Markl Mods

[luvdunhill]

how do you get from SQUARE to SINE as a typo??

genetic algorithms?

[Fing]

If any of you bastards are using my special bubble-wrap Qualia fit-enhancement mod, you owe me $350.

Now this is actually an awesome mod Mike

<Enter The Dragon>

"... unorthodox"

"But effective."

</Enter The Dragon>

[jinp6301]

genetic algorithms?

AHH GAs!!! I spent 2 all nighters doing programming for that shit

[purk]

I actually curious about his modifications actually. I just talked to Nikongod and he seem to really like his MarkL mod D5000. His setup is pretty similar to mine in exception to the source. I believe he is using an op-amp modded Eastsound while I'm using kern/modwright modded Sony SCD-777ES.

[postjack]

as sketchy as markl is, I'd be interested to hear a pre and post mod D5000. canjam maybe?

[Dusty Chalk]

My theory -- he is seriously going into the snake oil business. Best way is to dive in the deep end, no?

He probably sold his R10's because he was having money troubles. It's hard to ignore that 200% return, is it not?

[Augsburger]

He just recently purchased a Marantz 7S1 and sent it to Doug Jessie formely of Reference Audio Mods for mods FWIW.

[boomana]

as sketchy as markl is, I'd be interested to hear a pre and post mod D5000. canjam maybe?

I'll admit I'm curious as well. Maybe Ari will bring his to CanJam. If it ends up being good, good; if not, oh well. I liked the D5000s, but just didn't think they were as special as folks were claiming, and certainly not worth their pricetag when compared to other headphones. I'd like to hear improvements, but the difficulty I'm having is the R10 claim. If it were just about cleaning up the flaws (mostly thinking about the loose bass) and improving an already good headphone, that's quite interesting to me, but the better than R10s bit just seems to be pushing claims too far and setting up what might be wonderful mods for a full knock-down bashing.

[purk]

Hi Purk

Sorry I took so long getting back to you.

To get a little more specffic: I think the bass on the R10 goes a hair deeper than the D5000 (i have mikes old set) and the upper midrange is a hair smoother. the moded D5000 has a hint of glare/harshness/sibalance with whispy/high female vocals. the R10 does not. this is from the same amp. (my supra, kenrad vt-231 input, some generic 6bl7 output on high voltage)

Despite this glaring flaw, I would say the differences are in the last 5% type. The 2 headphones share very solid virtues of soundstage, and the D5000 bass is still quite satisfying. the textures from both are very close.

If price is taken into account they are amazing for how close they get for 1/10 of the price. I think the flaws are easy enough to cure, tuning the tubes/amp for the D5000 would probably get them very competitive with the R10. i am also willing to bet that getting the amount of stuffing EXACTLY right is KEY to their performance. the difference from stuffing the cups was HUGE.

cheers

Ari

Nikongod

I hope he doesn't mind me sharing this with you guys. Basically, the D5000 improved quite a bit, of course, not to the R10 level. Again, this might also just be as the case of source. The R10 is very very critical on front end and won't sound its best until your source is there. Although, his Eastsound E5 w/ op-amps modded gotta sound good, but I don't expect it to be in same class as my Exemplar Denon let alone my Modded SCD-777ES. Also this could be the case of input tube. I'm using GE12AY7 and Tungsol 2C51 as input tubes when driving my R10. My R10 sounds a lot more dymamics and airy with the GE12AY7 as the input tube.

[purk]

I hope he doesn't mind me sharing this with you guys. Basically, the D5000 improved quite a bit, of course, not to the R10 level. Again, this might also just be as the case of source. The R10 is very very critical on front end and won't sound its best until your source is there. Although, his Eastsound E5 w/ op-amps modded gotta sound good, but I don't expect it to be in same class as my Exemplar Denon let alone my Modded SCD-777ES. Also this could be the case of input tube. I'm using GE12AY7 and Tungsol 2C51 as input tubes when driving my R10. My R10 sounds a lot more dymamics and airy with the GE12AY7 than the Kenrad VT231 or Turnsol 6SN7 roundplate as the input tube .

[deepak]

I'll admit I'm curious as well. Maybe Ari will bring his to CanJam. If it ends up being good, good; if not, oh well. I liked the D5000s, but just didn't think they were as special as folks were claiming, and certainly not worth their pricetag when compared to other headphones. I'd like to hear improvements, but the difficulty I'm having is the R10 claim. If it were just about cleaning up the flaws (mostly thinking about the loose bass) and improving an already good headphone, that's quite interesting to me, but the better than R10s bit just seems to be pushing claims too far and setting up what might be wonderful mods for a full knock-down bashing.

But keep in mind markl mostly listens to rock at high volumes which might be another factor why he preferred his modded D5000. Both times I heard different R10s I preferred them at very low volume opposed to turning them up.

[boomana]

Weren't markl's headphones recabled as well? What about Ari's? What diff cable + mods vs. mods with stock cable?

[purk]

Weren't markl's headphones recabled as well? What about Ari's? What diff cable + mods vs. mods with stock cable?

Guess we will never know until we see one in person. I believe MarkL use the moon-audio as an upgrade cable.

[Guest username]

Why does no one like markl's mods? Do you think they are snake oil?

I have preformed them myself (to the d2000), and they do wonders to taming the bass, bringing out the mids and increasing the soundstage.

The biggest improvement from the mods came from the cotton in the back of the driver, and stuffing the earpads. I don't think the Dynamat did much as the d2000 already has dampening to the cups. (I preformed the mods in increments, so it would be easy to hear what was going on).

[PFKMan23]

I don't think anyone is criticizing the mod persay. We're more critcal of the fact that he used to perform them for free and now that he's realized how profitable that it can be, turned it into a business when it seems that he said he wouldn't do such a thing, especially in light of a further modification.

[Guest username]

I don't see how anyone would pay him such $$ considering how easy it is to preform.

They should try the cotton behind the driver and stuffing the pads- if you like what you hear then you can go the extra mile and do the dynamat.

I was worried about doing these mods though, because I don't always agree with his opinion on things.

[luvdunhill]

I don't think anyone is criticizing the mod persay.

It would be like Spritzer saying that he found a mod that makes a SR-404 sound better than the SR-007. With his reputation, he could pull it off and charge $500 or so for the mod, and $1000 for the same mod if he got a HE-90 fan boy to collaborate and say that they kill the HE-90 as well.... a few weeks ago, if the mods could slay the HeAudio it would have been worth $750 or so..... now, that would be a strike against the whole plan probably.... anyways, I'm rambling again, aren't I?

[deepak]

And some how there is a fervor of fanboyism at Headfi where people feel the need to defend their gear to the death. Further fueling these fotm syndromes. So when someone who writes lengthy reviews on gear suddenly claims a headphone mod can exceed the performance of a $5000 headphone you get people like ipodpj claiming the Denons are the most resolving headphone ever, capable of resolving nuances like snake oil Virtual Dynamics cables, loopy tweaks, etc. And on it goes...

[Dusty Chalk]

I'll admit I'm curious as well.

Well, I'll be the first to admit that I am not in the least bit curious. There's just no way one could transform the Denon into the Sony.

Ah remain skeptical.

[mulveling]

Well, I'll be the first to admit that I am not in the least bit curious. There's just no way one could transform the Denon into the Sony.

Ah remain skeptical.

Also highly skeptical here. There may well be people who prefer the modded D5000 to the R10, but I doubt I'd be one of them (though that is purely speculation), and I don't think there is ANY way they can reproduce the air and sound stage of the R10. It just can't be acoustically possible in closed cups of that size. I figure the comparisons to R10 are purely a marketing gimmick.

[Guest username]

Buyers remorse much? lol

I know I like what I hear (I still some faults though), and I know the mods have improved them- a bit not into $5000 headphones.

Hopefully the upcoming meet, I will either A) hear better phones, sell and get those or Don't like the other phones and stay satisfied with the Denons (as long as I stop reading this thread )

[spritzer]

There is nothing new to these mods as he's simply taming a pretty wild housing by adding damping pads and then altering the angle of the drivers by stuffing the pads. Go over to the ortho thread and see this done every day. The materials are different and so is the execution but the principle is the same.

It would be like Spritzer saying that he found a mod that makes a SR-404 sound better than the SR-007. With his reputation, he could pull it off and charge $500 or so for the mod, and $1000 for the same mod if he got a HE-90 fan boy to collaborate and say that they kill the HE-90 as well.... a few weeks ago, if the mods could slay the HeAudio it would have been worth $750 or so..... now, that would be a strike against the whole plan probably.... anyways, I'm rambling again, aren't I?

Stop putting ideas in my head...

[Dusty Chalk]

It would be like Spritzer saying that he found a mod that makes a SR-404 sound better than the SR-007.

Isn't that the 4070? Or is that "a mod that makes an SR-404 sound better than an SR-404"?

[spritzer]

Isn't that the 4070? Or is that "a mod that makes an SR-404 sound better than an SR-404"?

The 4070 and the SR-SC1 both apply here but I've been wanting to do a replacement earcup for the Lambdas for years. The 404 drivers are very, very good as can be heard in the 4070 and the Sigma Pro 404 so all we need is a nice wood or aluminum enclosure. Too bad I truly suck at CAD...

[markl]

Howdy,

Been a while since I've been to the dark side. Not sure what the rules are over here, what I can or can't say. I'll try to respond to a few things, and we'll see what's verboten.

this from a man who posted a shill review of the new psaudio powerplant

and somehow turned the specs into square waves.

Interesting. Please post evidence this is a "shill" review. Man, I keep getting ripped off-- apparently there's a fortune to be made writing fake reviews for products on-line, and here I'm doing it on my own for nothing. Can some one tell me how one gets on this gravy train?

Oh, and the sine vs. square was a simple mistake. My paymasters at PSAudio must have missed my type-os when I submitted it to them before I posted. They did deduct 10 bucks for each one after the fact though.

Anyone can do those mods - at least the ones he posted the instructions for.

I don't get how people could be queuing up to get Mark to mod their D5000 when he went to such painstaking lengths, posting pictures and directions on exactly how to do it such that even a monkey like me could follow them.

Yes, anyone can do them, my original intent was just to share what I had found, simple as that. I typed it up and gave it away, now (over here at least) it seems no good deed goes unpunished, but oh well, I know there are tons of conspiracy theory types over here who will see what they want to see no matter what the facts. I got tons of PMs and e-mails from people asking me to do it for them because they didn't trust themselves to do it, or didn't want to take the time, or wanted to make sure someone who had done it numerous times and knew how much of what to put where would just do it for them. (The mods have changed slightly from what was posted, but the substance of the mod is there for anyone to try).

I was approached by someone else asking me permission to start offering the mod for a fee. So, now I had a dilemma-- let someone else profit from all my hard work, expense, and time, or do it myself. What would you have done? Me, I decided to offer my services.

Oh I know, I just made that post on HF to poke fun at the fact that he certainly does want to profit off his mods once he realized there were enough suckers to pay him handsomely to do it, even though he acted so reluctant about it.

No one has to pay me anything, I gave away the "secret formula". All I'm selling is a service. So far, feedback and response from folks who've tried it has been very positive. As I stated, I had no idea people would not simply want to do it themselves. If this had been some kind of nefarious business plan, I sure executed it pretty poorly by giving away all my mods with detailed photos and descriptions!

I say even odds that Markl's mod thread will soon get edited to read "........"

Wouldn't be the first time something like that's happened on Headfi.

I'll take that bet. How much did you have in mind? If i was gonna pull them, I would have done it the day I decided to become a MOT, but I didn't. The mods will stay up as is until I decide to stop doing them, at which time I will likely update the thread with the final revisions.

I see he now has MOT status there. Doesn't that mean no more reviews and no more adding to his "markl mods" thread?

The rules are I can no longer review headphones or cables for headphones. I am free to contribute reviews of everything else.

Calling the 391 words which actually relate to sonics and are a diffuse load of tribble droppings a review is pretty glorifying. I could write that kind of generic woolly praise material in about 10 minutes.

It's a shame I no longer have the gushing PMs of praise from mister Duggeh complimenting my review skills and contributuions to head-Fi. I love how some people have one face on Head-Fi and another over here. Kind of depressing, actually. One of the chief reasons I seldom come here.

Anyone with any brains would take what he has said about VD power cords and Rudistor

KG, you really do come across as such such a bitter man. If the day came when I wrote a nice review about one of *your* products, I bet your attitude toward me would change, suddenly I'd be a sage. Of course, I haven't ever heard one, but I have been considering a GS-X as I might go balanced. For now, yeah, I like Rudi's gear, and no, amazingly, I don't care if you approve or not.

My theory -- he is seriously going into the snake oil business. Best way is to dive in the deep end, no?

He probably sold his R10's because he was having money troubles. It's hard to ignore that 200% return, is it not?

Oh, it's my pal Peter again. Yeah, I've been so desperate for cash that I've spent $6K on a source, $3K on ICs and power cords, $1500 on re-cables for D500s and another $3K on amp in the last 12 months. I can have any headphone I want (short of the Orpheus) and I choose the mod-ed D5000. If it makes you feel any better, another genetleman who owns a R10 got one of my mod-ed cans, and for him, it's only his second favorite, next to the R10 (though he's still burning in the D5000 and tells me it continues to improve).

Later, dark side dudes.