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ATH M40X Modifications
ATH M40X Modifications
Waterfall (CSD) L + R
The CSD (Waterfall plot) shows some short lived resonances around 4kHz, 8kHz and 16kHz. No idea
if it is a coincidence but theses frequencies are harmonics. No deal breaking long lived resonances
but also no remarkable performance.
Time to experiment with pads, felt, wool, filters and other modifications.
What's immediately apparent is the difference between L and R driver between 100Hz and 500Hz.
The only obvious difference between L and R cups is the presence of the headphone socket inside the
cup. Also it could be (small) difference in the cup volume but 4dB is a bit much for this.
Underneath the pads there is an acoustic transparent foam which 'lifts' the pads a bit. This enables the
sound to pass through the vents underneath the pads and make it into the 'ear chamber'.
stock, foam under pads removed stock, a double layer of foam under the pads
Removing the foam Increased the lower mids, a double layer decreased the lower and upper mids.
The top and (above 10kHz) is giving a 'fake' sense of details and the shimmer off cymbals and violins
gets a slightly 'artificial' and unnatural effect.
stock, with 2mm felt in front of the driver stock, with electronic filter.
The felt lowers the 10kHz peak and does not change the FR up to
5kHz. The side effects are the dip in FR around 7.5kHz,
(measured it a couple of times) and doesn't lower the 15kHz peak.
The electronic filter (shown on the right) lowers the bass and addresses the peaks only. The
headphone sounds more natural.
Pads have a profound impact on the sound. Below some experiments with different pads (left channel)
stock pads, Tascam TH-02 pads stock pads, Fostex T50RP pads
stock pads, Beyerdynamic DT770 pads stock pads, Shure SRH-840 pads
stock pads, Shure SRH-940 velour pads stock pads, SRH-940 pads + 2mm felt
The Shure SRH-940 pads seem to perform well when the peak is lowered using a 2mm thick felt.
The sonic signature is quite flat right down to 40Hz and extends beyond 20kHz. There is a dip around
3.5kHz but this is present in a lot of headphones and not as annoying as dips in other frequency
bands. Results of this mechanical/acoustical modification is shown below (right, left)