[mochill]

Any effect on soundstage with that mod??

 

[Totoori]

This kinda reminds me of the Pistons dilemma. There were all these trustworthy headfi'ers telling others just where to go to get authentic Pistons, and people STILL ended up going the eBay route to try and save a couple bucks. They ended up getting fakes. $50 is a good price for a working pair of Tenore. Heck, even $60.00 would be a fair price. I paid $54.00 through white rabbit express with all the charges, shipping ect. That's about what I paid for my Tenore through eBay. WRE has been providing quality Tenore to quite a few here, including myself, so just go with WRE. Why risk it for a few bucks? Not worth it to me.

Thanks!
 
Well said, but how much is a 'few bucks'. I mean, I hate when people don't tell you shipping cost- that's why I didn't order. Plus, are there duties too?

 

[Idsynchrono_24]

You're talkin to our old friend IEMagnet lol. Dude's banned.

 

[james444]

What about a piece of comply or shure foam? Looks like youtried them

Have you tried filling the whole space with them?

 
I tried foam from shure olives, but didn't have any complys at hand. It's cumbersome to work in such a small space and I was in constant fear of damaging a cable. With higher density material, you can't quite fill the whole space, as you need to leave some room for the cables.
 

I think sealing and poking a needle hole will be best

 
I agree, but haven't found a way to reliably tape the vent. The solder points are right next to it and the flat part of the back plate is extremely small.
 
I believe that small piece of styrofoam lets some air escape, because of the uneven surface around the vent. I'll wait a few days and see if the sound signature remains stable, before closing them up for good.
 
Quite surprisingly, low end extension is still excellent, even though a major part of the back cavity is now filled with foam.

 

[SilverEars]

So it's not the sizing of the back area that is affecting the bass, but the the flow of air.  I don't get why they decided to use foam over the back instead of creating a tinier vent?  
 
It's unexpected based on what I saw of this from Rin's blog.  

 
But, I think the above is without a pin hole in the casing, the back is proabably closed.  The Tenores have the pin hole in the housing to let air in.  
 
I understand why they would need the back space there as you need it to stick out because it's inserted deep in the canal and the wire needs to be moved back because of this.  As long as you restrict the the air through the vent enough, and have a pinhole, you probably don't need that area in the back in terms of sonic affects.

 

[luisdent]

What about a piece of comply or shure foam? Looks like youtried them

Have you tried filling the whole space with them?

I tried foam from shure olives, but didn't have any complys at hand. It's cumbersome to work in such a small space and I was in constant fear of damaging a cable. With higher density material, you can't quite fill the whole space, as you need to leave some room for the cables.

I think sealing and poking a needle hole will be best

I agree, but haven't found a way to reliably tape the vent. The solder points are right next to it and the flat part of the back plate is extremely small.

I believe that small piece of styrofoam lets some air escape, because of the uneven surface around the vent. I'll wait a few days and see if the sound signature remains stable, before closing them up for good.

Quite surprisingly, low end extension is still excellent, even though a major part of the back cavity is now filled with foam.

What about stuffing cotton in to fill the entire area? It would fill more but allow some air perhaps? While shaping around the cable.

Maybe pull apart a few cotton swabs?

 

[james444]

What about stuffing cotton in to fill the entire area? It would fill more but allow some air perhaps? While shaping around the cable.

Maybe pull apart a few cotton swabs?

Maybe, but I agree with Inks and SilverEars that restricting the airflow through the vent seems to be the most important part. Also, no harm in leaving some room for further improvement to more experienced DIYers like you.

That said, would be interesting to see Rin have a go at these...

 

[SkiesOfAzel]

Sealing it and adding a small hole to the seal would allow for better control of the bass loudness but all this foam should negate distortion and reflections that can be caused by the Tenore's back vented driver design.

 

[MuZo2]

   Tenore's back vented driver design.

I think all DD are back vented.

 

[SkiesOfAzel]

  I think all DD are back vented.

 
I was talking about the hole in the driver itself, not the vent on the shell. I've opened up a lot of headphones and this is the first time i see such a design. This strengthens the possibility that the driver used in the Tenores is an off the self component that was cleverly tuned to sound as neutral as it does. I can't help but think that a Tenore with a purpose built driver would be a marvel for the fans of that signature.

 

[MuZo2]

picture is worth a thousand words

 

[SkiesOfAzel]

 
picture is worth a thousand words

 
You are right of course, i should have phrased that better. I've never seen a piece of foam attenuating the back vent (although in one of your pics i see something similar) and the vent itself is unusually large. Here is a pic of the MH1 driver for comparison:
 

 

[luisdent]

What about stuffing cotton in to fill the entire area? It would fill more but allow some air perhaps? While shaping around the cable.

Maybe pull apart a few cotton swabs?

Maybe, but I agree with Inks and SilverEars that restricting the airflow through the vent seems to be the most important part. Also, no harm in leaving some room for further improvement to more experienced DIYers like you.

That said, would be interesting to see Rin have a go at these...

Me? Hardly experienced. :- P

What about non-hardening putty? Just fill the vent like a cap, but not into it.

 

[luisdent]

So I've been listening to the tenore today vs. the kc06. It's interesting. I definitely have been hearing what some people described in the past about soft treble or not dynamic or lifelike. Only relatively speaking that is, as the tenore is superb in any configuration. But I had been using the stock tips for a while now because they have been fitting really well. However, they fit well in a medium/shallow depth. I switched back to the smallish mh1 tips that are narrow or long proportion-wise. These allow me to wear them a bit more shallow with a full seal. I always thought the mh1 tips made things bassier, but that's because they always fit so nicely that I pushed them in to a medium depth or so. Needless to say, the mh1 tips are now my favorite bar none. The slightly more shallow fit not only slightly lowers the bass to how I used to remember it, but it makes the treble sound almost perfectly linear.
 
I now compare them directly to the kc06 and the treble doesn't sound very soft in comparison like the stock tips were for me. In fact, it's fairly comparable to the kc06 in depth and distinction, but it's more linear overall from bass to treble. Wow. I remember hyping the hell out of these because they were er4s linearity with a bit more sub bass (which to me is perfect). But as time went on I swore my set got bassier. But I think my tenore tips must have been softening and i was pushing them in deeper over time? Not sure. They lately don't fit perfectly shallow for me and required too much messing around to get the best sound without pushing them in a little further. The mh1 fits very nicely more shallow without this hassle. Super awesome! I still love the kc06, but I was only really digging them because they were offering me more dynamic sounding clarity. The tenores now are comparable in that regard!
 
The moral of the story is that tips are crucial. Even comparing them side by side I never really noticed a "huge" difference. But now that I've been exclusively using the stock tips I had become very familiar with the overall tone. And even though a direct comparison still isn't drastic, as I listen to a song overall it becomes quickly apparent how open and more distinct treble details are. So I think one key of the tenore is definitely good tip fit/seal and probably as shallow as is reasonably possible if you have similar ears to mine. I could see how different ear lengths could make these simply never sound the same across users. I'l try to eq eq to demonstrate the tip changes to my ears later if I have a chance...

 

[SkiesOfAzel]

  So I've been listening to the tenore today vs. the kc06. It's interesting. I definitely have been hearing what some people described in the past about soft treble or not dynamic or lifelike. Only relatively speaking that is, as the tenore is superb in any configuration. But I had been using the stock tips for a while now because they have been fitting really well. However, they fit well in a medium/shallow depth. I switched back to the smallish mh1 tips that are narrow or long proportion-wise. These allow me to wear them a bit more shallow with a full seal. I always thought the mh1 tips made things bassier, but that's because they always fit so nicely that I pushed them in to a medium depth or so. Needless to say, the mh1 tips are now my favorite bar none. The slightly more shallow fit not only slightly lowers the bass to how I used to remember it, but it makes the treble sound almost perfectly linear.
 
I now compare them directly to the kc06 and the treble doesn't sound very soft in comparison like the stock tips were for me. In fact, it's fairly comparable to the kc06 in depth and distinction, but it's more linear overall from bass to treble. Wow. I remember hyping the hell out of these because they were er4s linearity with a bit more sub bass (which to me is perfect). But as time went on I swore my set got bassier. But I think my tenore tips must have been softening and i was pushing them in deeper over time? Not sure. They lately don't fit perfectly shallow for me and required too much messing around to get the best sound without pushing them in a little further. The mh1 fits very nicely shallower without this hassle. Super awesome! I still love the kc06, but I was only really digging them because they were offering me more dynamic sounding clarity. The tenores now are comparable in that regard!
 
The moral of the story is that tips are crucial. Even comparing them side by side I never really noticed a "huge" difference. But now that I've been exclusively using the stock tips I had become very familiar with the overall tone. And even though a direct comparison still isn't drastic, as I listen to a song overall it becomes quickly apparent how open and more distinct treble details are. So I think one key of the tenore is definitely good tip fit/seal and probably as shallow as is reasonably possible if you have similar ears to mine. I could see how different ear lengths could make these simply never sound the same across users. I'l try to eq eq to demonstrate the tip changes to my ears later if I have a chance...

 
The Tenore treble sounds better to my ears no matter the tips, the KC06 is well extended but it has peaks that affect the tonality. Where the KC06 trounces the Tenore is in speed, attack transients are a sore point with the Tenores and a highlight with the KC06. The difference is really noticeable in the low end, especially with percussion instruments. It's what makes the KC06 sound more dynamic and impactfull compared to the laid back Tenore.