Sennheiser HD-555 + foam mod = excellent improvement!!

[blu_world]

hey guy's,currently about 3 month's ago i decided to buy some headphones that are Sennheiser HD-555,very good pair of entry level/audiophile beginner headphone's
the price for them are about 100 dollar's at amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD5.../dp/B0001FTVDQ

i was browsing the internet and came upon a very simple mod for the hd-555's that said improved sound & turn the 555's into the 595 model,they say in the 555 model & 595 model that everything is the same,including the driver's,but one small thing was holding the hd555's back as a user at head-fi discovered a piece of foam that is located in back of the headphone,check out the detailed video on youtube on how to remove it in a step-by-step detailed manner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvQ8PzBrHXE
I'm not responsible if you wreck your headphone (it's almost fool-proof in the video)

i was scared at first to even think of taking my brand new hd555's apart,voiding the 2-year warranty BUT then I decided to try the Foam Mod.

That risk of thinking i would turn my hd-555's into garbage or not being happy with the new sound..was only a bad thought,my result's of the foam mod were Awesome!

The Highlights: overall,the entire sound has improved in more bass with clear impact,the high's were kicked up a notch sounding better and sound has a better "3D" field to it
i feel like i'm wearing a brand new improved set of headphone's


the only minor complaint about the foam mod is a tad bit more leak of sound but These are Home headphone's,you'll end up looking like princess leah in public with these Full sized can's,person next to you will definitely hear what your playing.

I'm just so surprised Sennheiser would hold back the hd555's with gluing on foam pieces in back of the headphone,it really hold's them back,removing it makes the sound have better feel of it being on the floor with you

I'm happy with the mod!,i'm playing my music over again revealing better detail then before i thought it sounded good before,but even more enjoyable now.

[Suntory_Times]

Just imagine what the hd800 sounds like.

[blu_world]

Originally Posted by Suntory_Times

Just imagine what the hd800 sounds like.

large investment of $1,399.95 for Sennheiser HD800's
i don't have that large of $$bucks$$ to drop that much on headphone's or else I'd be driving Ferrari's and owning islands with it

[Suntory_Times]

Originally Posted by blu_world

large investment of $1,399.95 for Sennheiser HD800's
i don't have that large of $$bucks$$ to drop that much on headphone's or else I'd be driving Ferrari's and owning islands with it

Here I am a poor student and I dropped the money to get them.

[tbizzle]

Glad you like the Sennheisers OP, I've had the HD595's for about 6 months and I love them!

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by Suntory_Times

Here I am a poor student and I dropped the money to get them.

But the difference is that you use them exclusively for everything. Remember....no speakers?

John

[swifty7]

in the first step of the mod, how am I supposed to remove that part without damaging the velure foam?

[Suntory_Times]

Originally Posted by John72953

But the difference is that you use them exclusively for everything. Remember....no speakers?

John

I do have some crappy speakers I can pull out if I have company.

[Suntory_Times]

Originally Posted by swifty7

in the first step of the mod, how am I supposed to remove that part without damaging the velure foam?

Wish I could help, I'd have a look on head-fi if I where you.

[BLindsay]

/shrug just tried it, doesnt seem that much different

tried it some more, seems a little better but not omg uber improvement. If it makes these match the 595's then im really glad i didnt get the 595's lol

[blu_world]

Originally Posted by BLindsay

/shrug just tried it, doesnt seem that much different

tried it some more, seems a little better but not omg uber improvement. If it makes these match the 595's then im really glad i didnt get the 595's lol

really?...how long did you own your headphone's?,I had mine playing music for at least 100 hour's burn-in then decided to do the mod,there's a lot of difference i notice on mine right after i did the mod,Instrument's in the music have a better detail & a bit more Treble,something that i found myself doing was raising the treble on the EQ before the mod,but soon after i did it it with the new mod,i had to turn the treble down to 0 at normal.

the second thing i noticed was the bass,the music had a bit more impact,the sound deadening material foam they stuck right in back of the speaker driver covering the area seems to be too much,making it sound dull & holding the sound back in somewhat a negative way.

so in that sense,I take it in a Home theater world,too much sound absorbing material could be bad for the sound also.

Originally Posted by swifty7

in the first step of the mod, how am I supposed to remove that part without damaging the velure foam?

heh,when i first did this mod,this part scared me most because if you don't do it right,it could rip.
but don't worry too much about it,it won't if you evenly give a pull on the velvet piece of the headphone,Don't go pulling it by a thin peice

it's made to pop off,just pull it with some pressure on it evenly,it clips right back on when your putting it back together nice and fine...
and why are you asking?,the link is up above on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvQ8PzBrHXE
detailing it step by-step
read instructions and watch the video :P

[supersix4]

lol makes me glad I never bought a product from them that they intentionally blocked their own product with foam. But thats cool if someone has those that its that easy to fix.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by supersix4

lol makes me glad I never bought a product from them that they intentionally blocked their own product with foam. But thats cool if someone has those that its that easy to fix.

Is that what you believe? I assure you that foam was there for a reason. It might have been to reduce resonance or to prevent the piece with the holes in it from vibrating at low frequencies. I doubt very much that the foam was put there just to make this headphone sound worse than the 595. Just because this guy on YouTube says that's the case, doesn't make it so.

I can also guarantee you that neither of those headphones is putting out 12-14 Hz (unless it's at -55db or something like that.)

When someone you don't know says that something sounds better, how can you trust that judgement? Most people have no idea what good sound is supposed to sound like. Just listen to the way many people play their car stereos. They actually think that when there's 100% distortion and the car doors vibrate, that that's a good thing.