[dweaver]

Well after listening to these without the foam all weekend I just could not find a combination of mods that I liked. I even did the dynamat and holofil mod described the AD700 mod thread. In the end I decided to see what the sound was like using the dynamat holofil mod and putting the foam inserts back in.

I will have to give these a solid listen but so far this seems to work best for me as the holofil and dynamat has tamed down the shrillness of the treble (way less fatiguing) but I get the rest of the full sound I love about the AD900. The bass also seems to still be slightly enhanced over the original configuration as well.

It seems to have taken them from being a overly bright headphone to a slightly warmer sounding phone without sacrificing detail or any other part of the AD900 sound.

I won't be taking these part for a while now I think

BTW one last thing, I really find my tape the holes up mod way too fatiguing. I don't think I will be bothering with it anymore.

 

[Philimon]

dweaver,

Thank you for sharing all of your research with us. It is saving me lots of time from having to perform these mods myself. Your notes on the mods are thorough enough, which helps me believe I would likely come to the same conclusions myself.

What is the dynamat holofil mod? Link?

 

[Philimon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dweaver /img/forum/go_quote.gif I even did the dynamat and holofil mod described the AD700 mod thread.

Missed the part saying it was from the AD700 mod thread.

-----------------

FOUND. I left a question there for you dweaver.

 

[dweaver]

OK Philimon (and anyone else interested), I did some math and I can do the dynamat and holofill for $1.50 plus shipping costs which I will have to calculate per person. I am willing to do this for anyone needing some dynamat and holofill. You will want to contact me via PM for this going forward though, so as not to fill up this thread with this type of discussion as it's inappropriate. I will warn you though, the shipping and handling will cost more than the materials as I live in Canada and postal costs are pretty high here. I did a check for postal costs sending to New Yor City and the cost was around $4.00 and cost to Newfoundland and the cost was about $3.00, those being worst case costs, total cost for anyone interested should be no more than $5.50 for US and $4.50 for Canadians.

I picked up a compass and exacto knife and will cut the dynamat to the exact size of the driver and if I can get a hole punch cheaply will punch out the center as well and I will put the holofill in a small ziplock back. I can handle about 30 sets before I will start to run out of dynamat.

I posted one last reply in the AD700 mod thread so as to not hijack that thread. But will say that the dynamat holofill mod has been VERY IMPRESSIVE so far, it completely removed the fatigue I was feeling with these phones and is very customizable. For me I ended up putting the foam inserts back in to the cups as I felt they made the phones sound more full but everyones experience may vary. BTW I still am getting a bass boost with the foam inserts in, so the dynamat part of the mod helps address this area of the sound as well as mellowing out the highs.

 

[robjrock]

I've been pushing on with leaving the backs open (no foam) for a while now. Been working long hours so I haven't much time to listen to em, but so far I love the sound but the mids (like Dweaver) haven't been right. I tried a small blob of blutack on the back on the drivers, which didn't make much difference. I then used a larger amount of tack in a sort of worm shape around the circumference of the little metal plate of the driver. I thought it brought back a little more aggression in the highs but not much difference with the vocals.

Basically Ive felt the vocals to be too thin & aggressive, like the foam back was kind of 'fattening them up' somehow. I've just now done a weird mod loosely based on the dynamat / holofil where I cut two small circles of tissue paper (about the size of the silver ring on the back of the driver, roughly the size of an American quarter) and used two blobs of blutack per driver to 'cover' the back of the driver, with a small gap of space left intentionally to allow some freedom of air.

Basically the idea was to partially limit the airflow into the driver (like the original foam inserts would presumably do) but keep the backs open (to avoid resonance / aggression etc) - Of course its very difficult to say whats really working and whats a big fat placebo, but I think this sounds pretty promising. Vocals do sounds fuller and more human again, not so sharp and thin.

 

[dweaver]

Rob, I have to say they dynamat with holofil has worked exceptionally well for me. I removed a bit of the holofil last night as I felt I had supressed the mids a bit and the highs to much and feel this is very close to perfect now. The cool thing is it's very easy to tweak. As my headphones stand right now. They have almost all of the original tonal qualities of the AD900 unmodified minus the shrillness of the treble. I am just on the border of having fuller treble (which I like to have) and ear fatigue (leaning more towards fatigue than my original dynamat mod).

One thing I am noticing is sound volume. I don't listen to my music too loud but with this mod (especially with added holofil like my original setup when I added the dynamat) I was able to crank up the volume quite a bit and not have much fatigue. With my current configuration I get clearer sound at lower volumes but suspect I won't be able to go as loud without the phones becoming to fatiguing.

PM me if you need some dynamat and holofill, I really am not trying to make money from it, I just have a bunch of both materials lying around from when I started to mod my phones a while back (the smallest dynamat package I could get cost a little of $30 and had two big square sheets in it and my bag of holofil is HUGE!!). Once I ship an order to someone I will have a much better idea of the costs as I will then know how much the package weighs (right now I estimated on the high side (100-200g) but if it's under 100G the shipping costs drop by about a $1.

 

[fldrice]

So it seems like my mods also work for the AD900. Dweaver, it would be interesting if you could mod your AD700 and compare them to the moded AD900. Also, do you know if the AD900 grills fit in the AD700/500 housing?

 

[dweaver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fldrice /img/forum/go_quote.gif So it seems like my mods also work for the AD900. Dweaver, it would be interesting if you could mod your AD700 and compare them to the moded AD900. Also, do you know if the AD900 grills fit in the AD700/500 housing?

I'll see what I can do but I have a stripped screw on my AD700 making it darn near impossible to work on as I don't have the tools to fix it. I have an electronics friend who may be able to help me out though.

 

[Spraj]

You can drill the stripped screws out. I stripped two screws on my AD700, just drilled them out and bought some larger ones at the hardware store the next day. If you do drill them out, cover up the drivers with some cloth to keep any metal shavings out.

 

[robjrock]

Hey Dweaver, I might be interested in some but I live in Australia! Anyway, yeah the open back mod does tone done to the treble where they almost feel treble light - I've been really more concerned with the mids though. I haven't had the foam backs in for so long. How different does the holofill compare to just foam? Stock AD900s are quite fatiguing at higher volumes, while with the backs removed they are almost too polite.
That said, I reckon there is a perfect compensation for the open back mod somewhere. Gonna keep experimenting...

 

[dweaver]

I will check out how much postage to Australia is and let you know what I find out. I backed off the holofill and while I like the added sound I will be putting a little bit back in as the phones are now ever so slightly too fatiguing again. As you say got to keep experimenting

 

[dweaver]

So Postage to Australia isn't bad for standard postage but I have no idea how long it will take to get to you Robjrock, it would be about $9-10 all told. But you might be better finding someone locally that has the stuff for the mod. But if your wanting me to send it to you let me know via PM.

OK back to the headphone discussion. I ended up putting back about half the holofill I removed yesterday as the phones had become to fatiguing again and things like cymbals were just to sharp and jangly. Plus there was simply to much air movement in the cups (the hairs in my ears would start to itch after listening even at lower volumes). This makes the treble (especially things like cymbals etc. roll off ever so slightly), I also think the midrange becomes ever so slightly less forward in the upper range. The end result is the ability to here the lower midrange and bass and I can turn up the headphones more so I can listen to them in their "power" range without cringing.

I have never opened up a pair of headphones so much in my life but this mod is so darn easy to tweak. I think though I have achieved the perfect level between fatigue but extremely detailed and too rolled off for the sake of comfort.

 

[pwnRhasta]

Same thing happened to me on my AD700, i was on my first driver, and the last two screws i had to unscrew became stripped screws, so i was like DAM! But i didnt give up from there, i was so desperate to remove the foams that i pryed open the plastic carefully, just enough to not bend or break the plastic, and once i got it wide enough, i stuck tweasers into the plastic casing and grabbed the foam and pulled it right out. From there, unscrewing the other screws on the other side had to be precise, strong, and fast. There i ended up with only one stripped screw on that side, and it was more than enough to open the plastic casing and pull the foam out.

 

[Philimon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dweaver /img/forum/go_quote.gif So Postage to Australia isn't bad for standard postage but I have no idea how long it will take to get to you Robjrock, it would be about $9-10 all told. But you might be better finding someone locally that has the stuff for the mod. But if your wanting me to send it to you let me know via PM.

I sent a small/light package via standard shipping USPS not too long ago to a Head-Fi member in Australia. The package arrived in 2 weeks. I have actually sent 3 packages total to Australia for Head-Fi members, and I think they all took around 2 weeks (from manilla envelope small to small/medium box large).

 

[Philimon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dweaver /img/forum/go_quote.gif OK back to the headphone discussion. I ended up putting back about half the holofill I removed yesterday as the phones had become to fatiguing again and things like cymbals were just to sharp and jangly. Plus there was simply to much air movement in the cups (the hairs in my ears would start to itch after listening even at lower volumes). This makes the treble (especially things like cymbals etc. roll off ever so slightly), I also think the midrange becomes ever so slightly less forward in the upper range. The end result is the ability to here the lower midrange and bass and I can turn up the headphones more so I can listen to them in their "power" range without cringing.

So this is why my ears itch sometimes when listening to headphones? Because of the air movement causing my ear hairs to itch? Interesting.

I hope the mod is as good as you are currently describing...

Have you tried adding foam underneath the pads to increase distance from the driver in order to increase amount of bass (as described earlier in this thread by another Head-Fier and his AD900)? I tried something similar, and I will not comment on sound because I did not use the proper material, but the comfort was outstanding! Your ears no longer touched the driver, and the pads felt even softer on the head... I know you seem pretty content with the sound you have found now, but perhaps you could tweak them more so as to also obtain the perfect level of comfort as well?