[doggiemom]

I hate these headphones!  Decided to take a chance and pledge because I've gotten some great stuff from Indiegogo (like the CEntrance products) but these are terrible.  The mids are muddy and they just kill the trebles.  The bass is so overpowering that when I listen to Vince Staples on Tidal I feel like someone is punching me in the head.
 
I've tried listening with an iBasso DX90 and Foobar2000>CEntrance DAC portable and can't get through more than a couple of tracks.  Really disappointed.

 

[Audioeyes]

How long have you had them. I hated mine also.
After extended breakin I like them.I am using them with my galaxy 7 and centrance dacport slim. last night they were great. mudiness was gone sparke returned to the highs and the Bass hump leveled out. They are not state of the art. However I find them light weight comfortable and small enough to travel with even though they don't fold up.
I was going to Return them but I'm keeping them. hope you find the same.
I connected them to my headphones email output in main right and let them play for 2 weeks.
not worth the 300 dollar retail though

 

[doggiemom]

I have had them a few weeks, but honestly have not listened to them for more than a couple hours.  I pick them up every few days and listen to a track or two, then go "baaaaaaaaaaaah, I hate these!" and switch to something I like better.  I'll try burning them in.  I don't want to hate them, really! 

 

[softimagge]

I've owned one of this piece of crap and I've returned it to this scammer.
I have not special experience with high-end headphones, but in that moment i owned a shure srh940 and a IEM shure SE535. Specially, the srh940 because its about same price was far better in all aspects, soundstage, details, non overwhelmed bass... no comparison.
Seriously is a scammer. 10x better????!!! no way!!!

 

[nick n]

Supreme mod time.
 
First off I doubt break in will improve these enough to be tolerable in any way ( personal tastes of course )
 
For anybody who has these now and somehow did not return them, I did a fairly extensive modification  on them and arrived at what I consider to be an great result.
In my opinion there is no sense not modding them like this especially if past the return time, such a wasted potential stock.
Quite unlike anything out of the box that's for sure.
Clear fast transparent high end, tightened up low end,  and something that can be left on for hours still giving a rather high end sound.
The little electrets sure are not up to their potential in the stock setup I'll say that much at the very least.
 
Many thanks to the generous benefactor present in this thread that saw fit to forward these my way with modding in mind ( you know who you are )
 So here is what I ended up doing. If only they looked a little better aesthetically
 
As anyone who has removed the pads knows, this is what we are greeted with upon the first look.

 
^^^ If anyone compares this to the other company's wooden versions, they will see that there is nothing blocking the small electret drivers like we see in the Sharkk. I could not even ( barely? ) detect the thing's sound in stock form because of this baffle area with the holes there. ( HMMM HAVING ISSUES FINDING THE PICS OF THE OTHER WOODIES I MAY BE WRONG HERE )
Blocked too much of the sound and the dynamic driver swamped it out.
So in order to deal with this we need to open them up and remove the combined driver capsule to get at the baffle spot.
These are normally missing the sparkle and clarity /speed in any form. Stock you cannot even tell it is there!
Stock pad inner dustguard should be ok to stop debris/dust.
 
This is what we come across next:
( ignore the foam blocks from earlier mod stuff )
Here is the back of the driver assembly that is glued into place and needs to be carefully pried out, that glue is strong.
PCB board with the transformer/crossover cap for the electret driver seen there.

 

 
With that driver assembly capsule removed the baffle area obscuring the electret driver sound is accessible for removing:
No need to get too fancy with it.

 
 
Next I was curious about the capacitor value and also wanted to remove it to try another known brand in there.
I did some calculations with an online crossover calculator and the 10uf value used came close to letting the electret run at near full range.
Hmmm.
I wanted to separate that a bit more and bump the start up somewhat to isolate it's output in the higher side of things more.
So I used a new cap with a value of 1uf which should bump the starting point of the electret driver up to ~2800-3000hz I think it was instead of ( I THINK )  2-300hz or lower start or something = I forget at the moment ( I would have to recheck those approximate values given there ).
 *** I do have some ELNA CERAFINE 1uf caps I may try out later ***
( this should be what it is doing considering where it is in the signal path unless my thinking is wrong )
 
MIEC 1uf now in place of unknown stock 10uf :

 
Cap really has not had much time on it so far.
 
Next up is reseating the driver assembly back into the baffle:
I used some pieces of Dynamat to secure it back in place.
Specifically at the seams in the following places:

1.     top of electret
2.     sides of electret
3.     2 each side bottom,
4.     2 each side by hinge riser

 
Then dealing with baffle and cup damping using the absolutely indispensible Sorbothane.
According to my saved notes
 
=using Sorbothane 1/10 30D

1.     2@ 1 cm squares cup rears with 9@ 1 cm around inner cup walls.
2.     1 cm square directly on driver rear
3.     0.5 cm by 2 cm strips on baffle rears by hinge riser
4.     0.5 cm by ~ 1 or 1.5 cm beside transformer on PCB
5.     triangular on each side of electret housings
6.     5 @ 1cm  on baffle face ( 1 at top, 2 each side of round driver )

    maybe 2@ 0.5 cm by 2 cm either side bottom of driver area of baffle ( may not be there due to cup closure issues )
 
As seen here in the poor quality pictures:

^ that electret black backing is stock I assume to reflect the highs forward.
Sorbothane by transformer as listed not shown in picture

 
^ *** Note: that trial black center decal is not there in final mod ***
 
Next up attacking the dynamic driver's actual ports on the driver rear for proper bass:
 
DRIVER BASS ISSUES

1.     blocking both small holes on rear silver = way too low in bass, recessed and weak. Straining to hear it  at levels I know it should be at
2.     leaving both holes free= waaay too bass dominant yet mod keeps it all ultra clean.
3.     FINAL = use a 2 layer Micropore tape square pressed over one hole only, other hole left free. This seems to be like an OPPO bass level. Goes deep and boldly cleaner due to Sorbothane treatments
4.     both sides left in stock form with the rear white fabric covered driver ring perimeter holes

    =cannot find any other way of tweaking the bass here without ruining these exact effects within these parameters.
 
Replace the PBC on top of the dynamic driver rear
 
Added in 0.3 grams per side of Twaron AngelHair acoustic filler in the cups to deal with resonances and add it's special effects
 
=DONE
 
 
ADDITIONAL minor points I pulled from my saved mod info:
 

1.     VELOUR pads would reduce bass as an easy incremental tweak should someone desire that.
2.     Used some Sony MDR1R/10R aftermarket cheap nice pads ( or whatever that model is ) that fit and are slightly lower profile brings sound more forward ( another minor tweak )
3.     Wiring in these at /to the PCB board is uhhh let's politely say not copper and veeerrry fragile = I had to resolder multiple times as it breaks at solder points when bent only a few times carefully, and sure looks like just typical steel wire up until the small enamelled wires. Be aware the wires will break easily if opened more than a few times
4.  Stock box is also wrong, they measured 48 ohm not 32 ohm as stated on box, drivers even say 48ohm on the magnet's back...
5.  electrets must be very sensitive, since they are not registered in the multimeter readings at all off the cable's TRS plug, unless it is the particular circuit they have going on. Some of my older TRS cabled electrets hit up to 800 - 1000 ohms...
6.  mod  should be very cheap when comparing against the cost of the unit initially, a few bucks really with lots of materials to spare afterwards for them. Small 3 inch by 3 inch sorb sheet is dirt cheap, Twaron Angelhair is only available in 100 gram sample bags enough for decades of mods ( perhaps substitute polyfill but not cotton ), a few bits of Dynamat or even use glue, 3M Micropore ( papertape ) is cheapo at drug store, leave cap value stock or get a couple others dirt cheap ( 0.47uf should bump up electret start to even higher range )
7. *****Dynamat will NOT give the results that Sorbothane will, not even close ( I'd not even bother trying to substitute it ). One could try the denser rated Sorbothane ( 70D ) but I only ever use and have the 30D rated stuff
8.   uses stock pads.= kinda what I was going for, and it worked out best anyhow this way
9.  use ebay thin foam inserts for tuning further after it is all in place

 
 
During this writeup I have had them on  the whole time without any issue, and am enjoying them quite a bit.
I imagine this sound should have been closer to what the expectations were initially.
Will still swap out the caps for the ELNA CERAFINE and might add a touch more Angelhair in there while they are open to see how a touch more off the resonaces makes it sound ( likely so yes at this stage though all considered it is a minor tweak ), but don't wish to open them up too much damned wires. MAYBE I will rewire the steel stuff to the PCB at the same time.
 
Hope this is of interest.
I didn't think they were worth bothering  to attempt all this upon first listen to be honest.
 
They don't sound the same now that's for sure
 
THANKS AGAIN for this set to toy with Master "  _ _ _  ".

 

[doggiemom]

Great post!  I was too lazy to return them (though according to the Massdrop thread, lately those who have returned are waiting for a refund), so your post has inspired me to give these to my electronically inclined husband to see what he can do..........

 

[bluemonkeyflyer]

I can vouch for nick n's innovative mods to all sorts of vintage and current production headphones. He knows what he's doing and gets great sonic results.
 
nick n, many thanks for sharing your detailed work.
 
~ BMF
 
Quote:

  Supreme mod time.
 
First off I doubt break in will improve these enough to be tolerable in any way ( personal tastes of course )
 
For anybody who has these now and somehow did not return them, I did a fairly extensive modification  on them and arrived at what I consider to be an great result.
In my opinion there is no sense not modding them like this especially if past the return time, such a wasted potential stock.
Quite unlike anything out of the box that's for sure.
Clear fast transparent high end, tightened up low end,  and something that can be left on for hours still giving a rather high end sound.
The little electrets sure are not up to their potential in the stock setup I'll say that much at the very least.
 
Many thanks to the generous benefactor present in this thread that saw fit to forward these my way with modding in mind ( you know who you are )
 So here is what I ended up doing. If only they looked a little better aesthetically
 
As anyone who has removed the pads knows, this is what we are greeted with upon the first look.

 
^^^ If anyone compares this to the other company's wooden versions, they will see that there is nothing blocking the small electret drivers like we see in the Sharkk. I could not even ( barely? ) detect the thing's sound in stock form because of this baffle area with the holes there. ( HMMM HAVING ISSUES FINDING THE PICS OF THE OTHER WOODIES I MAY BE WRONG HERE )
Blocked too much of the sound and the dynamic driver swamped it out.
So in order to deal with this we need to open them up and remove the combined driver capsule to get at the baffle spot.
These are normally missing the sparkle and clarity /speed in any form. Stock you cannot even tell it is there!
Stock pad inner dustguard should be ok to stop debris/dust.
 
This is what we come across next:
( ignore the foam blocks from earlier mod stuff )
Here is the back of the driver assembly that is glued into place and needs to be carefully pried out, that glue is strong.
PCB board with the transformer/crossover cap for the electret driver seen there.

 

 
With that driver assembly capsule removed the baffle area obscuring the electret driver sound is accessible for removing:
No need to get too fancy with it.

 
 
Next I was curious about the capacitor value and also wanted to remove it to try another known brand in there.
I did some calculations with an online crossover calculator and the 10uf value used came close to letting the electret run at near full range.
Hmmm.
I wanted to separate that a bit more and bump the start up somewhat to isolate it's output in the higher side of things more.
So I used a new cap with a value of 1uf which should bump the starting point of the electret driver up to ~2800-3000hz I think it was instead of ( I THINK )  2-300hz or lower start or something = I forget at the moment ( I would have to recheck those approximate values given there ).
 *** I do have some ELNA CERAFINE 1uf caps I may try out later ***
( this should be what it is doing considering where it is in the signal path unless my thinking is wrong )
 
MIEC 1uf now in place of unknown stock 10uf :

 
Cap really has not had much time on it so far.
 
Next up is reseating the driver assembly back into the baffle:
I used some pieces of Dynamat to secure it back in place.
Specifically at the seams in the following places:

1.     top of electret
2.     sides of electret
3.     2 each side bottom,
4.     2 each side by hinge riser

 
Then dealing with baffle and cup damping using the absolutely indispensible Sorbothane.
According to my saved notes
 
=using Sorbothane 1/10 30D

1.     2@ 1 cm squares cup rears with 9@ 1 cm around inner cup walls.
2.     1 cm square directly on driver rear
3.     0.5 cm by 2 cm strips on baffle rears by hinge riser
4.     0.5 cm by ~ 1 or 1.5 cm beside transformer on PCB
5.     triangular on each side of electret housings
6.     5 @ 1cm  on baffle face ( 1 at top, 2 each side of round driver )

    maybe 2@ 0.5 cm by 2 cm either side bottom of driver area of baffle ( may not be there due to cup closure issues )
 
As seen here in the poor quality pictures:

^ that electret black backing is stock I assume to reflect the highs forward.
Sorbothane by transformer as listed not shown in picture

 
^ *** Note: that trial black center decal is not there in final mod ***
 
Next up attacking the dynamic driver's actual ports on the driver rear for proper bass:
 
DRIVER BASS ISSUES

1.     blocking both small holes on rear silver = way too low in bass, recessed and weak. Straining to hear it  at levels I know it should be at
2.     leaving both holes free= waaay too bass dominant yet mod keeps it all ultra clean.
3.     FINAL = use a 2 layer Micropore tape square pressed over one hole only, other hole left free. This seems to be like an OPPO bass level. Goes deep and boldly cleaner due to Sorbothane treatments
4.     both sides left in stock form with the rear white fabric covered driver ring perimeter holes

    =cannot find any other way of tweaking the bass here without ruining these exact effects within these parameters.
 
Replace the PBC on top of the dynamic driver rear
 
Added in 0.3 grams per side of Twaron AngelHair acoustic filler in the cups to deal with resonances and add it's special effects
 
=DONE
 
 
ADDITIONAL minor points I pulled from my saved mod info:
 

1.     VELOUR pads would reduce bass as an easy incremental tweak should someone desire that.
2.     Used some Sony MDR1R/10R aftermarket cheap nice pads ( or whatever that model is ) that fit and are slightly lower profile brings sound more forward ( another minor tweak )
3.     Wiring in these at /to the PCB board is uhhh let's politely say not copper and veeerrry fragile = I had to resolder multiple times as it breaks at solder points when bent only a few times carefully, and sure looks like just typical steel wire up until the small enamelled wires. Be aware the wires will break easily if opened more than a few times
4.  Stock box is also wrong, they measured 48 ohm not 32 ohm as stated on box, drivers even say 48ohm on the magnet's back...
5.  electrets must be very sensitive, since they are not registered in the multimeter readings at all off the cable's TRS plug, unless it is the particular circuit they have going on. Some of my older TRS cabled electrets hit up to 800 - 1000 ohms...
6.  mod  should be very cheap when comparing against the cost of the unit initially, a few bucks really with lots of materials to spare afterwards for them. Small 3 inch by 3 inch sorb sheet is dirt cheap, Twaron Angelhair is only available in 100 gram sample bags enough for decades of mods ( perhaps substitute polyfill but not cotton ), a few bits of Dynamat or even use glue, 3M Micropore ( papertape ) is cheapo at drug store, leave cap value stock or get a couple others dirt cheap ( 0.47uf should bump up electret start to even higher range )
7. *****Dynamat will NOT give the results that Sorbothane will, not even close ( I'd not even bother trying to substitute it ). One could try the denser rated Sorbothane ( 70D ) but I only ever use and have the 30D rated stuff
8.   uses stock pads.= kinda what I was going for, and it worked out best anyhow this way
9.  use ebay thin foam inserts for tuning further after it is all in place

 
 
During this writeup I have had them on  the whole time without any issue, and am enjoying them quite a bit.
I imagine this sound should have been closer to what the expectations were initially.
Will still swap out the caps for the ELNA CERAFINE and might add a touch more Angelhair in there while they are open to see how a touch more off the resonaces makes it sound ( likely so yes at this stage though all considered it is a minor tweak ), but don't wish to open them up too much damned wires. MAYBE I will rewire the steel stuff to the PCB at the same time.
 
Hope this is of interest.
I didn't think they were worth bothering  to attempt all this upon first listen to be honest.
 
They don't sound the same now that's for sure
 
THANKS AGAIN for this set to toy with Master "  _ _ _  ".

 
 

  Great post!  I was too lazy to return them (though according to the Massdrop thread, lately those who have returned are waiting for a refund), so your post has inspired me to give these to my electronically inclined husband to see what he can do..........

 

[MrLocoLuciano]

Hi
For me the Bravo doesn't sound that bad.
Built quality is clearly awful, and you have a lot of reverberation especially in the bass zone, but I like the medium.

 

[MrLocoLuciano]

And I listen to it with a cowon P1 and I have to say that the tone color is pretty nice too.
Clearly they are not worse the value but they can improve.
I should have a go with all those mods.

 

[PRTG]

Ok, bought these out of curiosity. Tried them and unloved Indigogo instantly. Boomy Bass Bloat was obviously there. Combined with nice and clean highs from electrets this gave eerie impression of extremely good and bad performance combined in one piece. My Sennheiser HD 25-C II's (same price tag!) are subjectively superior over these by at least factor of ten, which obviously makes them 100x times better to whatever Bravo Sharkks were compared to. Sennheisers are not too comfy, though.
 
I instantly wrote the manufacturer about my impressions and suggestion to use L-pad for bass driver. Also gave a slight hint of possible lack of ethics (or professionalism) of over hyped video reviews posted about the product on Indiegogo. I also expressed strong urge to return the product. The answer was quick and disappointing - wait and buy the next, improved version. Well, thanks, no.
 
Judging from OP measurements, 100Hz is about 20dB over the top of what would be balanced sound. Regarding mod, my first thought was to try appropriate L-pad attuneator for LF driver. Smaller cap for electret driver may contribute to reduce distortion further, however I didn't notice that drivers were distorting - highs were indeed very clear.
 
Great modding attempt, nick n, could be great to see some measurements after modding.

 

[doggiemom]

Ha, I will not buy another improved version....... they are selling the original not-improved version on amazon now. Sketchy.

 

[tmorterlaing]

"After extended breakin I like them."
 
Massive facepalm. This is called cognitive dissonance - headphone 'break in' is highly debatable to even exist at best, and nonsense at worse. Either way the change to significantly change the sound from being bass heavy to ultra-clear would be significantly more than what 'break in' can offer. 

 

[tmorterlaing]

Anyway, I've got some - they're awful. Muffled and wayyyyyyy too much bass. 
Gonna try return them. 

 

[suntreader]

I got these as part of the original Indigogo offering, and could not stand the sound.Bass heavy with a very muddy veil on the mids & highs. Contacted Sharkk with my concerns, and had tehm swapped out for a new pair. Same sound... could not believe the accolades for these things.
 
Fast forward a couple of months. Tried them again... same bad sound. Then I found this thread and tried the mods from nick n (everything the same except I used polyfill in place of the AngelHair). Definitely an improvement... I don't feel like I need to get water out of my ears while listening to them anymore. Highs are clearer, though not fully transparent. The bass is less diffuse, but still seems a bit heavy to me (which can be fixed by dialing down the bass on my amp). I'll probably start tweaking them a little more. Even with the mods, I wouldn't buy them again... but at least I can listen to them now.

 

[doggiemom]

  I got these as part of the original Indigogo offering, and could not stand the sound.Bass heavy with a very muddy veil on the mids & highs. Contacted Sharkk with my concerns, and had tehm swapped out for a new pair. Same sound... could not believe the accolades for these things.
 
Fast forward a couple of months. Tried them again... same bad sound. Then I found this thread and tried the mods from nick n (everything the same except I used polyfill in place of the AngelHair). Definitely an improvement... I don't feel like I need to get water out of my ears while listening to them anymore. Highs are clearer, though not fully transparent. The bass is less diffuse, but still seems a bit heavy to me (which can be fixed by dialing down the bass on my amp). I'll probably start tweaking them a little more. Even with the mods, I wouldn't buy them again... but at least I can listen to them now.

Ugh, the Sharkks were my final lesson in "don't buy headphones without hearing them yourself or reading really positive reviews."