of the largest ports and three towards the more closed section in the middle of the housing. I'm guessing that the closer you are to the ports, the more open they will sound.
 
Step One: find preferred sized drill bit
 
Step Two: with a thin solid object, wedge open the cups on the back of the headphones
 
Step Three: Drill where preferred (closer to holes, more open (untested theory))
 
Step Four: Go crazy with it
 
Step Five: Use preferred dampening material. Keep in mind you can fold, cut, add whatever to cover, uncover ports. The less holes covered the closer the sound is to the stock headphones. I've tested materials by putting them inside the cup covers and holding them against the headphones, moving them away from the cups and repeating. 
 
Step Six: Assume your desired configuration of materials, put cups back on
 
Step Seven: Enjoy or keep poking holes 
 
If you do anything, please let me know what and what it's done?
 
Prewrap
Possibly the same foam from my PC I don't know how many pores per inch my foam is but i'd experiment. 30PPI seems too low, 60 may be about right and that foam I linked may be thicker.. Like I said, you can experiment. More holes, more open, less treble is masked.
 
UPDATE: Drilled an extra hole in each..... Yes... Just, simply, yes.