[audiojun]

Going to have an resistor modded MA900 coming in tomorrow. I hope the MA 900 is a less detailed, HD 800 because the HD 800 is just too much for bad recordings.

 

[DangerClose]

I don't know if the resistor does much anyway. If I plug mine into my big AVR, it sounds like syrup.  Good syrup, but syrup.

 

[audiojun]

From what I have heard is that the resistor makes the MA 900 sound the same between different amps. But removing the resistor allows it to scale up with good amps, also a resistor in the signal path will increase the output impedance of an amplifier.

 

[Taggerung]

Thanks!..... whats the angled all about vs standard?

Comfort...for closed cans it's also better isolation.

 

[audiojun]

Love this headphone. It doesn't have the clarity or instrument separation as an HD 650, but it has good sound stage and tone.

Attempted to cover the vents with electrical tape but it made it too bloomy. So I covered it up with foam instead and it is sounds amazing. It boosted the bass and also absorbed reflections inside the cup.

 

[LaCuffia]

I am selling mine if anyone is interested. Check classified. Agree it's a great headphone but I don't use it anymore at home because I have a Stax system.

 

[ABRAXAS5150]

Just got mine in the mail this morning playing around with them now I'll let u guys know what I think of 'em. Peace.

 

[Sp12er3]

will be nice to know your impression of them

 

[audiojun]

Has anyone modded the front foam infront of the drivers? my guess is that sony put the foam to lower the treble. The MA 900 seems to be a bit blurry in the upper mids - low treble region.

 

[thesmokingman]

  Has anyone modded the front foam infront of the drivers? my guess is that sony put the foam to lower the treble. The MA 900 seems to be a bit blurry in the upper mids - low treble region.

 
Do you mean the foam and mesh cover? Underneath that is the felt bass lens. You do not want to remove the bass lens, will lose bass quality. As for the foam/mesh cover, I've removed mine a while ago.

 

[thesmokingman]

Thanks!..... whats the angled all about vs standard?

 
Some headphone designs angle the driver towards your inner ear via the pads. The MA900 driver itself is already aligned so the pads are not angling the driver, no need to. No need to get angled pads either, might change the staging etc good or bad, dunno.
 

Love this headphone. It doesn't have the clarity or instrument separation as an HD 650, but it has good sound stage and tone.

Attempted to cover the vents with electrical tape but it made it too bloomy. So I covered it up with foam instead and it is sounds amazing. It boosted the bass and also absorbed reflections inside the cup.

 
I'm sure it boosted the bass, but in turn making your 900s more of a closed than open can. The reflections (or path for sound to escape/mix) is what gives the 900s their air and width so I'm guessing that plugging the gaps is counter to their intrinsic design. But to each their own, so if you like the new sound all good. For me, I don't use the 900s for those times I want big bass as they'll never match bassy cans with a fully open design. And in context, these are a bit less open than their predecessors, the F1 which I still love.

 

[audiojun]

Yeah, plugging the vents up with electrical tape sucked. But covering it with breathable foam is amazing though, it didn't feel closed in. I basically just glued foam to the inside of the cups.
 
Well I just see a bunch of felt inside the driver unit when I examined it. It covered everything and only leaving a small hole for the sound to escape, I know it was done for the bass but I think it's affecting the mids and highs as well.

 

[muscleking]

i was just posting in the beyerdynamic t1.2 discussion group, which i just bought,  and i have a  stax 4170 for 2 years now and before both i had the ma900 for a few months and  sold after the stax 4170. and somehow i kept missing that sound. it's just much easier to listen to than both of those. i remember watching horror movies with ma900 you know those movies like "wrong turn", "insidious". the sound stage on the ma900 make it sound so realistic. maybe i should buy another ma900 just to compare them. i know you are selling yours but i am in a small village now in canada lol and all goodies are in USA.
 
so i think before you sell your ma900 you should really keep it. back then i got it for 150 canadian bucks. and now it's double the price. i sold it for the same price very quickly 2 years ago.
 
the ma900 of course when you crank it up has distortion but up to a good loudness it is loud enough without distortion. maybe i am just one of those guys like coloured sound. from my memory the ma900 bass is pretty strong and a bit less controlled. but the soundstage just feels much bigger. probably because of the size of the driver. 
 
maybe should sell all these higher end headphones and just buy the ma900 back. lol. but now thinking about listen to classic like piano and violin these >1000 bucks headphones does sound more detailed and it's good. guess you can't have one pair of headphones for all kind of music.
 
i had AD700, A700, sony mdr-v7. use a DT1350 at work. those audio technica sound pretty bad compare to sony ma700. oh i am just thinking i do feel these >1000 bucks headphones are quite bright with my xonar stx. bright i think means treble too strong. so the ma900 with big driver will emphasize bass and reduced treble. which is good for some poorer recorded vocal. the other ones when singer prounce "s" damn hurts my ears. 
 
anyways just here to say guys the ma900 is definitely a keeper. how's the reliablity? anybody blew the driver yet? i didn't own it for long enough to break it. 

 

[thesmokingman]

  Yeah, plugging the vents up with electrical tape sucked. But covering it with breathable foam is amazing though, it didn't feel closed in. I basically just glued foam to the inside of the cups.
 
Well I just see a bunch of felt inside the driver unit when I examined it. It covered everything and only leaving a small hole for the sound to escape, I know it was done for the bass but I think it's affecting the mids and highs as well.

 
 
These cans w/o the bass lens sound hollow. You can try it out yourself. They stick back on w/o issue. The mesh cover was scratchy on my ears so they were removed. I think it sounds better w/o them.
 
http://rinchoi.blogspot.com/2012/07/sony-mdr-ma900-in-depth-analysis.html
 

 In short, this bass lens is an acoustic low-pass filter, accompanied with partial damping of the sound using a porous material.

Quote:

The developer of MDR-MA900, 松尾伴大-san, describes acoustic bass lens this way:
 

​

"By utilizing an acoustic damping material, the low-frequency response is first concentrated, and then radiated to the pinna directly. This acoustic focusing technique has been used previously with MDR-F1, and consequently, the low frequency response should be perceived more or less the same by any listeners."

 
 
 
*Woops was going to post a pic of mine w/o the mesh cover.
 

 

[winterfury]

I received my pair and while listening to the music in my collection I noticed a weird thing: the vocals seem to be skewed to the left of what I perceive as center. And this also happens when I listen to audiobooks, the voice of a narrator is not at the center, where I believe it's supposed to be, but somewhere left of it. Did anyone had such a problem?