Well after having the HD650s for a month, my time was finally up with them and me and the Headfier I borrowed them from reswapped our headphones.
After having heard the HD650s for a month, hearing the SA5000s again was really something else. They suddenly sound frighteningly thin and honky in the midrange on upward, very very thin sounding compared to the HD650s, which sounded much more powerful and had much greater presence entirely. Things just sounded so lifeless out of the SA5000s.
And then suddenly it hit me...the SA5000's drivers are completely exposed. Going by the HD650's foam removal experience, if removing the foam for the HD650s increased clarity, would adding foam over the SA5000's drivers increase midrange and bass impact, the very areas the SA5000s are sorely lacking? *rubs hands together* Enter the SA5000 foam mod. The ingredients...one pair of the largest foam pads you can find at your local Radio Shack. They're about an inch and a half in diameter.
There's two variations of this mod you could do, and this is what I did personally. Simply take the leather earpads off the SA5000s, and hook the edge of the foam pads over the edge of the driver that's exposed. The driver is slanted inward, so simply stuff the foam inward so that it's as flush as possible against the driver. It should be a pretty good fit, if a bit loose at the moment. Then simply reapply the earpads over the foam. The foam does add a bit of extra padding to the leather earpads, so expect them to look a little more puffed out.
The end results? The highs are softened just a little, enough to eliminate the "glare" that the SA5000s start out with, much better midrange presence, and much better bass impact. They're still highly detailed, although you no longer get such insane spacing between music passages. The tradeoff is the resolution increases, making the SA5000s much easier to listen to for long term. You also have the benefit of having protection for the drivers.
The downfall is that the SA5000s already have rather small earcups, so your ears will most likely touch the foams. If this does bother you, you could also cut the foam so that it's just a flat piece of foam lying against the driver. I may ultimately do this myself.
In any case, if you want to soften the highs, increase the midrange, or increase the bass impact of your SA5000s...give this mod a try.
After having heard the HD650s for a month, hearing the SA5000s again was really something else. They suddenly sound frighteningly thin and honky in the midrange on upward, very very thin sounding compared to the HD650s, which sounded much more powerful and had much greater presence entirely. Things just sounded so lifeless out of the SA5000s.
And then suddenly it hit me...the SA5000's drivers are completely exposed. Going by the HD650's foam removal experience, if removing the foam for the HD650s increased clarity, would adding foam over the SA5000's drivers increase midrange and bass impact, the very areas the SA5000s are sorely lacking? *rubs hands together* Enter the SA5000 foam mod. The ingredients...one pair of the largest foam pads you can find at your local Radio Shack. They're about an inch and a half in diameter.
There's two variations of this mod you could do, and this is what I did personally. Simply take the leather earpads off the SA5000s, and hook the edge of the foam pads over the edge of the driver that's exposed. The driver is slanted inward, so simply stuff the foam inward so that it's as flush as possible against the driver. It should be a pretty good fit, if a bit loose at the moment. Then simply reapply the earpads over the foam. The foam does add a bit of extra padding to the leather earpads, so expect them to look a little more puffed out.
The end results? The highs are softened just a little, enough to eliminate the "glare" that the SA5000s start out with, much better midrange presence, and much better bass impact. They're still highly detailed, although you no longer get such insane spacing between music passages. The tradeoff is the resolution increases, making the SA5000s much easier to listen to for long term. You also have the benefit of having protection for the drivers.
The downfall is that the SA5000s already have rather small earcups, so your ears will most likely touch the foams. If this does bother you, you could also cut the foam so that it's just a flat piece of foam lying against the driver. I may ultimately do this myself.
In any case, if you want to soften the highs, increase the midrange, or increase the bass impact of your SA5000s...give this mod a try.
