HD800 "French Mod" aka "SuperDupont Resonator"

You know SD, I'm not sure you'll ever get to the US.

At the pace the requests are coming in I think you'll be stuck in France.

 

I've had it take longer and now it's easter too. I wouldn't worry yet.

But I understand where you're coming from, you don't want to send more until you know they'll make it.

 

I've ordered a bunch of records from Europe. It can take a while.

 

My SuperDupont resonators arrived today, in great shape. I’ve installed them and had a 45 minute listen. Very happy with the result! I’ve dabbled with dampening inside the HD 800 before, but felt the results were hit and miss. Some things got better, and other things (imaging) got worse. These resonators though? Unambiguous improvement. The HD 800 is still the HD 800, but the sound is more coherent. Knocking down that peak put everything in better balance, and the improvement is more noticeable than I expected. It’s easier on the ears, but also more accurate. I used Tyll’s video to guide my installation, and it was easier than I expected. Thanks!

 

I pushed them all the way in, but I didn't make sure they sat flush with the top. They're only a half mm or so from the top, but I might as well get them to sit perfect since it's pretty easy to do.

 

I just installed SuperDupont Resonator. Initial impression, It work as per advertised! Really impressive.

Before resonator, I used rug liner only from anax 2.0 (with and without dust cover). I did try combo SD with rug liner & dust cover, but I think I prefer just SD & dust cover only. It seem additional rug liner bring the mid too forward for my preference. Also on my setup, seem a bit soft.

While SD & dust cover bring the mid a bit forward, exactly match my preference. The FR seem more balance as well now with this mod (compare to with rug liner) and not soft as with additional rug liner on top of SD. Bass seem about the same, but I only listening for about an hour.
I wish I can experiment with SBAF absorber now.

Before SD, I also tried using cut shure tips. But for some reason, I seem to hear a bit of ringing, so I didn't use this method.

Thank you Sorrodje!

 

Yes, Yggdrasil to stratus

 

I didn't think it will be so easy to install these - note I haven't modded any headphones I have yet prior to this SD mod. I was really that much bothered with the peak most people reported but now I can see where they are coming from. my HD800 is much more listenable now and it appears I can appreciate other details more since the aggressive part of the treble is diminished. Very, very well done. I can't wait for my Glenn's OTL amp to be finished and I'm pretty sure my HD800 SD will pair extremely well.

From now on, my HD800 will be called HD800 SD in honour of Pierre's SD mod!!!

 

Are your pads old and worn?
Just asking because I found that worn pads have a much more forward midrange, so the combination of worn pads + rug liner + SD might be a little forward for some.

 

This hd800 is about 4 years old. A few months back, I brought it to my local shop to compare to their stock demo. The difference between pads condition from mine to stock demo seem not much. Stock demo pads seem a bit more plush (don't know the correct term). But I think my pads wasn't that worn yet.

 

I would guess that the demo pads were likely worn too. 4 years old usually means that the pads are very thin and often the demo pairs in shops are pretty old too.

 

Good point! I'll try new pads then

 

FWIW I found newer pads to have a bigger stage at the cost of frequency response: more sucked out upper midrange with even peakier treble. A few days ago I listened to the stock HD800 (no mods) with new pads. It was so horrible that I put it back in its box for a few days and listened to the HD600 exclusively. Then I tried it with 2 of the liners I used before in each cup (to resemble the thicker SBAF liner material that hasn't shipped yet) and the SD mod and it is much better now. Pad mods are often forgotten (at least with the HD800), so I'm glad that @stratocaster did some experiments that show how much of an effect the pads can have on the sound.
I think that in the end it comes down to personal preference and synergy.

Anyways, back on topic.

 

The resonator is working for sure. And I guess that pad tweaking could very well round the whole thing out. I am using my HD800 with SD resonator + leatherized pads. I am enclosing the following measurements to visualize what I mean.

First, the reduction of the 6kHz peak by applying the SD resonator to stock HD800 is obvious in this measurement:


Second, leatherized HD800 pads (with SD resonator installed) result in the following change:


So, the original steep rise of around 10db from 4 to 6kHz of the stock HD800 without the SD resonator (blue) has been brought down considerably and the FR curve above 1kHz has been smoothed out quite a bit with the leather pads plus SD resonator:

 

Stratocaster, sorry if I didn't notice this stated earlier in the thread, but where do you get your leatherized HD800 pads from?

The peak further brought down in 5-8kHz is astounding as well as the 1-5kHz rise/soothing.

This is definitely something I want for myself. Please assist me in this matter.

 

@stratocaster: You mentioned using your old pads to make these 'leatherized' ones : 'Neutralizing' my HD800

Now I'm thinking that the difference at 6kHz is mainly due to the decreased distance to the driver, especially since your first measurements didn't show as much of a difference. The thing is that you measured both with the velvet inlays. Do you have measurements of the pads before and after 'leatherizing' without the velvet inlays / do you think that 'leatherizing' helped to make them sound better?