[Slater]

  Wow
Awesome
 
Thanks for the photos on the detachable cable mod, I'll be ordering the jack to do this mod
Also, what does the dynamat mod change (sound wise)?
On the original mod post you mentioned that you applied dynamat on the inside too, would that be on this part of the inner cups?

 
If I get to do the mods and not screw everything up, I might get a second pair to do this open headphones mod, to use at home
 
Thanks for all the photos!

 
Dynamat simply helps dampen/absorb any reflected harmonics and the resulting vibration. It helps make the cups thicker and more rigid. Think of a subwoofer made of sturdy plywood vs 1/8" thin plastic. Or how trunk mounted subwoofers rattle and vibrate the thin sheet metal of the car (dynamat's primary use).
 
As far as why I didn't put any dynamat in the inside of the cup, there were 2 reasons:
 
1. Being open in the back there's no solid back to reflect off of - it's all open. In a closed configuration everything is being reflected off of the bottom of the cup. Whether you actually hear harmonics really varies from headphone to headphone. The plastic in the SHL3300 is pretty beefy (I'd say 2.5mm-3mm thick).
 
2. There was simply no more room left, as can be seen here:
 

 
The strips of dynamat would have been 1/16" thick LOL.
 
But yes, in the original (closed) mod, I did do some small bits of dynamat in the bottom of the cup. But as you can see from this photo, you're still cramped for room due to the stock springs and plastic pins being in the way:
 

 
You end up with so little dynamat in the bottom it's probably not even worth it. I would honestly only bother with the top outside.
 
On a related note, to anyone considering this mod that may be concerned about the effect of removing the plastic pins/springs - I wouldn't even think twice about it. The only purpose they serve is to put slight pressure on the cup to help hold it in position when you flip the cup up for 'DJ use'. Without the springs, the cup freely rotates with gravity. And honestly, the springs never even worked that great for their intended purpose anyways, because my cups were always flopping around regardless. It's just useless crap in the way, otherwise we'd see them on every headphone out there. Philips should have just omitted them and dropped the price of the headphones by $3. There's no discernible difference (in ergonomics) between the stock modded SHL3300 (with the spring hardware) and the Fake-elio modded pair (without the spring hardware).
 
I also wanted to mention a thought I had about the grilles I used and the holes I cut in the headphones. In hindsight, instead of cutting down both grilles I bought to 40mm round, I could have simply cut a notch in the LEFT grille I bought like this:
 

 
Then I wouldn't have had to do anything to the right grille, and I could have made the holes I cut into both cups larger like this rendering:
 

 
Instead of this:
 

 
If I had done the larger setup, note the hole in the LEFT headphone cup would have to be carefully cut so as to preserve the plastic 'well' where the removable jack goes.
 
But with the way the grilles are pre-formed with a lip, they're designed to protrude through the tweeter mounting frame (or in this case the hole cut into the cup of the SHL3300). The result would have been a larger and more flush stock Fidelio grille look from the outside (vs a glued from the back look). Plus less cutting of the grilles for lazy people ;0) But either way works fine.
 
HTH,
- Slater

 

[Slater]

Fantastic just did the removal of the plastic grills and orange mesh and what a big difference with Bass and Treble.

They sound as good as my JBL 500, dang. I left the original pads as they are comfy to me. Thanks Slater. Great job.

 
No problem, glad you like it.
 
Regarding the stock pads, it's not about comfort so much as sound. Better & larger pads changes the SOUND in a tremendous way. Larger pads for a better seal, plus something 30mm thick, like HM5 or generic ebay/aliexpress 90mm/95mm/100mm round pads**. The pads are probably the largest improvement to the sound on these cans, with the grilles being the 2nd largest improvement. You can get some fairly decent ones for $4-$6 on ebay/aliexpress (really nice ones $10-$12).
 
** Stock pads are 95mm round. What fits on SHL3300 are 90mm round (stretch to fit), 95mm round (perfect fit), and 100mm round (pretty loose fit but still works as long as pads have a wide lip on the back).

 

[dhruvmeena96]

I got bankrupt....lol

 

[dhruvmeena96]

I thought I would share the mods I did to my Philips SHL3300.

1. Like most I installed Brainwavz HM5 pads. Big improvement.

2. I completely ditched the plastic grilles. The difference was immediate, like you removed cotton balls from your ears. If you thought swapping out the stock pads was an improvement, wait until you remove the grilles. The easiest way to remove them (once the pads are off) is to locate the small "v" shaped notch on the face of the cups. Look at the edge of the "v" notch and you'll be able to see where the grilles are sitting on top (they are about 2mm thick). Stick the tip of a paper clip or tiny flat head screwdriver under the grilles and lift them up slightly. Now rotate the grille COUNTERCLOCKWISE and it will pop right off.

Here's what they look like with the grilles removed: http://imgur.com/TWj8nVY

Put the pads back on and give them a try.

3. Now to do something about the uncomfortable rubber headband. I ordered a generic Sennheiser HD600 headband cushion from ebay ($1). It's the perfect length and width. There's no adhesive on the back of the replacement cushion, but even if there was the bottom of the SHL3300 headband is fabric so it wouldn't stick anyways. So to attach it I made a lambskin headband cover. It's simply a piece of lambskin scrap I had, cut to a 11cm x 21cm rectangle, then wrapped around and attached to itself with a few tiny strips of adhesive-backed velcro placed along the long edge. There were no issues with the adhesive sticking to either side the lambskin - I've used this method when making costumes & props before with good success. The velcro is not the standard thick stuff, this was very thin ie 1mm thick and has weaker hold, but works fine for this purpose. Velcro brand part number 91332. ). The stock headband adjustment sliders still function perfectly, and the headband is 3xs more comfortable thanks to the new cushion & buttery soft lambskin.

Here's what the Sennheiser HD600 headband cushion looks like: http://imgur.com/hnN4SJJ

Here you can see how the velcro is set up: http://imgur.com/a/jl2CV 

And here's what the final product looks like: http://imgur.com/uGlJtlH and http://imgur.com/gIkXrOs

4. As suggested by dhruvmeena96, I added a layer of dynamat to the outer face of the cups. I also opened up the cups (held together by 4 plastic clips), and lined the bottom floor of the cups and the driver magnet with small pieces of dynamat as well. Make sure you don't cover any vent holes (the exception is the 3 slots where the stock grilles slides into - you want to cover those slots back up since there's no more grilles).

When you separate the cups, there are plastic tabs located at 10, 2, 4, & 8 o'clock. Use a flat head screwdriver & pry gently at each tab notch (which will be apparent when looking through the crevice where the back of the pad goes. Some or all of the plastic tabs WILL break as seen here (http://imgur.com/JoScUmH). However, you can easily glue the cups back together once you are finished using a few strategically placed drops of glue as indicated here (http://imgur.com/wmnj05u).

Make sure to remove all of the little pieces of broken tabs that will fall to the bottom of the cups as seen here (http://imgur.com/RsHaW2x). The hinges on the inside of the cups have grease on them, which will make some of the pieces of broken tabs stick. You don't want to forget a piece and have them rattling around after you're done modding!

I don't have any shots of the dynamat inside of the cups, but here's one showing the dynamat on the outside: http://imgur.com/v4CwOuf

5. Since I had the cups apart anyways, I decided to add a removable cable jack. This was actually the easiest mod of all. I ordered "PCB Panel Mount 3.5mm Stereo Jack" from ebay ($3 for qty 20 pcs). Once the stock orange strain relief is removed, the jack fits perfectly and tightly into a molded "well". You don't even need to use the threaded nut either - it's like this headphone was made for this jack! There are a few different styles of the "PCB Panel Mount" jack, so it's important to verify the measurements to ensure it fits.

Here's what the jacks look like: http://imgur.com/Ywklm5z
The dimensions of the jack can be seen here (length=14.2mm, width=11.5(11.6mm), height=6.0mm): [COLOR=FF4400]http://imgur.com/FzRODwp[/COLOR]

I just cut the stock cable right where it exits the orange strain relief as seen here (http://imgur.com/CXMrGRM). Then once you slide the cable out of the strain relief and into the inside of the cup, you are able to remove the orange strain relief. What you will see now is this hole (http://imgur.com/1cwNJVu). The little square "well" you see is where the new PCB female jack will go.

You insert it at a slight angle, so that the 3.5mm hole goes through the hole in the headphone cup as seen here (http://imgur.com/Ft2SP5O). Then simply push the rear edge of the PCB jack downwards using a pencil eraser or some similar tool, taking care not to damage the solder pins. What you end up with is this (http://imgur.com/8gqTZJg). A perfect fit! The jack is wedged into the "well", reinforced by the plastic walls. There's no way the jack can fall out, and it is rock solid when inserting and removing the cable. You'd have to run the headphones over with a car to get that jack to budge!

I find it's easiest to solder the pins onto the jack when the jack is loose. Then once all soldered, install the jack in the little "well" and you're ready to go.

Here's a handy reference of the wiring & colors etc: http://imgur.com/SpRbtjj

Once the wiring is soldered as seen here (http://imgur.com/OYWlls9), test the jack to make sure it works. Then reinforce the jack with a bit of hot glue/epoxy on the inside of the cups as seen here (http://imgur.com/sY3ouny). This serves to both reinforce the jack/wiring as well as seal the gap where the strain relief was (because the strain relief hole is slightly larger than the female jack's 3.5mm hole).

Then glue the cups back together with a few drops of superglue/hot/glue/epoxy in the spots indicated here (http://imgur.com/wmnj05u). Once the glue is cured, fill in the gap around the jack on the outside of the cup where the strain relief was with a bit of hot glue/epoxy, as indicated here (http://imgur.com/sYltoBp).

Here's the completed result (the jack sits flush with the cups, and looks like it could have come stock this way): http://imgur.com/MPmYYWK

6. The stock cable was actually decent enough to reuse, so I terminated it with a male end where I had cut the cable earlier. One nice thing about the cable being removable is that you can choose which side you want the coiled section to be - up at the top like it was stock, or down at the bottom by your music source. Here's the completed cable (http://imgur.com/m76wRJB).

* Update * Even though I terminated the end of the stock cable, I ended up using a "Beats" style cable and using the terminated stock cable as an aux cable in my car. The reason is because once you do the removable cable mod you'll now have FULL WIRED CONTROL using an appropriate TRRS cable. That means on an Apple product you'll have full microphone, volume control, pause/play/skip, etc. On Android you'll have microphone & play/pause. Nice!

Here's the final result, getting ready to enjoy the spoils of my labor: http://imgur.com/Jfw3By1

hello bro.


Nice work done.... Hahahaha


I even saw your open back work.

You did something gr8

Actually i didnt knew it can be opened and neither i risked it.

If u were able to open it.


Then go add some fiberfill(fluffed up)inside(to increase air volume or surface area, whatever....the science is hard for a lot of people if i start explaining). Fiberfill should be equally fluffed and very less in mass(we want more air, and we dont want to stop air).

This will make it half close like sound or half open.

Which will give you air and bass...both deeper

 

[Slater]

Then go add some fiberfill(fluffed up)inside(to increase air volume or surface area, whatever....the science is hard for a lot of people if i start explaining). Fiberfill should be equally fluffed and very less in mass(we want more air, and we dont want to stop air).

This will make it half close like sound or half open.

Which will give you air and bass...both deeper

 
Thanks bud.
 
I've done the fiberfill mod on other headphones with good results (JVC HA-RX900), and it seems to work best on cans that are lacking bass. I didn't try it on my closed modded SHL3300, but if I ever have it open again for any reason, I'll give it a try and report back with the results. The SHL3300 (and especially the open modded SHL3300 which are like bass cannons) has gobs of bass already, whereas the JVC HA-RX900 is slightly more anemic in that department.
 
On a related note per your comment about more air, I was impressed by just how much air the 40mm drivers in the SHL3300 pushes (ie when putting my hands up to the grille holes in my open-modded set)!

 

[dhruvmeena96]

I don't have hifiman re600, so I can't directly compare, but the SHL3300 has plenty of tight sub-bass, not bloated or muddy. Removing the plastic grilles under the pads opens up the soundstage and adds additional clarity and treble detail (treble isn't harsh; it just sounds veiled/muffled with the grilles in place).

I've also noticed that the SHL3300 is extremely forgiving to lower bit-rate source files. I have many 192kbps as well as some 128kbps files, and they sound surprisingly good on both an iPod and Xduoo X3 (amped or unamped), vs the same files not sounding that great on some of my other more expensive headphones.

Bottom line is the SHL3300 is a headphone for fun day to day listening at school, work, commuting - good isolation, inexpensive, fairly portable. It's not an analytical studio monitor that will reveal every detail and flaws recordings though.

My only minor gripe with them is the DJ design. They flop and twist all over the place when taking on and off. That's every DJ style headphone though - my club spinning days are long over, so I prefer a headphone that doesn't flop around like a carnival ride whenever they're not on my head.

The price to value ratio is just plain redonkulous. I just picked up a 2nd set for $7 shipped to do some more advanced mods, but at the more common street price of under $20 shipped, it's still an absolute no-brainer.

lemme give you the answer...

Hifiman re600S are one of best iem, but bro u r comparing iem with headphones..

Ok re600S are too accurate and non forgiving..

But the grain structure sound sounds good to me..

Just too accurate and into the ear.


Shl3300 is opposite but well neutral.

Not accurate, ita forgiving(after dynamat mod, it gets accurate but not to level of re600S..)

fun and nice to listen

Can do recording stuff easy after dynamat(outside), grill and earpad mod.

 

[dhruvmeena96]

I wanted to provide an update to my SHL3300 mods.

First, I went back and updated the original mod post with updated photos of the removable jack, inside of the cup, etc. So now that's as comprehensive as I can get it. Second, I completed the "Fake-elio" open mod to a 2nd pair of SHL3300 I bought for $7 shipped. I figured if I ruined them I'd only be out $7. I'm pleased to report that the mod was not only successful, but it exceeded my expectations! The open mod was time consuming (75% removing/grinding/cutting all of the plastic bits, cutting the plastic cups for the grilles and waiting for epoxy to dry, 25% desoldering and resoldering), but I feel it was totally worth the work.

It's very easy to A-B the difference, because all you do is reseal the open holes using the round disc of plastic removed as part of the mod (+ some tape). Then flip the taped covers down to expose the open holes & compare. You could technically also cover the holes with your hands as a quicky test, but your hand doesn't always seal the holes perfectly, & the act of covering the holes with your hands smooshes the headphones closer to your ear, causing false sound changes.

Here's a summary of the differences between the closed and open SHL3300:

Closed (modded) SHL3300:

- Soundstage is more shallow & closed-in vs open (modded)
- Excellent isolation
- Nice accurate, tight & fast bass. Bass-boost switch is required ON the closed version to get the equivalent bump in bass that the open version has with bass-boost switch OFF.
- Treble is more prominent in closed vs open, but sounds more "shallow" and slightly tinny. You wouldn't ever notice this unless you directly A-Bd them though.

Open (modded) SHL3300:

- Soundstage widened by approx 25%. Female vocals literally sound like you're sitting in the same room.
- Poor isolation (better than a completely open design like many Sennheisers, but anyone sitting near you will hear your music)
- Bass increased approx 20% vs closed. I actually have to turn OFF bass-boost, or else on some bass-heavy tracks it gets a little too boomy and distorted at really high volumes (ie "a wall of bass")
- Treble became more recessed by about 10-15%, but sounds much smoother, clearer & crisper, and less "shallow" and tinny. You wouldn't ever notice this unless you directly A-Bd them though.


Which ones do I like better? I love both modded versions, but it would depend on your preferences. I wouldn't hesitate to use the close modded ones at work or commuting - they sound awesome and have great isolation. Also good for movies due to the extra boost in treble. Excellent for pop, classic rock, industrial, country, new wave, etc (although soundstage and vocals sound better on the open modded version). I'm a basshead, so when listening at home (where I don't care about isolation), and when I just want to unleash bass cannons, I go with the open modded. They have nice smooth treble and increased bass, which sounds fantastic with bass-heavy music such as EDM/dubstep/techno/etc.

I'll be honest, you really can't go wrong with either modded version. Despite having never heard any open Philips (such as Fidelio X1, X2, or SHP9500), I think Philps should have sold an open version of the SHL3300 under a different model number but at the same price point as the closed SHL3300. Hypothetically if the Fidelio X1, X2, or SHP9500 has a similar sound as the open modded SHL3300, they are certainly at much higher price points.


The "Fake-elio" open mod steps:

The mod is basically identical to my original SHL3300, with the only exception removing some extra bits and adding the grilles. So if you're going to do the open mod, I suggest reading the SHL300 mod post as well - some of the steps in that post are more detailed than the same step in this post.

1. Remove the stock plastic grilles (Step 2 in my regular SHL3300 mod post). Once you remove the pads, the grilles just twist off by rotating COUNTERCLOCKWISE.

2. Pop the cups apart by inserting a flathead screwdriver in the crevice where the back of the pad goes and gently prying on the plastic tabs located at 10, 2, 4, & 8 o'clock. Some/all clips will break as seen here:




Make sure to remove all of the little pieces of broken tabs that will fall to the bottom of the cups as seen in the below photo. The hinges on the inside of the cups have grease on them, which will make some of the pieces of broken tabs stick. You don't want to forget a piece and have them rattling around after you're done modding!




Cut the stock wire at the end of the orange strain relief as seen here:




Now pull the short piece of cut off stock wire up into the cups through the orange strain relief, and remove the orange strain relief as seen here:




3. Note the colors of the wires going to each driver & write down. Desolder the stock wires from the drivers and set the drivers aside. Tape the wires out of the way so they don't get damaged.

4. Remove the springs/plastic pins inside of the cups and discard as they are not needed. To do this simply slide the 2 halves of the pins towards one another (compressing the spring). The plastic pin (with spring attached) will pop right out. Slide the other half of the pin off (the one with the driver wire going through the middle - hence why you had to desolder the drivers in the previous step). You can see the (removed) plastic pins and springs here:




5. Now take pliers and break off the 2 plastic pieces in the MIDDLE of the cups as shown here:




Grind the remainder of the broken plastic bits smooth with a Dremel. Repeat for the other cup.

DO NOT REMOVE/DAMAGE THE PART IN BLUE (LEFT CUP)! IT'S NEEDED FOR THE REMOVABLE JACK!!

6. Mark the center of the cups, and scribe a hole 34mm in diameter with a compass as seen here:




Cut out the hole with a Dremel and sand edge smooth as seen here:




Repeat for the other cup.

7. Take some sort of metal grill material and cut (2) 40mm diameter circles. I bought a pair of 2" tweeter grilles on ebay for $1.75 as seen here, but old computer speaker grilles works too:



You'll have to cut a flat spot in the top of the LEFT grille so it can clear the spot where the removable jack will go (as seen here):





The RIGHT grille is perfectly round, since the RIGHT cup doesn't have the removable jack plastic thing:




8. Epoxy the grilles from the inside. I used JB Weld "Plastic Bonder", but I'm sure regular epoxy will work fine (don't use super glue). Here's the left & right grilles once glued in and cured:






9. Solder the wires back onto the drivers using the colors noted in step 3. Be sure to keep the polarity the same so you don't end up out-of-phase. Now do the removable cable mod (Step 5 in my regular SHL3300 mod post). Solder the wires between the LEFT driver & removable jack BEFORE you install the jack into the plastic "well". Once soldered, insert the removable jack into the plastic "well" by first tilting the jack at a slight angle so that the 3.5mm hole goes through the hole in the headphone cup as seen here (the jack in the photo is just for illustration, and doesn't have the wires soldered):




Then simply push the rear edge of the PCB jack downwards using a pencil eraser or some similar tool, taking care not to damage the solder pins. What you end up with is this (the jack in the 1st photo is just for illustration, and doesn't have the wires soldered):





A perfect fit! Tighter than a 12 year-old back injury haha (http://imgur.com/kseKnBU for joke reference).

10. Once the jack wiring is soldered, test the jack to make sure it works. Then reinforce the jack with a bit of hot glue/epoxy on the inside of the cups as indicated here:




Here's the jack after soldering & hot gluing:




The glue serves to both reinforce the jack/wiring as well as seal the gap where the strain relief was (because the strain relief hole is slightly larger than the female jack's 3.5mm hole).

11. Now glue the cups back together with a drop of superglue gel/hot/glue/epoxy in the spots indicated here:




Just don't go berserk with the glue on the cups in case you ever need to take the cups back apart. One drop as indicated by each yellow dot is more than enough glue. You could probably even get away with only using 4 drops of glue total (every other yellow dot in photo).

To hold the cups together while the glue is curing, stretch a few rubber bands tightly around the cups in an "X" pattern to provide nice even pressure. Once the glue is cured, remove the rubber bands & fill in the gap around the jack on the outside of the cup where the strain relief was using a bit of hot glue/epoxy, as indicated here:

[COLOR=FF4400]
[/COLOR]

12. Once the glue is all done & cured, do the Dynamat mod on the outside face of the cups (dynamat on inside of cups is not possible due to the lack of room from the epoxied grilles). See step 4 in my regular SHL3300 mod post:




13. Reinstall the pads (HM5 or generic 90mm/95mm/100mm x 30mm thick for best sound), plug in a cable, and enjoy your Fake-elios!

[COLOR=FF4400]
[/COLOR]


Let me know if you have any questions.

- Slater

lets improve these mods a little...

Hahahahaha evil laugh

First tackle closed one...

1.Buy paxmate plus, paste all over dynamat..
2.Fill it with fiberfill(very sparse, to make surface area very large).
3.paste dynamat and paxmate over the magnet..

Now open edition..

1. Do all above step....but even less fiberfill.
2. Go get urself some different felts, paste outside(open grill on cup) with tape and check eq change.(For my thinking get the lightest felt u can get and paste inside)..


Increased life, lower motor vibration, smooth but good treble and balanced bass

 

[photosonic]

  I am by no means a pad expert, and I am a fan of the HM5 pads (which do fit fine on the SHL3300 BTW).
 
Also, there's a whole thread dedicated to ear pads: http://www.head-fi.org/t/639510/the-ear-pads-thread

I ended up ordering the HM5 pads and got them on by taking my time. Next step is I'm going to remove the plastic grill and orange mesh

 

[Slater]

  I ended up ordering the HM5 pads and got them on by taking my time. Next step is I'm going to remove the plastic grill and orange mesh

 
Good choice on the pads. What's your sound impression with the pads?
 
Also, the plastic grille/orange mesh is all 1 piece (if you didn't already know this) - just twist them off in a counterclockwise fashion and reinstall the pads. Some of the grilles are tighter to remove than others (at least the 1st time removing them), so yours may come right off with ease or it may take a little extra persuasion (ie force similar to removing the lid on a jar of jelly or pickles). It's helpful to use the blade of a small flathead screwdriver to gently lift up the edge of the grille where the little "v" shaped notch is located, and then use the screwdriver as sort of a wedge/pry bar to rotate the grille counterclockwise.

 

[musicfreak]

This seems an interesting headphone!

At Amazon.de they're saying that the SHL3260 is the sucsessor of this phone. Is this true? There is also a SHL3200 which has a different colour, and a SHL3210 which seems a simpler version. At last there is  a  SHL3565 that seems a bit more luxurious.

But how these sound? I have no idea...

Anyone knows these other headphones?

 

[Slater]

  This seems an interesting headphone!

At Amazon.de they're saying that the SHL3260 is the sucsessor of this phone. Is this true? There is also a SHL3200 which has a different colour, and a SHL3210 which seems a simpler version. At last there is  a  SHL3565 that seems a bit more luxurious.

But how these sound? I have no idea...

Anyone knows these other headphones?

Yeah, interesting line-up. It appears that they all use different drivers.
 
I like the design/color of the SHL3200 and SHL3260, as well as the metal construction of the SHL3565 looks really nice (although I'm not a fan of dual-sided cables like on the SHL3565).
 
The specs of each are as follows:
 
SHL3200:
Frequency response (18 - 22,000 Hz)
Impedance (32 Ohm)
Maximum power input (2000 mW)
Sensitivity (107 dB)
 
SHL3300:
Frequency response (18 - 25,000 Hz)
Impedance (32 Ohm)
Maximum power input (2200 mW)
Sensitivity (108 dB)
 
SHL3260:
Frequency response (8 - 27,000 Hz)
Impedance (32 Ohm)
Maximum power input (2000 mW)
Sensitivity (106 dB)
 
SHL3565
Frequency response (7 - 40,000 Hz)
Impedance (16 Ohm)
Maximum power input (2200 mW)
Sensitivity (104 dB)
 
I might just have to pick up the SHL3260 or SHL3565 and see how they stack up to the SHL3300.

 

[NOSAudiophile]

Some high praise for these. I am looking at two other headphones - Phillips Fidelio M1MKII and Sennheiser Mo 2.0. Sounds like these are comparable to Fidelio M1MK2. How do they compare to Sennheiser Momemtum 2.0?  They will be driven by phone audio with or without a usb dac. essentially taking the role of IEMs. thoughts?

 

[Slater]

Out of curiosity, what IEMs are you coming from?
 
I have Sennheiser Momemtum over-ear 1.0. There isn't much difference between over-ear 1.0 and 2.0 - cosmetic changes to the pads (slightly larger size), cable, and a folding headband.
 
I love the sound of my Momemtum - it's my favorite headphone, but 50% of the reason it's my #1 is it's compactness and comfort. From a strictly sound standpoint, the sound signatures are VERY similar (a typical consumer v-shaped sound signature). The SHL3300 is my #2 favorite headphone though.
 
The SHL3300 is bulkier though - the Momentum is very well built, minimal design, sleek, and compact. The SHL3300 has the DJ hinges and much larger cups. I can easily wear my Momentums out and about and not look ridiculous. The SHL3300 are too large for that - they are full size cans and best used at home or work. I'm not saying you can't use the SHL3300 walking around, but I don't.
 
And the price difference between them is immense ($20 vs $200-$250). The Momemtum 2.0 is even more ($300-$350).
 
I would strongly recommend that you listen to a pair of each before spending the higher price of the Momentum. You can buy 15+ pairs of SHL3300 for what 1 pair of Momentums cost. For the same budget, you could buy a set of SHL3300, a high-res DAP like the Xduoo X3, and a nice FiiO headphone amp. The combination of the 3 easily smokes the Momentum driven by a phone.
 
I will also mention that the Meizu HD50 is another extremely underrated headphone. It's all metal construction so its built like a tank, is very comfortable, ultra portable (on-ear design, but the most comfortable on-ears I have ever worn), has bio-fiber drivers, and sounds great. Same consumer v-shaped sound signature as the SHL3300 and Momentum. At $50ish, it's worth every penny.
 
Just some food for thought.

 

[ksio89]

Yep, the SHL3300 is a true underdog, it's essentially the Karate Kid of headphones: you know there's raw talent in it, but that still needs a little help to reach its full potential, in this case, new pads and a few mods. In my country it smokes competing headphones that can cost twice as much, such as those ones made by Sony, JBL and Sennheiser. The more I listen to music with my SHL3300, the better it sounds, i'm not joking. Too bad my replacement pleather pads that I've bought from Aliexpress haven't arrived yet. I'm very eager to find out how this pair of cans sound with the new pads.

 

[NOSAudiophile]

my current IEMs are jvcs - can't remember the serial #s. got it from one of the lists you guys have here. I was of the more traditional audiophile. in-room equipment each costing a few grand and expensive cables. I won't be spending that much on portables. can't afford to now. There are also inherent limitations with portables so that's why I don't think it's worth it unless we're listening to lossless with good components etc. My source files are down-sampled, not lossless in order to be able to carry a decent size library on the phone. So it isn't going to be worth trying to get more out of what's already a limited source file. the most I'd do is a USB DAC connected to an IEM or headphones. And argument for headphones is the size of the driver. I'd look for comparables to momentum 2s. I just hate going to stores. 
 
so re-reading the comments maybe I might have confused things. These things are v-shaped so mids are recessed? I prefer a more neutral sound that's if anything slightly warm.