I haven't tried to do much more with the TH02. Partially because I'm busy and partially because I lost (listening) interest in them. And also because I let my old man borrow them so he could run his hearing tests.

I actually did give them a listen a week ago after a long break from them. Out of my Zune (which tends to be a bit warmish) they were very fatigue free. Wasn't able to pick up much of that 8k peak.

Taping the pads did seem to improve bass, but I haven't confirmed with measurements. I really like the bass on these for a $30 headphones; seems that most other cheapies have high distortion + rolled off bass, but these things are solid down low. But the driver's intrinsic treble abilities are not great and I'm not sure what the next step to improving the TH02 in those aspects would be. Open to suggestions that would get me back on track though

I actually found out one of my close friends has a 3D printer on hand. I might try to convince him to make cups and do a driver transplant. That would be a whole 'nother can of worms though 

I hated the fit (couldn't get them to fit correctly) and also the comfort was bad.
The sound... well let's just say I don't think it sounds as good as many find it to be.

So I transplanted the drivers in an old Beyerdynamic DT330 housing, played with various pads and materials and electronic filters and ended up with this:



red/blue is transplanted and orange/green is original TH02 the traces are set 10dB lower so it doesn't look messy.
Much more comfortable and better sounding.



CSD above... original R channel (green) and modified (red) are overlayed so the differences are easier to see.

TH-02 driver on original baffle (filed down in size) that fits in an open Beyerdynamic DT330 housing.
Over the driver there is 3mm thick woolfelt on top of that original T50RP pads.
To lower the bass an electronic filter is used.

This is something I can live with.
Lively sounding, warmish full bass and good treble level, non sibilant and pretty detailed.
Still not as good as some other headphones but a pleasant listen anyway.

Wow, thanks for that. I've been thinking of a driver transplant as well but it's hard to find old cans here. Do you think removing the back covers and replacing them with a mesh (basically turning them into open cans) is a good idea?

Do you think removing the back covers and replacing them with a mesh (basically turning them into open cans) is a good idea?

I did some measurements with the original TH02.
Once completely stock, and once with the back completely removed.



as you can see the differences are rather small.
Open cups seems to lower the area between 1kHz and 4kHz somewhat.
You get more or less the same effect by adding damping materials inside the cups behind the driver.
Possibly reflections ?

For me the comfort and fit issues were the biggest ones and didn't like the overall sound that much.
It becomes obvious when comparing it directly to a 'reference' phone.

Quote from: PhoenixClaw on April 03, 2014, 12:25:04 AM

Do you think removing the back covers and replacing them with a mesh (basically turning them into open cans) is a good idea?

I did some measurements with the original TH02.
Once completely stock, and once with the back completely removed.

as you can see the differences are rather small.
Open cups seems to lower the area between 1kHz and 4kHz somewhat.
You get more or less the same effect by adding damping materials inside the cups behind the driver.
Possibly reflections ?

For me the comfort and fit issues were the biggest ones and didn't like the overall sound that much.
It becomes obvious when comparing it directly to a 'reference' phone.

Thanks for this. When I removed the back cover I did think the FR didn't change so much but I think it removed a bit of the weird resonance I think I'm hearing. I've already ordered HM5 pads to fix the fit, so hopefully that solves the seal problem. I bought the TH02 mainly as an experiment in modding and stuff like recabling. (I have a dt1350 for "serious" listening)

I love how punchy they are, and their frequency response is quite good, but there is definitely something that I can't put my finger on... the timbre is a little off.

I think it's because of the dip in the upper mids. I've tried using an EQ to bring them out and they improved.