I modded my HD 518s - and it turned out great!

[STRMfrmXMN]

Little bit uneven, you might have used some light padding to get it a bit less lumpy, but for a quick DIY i like it, certainly more low profile and discrete than before; I dig it.

"Light padding" for me was polyester. I would think anything much thicker would defeat the point tbh

Glad you like it though!

[Stefanopolis]

Best Face 2k15, would have model my 202's.

 

Would the fabric start to warp after being moved while lifted or nah? That would personally be the only reason I wouldn't do that mod.

 

Yeah why someone would brand a clearly covered set of cans as "open" would basically allow for me to call those JVC Gummy Headphones as "open". 

[STRMfrmXMN]

Best Face 2k15, would have model my 202's.

 

Would the fabric start to warp after being moved while lifted or nah? That would personally be the only reason I wouldn't do that mod.

 

Yeah why someone would brand a clearly covered set of cans as "open" would basically allow for me to call those JVC Gummy Headphones as "open". 

Glad you like such face

 

The fabric I used was polyester and I hot glued them tightly so I imagine that they won't warp unless the headphone's structure moves around a lot. I dunno the long-term effects - I did this an hour ago

 

They are more open than closed but not by much. Those little tiny holes in the grey backing from before the mod don't have an open enough structure. You can barely blow through them.

[Stefanopolis]

Glad you like such face

 

The fabric I used was polyester and I hot glued them tightly so I imagine that they won't warp unless the headphone's structure moves around a lot. I dunno the long-term effects - I did this an hour ago

 

They are more open than closed but not by much. Those little tiny holes in the grey backing from before the mod don't have an open enough structure. You can barely blow through them.

Oh, the Hot Glue method

 

Yeah I was thinking that the fabric would rip out from the sides slowly, nvm

 

I'm fine with open headphones, except when I really want to blast some Taylor Swift lol

[STRMfrmXMN]

Oh, the Hot Glue method

 

Yeah I was thinking that the fabric would rip out from the sides slowly, nvm

 

I'm fine with open headphones, except when I really want to blast some Taylor Swift lol

Most modern pop music seems to not sound significantly better on open cans. Pretty sure they Taylor (see what I did there) to the Beats crowd (heavy bass, no mids, no interment separation) so they don't make much sense on generally bass-lacking open cans.

[GrassFedTofuJesus]

As a person who likes headphones, I approve this message. But why did you not just get 598s?

[STRMfrmXMN]

As a person who likes headphones, I approve this message. But why did you not just get 598s?

Well hello there! I know you're new here but this is a little old to be bumped

I couldn't afford 598s if I wanted to and since these use the same driver I just went ahead and modded them.

[TheSammie]

For everyone that wanted to keep te stock look, like me, there is a filter on de stock grill. If you remove that filter it sounds alot more open. If you don't know the filter is meant to be there you won't see any difference.

[STRMfrmXMN]

1 hour ago, TheSammie said:

For everyone that wanted to keep te stock look, like me, there is a filter on de stock grill. If you remove that filter it sounds alot more open. If you don't know the filter is meant to be there you won't see any difference.

I'm not sure that it really makes a difference. The filter is a thin sheet of what appears to be cheap polyester so I have my doubts that that would make any difference.

[AlTech]

On ‎9‎/‎18‎/‎2015 at 4:47 AM, STRMfrmXMN said:

So a few weeks ago I bought my HD 518s - these things (plus my pretty face):

 

 

Here's the little bugger that I wanted to switch out:

 

 

 

So what did I have to do?

 

Well, these headphones are branded as "open" headphones. I've worn AD700Xs from Audio Technica and can say that these come nowhere near the open-ness of the AD700xs and other AD-series Audio Technica headphones. This was unacceptable! So I decided to do some internetting to find a solution and I came across this.

I'm up for a challenge. Make these more open - simple enough, right?

 

Well, after three hours of hot glue and polyester later, here are the results, deficient in my pretty face because iOS 9 keeps taking pictures upside-down:

 

 

 

 

Last picture was my "round one" try. You can see it doesn't line up perfectly flush against the wiry-backing behind it, however it still does its job of protecting the driver.

 

 

So how does it sound now?

In short, more open (yay) and it also enhances the resonant bass (not so yay). From what I've read you can use plasticine to line the earcups inside and it will eliminate the resonance so that might be the next mod.

 

I've done tests with high-bitrate MP3s going through the onboard audio on my Gigabyte B85 board (actually pretty darn good) and have noticed subtle differences in the songs that I listen to for headphone sound tests:

 

Hotel California - Eagles

Don't Stop Me Now - Queen

Cat's In The Cradle - Harry Chapin

 

Short list I know, though these songs have good instrument separation and I like them so they are my go-to. Hotel California was where I noticed the difference the most. Cymbals were much more pinpoint-able around me and I could here the mids a tiny bit clearer than stock (the mids suffer a bit on these headphones, making most vocals less audible when being drowned out by thumping, boomy bass).

 

Overall, 3 hours of my time worth? Sure. Easyness? 3/10. Not hard to do. It's a slow process and being patient is key to not stabbing the driver with a flathead screwdriver. I do suggest trying this out though if you have some 518s lying around that you have upgraded from or something along those lines. I also recommend the plasticine mod to get rid of that resonant bass.

 

tags to @ cuz he's my boss and I have no choice. 

COOL!

 

My HD 518s are my daily driver headphones so I'm not gonna do that BUT this is a cool idea and concept.

[STRMfrmXMN]

10 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

COOL!

 

My HD 518s are my daily driver headphones so I'm not gonna do that BUT this is a cool idea and concept.

I actually just undid this process a couple days ago cuz I plan to give them to a friend of mine