Massdrop x HiFiMAN HE-350 Audiophile Headphones Discussions | Drop

Free Standard Shipping in the US on orders over $99

Showing 1 of 1924 conversations about:

Massdrop x HiFiMAN HE-350 Audiophile Headphones

Sep 28, 2016

ok so I just finished my mods to the headphones. I definitely like the headphones now and will be keeping them around. This was my review on them before: "Overall, very good sound for a sub $100 headphone. has a lot of clarity due to it's top end brightness while still having a balanced midrange and low end unlike most headphones under $100. However for my tastes it is simply too bright. S's in music are harsh and pierce my ears. High Hat and cymbals stand out a bit too much in songs. With some massive EQ I fixed most of the issue, however there still remains some sharpness to the S's. Overall I would still recommend these to anyone who only has owned low end sub-$100 headphones before and does not plan on buying anything more expensive."
Now for the mods, I tried various positioning of silicon foam to shape the sound. First I tried a ring around the outside of the cans to kinda direct the sound and air going in and out of the cans from the outside. This made the headphones sound a little strange. Couldnt quite put my finger on it but it just felt like there was a section of upper mids that were missing, while still retaining extremely harsh S's. So next I did the opposite, I put a circle 50mm in diameter on the outside of the cans in the very center. Basically centered right where the speaker is located but stuck onto the outside of the cans. This actually sounded pretty good. There was hardly any change in sound signature, but it made the low end ever so slightly more pronounced and made the extreme upper high's ever so slightly less pronounced. Next I moved to the inside of the cans. I took apart the headphones and removed the piece that mounts the speaker drivers inside the cans. Once that is open I moved my silicone circle cutout from the outside of the cans to the inside of the earcup in the same place. Basically making that mod "permanent" in its location (easily removable, but I was happy so that is my permanent mounting place for the mod). You cannot see this silicon piece when looking at the headphones because it is now hidden inside them. Here is how the outside looks with the mod installed inside:

Once the speaker drivers are re-mounted in place, I made a semi-circle cutout of silicon kinda like a crescent moon shape. I put one of these crescent moon cutouts inside each earcup above the speaker driver and below the earpads. They are not visible once the pads are installed. This did shape the sound somewhat, and brought the low end response up just a little bit, however it did nothing to remove the high end over-brightness and the S's were still a major problem. Here is a pic of them installed:

So I removed the earpads again, and now I did a 50mm diameter circle cutout of the polyurethane foam (open-cell, sound can mostly pass through it though with some high frequency attenuation). I placed this circle disk in the space between the crescent moon shape silicon and the rest of the cup. So it looks like the moon is spooning the circle disk. Once the earpads were back on the change was drastic! All high end sibilance with those nasty S's was gone. While still retaining most of the high frequency response and volume. It really just sounds like overall the whole high end just got a major smoothing over from any peaks. Definitely happy with this change. All my music sounds good and clear, and without harshness. Though I suppose some may say the highs are now *too* smooth and a bit too "mellow" in character. So on to the next mod. Here is what the 50mm circle polyurethane disks look like:

I took the earpads off again, removed the polyurethane disks and cut a small circle in the middle of them, maybe around 3/8" diameter. Nothing big. Just enough to let a small area of 100% unfiltered sound through the very center. I placed them back in the same spot, and put the earpads back on. Ah! Now thats it right there. That extreme sibilance is still gone, but there is an ever so slight peak in the highs, just enough to give these headphones character and make sure everyone still thinks they retain the characteristic clarity. Here is what the disks look like with the hole in the middle:

And lastly what the headphones look like with the earpads both on and taken off and the mods installed:

Definitely some of my most favorite cans now under $250. Here are links to the silicon and polyurethane I used for the mods:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ZTOKP2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VYAXTA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Last mod to do is to try installing the Brainwaves HM5 angled earpads and see if I both like the sound change and comfort of them:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G567TD8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Those pads will be in tomorrow so Ill let you all know :)

Sep 28, 2016

View Full Discussion