Submitted by Kiiran_B t3_10lmz7n in headphones
I read somewhere, that removing the white padding behind the driver increases imaging performance. Would this increase soundstage or make the DT 880 pro a true open back headphone?
Anyone have any experience doing this?
Thanks!
Interesting, Joshua Velour describes the 880s as having a kind of 'globe' of sound while using them, and I agree with him. Just wondered if there was a way to alleviate that.
I love my 880s, just wish they had a wider soundstage (I think I'm using the correct terminology, I'm a novice in this field).
Yes the best mod is to plug them into a tube amp....
I have a schitt stack, that'll need to do for now š
The white padding material is for tuning reasons, removing that would create resonances and increase the treble. Don't touch it unless you have a measurement rig.
Interesting, thanks!
DT880 Pros were my first pair of hifi headphones. I can't be bothered to pick them up since I've gone to planars. The DT 880s really do have this really high treble that I believe would be worse if any dampening material is to be removed. The bass is very flat but overall have a nice balance compared to mid centric HD600s.
Maybe just change out the grill itself to an more open one.
See, I don't know if the grill is that blocked off in itself, I thought the dampening ring was what did that, the general consensus seems to be not to mess with it at all, but the tinkerer in me just wants to find out š.
haha you're not wrong though. The mod kits sold dampens the ring and the mid section.
I watched that video last night š. I didn't personally understand why you would completely close off the inside though, his end result was lower highs if I remember correctly, which is fine, but it seemed a lot of work when the paper mod works pretty well.
I'm completely ignorant in this field though, so maybe I'm missing something.
Is the paper mod placed inside the cups? Then Iād imagine that would decrease clarity. Anyway maybe they sound the same but the guy shows measurements of before and after so there is a measurable difference.
You of course can copy his method with similar materials if you like. š
Yeah it just goes over the driver itself, I couldn't tell a difference back then, DIY audio heaven shows graphs before and after, lows and mids remain the same from what I remember, treble peak was reduced. I'm guessing like you say, detail was reduced, so I might test it without the paper again.
Where did you get that nonsense?
The only mod you should do to the 880 is a removable cable mod.
Removing padding from the drivers would change sound signature, no?
Toilet paper mod was a useful one too lol.
Yes, but if thats what you want just use EQ!
Modding the headphone to change FR is an ass backwards way of changing tonality. EQ can accomplish more, whilst being less of a hassle.
I'm no expert, but when I eq'd them, they still seemed sibilant, when I put the paper mod inside, the sibilance was gone and the overall sound was the same; no need for software or tweaking and it was super easy. I think modding definitely has a place, just looking for some info on it.
plmon24 t1_j5xy3h0 wrote
Don't want to open my DT880 again to double-check, but I read about a bunch of dampening material on the driver inside that the DT990 didn't have.
I don't specifically recall if I removed any white padding, but I did remove a lot of those dampening materials. I felt the DT880 sounded overly dampened to get its more neutral tonality. Similar to how Dan Clark's Aeon Flow can tame the treble with the felt filters, but it crushes detail in the process.
Removing the dampening materials made it sound in-between a DT880 and 990. Not quite as bright as the 990 and a bit more linear bass response than the 990's big midbass hump. Less "soft-sounding" than the 880.
However, I didn't feel like the soundstage changed a whole lot, not as big as the 990.