[Lumos]

Quote:

How did you do it?? Isnt it single piece earcup? How does it sound now?

streetdragon I removed wires and driver and took sharp knife and carefully cut the grills

Sound: huge increased soundstage more width, not well defined bass slightly (but for my taste it is OK), vocals slightly better, well...and extreme look of course

I am not done yet intending to create my grills to increase bass definition...  
 
Quote:

Whoaaaaa. What did you do to them?! LOL
You removed the grill... what's that wire for?

It is the same wire which was inside of headband. I am rewiring now to make it dual entry... so this condition is just temporal.

 

[kiraaaa]

Quote:

Hi! I have both headphones, the 558 and the 598, and I never did the foam mod to the 558. I do not belive that the 558 with the foam sounds worse than the 598; they are different, and for some music I like the 558 better; for example, I enjoy Rubber Soul (The Beatles) more while using the 558.

Yes, I agree. I'm pretty sure Sennheiser wouldn't just put a piece of foam simply to degrade the product. But I wonder why they made it removable, instead of using a material that was permanently stuck, or at least not so simple to remove?
Also, I'm pretty sure Sennheiser were aware of people doing this mod and removing the tape on their older HD555 product, so if they truly wanted to seperate and "degrade" the 55X series from the 59X series, why didn't they opt to use a different approach when manufacturing the new HD558's? I believe the foam is there for a reason, to make the sound different, not necessarily worse..
Quote:

streetdragon I removed wires and driver and took sharp knife and carefully cut the grills

Sound: huge increased soundstage more width, not well defined bass slightly (but for my taste it is OK), vocals slightly better, well...and extreme look of course

I am not done yet intending to create my grills to increase bass definition...
 

It is the same wire which was inside of headband. I am rewiring now to make it dual entry... so this condition is just temporal.

But the real/most important question is....: Did you do the foam mod? 

Haha, but seriously wow you have balls to do that to your headphones.

 

[Lumos]

Quote:

Yes, I agree. I'm pretty sure Sennheiser wouldn't just put a piece of foam simply to degrade the product. But I wonder why they made it removable, instead of using a material that was permanently stuck, or at least not so simple to remove?
Also, I'm pretty sure Sennheiser were aware of people doing this mod and removing the tape on their older HD555 product, so if they truly wanted to seperate and "degrade" the 55X series from the 59X series, why didn't they opt to use a different approach when manufacturing the new HD558's? I believe the foam is there for a reason, to make the sound different, not necessarily worse..
But the real/most important question is....: Did you do the foam mod? 

Haha, but seriously wow you have balls to do that to your headphones.

Yes, first time I removed only foam, It sounded better in terms of openness, and after a week around I decided to remove entire grill... I was concerned positioning of Senn logo on the grill, it is exactly in front of drivers hole, compare yourself grills of hd598 and 558
 
http://www.headfonia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/sennheiser_hd558_598_05.jpg
 
So I am keeping these as a reminder

 

[joshwalnut]

Quote:

also to add on, i found out that the place of the grill nearest to the hinge attachment is a good place to place whatever material you want, if you put duct tape there (1.0 cm x 1.5 cm piece?) you can really add a lot of bass punch while loosing not too much airyness. For me personally i placed a piece of the stock foam inside there (yes i cut it up) to increase the bass, the stock foam doesn't take away as much airyness as the ducttape though. (but at the same time doesnt add much bass either, think of it as a milder material)

i know the feeling bro, decisions,decisions..

 
Hinge attachment? Do you mean at the top of the grill where the headband attaches? I wonder if i could put some stuff on the outside? lmao

 

[joshwalnut]

Quote:

Yes, I agree. I'm pretty sure Sennheiser wouldn't just put a piece of foam simply to degrade the product. But I wonder why they made it removable, instead of using a material that was permanently stuck, or at least not so simple to remove?
Also, I'm pretty sure Sennheiser were aware of people doing this mod and removing the tape on their older HD555 product, so if they truly wanted to seperate and "degrade" the 55X series from the 59X series, why didn't they opt to use a different approach when manufacturing the new HD558's? I believe the foam is there for a reason, to make the sound different, not necessarily worse..

 
I think it is there to degrade it. I mean look at how flashy the 598's are. It also comes with a leather headband and it is suppose to be more comfortable. I think they tried to pull a fast one and i didn't fall for it considering both 558 and 598 have the same drivers... just different housing. I've never tried the 598's before but i really doubt they sound better. People that say it sounds better are victims of the old placebo effect... i could be wrong though.
 
Also, how do you quote 2 people? I didn't want to make 2 posts

 

[morijinal]

These mods are invasive! When I took the foam out of mine I tried them on without the pads or those cheesecloth looking things. Just the drivers over my ears.

 

[streetdragon]

Quote:

 
Hinge attachment? Do you mean at the top of the grill where the headband attaches? I wonder if i could put some stuff on the outside? lmao

 

Well what i actually meant by that is the placement in the picture: (if that's what you meant then, good then haha)
and well you could stick stuff outside, it just won't behave very well with the cloth material outside and it won't look pretty too...

 

[myunclesnephew]

I read somewhere on here that you could remove the lining on these headphones to open them up even more. I've already did the mod, so I'm wondering if its possible to open these up even more? Without the extremeness of the above post.  I still have yet to find a suitable amp, or better yet is it even needed with a standard laptop sound card.
 
Head-Fi has taken over my life.

 

[streetdragon]

Quote:

I read somewhere on here that you could remove the lining on these headphones to open them up even more. I've already did the mod, so I'm wondering if its possible to open these up even more? Without the extremeness of the above post.  I still have yet to find a suitable amp, or better yet is it even needed with a standard laptop sound card.
 
Head-Fi has taken over my life.

Well i suppose you could, it might be ugly if the cloth doesn't come out completely, but mostly it is non reversable.
C-entrance DACport is actually a good choice for these.

 

[Mad Max]

I read somewhere on here that you could remove the lining on these headphones to open them up even more. I've already did the mod, so I'm wondering if its possible to open these up even more? Without the extremeness of the above post.  I still have yet to find a suitable amp, or better yet is it even needed with a standard laptop sound card.

Head-Fi has taken over my life.

These respond a bit to a better amp, although not to the extent of DT880/990/K70x/HD6x0. Most aftermarket entry-level amps will suffice.

 

[streetdragon]

Quote:

These respond a bit to a better amp, although not to the extent of DT880/990/K70x/HD6x0. Most aftermarket entry-level amps will suffice.

Just wondering do you mean entry level as about E6 price? or E17 kind? or more (which is still little compared to the big woo amps)

 

[Mad Max]

E5/6/7 is LOL
 
myunclesnephew probably meant desktop units since he mentioned a "semi-desktop" unit.  =]

 

[myunclesnephew]

Quote:

Well i suppose you could, it might be ugly if the cloth doesn't come out completely, but mostly it is non reversable.
C-entrance DACport is actually a good choice for these.

That thing looks sweet...my gosh 

 A bit out of my price range though. 
 
I removed the lining this evening and I must say it seems to made sound crispy. It maybe a placebo effect but the highs seems stronger, not fatiguing. 

 

[streetdragon]

Quote:

That thing looks sweet...my gosh 

 A bit out of my price range though. 
 
I removed the lining this evening and I must say it seems to made sound crispy. It maybe a placebo effect but the highs seems stronger, not fatiguing. 

darn now i'm tempted, i'm too scared to try it out though

 

[joshwalnut]

Quote:

That thing looks sweet...my gosh 

 A bit out of my price range though. 
 
I removed the lining this evening and I must say it seems to made sound crispy. It maybe a placebo effect but the highs seems stronger, not fatiguing. 

 
Wouldn't dust get in there now though? If it wasn't for dust i'd mod the hell out of mine lmao
 
Hey, could you post a picture so we can see what it looks like? pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease?