[jageur272]

Okay, so, I've decided to mod these myself. The pads are glued to the cups in this strange configuration. In otherwords, the pads and the driver assembly form the entire top of the cup. The wooden cup is entirely separated. The drivers are glued to pressed wood around which the pads are glued which is then glued onto the cups. Since pictures speak a thousand words, I'll upload some pictures in a second.

EDIT:
Sorry for the quality. If you look carefully, you can see my Alessandros plugged in .

 

[Katun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jageur272 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hammacher isn't unknown, they're actually quite well known. Just not as a headphone company .

Yes, of course. 'Headphone' company is what I meant, since we are on a 'headphone' site.

The reason I say I wouldn't spend $30 is because that means $30 more I don't have to save up on a better phone.

 

[Simple Echo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jageur272 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Okay, so, I've decided to mod these myself. The pads are glued to the cups in this strange configuration. In otherwords, the pads and the driver assembly form the entire top of the cup. The wooden cup is entirely separated. The drivers are glued to pressed wood around which the pads are glued which is then glued onto the cups. Since pictures speak a thousand words, I'll upload some pictures in a second. EDIT: Sorry for the quality. If you look carefully, you can see my Alessandros plugged in .

It looks like you could run some PVC around the Grado, and then drill a hole in the cup if one wanted to maintain more of the Grado sound?

 

[jageur272]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simple Echo /img/forum/go_quote.gif It looks like you could run some PVC around the Grado, and then drill a hole in the cup if one wanted to maintain more of the Grado sound?

Hehe, I don't plan on Driver transplanting. If I do, it'll be with an SFI tweeter. What I'm gonna do this weekend is:

Dynamat cup and driver
Stuff the cups with felt
Drill 4x holes in the cups

As soon as I get some starquad, I'll be recabling these.

 

[Simple Echo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jageur272 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hehe, I don't plan on Driver transplanting. If I do, it'll be with an SFI tweeter. What I'm gonna do this weekend is: Dynamat cup and driver Stuff the cups with felt Drill 4x holes in the cups As soon as I get some starquad, I'll be recabling these.

I've been up for too long and misread your post. Thought you were saying you already put the drivers in the zebra wood. Sounded like a not so great idea to me.

Keep up the modding though, hope you can find the perfect combination.

 

[jageur272]

So I've disassembled everything except for detaching the driver from the pad assembly. Here's what everything looks like (except for the 4 screws I took out of the headband assembly):

I then dynamatted the cups as follows:

Simple business. I also put dynamat around the driver onto the wood of the pad assembly, dynamatted the back of the drivers, and drilled holes into the cups. I was planning on recabling them, but I don't have any materials on hand and I also don't have access to my soldering iron. I'll get the final results up in about 2 weeks.

 

[Emooze]

Pity they used glue, those enclosures look decent.

 

[ericj]

My briefest impressions: congested, sibilant.

 

[jageur272]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif My briefest impressions: congested, sibilant.

Congested is exactly how I'd describe them. I didn't pick up any sibilance, but I also have a relatively high tolerance for sibilance.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Mine have smoothed out a bit after 75 hours of break-in, and I think they are definitely worth the $60 sale price or maybe even $100. I am not sure if I would have been happy to pay the $199 original price. Probably not, as the HD25-1 II have a better frequency response for $99 if you find a good deal on them. Like the HD25-1 or Ultrasone HFI-780, they have a 1/8" plug with a 1/4" adapter that screws onto threads built into the 1/8" plug.

There is a little bit of that "closed" lower mids echoey coloration. Detail is not bad, and guitars seem sharp enough and not blurred. Bass is not lacking or overdone, and not muddy, but it's not as powerful as the Denons. Mids are a little forward and not recessed. There is no sibilance like the HFI-780, but the HFI-780 was a more exciting or fun phone. Soundstage is not much better than my HD25-1 despite being circumaural, because the inside of the ear cups is so small that my ears barely fit inside and the drivers are still very close to my ears. After 20 minutes my ears already feel hot.

So far I have only tried them out of the mini-DAC headphone out (CD5001 transport) and my iBasso D10 out of the Macbook Pro during burn-in. The sound signature pairs up better with my Apogee than the D10 which makes them sound a little darker (but the D10 is tuned to sound best with my custom IEMs).

I'll report back later if I can.

[EDIT - want to add, they were congested and muddy out of the box, with a little edge/roughness in the highs - I put them in the box and ran music through them for the past 3.5 days straight before posting initial impressions]

 

[jageur272]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif Mine have smoothed out a bit after 75 hours of break-in, and I think they are definitely worth the $60 sale price or maybe even $100. I am not sure if I would have been happy to pay the $199 original price. Probably not, as the HD25-1 II have a better frequency response for $99 if you find a good deal on them. Like the HD25-1 or Ultrasone HFI-780, they have a 1/8" plug with a 1/4" adapter that screws onto threads built into the 1/8" plug. There is a little bit of that "closed" lower mids echoey coloration. Detail is not bad, and guitars seem sharp enough and not blurred. Bass is not lacking or overdone, and not muddy, but it's not as powerful as the Denons. Mids are a little forward and not recessed. There is no sibilance like the HFI-780, but the HFI-780 was a more exciting or fun phone. Soundstage is not much better than my HD25-1 despite being circumaural, because the inside of the ear cups is so small that my ears barely fit inside and the drivers are still very close to my ears. After 20 minutes my ears already feel hot. So far I have only tried them out of the mini-DAC headphone out (CD5001 transport) and my iBasso D10 out of the Macbook Pro during burn-in. The sound signature pairs up better with my Apogee than the D10 which makes them sound a little darker (but the D10 is tuned to sound best with my custom IEMs). I'll report back later if I can. [EDIT - want to add, they were congested and muddy out of the box, with a little edge/roughness in the highs - I put them in the box and ran music through them for the past 3.5 days straight before posting initial impressions]

I can't say the same about mine. Mine had ~55 hours of burn in and ~20 hours of head time. During that time, the sound remained congested and the mids remained a little recessed. The easiest way to describe the difference could be differences in the cups (being wood and all), or possibly highly variant QC. Bass sounded sloppy and the mids weren't anything special. Detail was decent, highs were okay. The strong points about the headphones was it's solid build quality and the comfort (my ears did fine). Soundstage was average, if not a little compressed.

I realize I haven't clarified; I'm ran mine out of a HotAudio DAC to my CKKIII. The resulting sound tends to be a little warm, which may not have suited these headphones.

 

[boomy3555]

I've gotten carried away with the Dynamat before so you may want to try removing the center portions of the Dynamat ( this is where an open area drilled in the cups may be of benefit)( a hole saw the size of a small cabinet vent from the woodworkers supply), leaving the edges modded. also if you have not done it so far do not add the fiberfil unless you transplant in the SFI's. I feel the stock dynamic drivers may not benefit from the extra absoption.

 

[bjarnetv]

also, wouldnt it be a good idea to peel away the "tin foil" from the dynamat? it looks quite reflective.

 

[boomy3555]

The tin foil on the Dynamat is part and parcel for it's function. The Original Dynamat does not have it but the "Dynamat Xtreme" Does. I have done all of my modds with the original dynamat but most hear at Head-Fi use the "Xtreme".

 

[bjarnetv]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomy3555 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The tin foil on the Dynamat is part and parcel for it's function. The Original Dynamat does not have it but the "Dynamat Xtreme" Does. I have done all of my modds with the original dynamat but most hear at Head-Fi use the "Xtreme".

still doesnt seem like a good idea to me.
i think part of the reason why regular dynamat works, is that the surface absorbs some of the soundwaves instead of just sending them back at the driver. with the tin foil in place, it´s still reflective, and the only thing the dynamat does, is adding mass and removing any resonance from the cups.

i'm no expert though, so i might be wrong