Mark Up
1000+ Head-Fier
Whitiger can post pics and describe is process for the uprgade he did for me. Reasonable price, shipped and back at my door in less than a week. It was a massive upgrade. Evidence Audio Lyric HG IGL Solid Core Copper 20 awg wire, internally. That company makes cables I use in my studio for every analog connection (ie. monitors, sub, guitars, bass, keyboards, microphones, etc) and that is the line of cable David Gilmour and his band use exclusively live and in the studio. Externally I had bought www.Audiocadabra.com solid core (24 awg I think) copper wire for my Senn HD650 that I'm selling now. I had Whitiger solder on Neutrk jacks that snap in to the cans. 2 meter cable, plenty long enough, but not too long. Cans and cable were already burned in, but gave them near a week more burning for the internal wiring. Now they are the best sounding headphones I've ever heard or owned. The high end extends better, just south of the point where overly bright recordings can hurt, which is perfect. I am hyper-sensitive to highs. They're still smooth.
The midrange that sometimes hurt around 1 khz is gone, that was caused by internal resonance behind the cups. The surgical tape does tame those longer reflections in the low mids, giving it cleaner, punchier bass that extends slightly better due to less standing wave phase cancellation. Still, such thinner damping does not affect mid lows / below that. They mainly control thee ringy buildup at 1khz caused by an undamped cup space. If you cup your hands over ANY open cans you'll hear what I get at, the sound isn't more bassy at all, it's a ringy nightmare. Without those reflections the sound is more true, you hear the speaker, not the space behind it. The external cable difference I was familiar with. The thicker gauge cable inside, the Evidence wire once broken in is surreal. There is such a lifelike sound to it now. My Audio Technica ATH-R70x (my current favorite under $500 open set) was great and not far off in sound quality to the MDR-Z7. I upgraded the cable for that to shorter OCC burned in, and it was intimidating how much better it is.
I was worried it would eclipse my MDR-Z7. Now that I'd tested it burned in, there's no comparison. The MDR-Z7 wins and it takes a while for my ears to adapt, to the smaller ATH-R70x sound. It's important to clarify why I like solid core copper. I've tried solid silver wire for my studio, and never liked it. It lets more highs through, but I find the results zingy sounding. Most things were developed (guitars, mics, speakers, cans) for what copper will do when plugged into it. Alleviating that gentle high end roll off and a slowing of transients means more edgy sound. If you like that, cool. I speak for those sensitive to highs. Solid core seems to continue what is needed from copper, but add a level of clarity, without seeming "brighter", that is hard to describe. Things get more true to life, and in your face. It puts these cans at the top of the pack to me. It's an investment but it's worth it. As stated above Whitiger has pics and comments on his process from our emails that I'll let him share and answer any questions you all might have on doing the mod.
The midrange that sometimes hurt around 1 khz is gone, that was caused by internal resonance behind the cups. The surgical tape does tame those longer reflections in the low mids, giving it cleaner, punchier bass that extends slightly better due to less standing wave phase cancellation. Still, such thinner damping does not affect mid lows / below that. They mainly control thee ringy buildup at 1khz caused by an undamped cup space. If you cup your hands over ANY open cans you'll hear what I get at, the sound isn't more bassy at all, it's a ringy nightmare. Without those reflections the sound is more true, you hear the speaker, not the space behind it. The external cable difference I was familiar with. The thicker gauge cable inside, the Evidence wire once broken in is surreal. There is such a lifelike sound to it now. My Audio Technica ATH-R70x (my current favorite under $500 open set) was great and not far off in sound quality to the MDR-Z7. I upgraded the cable for that to shorter OCC burned in, and it was intimidating how much better it is.
I was worried it would eclipse my MDR-Z7. Now that I'd tested it burned in, there's no comparison. The MDR-Z7 wins and it takes a while for my ears to adapt, to the smaller ATH-R70x sound. It's important to clarify why I like solid core copper. I've tried solid silver wire for my studio, and never liked it. It lets more highs through, but I find the results zingy sounding. Most things were developed (guitars, mics, speakers, cans) for what copper will do when plugged into it. Alleviating that gentle high end roll off and a slowing of transients means more edgy sound. If you like that, cool. I speak for those sensitive to highs. Solid core seems to continue what is needed from copper, but add a level of clarity, without seeming "brighter", that is hard to describe. Things get more true to life, and in your face. It puts these cans at the top of the pack to me. It's an investment but it's worth it. As stated above Whitiger has pics and comments on his process from our emails that I'll let him share and answer any questions you all might have on doing the mod.
