Sennheiser HD 800 Redux

[blubliss]

He's the guy who does the SD mod.

[Sorrodje]

7 hours ago, Pars said:

What positive comments?

Positive comments about the Superdupont mod I created.

[wink]

11 hours ago, Pars said:

What positive comments?

Mine for one....    

[EdipisReks1]

On 3/15/2017 at 5:50 PM, Sorrodje said:

Thks for the positive comments guys.. much appreciated  

Do you think there is much benefit in the more complicated version of the mod?  I have cork and felt, so I could certainly make the "resonators."

[Sorrodje]

Compared to the half Shure tip you mean ?  Definitely yes.  

The shure tips behaves imo as any damping material, you tames the peak but you tame the whole treble including Frequencies below 4khz. It's not that much a benefit Imo. With the SDR which acts more as a true resonator, you absorbs specifically 5-6khz but the 4khz remains untouched ( at least on masurements I trust) . It's much more useful imo because i consider the issue is the gap between 4 and 6 khz . Stock gap is around 15db measured on a flat coupler ( it does not mean it accurately represents what we hear IRL but at least it's a reference point)  whereas the gap on the HD800SD is reduced  to 10-12db.

Here are my own measurements :

Yellow is HD800SD, Red HD800 , Green HD800S .  Please take these measurements with a grain of salt , they're very amateurish. 

By the way , the mod does not use cork  

 

[EdipisReks1]

I'll have to give it a shot, when I have time.

[Torpedo]

It looks interesting and makes a lot of sense. I'm rather happy with the Anaxilus mod on mine, but TBH I'm not listening much with headphones, and most of the times I do on commute with IEMs, or with Stax at home.

Sorrodje, have you ever tried the silicon tips of the Klipsch IEMs?

I'm curious if you chose the Shure ones for some favorable difference over the Klipsch or Comply ones.

[wink]

I had the Tyll version of the Anax mod.

I changed to the Super Dupont mod to see what the difference was.

 

Not going back.  These are keepers. 

[Sorrodje]

@torpedo : I tried a bunch of foam tips . not Silicon one.  issue was mostly than results was a bit all over the place. Depending on the cut and the fit , the results could differ quite significantly. that's why I understood it was a kinf of dead end. I began then to experiment a few things that's more in line with the current SDR. When I achieved my goal to have something that looks almost "HD800S like" with the current state of the mod, I stopped to experiment anything else. That's was "enough" for me. 

the SDR works specifically on the 5-6khz range. Other mods induce different "benefits . all worth a try imo although I personaly use only a SDR. I'm fine with the result for what I listen to mostly.  

 

 

 

[Torpedo]

Maybe I've missed what exactly the SDR is. What I read following the link to SABF just mentions the half Shure tips mod, which seems rather easy and safe to perform, but I must recognize I didn't read the whole 31 pages. On a more thorough search I've found Tyll's post describing how the "plug" is constructed. In its current version the plug is more complex and different from what a silicon tip would do. Thanks for your reply.

I've also found an italian guy selling plugs on ebay. I guess this has nothing to do with you, just a smartass fellow taking profit of the idea.

Edited March 19, 2017 by Torpedo

[Sorrodje]

Yea. Someone who takes profit of the idea. I myself propose to make them for anybody who don't want to to do it themselves. 

http://superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/superdupont-resonator-summary-and-interest-check.1558/

Last words for me about this mod. I don't want people think I'm here to promote my business.  

Edited March 19, 2017 by Sorrodje

[Dusty Chalk]

Oh, you are so getting classified as chill.  I wish I was more chill.

[EdipisReks1]

41 minutes ago, Dusty Chalk said:

Oh, you are so getting classified as chill.  I wish I was more chill.

were.

[Pars]

On 3/15/2017 at 6:08 PM, blubliss said:

He's the guy who does the SD mod.

Ahhh, makes sense now. Carry on

[Torpedo]

I think you've been behaving more chilly than shilly.

[Sorrodje]

Oops. Sorry . French bad english spotted 

[guzziguy]

I wouldn't say that it was bad, just different.

[Dusty Chalk]

Exactly.  Please don't feel bad, I feel your inadvertent misspelling actually describes you more accurately.  Cheers.

[EdipisReks1]

I bought a pair of "resonators" from the seller in Italy (was thinking about making a set, but my friend with the die set doesn't have metric, only imperial, and nothing is quite right).  I had a onetime eBay coupon, so it came out to about $17 shipped.  Seems reasonable.  I'll respond back with a comparison to the olive foamie mod, once I get them.

[grawk]

A single good die or a harbor freight set are both available for under $20

[EdipisReks1]

$20 is more than $17 shipped, and I would never use them again.  I have enough single use harbor freight tools, as it is, and I would need TWO good dies, if I went that way.

Edited March 27, 2017 by EdipisReks1

[Torpedo]

I got the SDR from Sorrodje, just a bit more expensive than the Ebay's, that arrived yesterday. My HD800 had my personal (read as in "what I have around") felt-foam-adhesive mod, which had been in place for about 5 years, since Tyll published the video on Youtube. It controlled pretty well the harshness in the treble, which I didn't find annoying but with some recordings, although at the price of some bass quality, not as much the depth as its "texture" and slam. I happen to be more sensitive to peaks at 7-8KHz than at 5-6, so I didn't have much trouble listening to the HD800 on stock form. I wasn't as much aware of the issues in the bass with the former mod until I performed some (not blind) listening tests yesterday comparing my mod to the stock and the SDR. Definitely the SDR is well worth a try by anyone wanting to tame a bit the HD800's treble without much sacrifice of anything else. TBH they sound more interesting now, not sure if for being less fatiguing or just righter, getting less in the way of the music.

BTW the damn HD800 earpads are delivering a lot of black powder reminiscing of the one the Grado pads dust when self-destroying. Still not changing them at 78€/pair

[EdipisReks1]

What you are describing is very reminiscent of the olive foamy mod, but *more,* if that makes sense.  I'm looking forward to getting my pair.

[ironbut]

Sounds like your earpads are doing a similar thing to mine (mine are a little tacky too but shedding black). 

Out of curiosity, do you keep your 800's where they're exposed to sunlight. I'm not talking about direct sunlight. 

Reason I ask is mine are shedding only on the back and I keep mine laying on their fronts.

UV making the material shed?

Also, mine are pretty early manufacture (sn# 06459).

[Torpedo]

9 hours ago, EdipisReks1 said:

What you are describing is very reminiscent of the olive foamy mod, but *more,* if that makes sense.  I'm looking forward to getting my pair.

I didn't try the olive foam mod, but being that the first approach to a DIY resonator, it's rather likely that the SDR takes it a step further.

6 hours ago, ironbut said:

Sounds like your earpads are doing a similar thing to mine (mine are a little tacky too but shedding black). 

Out of curiosity, do you keep your 800's where they're exposed to sunlight. I'm not talking about direct sunlight. 

Reason I ask is mine are shedding only on the back and I keep mine laying on their fronts.

UV making the material shed?

Also, mine are pretty early manufacture (sn# 06459).

I'm not keeping them all the time into their box, but the places where I hang or drop them aren't much exposed to daylight, not in the dark either, but far from brightly illuminated, so forget about direct sunlight. They started to feel tacky like one year ago, perhaps a bit more, but the shedding is a new development. Not bad for six or seven years old earpads, I was an early HD800 adopter. The headpad is a bit sticky, but not shedding yet.