Measurement Setups - Post Your Rig!

@E_Schaaf Enlightening, thank you. Do Foster require you to provide some proof of purchase from authorized seller as well? What do they cost the drivers? Sounds like it’d be less of a headache to just start with a complete TH900. I think

Tore down HR5C. Accidentally destroyed a driver when a screw fell into and held tight by magnet. Noob.

Pics here. HR5C definitely inspired by Sennheiser. Cups dont work out though. The notches and crevices don’t align. I could dremel, but I think I’m just going to try adhering with tape and sealing up. This would make interior volume larger (see pics). Then try alternate pads, and adding mass and reflection absorption, etc. I bought a materials sample kit from second skin audio including sealent.

 

No proof of purchase (they'll sell replacement drivers to secondhand, thirdhand pairs), just a picture of your TH900 with the serial number showing. Hard to get around that one unless you have some great photoshop skills and can make another TH's cups look red and shiny enough to 'pass' as a TH900. Or buy some TH900 cups and slam em on another headphone haha. Thought about trying this myself. The drivers are about $250 per pair if you can get through the questioning. The wait is the hardest part, because they're never clear about the timeline, or they'll give you a timeline that's blatantly guesswork and keep pushing it back as you get closer.

Yes, it's fastest and easiest to start with a stock TH900. If you wanted my mods, I do offer a discount if you'll let me use your TH900 serial number to order another pair of drivers for a future build.

 

This is first mod. Cups held with tape. Pads are HR5C pleathers.

First impressions: Putting on I can feel the pressure vacuum which I guess means these are pretty sealed. I used the HR5C pleather pads for more sealed and isolation effect. Little fatiguing (pressure or?). Bass while losing extension sounds more present and tighter. My 6XX have driver vent filter removed, so the bass was a bit loose pre-closed. I removed driver vent filter originally because the 6XX was too sleepy for me. With cups I don't feel bored but bass is rolled off. Also, little dark, or maybe I'm used to bright D5200. I found 6XXm a tad fatiguing too so maybe not just pressure. Midbass tad much.

To use the HR5C pads I needed to use the 6XX earpad adapters. Now I am having difficult putting the 6XX original earpads back on to the adapters. I can't figure out how to get it on. Frustrating. Now I am done modding for today.

The L/R imbalance is inherent to my EARS and I've not put in enough effort to correct with compensation, but also imbalance from 6XX hackjob mod. The HR5C pads fit adapter loosely, and my slamming cups together with tape is probably not exactly symmetrical. The cups don't rest flat against 6XX capsules so they can lean a bit one way or another. I can fix this.

Do these suck? Not sure yet. I wasn't using the 6XX pre-mods either.



Edit: Now I have headache from I think the pressure? I’m going to try the HR5C velours next, then 6XX pads, then mod cup.

 

Aftermarket Sennheiser pads. I forgot I had these... They look stock but might be softer. These might be great pads... I'll compare side by side later with link.

I did not listen to these.:




I'm going to try semi-closed on cup side next. In other words, more bad graphs to come.

 

Senn knock-offs and semi-closed, and no grill. Going to try sealing baffle next.

I like the mild isolation provided by cups. No more air pressure due to semi-closed. Sounds off as seen in graphs.

 

Grado RS2e with Beautiful Audio hybrid pads. They sound lite-bright. According to them hybrids are their most neutral pads. The full merinos add the most warmth. That would be interesting to try. The BA pads allow a comfy circumaural fit. These do come with two different density foams for two different sounds, coming up next...




P.S. I still have a headache from my Sennheiser mods yesterday. Taking ibuprofen and coffee now. Pray for me.

 

These other foam inserts are less porous. Better overall but still lacking. I am surprised how these are not exceptional in any way compared to stock Hemp, and the rod blocks are squeaky. I have TTVJ deluxe pads coming but they are backed up in usps currently. The BA pads are still an upgrade over L-pads in sound and comfort. FYI I did not pay extra for these pads - they came with my used RS2e.



Edit: too soon
Edit2: BA pads do have sounstage advantage. And I did find Hemps fatiguing (bass) over extended listening. I was hoping RS2e cleaner bass would help... The Hemp’s bass didnt bother me too much until I heard the Denon in comparison with its better bass with no fatigue.

 

Tried some damping to create a less permeable layer between front and rear of baffle using a combo of jute and melamine. (fake senn pads)("cups" means 6XX grills NOT HR5C cups, sorry for the confusing naming). Mainly lowered 2-5kHz. I like the sound but not sure if I can recall the difference. I haven't used 6XX much... Reminds me of Hemp. A tiny bit of piercing sound, there are non-permeable layers on back of jute and melamine, foil and adhesive tape respectively. The foil is easy to remove, the tape on melamine would need to be cut carefully.

 

Removed the non-permeable bits. The lite ear drum piercing is gone. Alike Hemp in tad much warmth. Duller, and the 10kHz peak in Grado vs approx 14kHz in 6XX romania.

 

Less fatiguing which I think may have been due to that 3-4kHz bump and some bass bloat. Highs are less and still uneven - a sidegrade, midbass reduced to probably stock levels. While effectively a downward slope was applied, 14kHz withstood... Overall, I cant say I am satisfied but the fatigue is gone. I hadnt used 6XX in awhile previous to mod so its difficult to compare. I didnt like 6XX that much stock or KiSSed... probably because its Romanian. FYI currently using aftermarket pads (unsure how I feel about these), and HD580 headband which has a much lighter clamp. I have the new genuine pads around still waiting to be fixed. I tried this mod with closed cup but didnt bother measuring. Also tried it with the pleather pads which also sounded bad and closed-in.

 

Fresh listen this morning and the stuffing sounds much too dark. Last night I had family in room with me and even though they were mostly just watching stuff quietly on their ipads, I think the extra isolation and warmth from the stuffing was helpful.

Anyways, here is a comparison of fake pads vs new genuines. Bass is reduced slightly, treble reduced for better or worse not sure. Fatigue-free-ness is a contribution of the fake pads. Too much midbass I suppose.

Going to break from 6XXmods, sorry. E-MU Teaks coming today.

 

Samsung Galaxy Buds Live
rtings review

A unique headphone because it's wireless, an earbud, and has ANC. I got it based on rtings review which seemed to show these as having more bass than Airpods. Without ANC, these seem to isolate about as well as D5200 or E-MU teak. I've not tried ANC function because I really don't need it. FYI - I don't like to use IEMs unless necessary which is not often.

I also got them based on rtings reviews of Samsung's other headphones like the Galaxy Buds+. They look fantastic.

These are unique fitting. They don't hook into ear like a normal earbud. These look like hearing aids. I picked them up in black for $90 refurbished shipped from Best Buy.

So far they sound pretty decent and adequate, like a cheap wired earbud without too effed up frequency response. They have an app for your phone with some preset equalizer settings. I am using them on "soft" which I think reduces highs.

When I took EARS measurements I could only get left earbud to fit and it was not easy. EARS ears are too small and not symmetrical. There is not an app for macbook, so I don't think any custom eq settings were used. I switched it to "normal" during last use with phone in case it can remember. Next, tried another measurements but switched back to phone first to try setting app's EQ to "clear" to see if it would record a difference. I don't know if it did. Getting a fit with EARS is difficult.



edit: Forgot to say that these sound more closed-in than typical earbud since these do not use foams. No foam and enclosure shape allows for a seal which means BASS. This is a iem/earbud hybrid. I think it needs more attention. I should create a thread.

Okay, better than typical earbud.

 

Yamaha YHD3. These were NOS. The foam in the pads have disintegrated and probably same for any stock internal damping foams.

Stock sounds mid-centric and peaky, sense magic but needs distance because fatiguing.
First pad swap: Geekria Grado style s-pad with hole. Sounds detailed and rich. Lifelike vocals, clear bass. Negative tilt frequency response and overall smoothness has me turning up louder than normal like I experienced with KOSS 95X but the difference is that bass is satisfying with the ortho. I tried eq with KOSS 95X but it only got louder - it was still missing impact, BUT would like to try again but instead with some mods and alternate pads. Overall tone they are not dissimilar, but 95X has big open transducers so you get those soundstage perks. Much prefer YHD3 because better bass, smaller footprint (no energizer required), and cheaper.

I've been using high-gain for the first time with Vali2 because these phones are insensitive.

These are about similar in size to a Koss KPH30i (little bigger than Porta Pro). Comfy and light.

I would recommend buying these if you're going to pad swap. These improved a lot with the first pad I tried so probably more potential available. I am new to vintage ortho, but YHD models don't appear that common from what what I've seen. There is 1 unit left on ebay from same seller. That one is not open-box, so a little more pricey.

I would not recommend these if you want to go full-mod because YHD3 cups are unusually difficult to open up. They are finicky, fragile, and glued together. For this reason I am going to try buying a second Yamaha model for fuller mods. I was recommended YH2 by @dBel84 .

 

I bet you can get better bass extension with velour donuts.

 

On it. Ordering an assortment of cheap pads. Add measurements later.

 

If they behave anything like the olden Fostex (T10, etc), this store sells a bunch of multi-size pads that performed decently, I tested round velour, round super plush pleather, and round lambskin pads, 70mm diameter.

 

HD414 pads no bueno.


Edit: realized not a fair comparison between HD414 and the Geekrias. What happened was in between pad rolls I decided to removed the stock cloth covers over drivers. The cloth covers were actually part of original pads but since the foam inside had disintegrated, it was just like a flat piece of cloth. Anyways, I found that the cloth piece was held in place with maybe some clear sticky-tape or something. So removing the cloth/adhesive caused some little baffle "holes" to be revealed. This means the baffle was much leakier this measurement round. I'll redo Geekria measures.

 

Because I was being lazy, I did not carefully place a small foam over driver vent. Instead put in a full layer of foam shaped like grill into the cups (between grill and driver). It was easy because it was precut. It was foam I took from some other Sennheiser pads that happen to be the right shape.


Even though the midbass looks worse, it sounds cleaner, but less impact. And the overall smoother downward slope sounds preferable. Treble sounds more present (in a good way) probably because more even with upper mids.

 

Redid the Geekria pad measurements but now with stock covers off.

Just finished listening to 6XXm before these, and the Yamaha's sound less meaty, brighter but less texture, less refined. Needs more warmth. Plan to fill baffle opening with some felt wool, then seal up with damplifier pro, then pad roll. YHD3 doesn't have a lip for pad install, so might have to use double sided sticky tape for some pads.