[matzemedia]

Do u have a link to the headband?

yes, for sure: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000296905554.html

I bought a separate sheep ear pads cause the original are made of synthetic leather. But as @GREQ wrote I should better invest to some velour ear pads.

 

[Roderick]

Hello everyone,
I have decided to assemble my first pair of headphones. I bought all the parts from China and tried two drivers. Here is the setup:

• Wooden shells with a diameter of about 100mm
• Driver 1: 45MM 250 Ohm T2 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000177949421.html)
• Driver 2: 50MM 320 ohm HIFI Headphone Speaker Drivers for HD800 9500 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33030747994.html)

The result is unfortunately very sad.
The T2: The sound is missing almost any details. High tones are very low, but the bass is very strong. Voices sound as if sung into a tin can.
The "HD800 9500" driver, on the other hand, is somewhat better and offers a little more bandwidth. However, this driver also lacks treble.

By the way, one more thing about the headphones: the driver is mounted on a small 5mm board with a lot of holes. This has the effect of a drumhead and changes the sound to the negative. The sound only improved after the board was drilled out.

I would also like to use this post to ask for your advice: I am not satisfied with either driver. Do you have any advice for me? I'am looking for a driver who has more details and support heights.

If you don't have velour pads you can try closing the center hole on the magnet with tape. If it reduces the bass too much try closing it only partially. Fancier way to do is with foam or fabric. Different densities and thickness can be used to tune the sound.

If you want another driver peerless hpd-50n25pr00-32 is always a good choice. I just finished one headphone mod with it and it is very good.

I'm also curious about that headband and cups. Are the yokes metal or just painted plastic? Also can you measure the diameter of the cup?

 

[matzemedia]

You should get better results by changing to velour ear pads.
This should reduce heavy bass and improve treble response at the same time.
If velour is good but has too much treble, then add a layer of foam over the front of the driver/baffle under the ear pad.

Most of a headphone's 'tuning' comes from the ear pad.

Thanks! That is so big different. I placed a velour pad from my AKG 701 and it sounds much clearer. Now I'am searching for a velour ear pad with leather at the outside - just because of the design.

I'm also curious about that headband and cups. Are the yokes metal or just painted plastic? Also can you measure the diameter of the cup?

Yes the headband and yokes are made of aluminium and steel. It's a bit small for my head. I have to choose the biggest setting so that it doesn't pinch. The outer diameter is 105mm the inner 87mm, the width is 27mm. I am not sure what happen to the sound when I mount the back grid. It rattles when I push it. So don't know who it change the sound.

 

[SHAMuuu]

Hello everyone,
I have decided to assemble my first pair of headphones. I bought all the parts from China and tried two drivers. Here is the setup:

• Wooden shells with a diameter of about 100mm
• Driver 1: 45MM 250 Ohm T2 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000177949421.html)
• Driver 2: 50MM 320 ohm HIFI Headphone Speaker Drivers for HD800 9500 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33030747994.html)

The result is unfortunately very sad.
The T2: The sound is missing almost any details. High tones are very low, but the bass is very strong. Voices sound as if sung into a tin can.
The "HD800 9500" driver, on the other hand, is somewhat better and offers a little more bandwidth. However, this driver also lacks treble.

By the way, one more thing about the headphones: the driver is mounted on a small 5mm board with a lot of holes. This has the effect of a drumhead and changes the sound to the negative. The sound only improved after the board was drilled out.

I would also like to use this post to ask for your advice: I am not satisfied with either driver. Do you have any advice for me? I'am looking for a driver who has more details and support heights.

Nice work. Its a humbling experience trying to make a DIY listenable lol

Good Luck

 

[528068]

Hello everyone,
I have decided to assemble my first pair of headphones. I bought all the parts from China and tried two drivers. Here is the setup:

• Wooden shells with a diameter of about 100mm
• Driver 1: 45MM 250 Ohm T2 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000177949421.html)
• Driver 2: 50MM 320 ohm HIFI Headphone Speaker Drivers for HD800 9500 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33030747994.html)

The result is unfortunately very sad.
The T2: The sound is missing almost any details. High tones are very low, but the bass is very strong. Voices sound as if sung into a tin can.
The "HD800 9500" driver, on the other hand, is somewhat better and offers a little more bandwidth. However, this driver also lacks treble.

By the way, one more thing about the headphones: the driver is mounted on a small 5mm board with a lot of holes. This has the effect of a drumhead and changes the sound to the negative. The sound only improved after the board was drilled out.

I would also like to use this post to ask for your advice: I am not satisfied with either driver. Do you have any advice for me? I'am looking for a driver who has more details and support heights.

The images do not load by the way.

 

[Roderick]

The images do not load by the way.

They work fine for me

 

[Roderick]

Denon D2000. Removed with surgical precision as usual

No wonder spare driver always come with a baffle...

 

[528068]

Forgot to update on my very own 3d printed headphones thing but basically I just have to get someone or learn to change the driver mount diameter to 40.3mm as my drivers do not fit. Also link to the request for the 40.3mm thing here https://www.head-fi.org/threads/request-to-modify-headphone-cup-driver-mount-diameter.956770/

 

[frank2908]

Hi, if you printed the cups already İ recommend just sand it down, here it is 0.15 mm thickness you only need to sand down and not wasting 2 pieces of plastic. Otherwise you can scale it up, but make sure to check other joints still fits or not.

 

[Maxx134]

Audio-technica ad900x drivers




Also, this thread is for discussions on headphone/iem drivers. Try to keep the thread in line wit the topic above thanks

Lots of densely packed Currugatuions around the perimeter of that plastic driver.
I found that when I touch a driver there (!) It pops right back and not get bent as easy as others.
Not that you should ever touch it, but its fun to do so on a ruined driver

I would also like to use this post to ask for your advice: I am not satisfied with either driver. Do you have any advice for me? I'am looking for a driver who has more details and support heights

Yes, those drivers are low quality.
You don't need to look at the size or the impedance (ohms).

From my personal experience, the diaphragm and the motor were the most important characteristics to look into.

Most drivers are "poly" variants (plastic) with some micro layer of coating, whether mineral or metal.
For my standards, they're all mostly garbage.
The only drivers I seen of a poly(plastic) type, that had real solid stiffness, was the Sony 1am2, and the larger z7 & up.
They had really stiff membranes.

Then you look at the motor section.
Most drivers (to me) are total garbage in this area, because designers trend to focus on "signature" over performance. For performance I refer to, think Utopia.

On most websites with drivers, You mostly see these tiny coils trying to push these massive diaphragms.
Really poor choices out there.
My suggestion is to go for the biocellulose drivers.
They all have decent motor and stiff diaphragms with edge surround for a more uniform pistonic action, which is what you need. Not these plastic diaphragms.
Sorry but I view most as garbage, even the plastic hybrids with a different hard center and a plastic corrugated perimeter.
To me, All is garbage, lol.

You can try to get decent Tonality out of them, but thats just signature sound, not performance (realism).
The only diaphragm I encountered that was a plastic type, and performed without any problems that all poly/plastic driver suffer (to some extent)..... It was the HD800 driver.

Anyways, if you want performance, stay away from the cheapo plastic drivers you see at low coat, no matter who they are.

here is a pic of some types of the distortions that are associated with drivers that have plastic and corrigation surround:
As stated and corrected here, this is an exaggeration for visual purposes only, not to be confused as a normal occurance, just a visual:

Ok, so I personally don't believe members should waste their hard earned money on any poly/plastic drivers, because you could just buy a full headphone for the price you spend on some of these drivers.

The only reason I am being harsh is because of the truly poor endless choices out there, and I feel this is a problem with the market.
I hope I didn't offend, so re-wrote this original post as I was half asleep lol.

Denon D2000. Removed with surgical precision as usual

Looks like removed with anger(!)
lol

change the driver mount diameter to 40.3mm as my drivers do not fit

What type drivers you have?
Hopefully they are worth your efforts.
Also, if you redo the plate, a baffle plate that is angled would be good idea.

 

[GREQ]

This picture is extremely misleading.
The diaphragm would have to be made of latex to extrude that far without tearing.
The stretching behaves as if no corrugated swirling ribs exist around the edges.
Why is the diagragm flat... there should be a dome in the center and half-torus shape around the edges.
Also there would practically no distortion present where the voice coil meets the diaphragm.

Distortions do exist, but this is far too simplistic and dramatacized.

 

[528068]

Hi, if you printed the cups already İ recommend just sand it down, here it is 0.15 mm thickness you only need to sand down and not wasting 2 pieces of plastic. Otherwise you can scale it up, but make sure to check other joints still fits or not.

I also forgot to mention that there is no space for my audio jacks. So i had to add in a new part to the cup to fit the jack. But I may just end up sanding because i do not have knowledge on this and because the drive mount is only 0.3mm short.

 

[Maxx134]

This picture is extremely misleading.

You are absolutely correct so I had to edit my post, as it came across wrong. The pic is an obvious exaggeration used for explanation purpose only.
I was half asleep when I wrote it lol (2am).

 

[Maxx134]

On the topic of drivers,

In my experience, in order for a thin diaphragm, with average or poor rigidity, to not be compromised, it would be optimal to use them for "open air" headphone designs.
There is way less "air impedance" (pressure) on the diaphragm (only in ear chamber front side, not both sides).

I also found the more rigid bio cellulose designs are optimal for the closed designs due to the increased air pressure resistance (impedance) on both sides.

One of the other main issues next would be the manufacturer intended design.
Whether the drivers were designed for open or closed headphones, as thats how they would have derived their frequency response.

Then you have the image size, wave propagation, ear chamber size/reflections, internal cup effects. Pad effects on FR. Distance, angle, etc add infinitum of details to look into. Type of headphones design, comfort, size...
Woohoo.
Anyways, I would go for design first, wether you want make open or closed, rather than let a driver dictate what you need to do, unless its a headphone to mod.
Good luck!


I do like some plastic types like the uber low cost koss, or the Senn types that are open designs.
Edit: grados are fast.

 

[i-am-iron-man]

Hi all, first post for a long time! - I've spent quite a few years building Grado-style clones with aftermarket drivers [Symphones, Nhoord, Elleven, etc] as well as being very drawn to the Denon AH-D / Fostex TH design. I don't have any off-the-peg cans and haven't for some time - I'm up to six headphones I use [2xDenon, 4xGrado] and I'm about to sell a further six Grado-style sets. This thread is excellent - there's some very familiar things going on. I've also transplanted some Peerless drivers into a set of Denon D2k and I hang around on Ali Express a lot ... those Denons now have the "D9200" bio cellulose drivers available on Ali, the other set have OEM Fostex TH900 drivers I bought from the local distributor.

So after losing interest in one-after-another 40mm Grado-style headphones I've discovered some excellent GS/PS style shells and I've become very interested in 50mm drivers. I fitted my Tymphany drivers into a PS style headphone and immediately love them [these are the black-domed version] - where they were clearly meant for an open headphone and sounded very 'dark' in the Denon, they shine in the Grado - albeit maybe a touch too much at times [they can be bright] but otherwise an extremely engaging listen. I was close to buying a pair of actual PS1000, I do wonder how close mine sound to a factory pair.

So I did buy the K100 driver on Ali. It hasn't arrived yet and I see very mixed responses to it. I'll post photos when I install it.
@Maxx134, very interesting posts - I've seen similar illustrations in the past showing how the diaphragm distorts, and was getting interested in buying a beryllium-coated driver. I'd be very interested in any specific driver recommendations you might have, especially for an open-backed headphone.