CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS
Lobby => Headphone Measurements => Topic started by: Marvey on November 23, 2014, 06:48:52 PM
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TMRaven HE-560.
Don't know what was done exactly. I'll let TMRaven explain.
UPDATE - SKIP TO HERE TO SEE DIFFERENCES ON SAME HEADPHONE: http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,1952.msg52929.html#msg52929
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CSDs
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This is my personal pair of 560 that I sent to Purrin to measure originally (seen here (http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,1654.0.htmlhttp://)). However, this time around it's been modified by Jerg himself to help him write his guide over here (http://www.head-fi.org/t/738912/he-560-enhancement-mod) at head-fi.
The basic gist of the mod was to use the Focus Pads, but use shelf liner and cut damping holes in the pads in an attempt to solve any upper mid/lower treble resonance that plagues the Focus Pad. The pads are also taped down onto the retaining ring of the diaphragm in order to give better bass conduction to the area surrounding your ear. Jerg can explain more in detail if he wants.
My impressions of the mod was that it made my 560 not sound as warm as it was with the Focus-A pads, while the lowest of bass was slightly more tactile, and the extreme treble was a little more present. I also thought that maybe the lower midrange and upper bass decayed slightly faster, which lead to a more resolving but slightly more dry sound. I didn't have another 560 with Focus-A side by side at the same time though, so I was going largely off of audial memory.
Anyways, I think I still prefer the stock Focus-A 560. It seems that what I thought was a colder sound on this modded pair compared to the focus-a is still largely a component of the 4khz hump, and not so much any change in lower midrange.
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FR measurements are not very conclusive. Mid-treble is up. 2k is down a bit. From a subjective listening POV, I didn't notice the treble shrillness as I did with other stock HE-560s. I'll use some Madonna Ultimate Collection tracks to test for vocal treble shrillness. But then again, I was running SFT-1 DAC which is really smooth the treble.
Let me run some more visualizations to see.
(http://www.changstar.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1952.0;attach=8075;image)
HE-560 stock pads:
(http://www.changstar.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1654.0;attach=6861;image)
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The only minor thing that might be apparent with the measurements is less 3rd order harmonics in the low bass. That might be a result of completely sealing the pads via double sided tape, or it might just be measurement variance. The CSDs were more similar than I thought they'd be.
Otherwise it's very similar to the stock Focus-Pads from a measurement perspective.
Mid-upper treble having a little more presence might be a result of Jerg cutting out the dust-liner of the focus pads. Stock 560s come with two dust-liners. I thought I did notice slightly more mid-upper treble with the modded pair, but again it's going off of weeks old audial memory and is not truly reliable.
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They sound good. I want to steal this pair. :-)
Wish measurements could have demonstrated more. But this happens quite often.
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Ah as I suspect, the FR hump at upper mids seems to be persistent regardless of how much I increase the damping factor of the Focus (not Focus-A) pads. That's a shame.
I notice two differences that might be arguably significant:
1) lowered D3 and D4 harmonics <50 Hz (now it is in line with HE400 measurements, except much better extended). I was hoping the sealing mod (trying to perfect the enclosure seal as much as possible" would be detectable via measurements and it seems to be the case.
2) the CSD with the modded pair SEEMS to be decaying slightly faster across the entire band, than stock Focus-A HE560s CSD, just by seeing the timeslice intensity "drop" pattern; the pattern is distinctly different but I don't know if that is conclusive.
And yes I feel there are certain aspects of sound not portrayable by current methods of measurements still.
Edit: what I mean by point 2):
I compared modded (http://www.changstar.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1952.0;attach=8077;image) vs stock Focus-pads (http://www.changstar.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1654.0;attach=6863;image) CSDs side by side, and looked at the timeslice pattern, stock decay slices seem to be more densely-packed meaning the decay is slower, at least that's my understanding.
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Top view CSD. Jerg'd HE-560 are at top (L). Stock in bottom. Note: Stock is totally different unit - so it's not a real delta.
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R channel (jerg top, stock bottom).
- Note mostly thin ortho wall stuff.
- Too close to call
Let me fix freq alignment...
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Sigh... nothing conclusive in terms of measurements. I wish I could fully reverse the mods. Again, the stock was a totally different unit.
Let me try again taking the rug pad out.
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It is a very reversible mod. The only thing that's tricky is retaping the pads back on.
I'll probably be running focus-a when I get it back so don't worry if you mess it up too much.
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ok taking mods out. the punctures on the pads obviously cannot be removed.
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OK best evidence so far and the most proper test.
Top: Stockish - Jerg mods removed except for holes poked into pads
Bottom: Full Jerg mods
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The timescales are not normalized ;D
Anyhow, there are 3 (4 if you took the grills out) components to what I did to this HE560 unit, the shelf liner material is only 1 of those components. Full reversal would mean removing all the adhesive double-sided tape between the baffles and the underside of the pads, swapping the pads back to stock Focus pads, and keeping the stock grills on.
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fixed.
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Seems like it's still the same?
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yeah pretty much :-(
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yeah pretty much :-(
Hey Marv, how long usually is the duration for a measurement of a channel? I'm wondering if you could do a measurement on yours or TMR's HE560, but with pressure on the cup so that the earpads are significantly depressed, and the drivers are closer to the measurement aperture. Would that be possible?
I just feel as though the 4k hump might be due to something very simple.
The thing is there are only two real differences between Focus and Focus-A pads: your ears are closer to the drivers with Focus-A pads, and the shape/covering of the undersides are different (angular pleather, vs sloped mesh). The internal foam is the same, the outer shell as well. One of those two aforementioned factors has to be the determinant for the 4k hump.