[econaut]

No, I didn't try mono, but I may check that out tomorrow. I have to figure out how to do this first

 

[betula]

  Hey guys,
 
I just got the IE80 a few days ago and use the tape mod and the stock foam earbuds, no EQ.
 
I am not yet familiar with describing sound I hear, I only read a lot about it in reviews and forums like this.
 
I wonder if you could "confirm" my findings so I know it's not placebo
 
The tape mod is supposed to remove the infamous mid bass hump and clear up mids and highs. It's also supposed to take away the veil of the IE80 a little. Now that's theory.
 
Coming to praxis: When I compare the IE80 with and without tape mod, I find that voices sound more natural and bright, as if a curtain is taken away. Even when there is scarce or no instrumentation (Allan Taylor, Lynn Miles).
 
I also notice that the bass is less boomy and more precise (Psytrance).
 
With distorted guitars (Mastodon) the sound is less muddy and more crisp.
 
Does that correspond to your observations?

I think, it is a pretty good description of tape mod sound. Tape mod makes it even more closed sounding. Less airy, darker, muddier. Mids and highs are less clear. You only get more bass, which you had a lot without the mod as well...
Tape mod is absolutely unnecessary in my opinion...

 

[burtomr]

  Hey guys,
 
I just got the IE80 a few days ago and use the tape mod and the stock foam earbuds, no EQ.
 
I am not yet familiar with describing sound I hear, I only read a lot about it in reviews and forums like this.
 
I wonder if you could "confirm" my findings so I know it's not placebo
 
The tape mod is supposed to remove the infamous mid bass hump and clear up mids and highs. It's also supposed to take away the veil of the IE80 a little. Now that's theory.
 
Coming to praxis: When I compare the IE80 with and without tape mod, I find that voices sound more natural and bright, as if a curtain is taken away. Even when there is scarce or no instrumentation (Allan Taylor, Lynn Miles).
 
I also notice that the bass is less boomy and more precise (Psytrance).
 
With distorted guitars (Mastodon) the sound is less muddy and more crisp.
 
Does that correspond to your observations?

 
Quote:

Originally Posted by bestula /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
I think, it is a pretty good description of tape mod sound. Tape mod makes it even more closed sounding. Less airy, darker, muddier. Mids and highs are less clear. You only get more bass, which you had a lot without the mod as well...
Tape mod is absolutely unnecessary in my opinion...

 

  I am confused....econaut is your description (in bold above) with or without the 'Tape Mod'? 
 
I'm not sure what to make of the difference between your positive comments and bestula's apparently opposite opinion. Please clarify...THX

 

[betula]

   

  I am confused....econaut is your description (in bold above) with or without the 'Tape Mod'? 
 
I'm not sure what to make of the difference between your positive comments and bestula's apparently opposite opinion. Please clarify...THX

Now I am confused as well. I thought, econaut's description is without the tape mod, to prove the 'theory' is wrong.

I find, that description (the positive one) is for the sound without the tape mod.

 

[econaut]

Sorry for the seemingly misleading post.
 
I was describing the sound WITH the tape mod and while I understand the misunderstanding due to my wording, I am quite surprised about the misunderstanding in concern of the content!
 
I didn't read the whole thread, but I thought what I described as 'theory' is common view. What I am hearing corresponds to that common view. Maybe it's not so common after all...
 
If one likes the sound with or without tape mod is of course a question of taste.
 
But what bestula is writing is the exact opposite of what the tape mod is supposed to be doing and what I am actually hearing.
 
The explanation, as I understand it: The tape closes the bass ports thus making the bass less boomy. It's like if you compare a closed subwoofer with a bass-reflex subwoofer usual sound signature (the exception proves the rule).
 
This gives you more precise bass and also with 'less' bass the mids are less veiled, can breathe, are clearer. Don't know about the highs.
 
I have absolutely no idea how the tape mod should give the IE80 more bass? Please elaborate.
 
One of the sources I got the idea from is this review, for example:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/sennheiser-ie80/reviews/8614

 

[Tail]

  Sorry for the seemingly misleading post.
 
I was describing the sound WITH the tape mod and while I understand the misunderstanding due to my wording, I am quite surprised about the misunderstanding in concern of the content!
 
I didn't read the whole thread, but I thought what I described as 'theory' is common view. What I am hearing corresponds to that common view. Maybe it's not so common after all...
 
If one likes the sound with or without tape mod is of course a question of taste.
 
But what bestula is writing is the exact opposite of what the tape mod is supposed to be doing and what I am actually hearing.
 
The explanation, as I understand it: The tape closes the bass ports thus making the bass less boomy. It's like if you compare a closed subwoofer with a bass-reflex subwoofer usual sound signature (the exception proves the rule).
 
This gives you more precise bass and also with 'less' bass the mids are less veiled, can breathe, are clearer. Don't know about the highs.
 
I have absolutely no idea how the tape mod should give the IE80 more bass? Please elaborate.
 
One of the sources I got the idea from is this review, for example:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/sennheiser-ie80/reviews/8614

 
It doesn't give more bass, it reduces bass overall which makes mids clearer as you said and it's not a matter of someone's opinion, so you were right about the sound that tape mod gives  

 

[econaut]

  Did you listen in mono? Unless you have a channel unbalance the difference with the mod should then be discernable as unmodded the sounds should all appear to come from the centre of your head and not panned to either side (=effect of the mod)

 
Okay, I tried the mono thing. 
 
I am not sure if it's placebo, but I think the stage shifted a bit to the side without the tape. It would be funny if it was the opposite with you.
 
But actually I don't get the sense of this little experiment, except for proving that 'something' changes with the mod?

 

[Fadem]

   
Okay, I tried the mono thing. 
 
I am not sure if it's placebo, but I think the stage shifted a bit to the side without the tape. It would be funny if it was the opposite with you.
 
But actually I don't get the sense of this little experiment, except for proving that 'something' changes with the mod?

I had the same result, but actually the shift was only with the bass frequencies and not so much with the entire frequency range. The idea of having you listen to the sounds like this is that it becomes more apparent what the differences between modded and unmodded are by eliminating the L-R differences and allowing you to focus on the effects of the mod.

 

[econaut]

Ah, I get the point
 
I don't know if it was only the bass or the whole stage. I noticed the shift, but it just sounded wrong, so I only listened to one or two songs this way.
 
For deciding if I want to use a mod or not it's easier for me to compare the results with both sides modded vs. vanilla/default.
 
Nevertheless just modding one side is interesting, but my hearing is not well trained - yet

 

[betula]

Tape mod might help when the bass knob is at least on 50%.
But after many months of using tape mod, I realized I get a much better sound turning the bass knob to the lowest setting, and removing the tape...

 

[Tail]

  Tape mod might help when the bass knob is at least on 50%.
But after many months of using tape mod, I realized I get a much better sound turning the bass knob to the lowest setting, and removing the tape...

What do you mean? oO   I can't see any logic there, the whole point of tape mod is to tape the port, why would you turn it 50% and then tape it?

 

[econaut]

  What do you mean? oO   I can't see any logic there, the whole point of tape mod is to tape the port, why would you turn it 50% and then tape it?

+1
 
As far as I know, if you tape the port, the position of the knob becomes meaningless.

 

[Tail]

  +1
 
As far as I know, if you tape the port, the position of the knob becomes meaningless.

Yeah, whole point is to shut it, that shouldn't be a matter of opinion...

 

[econaut]

And here the most likely explanation: 
 
Turning the knob opens and closes the bass port. But at minimum the bass port is not completely closed. When taping it you close it completely.
 
Actually I have just been at the gym without tape mod and I didnt't mind the mids. It's a different situation than sitting at home and comparing it to AKG K702 and HD25 when connected to a Xonar soundcard with amp and listening to all kinds of music with vocals and whatnot.
 
At the gym the whole setting is completely different so I will test the next weeks if I prefer it modded or unmodded, but not at home, since I only got the IE80 for that purpose.

 

[betula]

I do not know then...
There might be a difference, if the cover is just a thin tape or it is closed with the knob as well...

 All I know, I used tape mod for a while, and I liked it. But after buying my HD600 the bass of the IE80 felt overwhelming and the whole sound was too 'closed'.
I tried it without the tape, and it sounded more open, there was more 'space'... But still too much bass... And then I turned the bass knob to the lowest level (from around 30-40%) and suddenly the whole sound signature came closer to HD600. And I like it more now... Many times I read people like to use IE80 on the lowest bass setting, now I think they are right. To agree with them I had to buy a full size opened headphone...

 But this tape/bass knob thing makes me curious. I might gonna take the IE80 out of the drawer, and try different bass knob setting with tape mod.

(I have HD600 for a year, since then I used the IE80 maybe 5-6 times, when I was traveling.)