AKG K340/702/271 Mods           Beyer 770/880/990 Mods            BlackSeries Cables         Darth Beyer V7 & V7-A

    Headphone Deals          Headphone Stands          Rocks & Lapidary           Sennheiser Mods          The Vixen V4

About Me          Archived Photos          COA Info          FAQ / Cable Care          Home Page / Order Status          Wood Identification Pics

Contents of this page in order… About Me, History of Modding
Build time and status is explained on home page, please read.

About Me

     Began headphone modding in 2003, in foothills of WA state… Still using my Dad's Craftsman band saw that I began using some 55 years ago. No, I don't use a lave, not since I was a machinist in '79. I do much by hand and create a lot of sawdust. Shown is some of my stock of exotic woods I keep on hand. I do a lot of hand sanding, and my left hand is feeling the pain in my old age. I must take many breaks while sanding a build. However I think I have some years to go still :-)

     I've been drawn to music since 1960's. Back in the day, the radio here played a wide variety of music. I developed a liking for many styles, but my all time favorite is classic rock. I like pretty much anything melodic though. Always enjoyed singing, and later picked up some instruments. That lead to recording, beginning with tape and later moving to modern methods. I've recently started enjoying fooling around with that all again.

Short History of Headphone Modding

     In 2002, I recabled my SR225's with a DIY monstrosity I'd braided (was meant for IC's) and heard a difference… maybe not better really, but different than stock. After much more research in theory and construction, development of designs and plain trial and error, I had a unique line of cables to offer. One was an adapter for headphones to go directly off of speaker terminals of full size amps, another a long splitter cable and other more normal offerings...

     In 2003 I started modding headphones. To my knowledge and ample research, there was no one offering recables, nor making woody modifications to headphones… Just a few mod tips on a forum (none on head-fi at the time). Ideas were coming like daylight in the morning, so I began to put them to the test and eventually for sale :-)

     Thinking back on that SR225 sound improvement, I recabled my personal CD3000's. Not long after, I built my first pair of woodies for them (then another ten pairs experimenting). Shortly after I built woodies for my SR225's (and new recable).

     While I thought both my modded headphones were cool, I was amazed out how much attention they were getting in forums. I ended up eventually offering both recable and woodies first for CD3000's, then Grado's. From there I expanded to other headphones, on my own choosing (Senn was next I think). Others began nearly begging for me to mod any and all headphones... Which I pretty much did for awhile. I added more to my normal line, and dropped or passed on others.

     Eventually I didn't have enough time to do everything, so I honed in on what I (mostly) enjoyed doing. Below is a list of designs I've come up with, and still coming up with :-)

Headphile List of Firsts (AFAIK) in Design from 2003 and beyond

CD3000 woodies of all sorts
Headphone recables
Soft yet sturdy, non-microphonic sleeving for after market headphone cables
Grado after market woodies and recables
Grado internal tweaks
Grado C-Pads
Grado wide tops
Grado domed screens
Grado lambskin bands
Grado wood end tips
Grado rod locks
The Vixen
Wood splitters
Wood cable junctions
Stealth Screening
Senn woodies, open and closed
Deep and normal depth woodies
K340 recable and mods
K340 wood sides
Senn 590 cable
Darth Beyers
Luke SkyBeyers
Terminator ((( V4 )))
Black Beyer Pads
Darth Denon DD2 & DD5
Stax woodies
HP3000 custom
K3000 custom
PS3000 custom
X-1, SRX-Omega, A900 woodies and other customs and proto's
Multiple headphone stand designs
Multiple cable designs
Adjustable open/closed headphones
Darth Beyer V-7 Adjustable Bass response
Probably forgetting something :-)
More to come…

     Please don't copy any of my creations for profit. I ask that you please show some respect for the one that basically blazed the trail of headphone modding. Building something similar for your own use is fine, but please don't give directions or pictures of the process. Create something unique you can be proud of, there are many things I don't do that you could... using some imagination.

     
Thanks for your support of headphile over the years, Larry       All of this website ©2003-2012 by headphile.com™

AKG K340/702/271 Mods           Beyer 770/880/990 Mods            BlackSeries Cables         Darth Beyer V7 & V7-A

    Headphone Deals          Headphone Stands          Rocks & Lapidary           Sennheiser Mods          The Vixen V4

About Me          Archived Photos          COA Info          FAQ / Cable Care          Home Page / Order Status          Wood Identification Pics