Installed the mod according to the video a few days ago, here are what I think:
With original ear pad and closed base ports:
Base and openness(3D) are gone. Mid is now very forward but feels dry (I am not sure this is correct word to use). Anyhow, I do not like from what I hear.
With Dekoni ear pad and closed base ports:
Base is now better but still much weaker than original. Base is lower than I would like. Base is also tight and feels unnatural. Almost like fingers flicking on a tight rubber ball. Mid is forward and a bit hot. Openness and 3D are still missing.
With Dekoni ear pad and open 2 of 3 base ports:
Base is now on par or slightly stronger than original. Mid is more "forward" than original. Mid is also a bit colored: warmer and brighter, however, not smooth. Openness and 3D are still missing. Sounds seems to be coming from my brain stem instead of positioning in a room. The room feel is not present at all.
With original ear pad and open 2 of 3 base ports:
Base is still there but not as strong as with Dekoni pad. Mid is less colored and also slightly less forward than with Dekoni pads. Openness and 3D are still missing. Less texture and dry than original.
After the above tries, I still like the original's sound the best. Original isn't perfect that is why I want to try this mod and hoping to improve the short comings of original. The short comings are namely: recessed mids(vocals), a bit sharp at higer-end and a little strong bass. However, with this mod, I feel the trade-off isn't worth it. The mod removes the naturalness, 3D and openness exchange for stronger and cleaner mids. I feel the mids sounds cleaner because it is now stronger and the mod removes the echos and dampens/kills off the sound too quickly. It reminds me of sound dampened room and sound comes directly from back of my head. I suppose some people may like the dampened sound. However, it does not sound natural to me and seems dry.
Anyhow, here are my opinions. If you have some suggestion for me to try, or if you think I did something wrong with the mod and has some suggestion, please feel free to let me know. I don't have lots of time to play with it but I am certainly welcome any suggestions and will try them out slowly...
Hello
@norepeat,
If you don't want too much bass or too much bass lost (just a matter of balancing your bass vs isolation preference), then you can try closing (not opening) 2 of the 3 bass ports or the driver lip with the butyl both with and without the dekoni earpads. Remember that out of the 3 ports the earcup hinge one with the headband cable running through it is much smaller than the other 2, so trying many configurations of different ports being sealed might help you narrow down which one has the most suitable levels of bass for your preference. Also if you don't have the driver lip sealed with the butyl, then it also affects the bass when you attach the earpads inside or over the lip. Placing it inside the lip has more bass than placing it over the lip. Since I enjoy having extra bass, I personally just seal the driver lip with butyl and leave all the ports open while using the dekoni earpads. It might take a while, but I think you should be able to find a level of bass suitable for yourself.
My attempts for this mod removing the echos (reflections) off of the earcups was actually for increasing sound imaging accuracy. Generally, you don't want to hear the reflections off of the earcups because the sound coming from the back of the driver is in negative phase, whereas the front is positive phase.(this has to do with the Doppler effect). Hearing the negative phase is going to distort the soundstage imaging, which is generally why open-backed headphones do better with just a grill over closed-backed with hard plastic.
I appreciate your feedback, and based off of my understanding (as well as the feedback of others) I can only assume that there is another factor that is effecting the result of your mod. Hopefully, with a little more details I can help figure this issue out for you.
Quote:
Hi DecentLevi,
I am using Denon 4520ci and a USB drive as I find this setup to be better than my idsd micro and better than e18 from a laptop (foobar w/ wasapi). I have 2 HP150s so I can compare them side-by-side. One mod and one original. If you have a suggestion for a small DAC+Amp combo that sounds better than idsd micro, will be much appreciated.
As for the mod, I inserted the Dekoni pads into the lip/groove/2 halves. By the way, is the butyl used the same way as in the video: ie for sealing the edge when the driver halve is place back into the cup? I find this messy so I used pure silicon sealer around the edge before closing and sealing the can.
Music that I listen to are mostly vocal: rock, pop from 70, 80, 90, 2000, and now. Some asian pop/rock. So I suppose with these type of music, I enjoy the sound with a bit more like a pub or small hall with some 3D and relaxed details (while keeping voice forward). With sealed bass port even with Dekoni pads, kick drums sound unnatural like finger flicking on tight rubber ball. Aside from the bass port, the mod seems to damped out the openness/stage/detail of HP150. Changes HP150 into a different type of HP... Not that it is very bad sounding just not what I like. Another closed HP that I like is Oppo PM3, however, it is more like an on-ear HP than around the ear. HP150 is more open, energetic while PM3 is more neutral and balance. I was hoping the mod can tweak the HP150 toward neutral and balance while keeping its openness and detail ....
This might be it.
I would not recommend you using silicon sealer (rubber gasket maker) for either the driver lip or the inner earcup ring. I actually did that for my second mod on
@DecentLevi's HP-100, and that was one of the many things contributed to it being worse than the first and later third mod revisions for him. It may have been one of the bigger contributing factors to the soundstage imaging being reduced.
If you are confused what I am referring to when I saw driver lip or the inner earcup ring, then here are some photos.
Driver lip with butyl:
Inner earcup ring (where you were supposed to stuff butyl inside):
I might need a few photos to see exactly what you did, and I'll try my best to guide you on fixing the issue.
If you don't have enough material to give the mod another shot, then let me know which parts you are missing and I'll send it to you again.
Best Regards,
Lyova Margaryan of Tru-Fi Speakers