HD800 "French Mod" aka "SuperDupont Resonator"

Ug. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the "tube in" version sounds and measures as well as the "tube out."

 

These guys sell weather proofing tapes of different types of foams, some of them look to be about the same density and thickness, particularly the vinyl one. Maybe they could be a substitute? I've seen them at home depot.

 

This is very easy to perform actually the tool to do so is provided when you purchase a set, it was included in mine. Here's a step by step guide I've made in case people are pulling it off with extreme force which is only slightly needed: http://imgur.com/a/iIbyE
@dubiousmike in case you miss it.

Step 1 use the metal side of the removal tool to pierce through the little screen up front from the back (just squash it no problemo)
Step 2 pull the entire thing back, squash it again and you can feel it tear
Step 3 wait it out, within a minute it will be restored to its former glory
Step 4 cut about 30-40% off with a scissor in 1 straight line and it will literally fit perfectly without the front screen pressing against it.
Step 5

It looks MUCH worse than it is and as @sorrodje explained, the material the tip is made off is very interesting, high quality it will just form back to shape if you give it a bit of time.

Hope that helps.

 

Next step, Marv is coming to strike down Sorrodje with another ultimate mod :

Beware, my french pal

Ali

 

@SKiring Nice - thanks so much for the guide! I'm pretty sure I have one of those removal tools in the box for my IE8's. Now I suppose the question is whether this works as well with the earlier iteration of the shure tips. We shall see!

 

@sorrodje Hey, this looks awesome ! i would love to add some musicality to my HD800 by reducing the trebele spike, but I mainly use them for 3D audio and work so soundstage and imaging are really important to me. How much does the mod impacts these characteristics ?

 

One final thing, this is about the perfect size for fitting the tip inside the cylinder, which exactly as @sorrodje said is about 5-6mm: http://i.imgur.com/Sy6SBan.jpg. So for anyone wonder where to cut, that's about the size you want, both slightly bigger and slightly smaller work without any real audible differences in my experience, but this is ideal for fitting.

Anyway, hope that helps anyone wondering since a few people were asking me about it.

 

@sorrodje it does fit but its squished right? And then it seems to press against the screen? At least that's how it went in my experience, this takes care of that. OCD levels of cutting on my end haha.

 

Currently using this in conjunction with the Tyll Anax mod (creatology felt sandwich). I notice a bit of a difference but not sure how much. I think I cut my foams a little short. (3-4mm instead of the 5-6mm) and a little uneven. Not sure if it would benefit from thicker foam. @sorrodje have you taken apart the 800s to see exactly what is going on in there? How thick is the foam on the official version? Looks like there is a piece of felt underneath as well. Anyway, this is awesome! I took apart the driver housing rather then pull the screen back. It was simple actually.

Going to wait for more measurements and then maybe order some more foams to cut it better.

Just thought of an idea: remove the cage in front of the driver, stick an uncut foam in the hole and then slice off the top with a razor blade so it will be perfectly flush.

 

You sure you want a razor blade so close to the driver though?

 

@Airquotes I wouldn't be comfortable with telling anyone to do that and in my experience with cutting the Shure foam tips, going with a single cut with sharp scissors at about 30-40% is the best way to go. Knives, even extreme sharp ones make cutting the material hard without proper pressing and doing that within the headphone might cause some serious issues.
And as @sorrodje suggested, technically after detubing you can literally squish it in there, at worst it will expand and touch the screen in front of the driver, nothing more.
I would highly recommend going for either leaving it whole or cutting it with scissors in 1 clean cut (even if it's not perfectly shaped it's invisible since you wont to push it in front side first) or with a knife cutting the tip off. And considering the basic pack consists of 10 tips, there's a valid reason to have a few badly cut tips than accidentally cutting anything within the earcup.

Just my $0,02.

 

You need the right rugliner Sorrodje. To bring up the mids more.

 

Very interesting @sorrodje, is it the 6khz damping that's better with the tube in? My subjective critical listening directed me towards detubing it due to better airyness and it seemed further dampened.

Could it be that there's a variable in terms of tubing, the one on the old 910Ls seem black, mine are white and thicker.

Nevertheless, I'm entirely happy. Nothing has been getting any listening. Today I will be do a side by side with my fully modded one vs. the HD800S.