HD650 KISS mod

Discussion in 'Modifications and Tweaks' started by purr1n, Dec 6, 2016.

  1. Pillars

    Pillars Embarrassment to Colorado crew

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    Completed this mod, really appreciate the improvement in my HD650's quite a bit. Thanks for the writeup!!!

    Also, my set had 2 disks not 3 like some of the others. Before the mod it sounded fairly wooly, softened.. After the mod the treble felt more prominent and clear. The lowend blub here and there was replaced by very clean and strong bass. Honestly, very worthwhile mod.

    Thanks for the Dynomat @Gaspasser
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2017
  2. Bozoskeleton

    Bozoskeleton New

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    Completed this mod about a month ago. Wonderful directions, and seems to sound clearer (I upgraded my entire system at once so I really can't offer much useful feedback).

    However, I did want to throw this out. I had it good and wanted to see what would happen if I removed the folded half circles covering the center hole. Bass problems arose, no surprise. So I put them back in and had some channel imbalance. Dang. Tried a few times to fix, but it was getting sloppy folding and with the goo.

    Finally, I simply cut the circle in half, put the two halves together (so there would still be two layers of foam), goo on the same spots in the original directions, and it seemed MUCH easier to control then when folded in half. No channel imbalance, sounds great, and easier to push into the hole slightly.
     
  3. Pillars

    Pillars Embarrassment to Colorado crew

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    Good idea, as I've had problems with my foam roaming and not staying in one place. Thanks!
     
  4. adpo

    adpo Acquaintance

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    Caved and got myself the hd6xx on massdrop. Anyone have any spare dynamat/creatology foam I could buy? The base quantities available online seem a tad excessive for just doing this one mod
     
  5. Garns

    Garns Friend

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  6. ald0s

    ald0s Facebook Friend

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    I also just caved and am having this same dilemma but I'm in Australia.
     
  7. Pyruvate

    Pyruvate Friend

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    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Quick thoughts:

    1. Easy fun mod, took me about two hours total, but then again I was taking my sweet time.

    2. I greatly prefer this to my old HD650 (coin mod, dynamat mod, spider cage intact with foam removed). More air, better treble extension, substantially more plankton, bass more or less on par, but covering up the hole (or something, I forgot what does this exactly) mitigates the midbass hump and cleaned up the lower end (as well the rest of the spectrum). Highs smooth as a baby's bottom.

    3. Listening with EITR > Parasound PCM63 R2R DAC > Saga with vintage Sylvania VT231 > Vali 2 with Telefunkens > HD650K, I'm losing my mind here. I keep thinking that my speakers are on, but they're not. Also, sound quality/cost ratio is insane.
     
    Last edited: Oct 20, 2017
  8. Pillars

    Pillars Embarrassment to Colorado crew

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    Looking good! Quite the tubey setup you've got there as well. My 650 modded is quite the euphoric headphone even out of SS.
     
  9. Pyruvate

    Pyruvate Friend

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    My 650, even with the Saga/Vali, still remains pretty neutral (slight tube wetness). It's getting all the tube pluses without the tube minuses!
     
  10. captkirk

    captkirk Khan's BFF

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    I had been debating the mod for a bit, but @Pyruvate's recent post pushed me over the edge.

    For reference, my HD6XX (SN# 2240) only has two foam discs, instead of the three mentioned in the initial post (likely difference due to earlier vs. later-model versions).

    Also, I have a ton of dynamat extreme left over. If any friends or contributors want a swatch, shoot me a PM and I'd be happy to supply some for FREE (US Only).


    [​IMG]
     
  11. Pyruvate

    Pyruvate Friend

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    @captkirk clean work sir! What are your thoughts on your upgraded Hd650?

    I also have a ton of dynamat leftover, I think I’ll throw some on my CD player or something to dampen it. Wish I knew you had spares lying around!
     
  12. captkirk

    captkirk Khan's BFF

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    I haven’t had much time with them, but thus far have noticed some subtle yet considerable improvements.

    I don’t think I fully grasped the 650’s graininess until it was largely minimized with this mod.

    Oh, and all the plankton are yummy.

    Must spend more time with these. Must.
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2017
  13. iFi audio

    iFi audio MOT iFi Audio

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    This is interesting, nice and 'kissable' work!
     
  14. Forza AudioWorks

    Forza AudioWorks MOT: Forza AudioWorks

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    Yes, indeed. I wish I had time to tinker with old headphones. When I see mods done on respected headphones I instantly want to do the same thing...
     
  15. chakku

    chakku Friend

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    The deed is done, I ended up using some foam I had from another package for some product (Can't even remember what at this point.) It's the same type of foam as the Sennheiser stuff but conveniently twice as thick and I had plenty to cut to the shape I wanted. With some measuring here and there I found the foam not only brought the midbass bloat down but brought up the treble a little. Perhaps not the tidiest application.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Some measurements, unfortunately my 6XX didn't have the best driver matching to begin with. Also note that the original 6XX measurements were done months ago, I forgot to do another set of measurements before ripping the spider cage off. Additionally the original measurements have smoothing on them while the KISS ones do not, as you may notice by a bit more squiggle in the plots.

    Original:

    [​IMG]

    KISS Mod:
    [​IMG]

    Original vs KISS (Right channel only)
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Nov 3, 2017
  16. e.schell

    e.schell Friend

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    My HD650's have been kiss modded for awhile now and would have them no other way... so when my HD6xx arrived recently i knew it was only a matter of time before i did the same to them, only this time refine the process and do a little better job... so this is my second attempt and feel i did a little bit better/more clean mod. Thought i would share....

    [​IMG]
     
  17. TeskR

    TeskR New

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    Planning on doing this mod this weekend, have sourced the dynamat extreme and am currently looking for some adhesive foam.
    Does the thickness of the foam matter? Seeing as it is just to make working with the dynamat nicer, am I correct in assuming thinner is better? and that any brand will be OK?
     
  18. chakku

    chakku Friend

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    Yep just go for as thin as you can find, it's the Dynamat actually doing the work.
     
  19. TeskR

    TeskR New

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    Thank you! Will go have a look for some tomorrow afternoon.
     
  20. JustAnotherRando

    JustAnotherRando My other bike is a Ferrari

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    The Creatology foam listed in the first post is specified as 2cm thick. This... doesn't seem right, does it? From Marvey's drawing, it looks like this stuff is supposed to be something around 1-2mm.

    Details:
    • Available in multiple colors
    • 9" x 12" (22.8cm x 30.4cm)
    • 2 cm thick
    • For ages 3 and up
    I am going to try to hunt down the thinnest foam I can find with an adhesive backing, but that might be a bit tricky where I live (shopping bricks and mortar is a bit odd here, so I might have to resort to overseas online stores).
     

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