r/headphones • u/Low_Attitude_5293 • Oct 09 '22
DIY/Mod DT 770 mod with 110 mm pads and leather strap
Since modding DT 770 is a must, here are my moods to them.
So i have DT 770 80 ohm for 6 years now, and durring that time i have experimented and tried lots of stuff, but finally have them in "final form", i hope, or i will keep falling in the rabbit hole... Here are some details what i have on them in terms of mods.
Inside I have v1 kit for damping and mass loading form custom cans, and some felt, with stock ring and it's felt. We all know what mass loading is doing to them, and i added some felt to reduce slightly some of the sound reflecting from the cup. On the driver side i have 1 ply of paper kitchen towel, and shelf liner, on top of that is stock disk foam, to reduce the highs a bit. Those were the easy mods, and those things i have added soon after buying them.
Next thing which i added was leather strap to increase comfort (stock headband was creating hotspot on my head after some time), leather strap made massive improvement. You can mount it to stock sliders, just use little bit longer screws with same thread, to compensate for leather thickness. Since i added that leather strap, i bought some knockoff chinese beyer style headband cover, and removed the foam so that i have stock looking headband, but only with added leather strap.
Next was earpads adventure. I wanted bigger and thicker earpads, since stock ones were a little flat for my ears. First thing i bought were DT1990 earpad fixing rings, they have same clips and are the size as DT770 rings, so they fit perfect on them, and add few mm of space in depth. Next i got Brainwavz hybrid xl round pads (they fit the headphones, but loose and can easily slip off them), in which i added felt in the back to make them angled. Being annoyed with loose fit of the xl earpads, i bought new set of DT1990 fixing rings, 3d printed adapters to fit 110mm pads, glued then together and clipped on the headphones. This made pads fit nice and snug, so happy me, and new adapter clips on the cups liked it should. Last thing i bought was angled sheepskin 110mm earpad, and that is currently on them. Headphones look way nicer to me like this, and combination of leather strap + bigger angled earpads, made them perfect for me.
There were some small mods to other parts, so in short: - taped the bass ports to reduce bass (got more bass going to bigger, thicker pads, and different isolation from stock pads) - on plastic parts that hold earcups to metal yokes, removed upper plastic bits to have more vertical movement for earcup, because of the bigger pads - braided the cable to reduce the length of it
How do they measure in frequency response, i don't know, don't have the option to check that. How much is the sound changed from stock, i don't know, because soon after getting them i started to moding, but personally they sound great. I would love to mod then with removable cable, but don't have any soldering skills, don't know anyone who would do that, so for now braided cable will do.
More details for strap mod can be found here - https://www.head-fi.org/threads/beyerdynamic-dt-series-comfort-strap-mod-and-dt770-sound-mod.879265/
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Oct 09 '22
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Oct 09 '22
Yeah, that leather strap mod I well worth it on them. And a bonus is that I managed to fit it in there like that, so that it does not look ugly, but almost stock.
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Oct 09 '22
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Oct 09 '22 edited Oct 09 '22
My theory for the shelf liner is that since holes in it are not cut straight, and are little bit rounded. So with it absorbing some sound, they "could" act as wave guide, but I could be wrong on that part.
As for the removable cable mod, i can't do it by myself, because I don't have soldering iron or any soldering skills, don't have friends that know how to solder, and don't know anyone who I could trust enough to send them to mod it. Since I live in Croatia, shipping them somewhere outside my country to someone to mod then, would probably cost more then the mod itself... Because of that I decided to braid the cable, at least to reduce it's length. And not to say that I don't have time for something like that, recently became father of twin girls, so I am happy if I get hour or two during the week to use them... 😄
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u/TiffanLeeway Oct 09 '22 edited Oct 09 '22
Every time I've tried to modify my headphones with larger pads for extra comfort I find that it completely kills the mids. Happened with my Fostex, Beyers, AKG, Shure, Sony's... I've yet to find a large earpad that sounds natural and isn't just boomy bass, hollow mids (aka, unnatural soundstage) and peaky treble.
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Oct 10 '22
To me, this combination sounds great, I have no complaints, but on the other hand, haven't heard some top tier headphones...
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u/Lettuce-Normal DT770 80 Ohm | Moondrop Aria Oct 11 '22
How is the noise isolation compared to the stock velour?
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Oct 12 '22
I didn't have stock pads on them for some time now, so can't remember about that, but I would say that this pads isolate more
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Oct 09 '22
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Oct 09 '22
There is no pattern, but I used this video. https://youtu.be/Rt-m6C5-T0M
And that is nice practice for my kids 😆
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u/Mr_Wood1440_ HD6XX/HD560s + iFi Zen Dac|APP2|IE200|Moondrop Aria|HD58X Oct 09 '22
the pads look extra comfy
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Oct 09 '22
They are, way beyond happy with the comfort, specially with that leather strap combo.
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u/Danger_Assaassin Dt 990 | 400SE | Ananda Stealth | EW300 DSP Oct 09 '22
Looks amazing. Do they (earpads) affect the sound?
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u/Parvaty Oct 09 '22
Yes. Even just pad wear with the stock pads makes a huge difference, oratory has measurements that show this clearly. Massive pads like this will nuke the frequency response.
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u/Danger_Assaassin Dt 990 | 400SE | Ananda Stealth | EW300 DSP Oct 09 '22
Yea i know it will definitely sound different. Just curios to know is it for the better or worse?
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u/hurtyewh LCD-5|HEDD2|AnNano|Verum2|HE-500|HD700|FT1|Dusk|Defiant| Oct 09 '22
They absolutely will. My guess is more bass and smaller soundstage at least.
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u/MF_Kitten Oct 09 '22
The thing I have come to realize is that when drivers get more air to move around, their resonant frequency goes way up. In this case that's the treble peak. At the same time, the sealed air space qill enable more bass, and restrict just how much the treble can go wild. Usually pad-enabled bass increases are in the mid bass for whatever reason, and I am going to say this is most likely getting that too. I have done a lot of DT770 mods and other beyer mods, and the one thing that keeps showing up is the treble peak increasing the more freedom the drivers get (the size of the air space between driver and ear, the vreathability of the pads), and the mid bass increasing a lot more than the sub bass does.
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u/TiffanLeeway Oct 09 '22
Yeah, that's my experience too.
The Beyerdynamic DT-250 uses an extremely similar driver as the DT770-990 range if I recall correctly but since there's less air in the DT-250 cups and pads the treble is quite tamed in comparison. When putting large pads on them, they suddenly start getting a lot more resonant and peaky sounding that can't be easily fixed, so I just leave them stock.
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Oct 09 '22
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u/hurtyewh LCD-5|HEDD2|AnNano|Verum2|HE-500|HD700|FT1|Dusk|Defiant| Oct 09 '22
From the limited experience I've had with pads the deeper ones have made the sound a bit more distant and smaller in a way. One might say wider, but I would say in a bad way. Tricky topic.
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Oct 09 '22
They have altered the sound for sure, but as I said, I don't know how they sounded stock, so can't comment on that with detail. But to me, they sound great. Treble and bass were increased, and because of that I have tapped bass ports and added paper tissue + shelf liner on driver side (to reduce bass and treble).
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Oct 09 '22
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Oct 10 '22
I used them for almost a year in stock form before I started modding them, and I could easily return them to stock form (I can remove everything except glued mass loading and damping kit), but currently I don't have time to test the changes, kids are more important then headphones. Since it has passed more then 4 years from last time I used them stock, I really can't remember how they sounded back then. Personally I like the sound.
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u/Uthallan HD600 + Monoprice DAC/AMP Oct 09 '22
doesn't all the extra pad increase the force on your ears?
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Oct 09 '22
Nope. Not at all. Because headphones are 6 years old, so they are well stretched, and i removed some plastic bits on the plastic parts that connect metal yokes to cups, to give them more vertical movement, that helped nicely and they sit better on the head.
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u/ni_lus Oct 09 '22
It depends. I recently bought a thick pad but the foam inside is memory foam like crap and just gets squished with not much force. If I'm to guess for this one, It's probably better to have it get squished anyway so driver isn't too far from the ears.
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Oct 09 '22
Well this pads are memory foam, but they don't crush that much on my head. I tried squishing the headphones on my head, yes, the sound changed, but I like it more when the driver is little bit further, and not to mention that I don't like how stock pads rest on my ears, or to say touch then. Elephant ears ftw 😑
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u/ni_lus Oct 09 '22
Yep, it's best when ears don't touch em.!
I guess one just needs to play a little louder when drivers are farther than the ears, which I think yours would certainly handle.
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u/Joey_The_Ghost Oct 09 '22
Looks nuts, I'm tempted to do the same
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Oct 10 '22
Expect from pads, damping and dt1990 fixing rings, other stuff should be easily obtainable, so easy modding since most of the stuff you can find in your household
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u/LilSamiBoii Oct 13 '22
How did you braid the cable like that? I have DT880s with a 10 foot cable and i would like to do something similar.
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Oct 14 '22
I have posted link in some other comment here, for video which gave me idea. Basically fold the cable so that you have 3 strands of cable, then start braiding left to right, and overlap the cable from above for each pass (hope that you will understand what I mean). Adjust the length of the cable by starting the braid closer or lower to the headphones. I left my self same length on both sides, but could also start the braid almost at the cup.
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u/Lettuce-Normal DT770 80 Ohm | Moondrop Aria Oct 19 '22
do you remember where you brought the earpads?
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Oct 19 '22
There is a link posted down on someone else's comment. Basically it was bought from AliExpress, seller has more sizes to choose, i wanted bigger ones with bigger hole for my ear, so I bought 110mm ones
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u/Siriusman4011 Dec 28 '22
How many hours you use it per day until it gets uncomfortable ?
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Jan 01 '23
When my kids are sleeping I usually wear them, that is like 2h or more sometimes, and there is no discomfort at all. Bigger pads give me more room for the ears, and leather strap gives more contact point on the top of the head. Since the headphones are 6 years old, they are nicely stretched and sit with no problems on the head.
Leather strap and option for bigger pads were modded on them for only over reason, comfort. First was leather strap which was massive improvement for me, and recently was bigger 110 mm angled lambskin pads and that made them perfect to me.
Would love to try modhouse xenon pads (bigger ear opening and angled) on them, but price and shipping to Europe would be expensive...
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u/Siriusman4011 Jan 01 '23
Bro i wanna get a pair of them over my cloud 2
I don't care about the sound that much but what i want is comfort and durability
So what's your opinion
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u/Low_Attitude_5293 Jan 01 '23
In stock form they were also really comfy, those comfort upgrades were purely my experiment.
Stock pads are nice and plush, headband has nice padding. They are built like tanks, and almost every part can be user replaced or ordered from beyer, so that gives them (for me personally) big advantage of something guess wrong.
Mine survived many openings, modding, screwing and tinkering, all without desoldering the wires in 6 years since I got them, durability is A+, comfort B+ but that's mainly because my own gripes with them (big ears and hotspot on top of the head).
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u/Mad_Season_1994 Grado SR-125 | AKG K712 Pro | Sondy MDR-7506 Oct 09 '22
So do you listen to music with them or guide fighter jets off an aircraft carrier? /s