Superlux HD-681 modifications

[Deleted]

Nice one Billy,

Where`s the ring`s then, after all you have had them a day, more than enough time to fit them

[MaN227]

first thats BUBBA not Billy

all fit and secured except the cup rings, those I have just placed on and put on the ear pads. they seem to stay just where they should be on their own. is it really necessary to glue, cement whatever u want to call it?

I will give sound impressions from start till current later on.

but before I say anything I have two questions.

what EXACTLY is having the rings and caps supposed to do to the sound sig of the cans? what is boosted or diminished?

It may seem silly to not say anything of sound, but I want to make sure I know what these mods are supposed to do EXACTLY.

@ FRans, for the filter as well. does it zero the 7k band? or flatten a wider range? what is boosted or diminished? please enlighten me.

impressions to follow after clarification of what these mods were made to do.

[Deleted]

Mar 27, 2010 19:08:33 GMT MaN227 said:

first thats BUBBA not Billy

all fit and secured except the cup rings, those I have just placed on and put on the ear pads. they seem to stay just where they should be on their own. is it really necessary to glue, cement whatever u want to call it?

I will give sound impressions from start till current later on.

but before I say anything I have two questions.

what EXACTLY is having the rings and caps supposed to do to the sound sig of the cans? what is boosted or diminished?

It may seem silly to not say anything of sound, but I want to make sure I know what these mods are supposed to do EXACTLY.

@ FRans, for the filter as well. does it zero the 7k band? or flatten a wider range? what is boosted or diminished? please enlighten me.

impressions to follow after clarification of what these mods were made to do.

Chaz, it is essential to stick the large rings on as they add mass to the cup, instructions on how to do it are on reply 40 of this thread.They will sound rubbish if you just leave them in place, just need a little epoxy as per instructions, you can do both sides in under an hour, so don`t spoil the pudding. ;D

[Deleted]

the filter brings a rather wide band with a center freq. of around 7kHz a few dB down to the levels where they are supposed to be.

NOTHING is filtered/nulled it balances it to more desirable levels.

a matter of taste too.. some like them without the filter.
I don't and a lot of other users seem to agree with me.

[PinkFloyd]

Mar 27, 2010 19:39:54 GMT @solderdude said:

the filter brings a rather wide band with a center freq. of around 7kHz a few dB down to the levels where they are supposed to be.

NOTHING is filtered/nulled it balances it to more desirable levels.

a matter of taste too.. some like them without the filter.
I don't and a lot of other users seem to agree with me.

I have yet to listen to the filter Frans but my meter tells me it's a most enjoyable listen.... it seems to be enjoying the music

[PinkFloyd]

Chaz..... mind that beard when you're using epoxy..... it could get very messy

[MaN227]

long beard and hair you have to be a bit more aware of things. I learned that the day I had the weed eater hanging off the back of my head and no one to help lol and yes I'm sure it was every bit as funny as the pic you have in your head now lol

my hair was to my ass and it caught the ends and literally climbed right up to my head. scary but I DID learn lol trust me.

will post up my after being heli'fied shots

I must say looking at them now, its a HUGE visual upgrade from that shitty red plastic.

going to get a bottle of silver model paint and a tiny brush and paint the L and R silver too, seems silly to leave them red when so easy to. matter of fact I may just paint the black plastic that each metal ring is secured to. maybe it'll give the metal a beefier look.

going the clear silicon route for cup ring attachment. btw, as I know I can remove it should the need or desire arise.

[andy]

I ended up painting the L and R in a gloss black, as the rest is a more matt black that looks prett y good.

photos are on here somewhere but i cannot find them right now

[andy]

found it

[MaN227]

thx , can't quite tell but you black out all three circles?

I think if I were to paint the circles completely, they would be silver.

black looks nice though and if U like it ftw

[MaN227]

and as she looks now, fine as frog's hair baby






and one more time, thanks SOoooooo much Frans, Mick & Mike. much appreciate all the hard work and kindness

@mick what are the rings caps supposed to do sound wise? or at least yours or anyones impressions of what they do.

@frans what is the width of this, you say centered at 7, but from where to where though? upper bass to the top? 1K to top? 4k to 10k?

[toad]

The caps and rings don't so much as alter the tonal balance, rather they tighten up the sound, so bass becomes tighter and goes deeper. Mids are smoother and more detailed and highs clearer and more detailed.

Ian

[Deleted]

The caps and rings don't so much as alter the tonal balance, rather they tighten up the sound, so bass becomes tighter and goes deeper. Mids are smoother and more detailed and highs clearer and more detailed.Ian

Hi Chaz,
Ian`s reply is spot on, nothing to add, in some ways its a shame you don`t have a pair of bog standard ones, to compare. Chalk and cheese to my ears, enjoy.

Mick.

[Deleted]

for the graphs, schematics and filter action see the very first post from Mike in this thread and click/download the second link.

You will have to see the filter characteristics not as absolute but relative.
The max filtering at 7 kHz is ONLY 7 dB down.
2.5dB per horizontal line.
0dB on the top -10dB bottom of the graph.

first vertical white dotted line left of the 7kHz marker = 1 kHz (lower limit = 20Hz)
second vertical white dotted line left of the 7kHz marker = 100 Hz
first vertical white dotted line right of the 7kHz marker = 10 kHz (upper limit is 20kHz)

So 7kHz is NOT filtered out only subdued (quite) a bit.

[MaN227]

thanks for the great replies

later I will give my simple mans take on these cans, I will just say there were a few surprises along the way through the journey and I will tell it like it is.

pics of latest test. I finks I likes it and am going to do the middle one as well, will look more balanced to my eye. the illusion that all caps are close to same thickness is what I want to achieve.







not the best photos I know but good enough to see the idea I suppose.

whacha tink? don't be shy

[MaN227]

and the second set painted as well, I'm happy with it

[attilio]

whacha tink? don't be shy

Chaz, I think you've gone a bridge to far. I liked it better before. The silver paint detracts from the quality of the aluminum rings. IMHO.

attilio

[covenant]

I have some filter wool left over if anyone wants it-Filter pads you cut to fit. PM if anyone wants it.

[MaN227]

Mar 29, 2010 11:00:05 GMT attilio said:

whacha tink? don't be shy

Chaz, I think you've gone a bridge to far. I liked it better before. The silver paint detracts from the quality of the aluminum rings. IMHO.

attilio

thanks for sharing your view attilio I appreciate it.

honestly I wish it had more of a metal look to it to more closely match the caps. but with that said I still like it very much afterall I'm not going to be staring at the caps all day and when i look over at them now it just looks like 3 silver caps of similar depth.
Maybe I need to look into getting the whole caps chromed, metal & plastic both. and again to be honest the lid of the paint looked chromed not just silver. it basically has a ton of metal flake in it.
other than being a bit 'off' in the shine department I like it, as I look at them hanging it looks quite balanced now. especially if you just look at the can as a whole and not just the painted bits. I wonder what someone who has not seen rings caps on these cans, would think of it.

again thx for your input, that's what I want, LOVE it or HATE it or anything inbetween

[andy]

Chaz,

i thought about doing this as well as i found some chrome effect spray paint, thank goodness i tried it on somthing else before i sprayed the cans. The effect was bloody awfull!

I ended up keeping the plastic black as it was safest.

I did get rid of the superlux markings though, so i now have a pair of black and silver cans withough markings, they look fantastic, just about in the same league (looks wise) as a pair of top end grados (as far as im concerned!)

[MaN227]

Look what the cat drug in ;D



this is why I have not said anything of the 681's yet



HD681 modded
HD681 unmodded
HD668B unmodded
HD660 unmodded

I will only speak now of what I heard of the 681's.

I will post thoughts on the others at a later time.

Mind you I am just your average joe without possession of all the tech jargon. proper technical terms , don't know , don't care .... so .... if you don't like how I write, well then, go tell someone who gives a phuuuck ;D cause it ain't me man.

my first listen to the modded 681 I was most excited. very first thing I notice bass out the yazooooo HUGE smile filled my face, mind you this was just about 10 minutes after it'd been playing to itself a few hours. the one other thing I noticed on that first listen was very recessed mids and highs to the top, rather muffled sounding like it was being played through pillows, so it was a smile and a frown all in one.

so about 6 hours later oddly it seemed to have less bass { I listened to same tracks each time btw } the bass seemed to be bottled up to about half its prior ... um mass. and the mids and highs were closer to where they should be. so that was a hopeful but uneasy smile

another 12 hours later, this is interesting bass is back and big and the mid treble seemed a tad more crisp. more like it was able to be less congested I guess I'd say it was. I was somewhat pleased but not what I'd call impressed in the least.

you don't believe in break in ?lol trust me its real, these cans are changing. sorry I had to bring up the burn in ima 'lil stinker I know

the next round was after fitting cup rings and caps.
and another 12 hours playing to themselves.

Now this next listen I was honestly blow away !!!! WOW WOW WOW, I felt like I had a thumping subwoofer on my head, no sh!t . the bass was even deeper than prior listen and to me the best of the bass was it seemed faster and more defined. accurate comes to mind. one thing I always listen for is the bass drum and bass guitar to always have their own sound as they after all are different not just one deep thudding mess which u often get. and yes I know recordings have much to do with it. but I am talking about same tracks same source.
the Mids and highs to me are more defined as well. the top of vocal to guitar seems about as far as i'd like it to be, as in forward. as some tracks feel like they are at the edge or clarity, verging on distortion added to actual sounds. if that makes sense.[more on this later in unmodded 681 impressions, another posting] I'd say the Frans filtered driver and the Mick rings caps combined to be fanphukingtastic mods.

GOLDEN


I am most happy with them so thanks so much for everything Frans, Mick and Mike. you guys are GREAT !

They really make clear difference in recording quality, not just file format quality.

If there were one area that I would improve its the very top say 14 to 20 kHz , the sparkle at the very top of high hat , cymbals , various percussion instruments, high harmonics of guitar picks, [Frank Marino comes to mind, if you don't know him your missing one of the best rocking axemen there ever was, Mahogany Rush was the band name.] trust me on this one. he is out of this world, he has the same magical gift that Robin Trower has. and PLEASE for the love of GOD put on your 681's and close your eyes.
How easily I derail lol anywho. ;D back to the 681's I find the bass to be the best my ears have heard in a HP, and it may just be that super deep and tight bass that gives me that THUMB in my chest that is the magic pill ? those that've been around music know surely what I mean. there is something about music when there is enough impact to feel it not just hear it in your head. so yea, that is where my vote goes to its bass as the most magical quality. . it REALLY is something special and I have a new favorite overall HP in my stash its called the Superlux HD681.

took a bit of doing, coordination and waiting and much help from those involved [Frans, Mike and Mick]in my having these wonderful cans.

I am MOST GRATEFUL to you guys, I know I sound like a broken record but I really mean it and don't know how else to show you all without telling you so much, just how much in means to me. The journey the parts as a whole went through to get to my ears for enjoyment , makes them that much more special. They are a treasure that I will hold dear and i will think of you guys often as i listen to them the rest of my days. Call me a softie, whatever I don't care, sticks and stones has taken me a long way in this life along with do unto others .... I suppose that is exactly why I am not afraid to be myself regardless or assumptions and perceptions of others towards me. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

I will say one thing about the other cans and that is I see Exactly what the filter does Frans, stock the distortion of about 0 to 10khz was nasty and i couldn't listen for any length of time.

and one other thing from my short time with them the 668B stock is the best of the three in my mind, I've not noticed the same harshness of the stock 681's , by the way the b is not for bass its for balanced. makes me wonder where the 668F and 668 are ? I find it odd that they would only keep one version of them when prior models all had 3 each. to costly maybe? anywho.

I am MOST curious if a less dropped filter and rings and caps would be what takes the 668B over and above the modded 681.
If I were a gambling man I'd wager on YES. why ? cause stock the two are not that far removed but I'd give the edge in every sound range to the 668B over the 681 hands down. so therefore why I'm so curious, seems to me start with better sound you should again finish after mods with better sound. ok there is one way 681 is better the headband, stick them on, center on ears, done. 668B stick them on, center on ears and fiddle and fiddle with those little arms... sigh. its seems no matter how I adjust it they seem short, and I don't have a cone head lol , so the bars on top rest on my head. so more time and fiddling till I find comfort.

so I don't spell chk so there may be many errors hope it was readable.

one last thing comes to mind about the modded 681's.

Good things come to those who wait. phuckn' a Brother

Peeeeeeaaacccccce MaN

[attilio]

Great review Chaz, I think the paint jobs starting to grow on me. makes them look kind of chunky

attilio

[attilio]

Chaz, do you know that you can make your avatar photo larger? In the modify profile section just increase it to 100 in size. sorry about the OT but he looks a bit cramped in that little box. Chaz Modifications

attilio

[MaN227]

Mar 30, 2010 7:24:32 GMT attilio said:

Great review Chaz, I think the paint jobs starting to grow on me. makes them look kind of chunky

attilio

y thx attilio on both counts

that is exactly the reason why I wanted to paint them, to me its chunky and more balanced looking as each cap appears very close in thickness. I'm most happy with it. If I could find real chrome I'd do it all up lol

if one looks at the stock caps they are very close in thickness with cup cap being a bit thicker, now mine have that same balance of thickness with the metal cup cap.

I ain't even going to mention what I'd like to see, it's not my place .... ;D ;D ;D

oh, it looks as though one of the rock posse has fixed my avatar thx Alex ..... er or whoever

[attilio]

your lookin good big fella.

attilio