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Upgrade from a 58X?

solderdude

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Koss ESP95X (the Koss ESP950 with cloth pads instead of the horrible stock pads)

This is HD58X on the same rig ??
index.php


mine:
fr-2e-versie.png
 

dnguyen1393

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Would be interested in this as well I have the Jubilee and enjoy it alot but would like to hear something different I'm in the camp of Upgrading headphones first before anything else I already have a schiit stack which im happy about, but am interested in maybe the Drop xKoss ESP95X as the next step
 

Svperstar

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Would be interested in this as well I have the Jubilee and enjoy it alot but would like to hear something different I'm in the camp of Upgrading headphones first before anything else I already have a schiit stack which im happy about, but am interested in maybe the Drop xKoss ESP95X as the next step

The ESp95x is nice but a much different beast then the 58X. A solid headphone but you may find the bass lacking in comparison.
 

pwjazz

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For fun, I removed the front foam from my HD58X (the foam between the ear pad and the driver). I'm loving the clarity and tonality without the foam (plus a little sub-bass boost in EQ), but I don't love leaving the drivers exposed to dust. Can anyone (like @solderdude :) recommend something that's totally acoustically transparent which would help keep dust out? I think I might try some nylon women's stockings (never thought I'd say that out loud in public), but I'd love suggestions from people who know something about this sort of stuff.

foam.jpg
 

solderdude

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In the past, for HD650, i made a small cardboard oval 'ring' that I glued some black nylon and slightly stretched stocking on.
It did not change anything measurable though. Certainly not 3dB between 2kHz and 10kHz and in the lows.
The foam seems to be the same as used on the rear and on the HD650.
Will check my HD650 experiments, quite certain i did similar tests + with stretched nylon stocking instead of foam.
A test for acoustic transparency could be to hold the foam in front of a tweeter or midrange and see if it has an audible effect.
Another test you can do is double the foam (so add the rear foam to the front) and see if it worsens in the other direction.
Experiments I have done (even with much thicker foam) showed it is a pretty transparent material.
 

pwjazz

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In the past, for HD650, i made a small cardboard oval 'ring' that I glued some black nylon and slightly stretched stocking on.
It did not change anything measurable though. Certainly not 3dB between 2kHz and 10kHz and in the lows.
The foam seems to be the same as used on the rear and on the HD650.
Will check my HD650 experiments, quite certain i did similar tests + with stretched nylon stocking instead of foam.
A test for acoustic transparency could be to hold the foam in front of a tweeter or midrange and see if it has an audible effect.
Another test you can do is double the foam (so add the rear foam to the front) and see if it worsens in the other direction.
Experiments I have done (even with much thicker foam) showed it is a pretty transparent material.

I'll try a stocking and measure results with that. There's always the possibility of some variation with headphone placement, but I've found the HD58X to be fairly immune from that (except seeing sub-bass rolloff if seal isn't good) and I can definitely hear a difference as well as measure it.
 

solderdude

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Interesting.

I measured the HD650's extensively (with many types of foam, felt, toilet paper, thick foam, K240 foam, stocking and the differences were very small usually below 2dB.

Also measured the HD58X with various materials and foam vs no-foam and double foam (rear foam on top of front foam)
Below stock foam vs double foam
double foam.png


and below with front foam and without front foam.(done with very careful repositioning, notice the 1dB scale)
nofoam front 1dB.png


It may be possible the foam has changed during production ?
The stuff that was on my proto and first production run looked exactly like the foam on the HD650.

Below my HD650 experiments:

stretched nylon stocking, versus standard foam vs no foam, notice the 2dB scale. (Positioning wasn't done carefully)
stocking vs foam vs no foam.png


Sennheiser foam
vs K240 foam (with cloth on the foam):
Senn foam vs K240 foam.png


I have a few more experiments though.
 

pwjazz

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Interesting.

I measured the HD650's extensively (with many types of foam, felt, toilet paper, thick foam, K240 foam, stocking and the differences were very small usually below 2dB.

Also measured the HD58X with various materials and foam vs no-foam and double foam (rear foam on top of front foam)
Below stock foam vs double foam
View attachment 50051

and below with front foam and without front foam.(done with very careful repositioning, notice the 1dB scale)
View attachment 50052

It may be possible the foam has changed during production ?
The stuff that was on my proto and first production run looked exactly like the foam on the HD650.

Below my HD650 experiments:

stretched nylon stocking, versus standard foam vs no foam, notice the 2dB scale. (Positioning wasn't done carefully)
View attachment 50053

Sennheiser foam vs K240 foam (with cloth on the foam):View attachment 50055

I have a few more experiments though.

I don't have an HD650. This is the foam from my HD58X, which is probably 1.5 years old at this point.

20200213_132944.jpg
 

solderdude

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Looks very similar to the ones I have.
The delta in our measurements is quite big.
 
Last edited:

pwjazz

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Oh wow! I decided to use some sheer curtain fabric to protect my driver from hair and such. It’s not completely acoustically transparent, but it actually brings the lower mids and bass back up to stock and leaves the upper mids and treble open and airy (with less of a peak at 8 KHz). This sounds frickin’ amazing and looks slick too!


20200214_150005_HDR576×1024 224 KB





n.b. I only took two measurements of each variation, but each set was consistent within its 2 measurements
 

BCL1234

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Hello - new member here writing about the HD58X curtain mod. I've modded mine with felt mod and treble notch filter (big thanks to solderdude!) The sound for me was really great this way (plus an XtremPro DAC/amp).

Then I did the curtain mod per pwjazz's video (also thanks!). The sound (to my ear) did get clearer, cleaner, brighter and thinner. Without the notch filter, I find it too bright. But it's new and I'm not used to it. I modded the mod by using a double layer of the curtain fabric. It's closer to the original foam sound. Clear, but not as bright and a little of the growl/energy/grain is back. (first impressions). If anyone (pwjazz?) has equipment to check frequency response and distortion levels with double-layer, I'd really like to see how it compares to original or to the HD6XX.
 
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0%_Audiophile

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Hello - new member here writing about the HD58X curtain mod. I've modded mine with felt mod and treble notch filter (big thanks to solderdude!) The sound for me was really great this way (plus an XtremPro DAC/amp).

Then I did the curtain mod per pwjazz's video (also thanks!). The sound (to my ear) did get clearer, cleaner, brighter and thinner. Without the notch filter, I find it too bright. But it's new and I'm not used to it. I modded the mod by using a double layer of the curtain fabric. It's closer to the original foam sound. Clear, but not as bright and a little of the growl/energy/grain is back. (first impressions). If anyone (pwjazz?) has equipment to check frequency response and distortion levels with double-layer, I'd really like to see how it compares to original or to the HD6XX.
What does it mean "felt mod and treble notch filter"?
 

BCL1234

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The felt mod is a modification documented by Solderdude, a contributor here, along with his review of 58X. It is adding a felt disc to the magnet backside (outside, covering the hole) to reduce response/boominess in lower bass region. Here is link for his review:
https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/brands-s-se/hd58x-jubilee-massdrop

and for mod details (PDF download):
http://www.mediafire.com/file/8dr7hp34vq11aag/HD58X_evaluation.pdf/file

Solderdude also designed an electronic (passive) filter that the cable is plugged into to reduce some too-forward treble in 5KHz to 8KHz region in the review.

I use/used both and I feel they improved sound a good amount. I have changed from using the felt mod to using teabag filter material and I like it better, but is personal preference. Teabag filter idea I found in this video:

 
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