[Mad Max]

I almost loved 7520, but the treble kills my ears and the bass is super flabby and uncontrolled. Only the midrange made me somewhat happy, and it was not quite as resolving as I expected.

V6 bass rules with Brainwavz Hm5 earpads (v1, not the thicker v2 sold these days). But then those pads worsen the nasty upper mids peak. If CD900ST does improve on these details, no doubt that it rocks.

 

[dhruvmeena96]

I almost loved 7520, but the treble kills my ears and the bass is super flabby and uncontrolled. Only the midrange made me somewhat happy, and it was not quite as resolving as I expected.

V6 bass rules with Brainwavz Hm5 earpads (v1, not the thicker v2 sold these days). But then those pads worsen the nasty upper mids peak. If CD900ST does improve on these details, no doubt that it rocks.

CD900st is old 7506. It was released with v6 as pro alternative. Its bass comes between 7506 and v6 and roll off is good. It reaches 30Hz instead 40 and 50.

Treble peak is controlled

 

[Mad Max]

Yes, that was what I was commenting on.

I am saying that the V6/ modern 7506 bass roll-off is a quirk brought on by the stock earpads.
I consider stock V6/7506 earpads an upgrade for M50x, lol! A half-way point between the sound with stock ATH pads and the sound with brainwavz HM5 pads.

 

[dhruvmeena96]

Yes, that was what I was commenting on.

I am saying that the V6/ modern 7506 bass roll-off is a quirk brought on by the stock earpads.
I consider stock V6/7506 earpads an upgrade for M50x, lol! A half-way point between the sound with stock ATH pads and the sound with brainwavz HM5 pads.

Try wicked cushion for m50x, slightly reduced bass and no shrilly treble.

Its like hm5 pad + foam damping on better quality and is cheap.

 

[SHAMuuu]

settld with sheepskin hm5

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

Yes, that was what I was commenting on.

I am saying that the V6/ modern 7506 bass roll-off is a quirk brought on by the stock earpads.
I consider stock V6/7506 earpads an upgrade for M50x, lol! A half-way point between the sound with stock ATH pads and the sound with brainwavz HM5 pads.

I think I have talked about it before, but the Fidelio L2 pads are an excellent upgrade for the 7506 they increase the depth of the bass, and tighten it up , the treble backs off a little bit and the mids seem less recessed, but that could just be a side effect of them having an overall more balanced sound.
Interesting development, Brainwavz just recently came out with replacement pads specifically for the V6/7506
https://www.brainwavzaudio.com/blogs/news/new-sony-replacement-earpads-from-brainwavz
I haven't tried them...I messaged the company and requested a sample pair. I don't intend to buy any myself yet...I have two sets of good pads for my 7506...but I'd love to be able to try them out and confidently recommend them to other headfiers....they definitely look nice

 

[Slater]

I think I have talked about it before, but the Fidelio L2 pads are an excellent upgrade for the 7506 they increase the depth of the bass, and tighten it up , the treble backs off a little bit and the mids seem less recessed, but that could just be a side effect of them having an overall more balanced sound.
Interesting development, Brainwavz just recently came out with replacement pads specifically for the V6/7506
https://www.brainwavzaudio.com/blogs/news/new-sony-replacement-earpads-from-brainwavz
I haven't tried them...I messaged the company and requested a sample pair. I don't intend to buy any myself yet...I have two sets of good pads for my 7506...but I'd love to be able to try them out and confidently recommend them to other headfiers....they definitely look nice

Especially the sheepskin ones...mmmmm sheepskin

 

[larry piencenaves]

Hey guys just wanna share a mod ive done with my grado

Throughout the years a lot of people have experimented everything they can think of in improving grado from vent holes, damping, adding blu tac/soborthane, pads change etc..but the major thing i did this mod is bcoz of the comfort issue im having with them, Ive used s/l/g cush pads and still the ear soar persists, thats why i made them to be a legit over ears by putting some pleather pads. like this one.


I believe any pleather pads can work in this mod with the dimension of 100mmx85mmx22mm. ive managed to get them in place by doing a plastic cut-off that copies the pleather pads base like this. i made sure the hole in the plastic is as the same size in the grados but small enough to cause for it to not get fall off.

and then added a foam pad that will create a friction to keep them in place

ive made some final renditions with the plastic cut-off and decorated it with some leatherette, those 2 mini holes ive done will give a better open sound later on. after that time to install the pads


we not done yet tho, any grado with closed pads will sound horrendous, too much boost in low frequencies and recessed mids feels like listening underwater. thats why I need to eq it. if youre not a fan of eq then you might skip this mod.

Its a lot of equing I needed to do in order to sound it like somewhat close to grado, also this eq is not perfect as it differs from person to person and different gears but I think u get it, theres a very huge boost in the 200-600hz range thats needs to be toned down.

Positive notes: the bass very huge improvement, good amount with very good extension and tight it goes really deep very unlikely of grado its more like of your typical closed-back quality bass, the mids seems to get more natural sounding it didnt suffer that much during eq, no more peaks unlike the typical grado also no more sibilance, treble is tamed a bit, not fatiguing anymore. better details and imaging.
And the comfort, which is the main reason ive done this, oh boy i can wear this now for long long time.
The downsides: not as open sounding as before, a bit laid back sounding

and thats it, if you guys have some spare pleather pads and a grado I would like you to try this mod and tell me if im just crazy or what lol, cheers

 

[soulblast]

Say I have HPs with overemphasized bass. I'd like to cut anything from 200Hz down by like 3dB. Would drilling holes to ear pads help, by making the air seal imperfect?

 

[Slater]

Say I have HPs with overemphasized bass. I'd like to cut anything from 200Hz down by like 3dB. Would drilling holes to ear pads help, by making the air seal imperfect?

Every headphone is different. But I would start with the magnet vent. On the driver magnet, check for vent holes. There could be 1, 2, or even 4. Cover them using tape (to seal them off), partially or even completely. You could also try other types of tape, such as micro pore tape.

You can see an example here:




Notice the vent hole on the left is 100% covered by tape, and the vent hole on the right is 50% covered by tape.

Yours may not look exactly like that though. Sometimes they only have 1 large vent hole in the center of the magnet. But the concept is the same.

 

[soulblast]

The HP in question is Logitech G433 headset, the latest addition to my list of devices. The priority on this was a high quality microphone, secondary was sound quality for listening. I bought em blind based on the review and measurements on rtings. The phones are surprisingly balanced bar the bass lift for their price, considering the high quality mic included.

I'll check tomorrow whether they have vents on magnets.

 

[tolis626]

Hello everyone!

I was debating posting here, seeing as I've already documented everything in the MSR7 owner's thread, but I figured that this may apply to more Audio Technica headphones and may also inspire other people to buy the gem that is the MSR7.

A little bit about the headphones first. They were my first pair of >100€ headphones and I bought them blind because they fitted the description of what I needed. A portable, closed back, easy to drive pair of cans with good sound and a removable cable. And, well, I liked their looks. My first impressions, however, were not that great. Harsh treble, a little anaemic bass and somewhat thin sound compared to what I was used to, but they also had some great qualities about them, like the exceptional detail retrieval, the quality of the bass and the larger than expected soundstage. They also weren't the most comfortable thing ever. The pads, while soft, are small and my ears would touch the inside, which quickly got annoying.

With all that said, I got used to them and grew to love them. Maybe burning them in helped, but one can't be sure. So I decided to tinker with them a bit. The first thing I decided to change were the pads, so I bought a pair of HM5 pleathers which made them much, much more comfortable. But, they absolutely decimated the sound. Bass disappeared, the treble became even harsher, they sounded even thinner, so it was a no go. The only upside other than the comfort was that they improved the soundstage a bit without really compromising on the imaging. I tried dampening materials in front of the driver as recommended by another HF member, but with limited success. The treble would calm down and they'd be tolerable, but they still sounded worse than stock. Going back to the stock pads was a no go too after having experienced them with the HM5.

So it was time to grab the screwdriver and see what was inside them. Removing the pads reveals 8 screws. Removing the 4 inner, longer ones lets us access the back of the cup by gently wiggling the whole thing, while also removing the other 4 screws lets the headphone split into 3 pieces : a baffle/driver housing, a middle plate and the back of the cup. In that middle plate, directly behind the driver, there's a hole in the plastic, covered by a felt ring. So I removed that from the back of the thing, put it all back together and... Well, damn. Gone was the bright, anaemic sound with the weak bass and overwhelming, piercing highs. Instead, what I was greeted by was a warm sound with rich, thick bass that doesn't make the sound signature stray much from neutrality, and treble that was as crisp and nice as needed, just shy of what it was stock. Detail and sparkle were still there and all that was with no dampening material in front of the driver. The thing that suffered a bit were the mids that got a little recessed. It wasn't bad, but just a tad worse than stock. Then I decided to upgrade to sheepskin HM5 and I think I've found my endgame for portable closed backs. Not only are they even more comfortable than the pleather ones, but they also brought the mids back up and made the sound more lively and energetic. It's subtle, but well worth the 10€ extra over the pleathers.

Here's the torn down headphones. The felt ring I removed is the white one in the middle.

Here's the MSR7's stock pads:

And here you can see the HM5 pad on the right and the stock one on the left (stacked on top of the HM5).

And lastly, that's how they look with the pleather HM5s. I don't have pictures with the sheepskins, but they are a bit shinier and a bit darker, but otherwise the same.

In the future I want to experiment with dampening the back with cotton or something to reduce reflections and see what it does to the sound. I could really use some input with that though!

Disclaimer : While this mod is easy to do and undo, there's a chance you can damage the very thin wires that connect the drivers to the 3.5mm jack. Not so much on the right side, as seen on the pictures above, but rather on the left side, because then you have to cram the wire in the jack's housing and it can get caught between the walls of the housing and the plate above. Then it gets crushed when screwing the whole thing together and you end up with this:

What this crushed wire does is either give you a scare because the driver won't play at all until you free it, or then become really annoying because its sheath is damaged and the wire within is exposed and it distorts the sound because, I dunno, maybe it changes the impedence or something. Thing is, that's what happened to me during one of my experiments and now I have to get a soldering iron, cut the wire, see if there's enough to just reconnect it or then have to rewire the whole thing and hope it works. And I've never soldered in my life. And all that because of this little person (last bit of the wire seen on the right, before it enters that hole):

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

Hello everyone!

I was debating posting here, seeing as I've already documented everything in the MSR7 owner's thread, but I figured that this may apply to more Audio Technica headphones and may also inspire other people to buy the gem that is the MSR7.

A little bit about the headphones first. They were my first pair of >100€ headphones and I bought them blind because they fitted the description of what I needed. A portable, closed back, easy to drive pair of cans with good sound and a removable cable. And, well, I liked their looks. My first impressions, however, were not that great. Harsh treble, a little anaemic bass and somewhat thin sound compared to what I was used to, but they also had some great qualities about them, like the exceptional detail retrieval, the quality of the bass and the larger than expected soundstage. They also weren't the most comfortable thing ever. The pads, while soft, are small and my ears would touch the inside, which quickly got annoying.

With all that said, I got used to them and grew to love them. Maybe burning them in helped, but one can't be sure. So I decided to tinker with them a bit. The first thing I decided to change were the pads, so I bought a pair of HM5 pleathers which made them much, much more comfortable. But, they absolutely decimated the sound. Bass disappeared, the treble became even harsher, they sounded even thinner, so it was a no go. The only upside other than the comfort was that they improved the soundstage a bit without really compromising on the imaging. I tried dampening materials in front of the driver as recommended by another HF member, but with limited success. The treble would calm down and they'd be tolerable, but they still sounded worse than stock. Going back to the stock pads was a no go too after having experienced them with the HM5.

So it was time to grab the screwdriver and see what was inside them. Removing the pads reveals 8 screws. Removing the 4 inner, longer ones lets us access the back of the cup by gently wiggling the whole thing, while also removing the other 4 screws lets the headphone split into 3 pieces : a baffle/driver housing, a middle plate and the back of the cup. In that middle plate, directly behind the driver, there's a hole in the plastic, covered by a felt ring. So I removed that from the back of the thing, put it all back together and... Well, damn. Gone was the bright, anaemic sound with the weak bass and overwhelming, piercing highs. Instead, what I was greeted by was a warm sound with rich, thick bass that doesn't make the sound signature stray much from neutrality, and treble that was as crisp and nice as needed, just shy of what it was stock. Detail and sparkle were still there and all that was with no dampening material in front of the driver. The thing that suffered a bit were the mids that got a little recessed. It wasn't bad, but just a tad worse than stock. Then I decided to upgrade to sheepskin HM5 and I think I've found my endgame for portable closed backs. Not only are they even more comfortable than the pleather ones, but they also brought the mids back up and made the sound more lively and energetic. It's subtle, but well worth the 10€ extra over the pleathers.

Here's the torn down headphones. The felt ring I removed is the white one in the middle.

Here's the MSR7's stock pads:

And here you can see the HM5 pad on the right and the stock one on the left (stacked on top of the HM5).

And lastly, that's how they look with the pleather HM5s. I don't have pictures with the sheepskins, but they are a bit shinier and a bit darker, but otherwise the same.

In the future I want to experiment with dampening the back with cotton or something to reduce reflections and see what it does to the sound. I could really use some input with that though!

Disclaimer : While this mod is easy to do and undo, there's a chance you can damage the very thin wires that connect the drivers to the 3.5mm jack. Not so much on the right side, as seen on the pictures above, but rather on the left side, because then you have to cram the wire in the jack's housing and it can get caught between the walls of the housing and the plate above. Then it gets crushed when screwing the whole thing together and you end up with this:

What this crushed wire does is either give you a scare because the driver won't play at all until you free it, or then become really annoying because its sheath is damaged and the wire within is exposed and it distorts the sound because, I dunno, maybe it changes the impedence or something. Thing is, that's what happened to me during one of my experiments and now I have to get a soldering iron, cut the wire, see if there's enough to just reconnect it or then have to rewire the whole thing and hope it works. And I've never soldered in my life. And all that because of this little person (last bit of the wire seen on the right, before it enters that hole):

Great post, failures and all!
You can solder. It's an easily learnable skill. I didn't know how to solder either....I bought a cheap soldering iron at Harbor Freight, watched a few youtube videos, took apart a bunch of headphones, checked out all the different ways various companies soldered their headphones together ....then I just jumped in. It's not that hard, you just have to start doing it and figuring it out.

 

[tolis626]

Great post, failures and all!
You can solder. It's an easily learnable skill. I didn't know how to solder either....I bought a cheap soldering iron at Harbor Freight, watched a few youtube videos, took apart a bunch of headphones, checked out all the different ways various companies soldered their headphones together ....then I just jumped in. It's not that hard, you just have to start doing it and figuring it out.

Yeah, that's what I think too. Like anything else, though, it's scary at first. I'm probably going to get a soldering iron in the near future and solder a 3.5mm jack on an old pair of AKG K514 MKII I have. These have been collecting dust in the past few years because, well, they're not great, like, at all. But they will probably serve as a nice platform for me to learn soldering and other stuff. So yeah, that's gonna be the first step. If that's a success and I manage to make the wire on these removable while they still work, I'm gonna go into the MSR7. Until then, I'm just frustrated with the latter because they want to sound SO good, but the left channel is wonky. Some crackles when they're pushed, especially in the bass, and then there's the fact that the left side sounds less full. Can't really explain it better, I can't pinpoint what's wrong, but something is. I hope it's the wire and not a damaged diaphragm, because I did touch it at some point when trying to remove hair from it.

 

[MF Kitten]

Has anyone here tried speaker doping? Basically coating the driver in some way to reduce distortion. I'm very curious about this.

Edit: the Beyerdynamic DT880/990/770 drivers are all doped, and have a matte textured coating that looks like glue or some other goop (though it's totally hard and dry).