I made a hyper-engaging headphone with HD800S drivers

Each your post that sheds some light on that project gets the epic rating from me. Sorry for double! Oops!

 

Hey!, nice to know your name, Rob.

 

I don't disagree, but there's something with the material in the JAR mod that I don't think you can get from additive manufacturing materials, at least, anything that I'm aware of without going with sintered metallurgy. The JAR material is fairly dense, and much more dense than typical 3D printer PLA filament.

 

Fair point, though I wouldn't rule out that certain FDM-able materials could be enough for maximizing value while preserving desirable subjective qualities, there are tons of polymers and infused polymers to choose from.

 

Peerless Tymphany 50mm back in stock finally.
@spoony I ordered 3pairs (for Grado Style builds) and maybe itll work here too but wouldnt be my first choice.

Im starting to think that drivers with 50mm case diameter will not fit this capsule by @Bill-P . The HD800 driver is supposed to be 56mm according to Google (dont think thats a measurement of case but the actual diaphragm) which means smaller drivers will need an adapter or whatever. Anyone can confirm? @E_Schaaf
At worst Ill have to go with HD800 drivers which would not be not bad at all!

 

Looks like 50mm divers could be 'seated' in @Bill-P's baffle hole with some work, however, a design adjustment for 50mm round capsules would net better results.

Glad they're back in stock!

 

First batch of shipment is ready!



I basically have only 2 pairs of gray capsules left and I am still printing some more black capsules. Please don't hesitate to ask!

 

I'd be willing to buy HD800 drivers and cannibalize my HD650 if you have more capsules available. Wasn't sure if friends only. Super cool project!

 

Oh, please feel free to PM me your name and address. Originally I couldn't find the right screws so I was afraid it wouldn't be sustainable with what I have left.

But now I have more than enough screws. And yeah, I still have spare capsules. If I run out, it'll just take about an extra day or two to print out. No biggie.

Still limited to Friends and Contributors only. Or at least those who have been around the community for a while. I'd prefer to hand these to people who have some idea of what they want to achieve at least. The capsules are kind of useless for those who are aiming to make a complete headphone because... honestly, there's no guarantee! It took me over 1.5 years just to get to this point from the original capsule designs.

 

The OP says HD800S drivers, but OG HD800 have been mentioned in the past couple of pages. Would OG drivers with SDR mod be equivalent to HD800S drivers? I'll give it a go cannibalizing what I have on hand.

 

That was my exact plan, for what it's worth.

 

If a day comes that someone replaces me here, well, the account will be the same. I'm just renting this profile

 

Hmm ... I was thinking about taking apart my modded HD800s to try, but it's probably worth springing for a set of drivers. Both are the same price.
HD800S

@Bill-P which driver would you recommend? I only have 1 pair of SDRs, so if HD800 they'd be nekkid.

 

Sorry for multiple posts. These are coming to me in dribs & drabs.

Are these what you're using?
https://www.brainwavzaudio.com/collections/headphone-pads/products/headphone-pad-hybrid

Will any of the oval ones that say "SUITABLE FOR MANY HEADPHONES" fit?

 

FWIW I've played around with all of Barinwavz pads and they all tend to recess the midrange with all the orthos I've put them on. Something about the materials they're using. It might not apply here, but if you wind up with recessed mids, here are some other pads to try that will probably fit. I much prefer these pads to the Brainwavz pads. They're both cheap on AliExpress but good quality.

Velour hybrid with perforated interior

Pleather with perforated interior

 

Thanks @rhythmdevils . To add more:

Pad materials and shape play a part.

The Brainwavz "Ovals" I never liked because they are often quite a bit thicker vs X stock headphone pads. Thicker pads tend to recess mids, or in other words create a more v-shape signature. Increased distance from driver to ear reduces sound quality in other ways I find: bass becomes boomier, treble less smooth, less resolution overall. @E_Schaaf says increased distance increases opportunity for more reflection and cancellation.

The "Ovals" can be had in an angled version which might work better than flat fat Ovals.

The Brainwavz "Prostock" are too small for this application but they are wonderful. Thin, and thinner towards inner edge.

Materials: porous vs more porous, and foam compliance. You'll find pleather vs lambskin will sound different, I am guessing because one surface is a lot smoother and other a lot more textured which may help with reflections (I generally find lambskin to measure and sound a little smoother in trebles, plus more comfortable). If the foam compresses a lot then you effectively have thinner pads when combined with headphone clamp. If the foam is very dense (low airflow) then its going to change how lite-porous outer materials like velour will sound. More porous will equate to faster bass decay but sometimes you will also lose bass amplitude due to rear wave cancellation etc depending on driver distance, q factor, etc. So many variables. Padrolling is the worse, so expensive. I've been able to reduce cost with some experience (to reduce trial and error) and setting a budget and using EQ for the rest.

 

I went back and reread the entire thread. It seems there was a transition from HD800S to OG HD800 driver by @Bill-P, but I'm not 100% certain. I think the S driver would provide more bass extension, but the later tunings seem to have flattened out the bottom end while using the OG driver.

It's also not totally clear to me what's needed for the baffle. There was mention of fiberglass, speaker grill cloth, tissue, and Faraday cloth. Any additional info would be much appreciated. I'm more of a "follow the recipe" kind of guy, but am up for some experimentation if I have a direction to shoot for.

Happy Holidays!

 

Thanks @gixxerwimp for looking into. Dont want to order the wrong driver$.

Another important variable to earpads is ear chamber dimensions. A smaller ear chamber generally has less highs but less room for soundstage.

Credit @E_Schaaf for pad theory.

 

Quick update... a bunch of packages have been sent out. I think many will receive their capsules by next week. I can't wait to see what you guys will do with those!

As for the old design with HD800S driver... here's a comparison:


And here's how that big capsule do versus HD650...


I don't want to boast so I won't say anything as to how it sounds but at this point, @CEE TEE and @brencho have heard this big one so... please ask them for more details.

The smaller headphone is... let's just say I'm not quite satisfied with where it is yet, and I'm making progress (you can see I'm even modding the vents on the driver unit itself). But the tuning is not finalized yet and there's no telling how it'll sound like ultimately. I'm tweaking it right now and so my starting point is not really any higher than anybody else who will receive the spare capsules.

What I can confirm are:

1. HD800 drivers do have a bit more treble at around 8KHz than HD800S drivers. Free air measurement confirms this.

2. HD800S drivers do provide a bit more bass weight than HD800 drivers even when both have the exact same FR.

3. My big headphone uses HD800S drivers rather than HD800. You can tell what it's doing with that FR.

4. The bigger enclosure and earpads do allow for slightly more soundstage in all directions. This is what I can hear even without regards to FR. There is only so much a small opening can offer.

5. I think the old design with bigger capsules and HE90 pads are just... where it is right now. I won't try to tune it further. I'm using the big headphone as a reference to tune the smaller one.

6. The big headphone is prohibitively expensive for me to make even considering the fact that I 3D-printed some of the parts. HD800S drivers aside, HE90 pads are very expensive and I had to buy 2 pairs to find one matching pair. That's not reasonable so that's why I'm not releasing the design to everyone to try. Please understand.

I think the future moving forward is the smaller design, and the compromise (only soundstage as far as I can tell) is acceptable given that it's more portable/durable and heck, it's also more... efficient. From my measurements, the smaller design is 1.5dB-3dB more efficient at 1KHz regardless of ear pads.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to see what everyone can do with these capsules! Happy tuning!