When playing back digital audio, the most important components are the DAC (Digital-to-Audio Converter) and amplifier but with vinyl, you have a few other things to think about. For starters, a Turntable is an instrument. It needs to be tuned to play properly (leveled flat on a surface, proper cartridge and stylus installation, tonearm balancing, the right amount of weight for the cartridge and proper anti-skate mechanism setting), then there’s the RIAA curve (check out this wikipedia article for specific frequency info), amplification and there you have a ton of options, from solid state to tube equipment that can focus on “flat” reproduction of audio to “warm, rich” tones from various combinations of tubes and other components that through the years have been favored over the “cold” (neutral, flat) sound of digital.

I don’t apply any dynamics processing to the transfers, only an Equalization curve that compliments my cartridge’s response. With regards to the format’s noise footprint, I don’t apply any noise reduction processes, only remove any obvious spikes with some spectral editing. Since the EQ curve I came up with seems to work well with my cartridge, I batch process (automate) all my transfers to save time. Loudness and tone will vary from track to track a bit, just like playing back the original vinyl.

You’ll also need a bit of amplification playing back this mix, expect the sound to be pretty low (but listenable) through your laptop’s headphone output. Like listening to vinyl, some notes should stick out a little more and depending on the type of amp and speakers you play this back on,  you’ll hear detail and imaging that won’t sound as “digital” or “boxed in” considering it’s an MP3 (I play vinyl transfers at this quality on my iPod and they sound great through my mobile playback system). I hope you dig it and become re-acquainted with your volume knob (you can also download the mix here). Here’s the track list:

1. Check the Rhyme – A Tribe Called Quest
   (Low End Theory)
2. My Little Girl – Bobbi Humphrey
   (Satin Doll)
3. Honest – Band of Skulls
   (Baby Darling Doll Face Honey)
4. C.R.E.A.M. – El Michels Affair
   (Enter the 37th Chamber)
5. Something – Grillade + Big K.R.I.T.
   (The “Wuz Here” Sessions)
6. You’re A Customer – EPMD
   (Strictly Business)
7. Ain’t No Love Lost – Curtis Mayfield
   (Got To Find A Way)
8. One More Time – The Clash feat. Mikey Dread
   (Sandinista)
9. North-East To Nippon – Breakestra
   (Dusk Till Dawn)
10. Forever – Marvin Gaye
    (Greatest Hits Volume 2)

As you know, sonic decisions are best made by listening, but that doesn’t mean that visual tools are useless. When looking at the before and after waveform shots, focus on the black areas – that’s headroom. When looking at the differences between the original mix and then the master, notice how much of that headroom has been used, but how you can still “see” some of it between the red parts (which is signal). A lot of that is “crest”, or Peak-to-Average Ratio that you can actually see. Often times I see heavily maximized masters that look similar to a solid brick when looking at it in Waveform view and that means very little crest factor.

Saki – Sounds Around Us
Produced and Mixed by Arkiv

Before (original mix)

Peak (max): -1.69dB
Average RMS: -18.65dB
Max RMS: -9.32dB

After (mastered)

Peak (max): -0.9dB
Average RMS: -13.72dB
Max RMS: -5.06dB

Leaving a little bit of headroom even after mastering is important for hip hop releases. There are tons of rich transients in the lower, lower mid and middle frequencies that are too often squashed because people think their album should compete in loudness to everything else out there, killing what a lot of people perceive as “warmth”. I hope that when listening to the above master, you noticed the subtle overtones from some of the background instruments, and how the sax towards the end is able to breathe and sound smooth while there’s plenty of punch on the output.

A lot of the hip hop records I consider classic (from both east and west coast artists) from the late 80′s and 90′s have similar loudness levels to this example (many even lower). If you crank the volume on your system while playing some of those classics, you can see how much the drivers are working back & forth (more crest, bigger distances between the positive & negative signals) which, if you listen to on a nice full range system, results in a helluva lot more punch than records that are maximized too much and don’t have anywhere near the same amount of crest that cuts like the above have when you turn up the volume a few dBs to “catch up” to the loudness of the heavier-maximized record. Props to Saki and Arkiv for realizing the importance of levels. Thankfully, I’m seeing a bit more clients with similar levels in their source mixes but there are still a lot of artists, producers and engineers who need to perhaps realize how important it is to have headroom in their projects.

You can read more on what I think about loudness and how to improve your mixes by reading part five of my series on mastering at:

http://www.redsecta.com/pdf/RedsectaMasteringSeriesPartV.pdf

For more on Saki, check: sakiaus.bandcamp.com, @SAKI66 on Twitter
For more on Arkiv, check: soundcloud.com/arkiv, arkiv.bandcamp.com, @_Arkiv on Twitter

Terminill is always pleasure to work with. If I ever need revisions done on mixes for the projects that I’m mastering, Terminill does them quickly and gives me plenty of headroom for the mastering stage (it’s great to find this level of professionalism in times where many mix engineers apply too many “mastering” effects and don’t know when to stop processing at the mix level).

His studio is equipped with Peluso mics, Great River pres, dbx compression, Pro Tools, Waves, Sonnox and Softube plug-ins. His studio has lounge & kitchen facilities and I hear there’s even a vending machine on the way. Check out Terminill’s/Flatline Studios’ website at: www.terminillmusic.com

Distortion seems to be an accepted part of the listening experience these days. I don’t mean distortion in the audio processing sense – I mean distortion caused by compression of source files (CD tracks have a weight of 1,411 kilobits per second versus the highest quality MP3s that are 320 kilobits/s). Then you have cheap electronics that sacrifice size and weight of components for portability which further degrade the quality of sound, down to cheap drivers (speakers, earbuds) even cheap wire used to build and transmit the signal to the listener.

Like most things in life, once you get a taste of “the good stuff” you don’t go back. Your experience becomes more refined and thus your requirement for that experience starts to demand a higher quality. Sound has taken a huge back seat for the sake of portability, so we have to focus on the fact that people are not going to stop to listen to music the way they currently are; what we can do is make it possible for people to have a better listening experience without having to change the way they do it.

There has always been a huge monetary gap between what many consider consumer-grade and audiophile-grade playback systems. If you speak to someone who has spent a small fortune on an audiophile-grade system, it’s easy to feel like you can’t have a truly enjoyable listening set up for less than a few thousand dollars while someone who has spent a couple hundred bucks on an iPod might not even be concerned that their cool-looking white Apple earbuds don’t sound nearly as good as other headphones, much less think that they can use their iPod as the center of an Audiophile “starter” system.

This article will introduce those of you who may only own an iPod (or similar media player) & stock earbuds to the Audiophile world, for less than 200 bucks. This article assumes you already own an iPod or other media player. I truly believe that anyone who starts on a system like this will begin appreciating the quality of audio more, and hopefully, upgrade to an even more enjoyable (stationary) system down the line.

 

My DIY LOD Cable (Neutrik 3.5mm plug, Qables LOD connector, Canare Mini StarQuad. It also has a 68kOhm resistor to avoid getting "unsupported device" messages)

iPod/iPhone LOD Cable (about $15 or less if you make your own)

One of the cool things about the iPod/iPhone is the ability to bypass the built-in audio amplifier using the LOD (Line Out Dock). This allows you to get the audio signal directly from the DAC without going through the “not so awesome” amplifier stage that’s built in, which doesn’t supply enough power for higher impedance headphones anyway (more on this in a bit). Since we’re going to use a better amplifier (cleaner, more power) it makes sense to amplify the direct signal (and not amplify an already amplified signal).

If you have a different kind of media player, the best solution is to make or purchase a high-quality 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable that will not degrade the signal as bad as cheap cables do. Avoid distorting the signal before hitting the external amp by not fully maximizing the internal volume (amp).  Each device is different, so running it at 50-60% of the player’s internal amplification is enough juice for the external amp we will be using. Even if you have a LOD cable for your iPod/iPhone, it would still be a good idea to get a good 3.5mm to 3.5mm to connect the amp to other sources, like your laptop or portable CD player, etc.

CMoy headphone amp ($50 – $100+)

Dedicated headphone amplifiers have been around for some time. Many Audiophiles also have high-end headphone listening systems in addition to their loudspeaker systems, usually tube-based amps to drive high impedance headphones which typically cost a bit more than the headphones themselves. Many of the better quality headphones out there have a high oHm (impedance) rating, which means they require more voltage (power) to be driven at their nominal levels. Still, this kind of set up is not ideal for mobile listeners since you can’t put one of these tube amps in your pocket to take around with you.

In 1998, Chu Moy revolutionized the quality of portable listening by publishing a paper on making a high-quality, portable solid state amplifier that people soon started calling the “CMoy” (original article here).  The design is simple and uses high quality solid state components. With this amp, you can drive high impedance headphones like the Sennheiser HD 650 (or any headphones requiring up to 300 oHms).  It is also very efficient in terms of power, using a single 9v battery that often lasts months. You can make your own for about $30 and it is an ideal first DIY project if you’re thinking about making your own audio gear in the future. For the sake of this article, I will suggest that you look around and purchase one already made. They typically go for $50 or more, depending on who makes it and what components are used. A company named JDS Labs has added a “bass boost” circuit to the CMoy they sell.

My CMoy was made by CSG (Crystal Sound Group), an electronics company out of the UK. I like the CMoy design for its simplicity and “clean” electronics, so I didn’t care about any bass enhancements (JDS Labs’ website states “bass is increased up to 9.4 dB, just shy of a perceived 2x increase in bass volume”, that’s too vague for me; I want to know what specific low end frequencies are boosted and at what kind of slope – thanks, but I’ll pass).  CSG has an eBay store and what I dig is that they also allow you to customize things like the color of the face plate and LED. This particular CMoy costs about $75 including shipping, but if you do a search on eBay for “CMoy amp” you will find many DIYers selling their amps (check feedback ratings and you should be alright). These are the specs for the CSG CMoy:

Amplifier:

Burr-Brown Texas Instruments OPA2134 dual op-amp (one of the best FET input op-amps for audio, suitable for battery use).

ALPS volume control with power switch.

Panasonic 0.22 mf high quality polypropylene input cap. This cap is one of the best choices for the audio signal path. It provides clear, detailed high frequencies and solid bass.

Metal film 1% hand matched resistors. All resistors are highest quality metal film 1% tolerance and hand matched, to ensure both channels are identically balanced.

Gold plated jacks.

Power supply:

TLE2426 Rail splitter. This rail splitter provides long battery life and stable amplifier performance, which provides precisely balanced positive and negative supply voltages.

Panasonic ultra low ESR 470uF. This power cap has a fast discharge rate. This results in clear, detailed highs and low, deep bass.

Panasonic high quality polypropylene capacitors for noise reduction.

Many Audiophiles agree that in terms of design, portable solid state headphone amps don’t get much better than a well-built CMoy at any price point.

Grado SR80 ($99)

Highly regarded and considered to be possibly the best introduction to the world of high-end headphones, the SR80 is definitely a great value. Grado Labs, in my opinion, is a perfect example that high-quality sound does not have to break the bank. If you are considering a cooler-looking, more trendy pair of cans that cost 3X as much, at least know this: Grado Labs has been making headphones since the 50’s (one of the U.S.’ oldest hi-fi companies), the founder of the company, Joseph Grado was inducted in the Audio Hall of Fame in 1982 for his contributions in phono cartridge design and all headphones are built and hand-assembled in Brooklyn, New York – all by a company that staffs 17 people.

These are an open-design, so they won’t isolate sound. In turn, people sitting in your proximity will be able to hear the sound coming out of the drivers quite a bit. The tradeoff for isolation in open designs is that they sound more natural than closed-design headphones that are designed to isolate sound by enclosing your ears. The issue with closed-designed headphones is that they give you more of a boxed in, “in your head” sound than open-design headphones.

These cans are great for all types of music. They definitely have a character of their own without sounding “hyped” in a negative way; bass is “tight” and not “boomy” and I simply don’t think you can spend $99 on a better pair of headphones that are great for all types of music. They may seem a little awkward at first because they look and feel like something early telegraph operators might have worn, but you get used to them quickly (my biggest problem with them was the thin vinyl headband, so I bought a $15 aftermarket cushioned headband for added comfort). When you’re ready to step it up to the big leagues, they’ll be waiting for you with their flagship PS1000 model ($1,700).

Is it worth it?

If you don’t care about sound quality and feel that looks and portability are more important than audio quality (in other words, you’re a robot and music is only a backdrop for your daily activities) then chances are you probably won’t consider this a worthwhile upgrade.  Even though the amp is little in size, it can be a challenge trying to carry it in your pocket.  Also, the SR80’s cable is a lot larger in diameter than any of the earbud style headphone cables (four conductors), so that gets a little in the way as well.

As far as performance, this is where it all counts. You should notice a considerable upgrade in quality immediately. This is because you have added a better amp with cleaner electronics and a great set of headphones to use with your media player; you have also cleaned up the signal by using better wires to connect your devices. Headphone upgrade aside, you will also hear a difference when you plug in the SR80s directly to the player versus using them with the amp (the SR80’s nominal impedance is 32 oHms, so your media player will be able to drive them without needing the amp).

Bypassing the media player’s amp stage (iPod/iPhone) and using the CMoy instead will reveal a cleaner, bigger sound stage at any volume level, since the high-quality Alps volume knob does a great job of “tracking” the audio signal evenly on both channels. Try plugging in the headphones directly to the player to a comfortably loud level – you might notice how the lesser-quality internal amp starts to distort the signal as you increase the volume, then plug in the CMoy to hear how you can go very loud and still hear a clear, punchy signal.

Source files also play a big factor in upgrading your listening experience. Before getting my CMoy, I had only listened to MP3s directly from the iPod or through my Laptop’s (amplified) output. I can now say that what I thought was a generally bad quality associated to MP3s has a bit to do with the lesser quality amplifiers built into these media players. I guess what I’m saying is that when adding a better amp to the mix, MP3s don’t sound as bad as I thought they were. I now only listen to uncompressed (16/44.1) .wav files of vinyl transfers on my iPod Touch and I often look forward to listening to them on this system for enjoyment when I’m not home.

The mix for “After All” was a bit crunched already, so I broke it down into a Mid/Side Matrix and did my best to give the mix a bit more punch and fatness and I remember staying up pretty late that day making microscopic changes to processing done on the side channel, because I realized that if these cats didn’t like the way it turned out, chances were that I wasn’t going to get a shot at mastering the full project later on, so I suppose saying that I was “sweating bullets” would be a little bit of an understatement.

I spoke to Karim a couple of days later and was pleased to learn they liked the way the master came out, the single was already being cut at the plant. Part of Mastering Audio is rolling with the punches.  If for whatever reason the mixes aren’t optimal, your job is to make sure they translate as best as possible – and you better have a hat and some good tricks in it, simple as that.

Months later, Karim put me in contact with Rhett for mastering the album. Rhettmatic has been to many world-class mastering facilities and Karim was hoping I could have Rhett sit in on the mastering session because that is part of the traditional experience of mastering an album!

Now, you have to appreciate that I don’t operate a commercial facility. Redsecta isn’t a commercial mastering house – it’s for the most part a mentality, it is truly a revolutionary concept that I have been working on for over a decade, and I say “revolutionary concept” because I have earned it from years of experience and clients saying things like “You do better work than that expensive mastering spot we did our last album at!” You are not supposed to be able to master audio with great results this way. It is not at all a traditional mastering studio in the sense that there’s front office, a lounge room and the mastering room has a nice comfortable couch, no. It is the living room in my home! (okay, in all fairness, we also do have a comfy couch). My speaker listening situation is not the most ideal for a wide area of my space and the accuracy of my speakers starts to get skewed a little bit above the nominal range of the speakers; can’t do much “super loud, punchy & impressive” monitoring here.

This was the same environment and mind state that I had when I mixed and then mastered Keelay and Zaire’s “Ridin High”, which the SF Weekly said “showcased a soulful signature sound slicker than the usual indie-rap beats, with songs that boomed with the professional weight of something that might emerge from Dr. Dre’s stable”. This is all fine and well, but would Rhettmatic, legendary DJ, be cool with this?

Thankfully, Rhett had heard this album and liked the quality of my work and was completely understanding of my situation. We settled on the idea that we should have a session where he could come in and we could sequence the album (after listening to the masters over his preferred systems). We did eventually have a session where Rhett came in to make sure the sequencing of the album was just right.

It’s worthwhile to mention that Rhett has been the only client who has come to Redsecta. I’ve turned down work from people who have said they needed to sit in the session (totally understandable), so having Rhett come over for sequencing was the least I could do and I am grateful he gave me a shot regardless of my non-traditional situation.  I would have completely understood if he would have had this album mastered at a proper commercial facility, being that it is his first album project production-wise, so I made sure that this album could not be mastered any better by anyone else, in any other facility on the planet.

The album was mixed by Scott “Tenacity” Martin. The mixes already had a bit of bus compression so I didn’t do much in that department. Interestingly, a couple of months before working on this album, I had gotten rid of my API 2500 which was the only outboard compressor I had been using on a lot of my masters for the last couple of years. I decided to get rid of it because often times, mixes come in compressed already so I was only using it for gentle comp’ing duties, plus I own all of the UAD Compressors (and often times like those better when mixing, when the sound of the API wasn’t working out).  The “weight” that you hear all over the album was done largely in part with the Triode, Pentode and Tape processes of my Crane Song HEDD , so there is no analog “loop” on this album (the HEDD is indispensable for adding that “tube” flavor to digital mixes even when mixes are already somewhat “beefed up”). The UAD Precision EQ is also all over this album, it is a very “non-digital-sounding” EQ that rounds off sharp frequencies nicely.

Performing "We Gotcha" at the L.A. Release Party (at The Little Temple, December 15, 2010)

While working on the “We Gotcha” single, I knew I had heard that beat before. This is one of those joints you hear and don’t forget, but I couldn’t remember where. Last week I got the CDs I ordered from Fat Beats (a few lucky friends of mine are getting this as a Christmas gift) and then I read Rhett’s liner notes for this track:

“How this song came together was somewhat ironic…A year & a half ago, I was asked to participate in an All Star Producer Showcase with Illmind, M-Phases and Keelay & Zaire, that was being held in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles. In addition to the producer showcase, on the bill was Supastition aka Kam Moye & Illmind’s group, Fortilive were booked to perform live. Anyways, knowing that I was going to be on the same stage with some of the dopest hip hop/music producers that are out right now, I actually went into panic mode. I didn’t have any new beats at the time, so I made at least five new beats for that particular showcase because I wanted to be able to keep up with these guys. Compared to these guys, I felt like the underdog…”

That was at the 2^nd Street Jazz Club in Little Tokyo and I was there. When Keelay and Zaire are in town, I try not to miss an opportunity to link up with them and later in the night, I saw Rhett and walked up to give the man props for being a legendary DJ and holding down L.A. for so many years. Little did I know I would get a shot at mastering his album almost two years later! Nothing against the other talented producers at the showcase, but being a 90’s head from Los Angeles – which was an era when The Beat Junkies and associates (Dilated, Visionaries, etc.) reigned supreme, it’s interesting to read Rhett’s thoughts about him being up on stage with the rest of those “newer school” cats.

This album is something you do not want to sleep on, please believe. It’s got sick tracks provided by a legendary DJ and an MC that represents the art form masterfully.  I’ve already caught these guys live twice and it’s not your typical hip hop show where the MC rhymes over an instrumental. They have a true cohesive energy and each performance is different – it’s great to see a true DJ/MC performance still alive in Hip Hop and I consider myself blessed to have been a part of this project.  Please do your ears a flavor and pick up the CD and pop it into a nice system!

A good quality passive switcher similar to this one typically costs about $100, but you can build this for about $10 (plus the cost of a case which can be anywhere from $5 to $50 or more, depending on how much you want to spend on it). The necessary tools for this build are a Drill,  5/8″ & 1/8″ bits, a soldering iron & a screwdriver.

The purpose of a completely passive switcher is to route one source of signal to multiple outputs as cleanly as possible (without a power supply), using a good switch and the shortest possible paths to the outputs using good wire and soldered connections. The most important thing with any build project is first determining your needs and then finding the right components for it.

The Passive "Can" Switcher inputs

I built this one for three pairs of headphones I like to have available for mastering (each one gives me a range of accuracy to rely on) and while my Crane Song Avocet DAC/Monitor Controller has two outputs for the excellent headphone amp it has built in, I decided that it would save me time and also wear on the Avocet’s jacks if I had all my cans patched into a switcher and then just select the one I need any time.

The first thing I did was measure the holes needed for the jacks and switch & drilled them:

The hole in the back of the case is the input, and under the switch, a 1/8" hole is needed for a guide that's built into the switch.

Then, it was time to fit in the jacks and switch. I used a red “chicken head” knob I had around and fitted everything to make sure nothing was loose:

When researching the kind of wire used on the insides of high-end audio gear, I discovered that a lot of it is built using Teflon-coated, 18awg solid core silver plated copper wire. Sounds exotic and expensive, doesn’t it? Well, it’s hella cheap.  I got some on eBay a while back (also a good place to search for a case) for a few cents per foot and used it for this build. Since the coating is clear, I used a few pieces of shrink tubing on all the ends to identify each wire:

A (Black) = Left, B (Red) = Right, C (Blue) = Shield

Now we move on to making the connections on the switch and jacks. Since I only needed three connections (left/right/shield) on the switch for the 1/4″ TRS connections on my headphones, a 3 pole switch was sufficient. I also wanted three outputs, so the switch I needed had to have at least 3 positions as well. While doing some research on the parts I needed for this build, someone put me on to the Lorlin brand of rotary switchers. Lorlin has either a 3 pole/4 position rotary switch that would have been perfect if I also wanted an “off” position, or a 4 pole/3 position switch.

I decided to get the switch with the least amount of positions (3) and kind of liked the idea of always having one of the cans switched on during situations where I would be using all three; the extra pole is simply not used.

The 1/4″ jacks I used were Neutrik jacks (I also used Neutrik 1/4″ connectors and the same SPC wire for the interconnect used for this switcher). This is how the jacks are soldered:

Black = Tip (Left), Red = Ring (Right), Blue = Sleeve (Shield)

I use Cardas Quad Eutectic solder for all my DIY Audio Projects, so provided that you make good soldered connections, you now have a completely passive switcher that will not degrade the quality of the audio you route through it. This is what the inside of the switcher looks like with all of the jacks soldered to the switch:

To the right, is how the drivers should look once you’ve desoldered the old wires and removed the old solder using a wick. Notice how you can see the tiny little holes for each terminal.

This is where having a temperature controlled soldering station helps quite a bit; the soldering station I have doesn’t give you a true readout on how much wattage is being fed to the iron, but for soldering my interconnects, I usually have it set at about 40% its total power, so about 15watts. For removing the solder, you’re going to want to kick up the juice a little bit to about 25watts; the idea is to get in on each of these fast with the wick, have it suck up the solder and then take a break. It took me about three passes per terminal to remove the solder completely. You don’t want to try to do each one in one pass, as you’ll most likely heat the terminal too much and if you do that: Game Over, you’ll need new drivers.

Modification of the ear cups

The next thing I did was modify the cable opening on the Left Ear Cup so I could fit in the female mini XLR casing. In order for the Redco jack to fit snug, you’ll need a 3/8″ drill bit to modify the original, rectangle-shaped opening. Make sure the small button used to lock/unlock the male jack faces outward, then use a couple of toothpicks to spread in some E6000 glue around the edges and set this aside to dry. It should be ready in about an hour. Once sealed, the jack’s casing is fused to the ear cup.

Now it’s time to wire everything up and solder in the new and improved wires. Below is a comparison between the stock wires (above) and the Canare Star Quad cable I used (there are cotton strands between the shield and the four wires, you don’t need them; I took this comparison picture before cutting the shield and these strands off).

The next step is modifying the inside of the ear cups for dampening. Below is a shot of the original ear cup; I decided that since the material I use is really dense, that I would cover the deepest rectangle depression as well as the smaller inner circle. I did nothing scientific here, I just guessed that this much coverage would dampen the lows just enough; the reason why you’re reading this now is because I think I got lucky and my assumption worked!

Heat up your Glue Gun and if it’s got a “low” setting, use that. This of course, assuming you’re using a similar type of dampening material. If you’re using something else, use an appropriate adhesive.

This is what the ear cups look like after hot gluing in the dampening material.

At this point, I already had painted all of the parts and assembled the cans back together. Below is what the painted and assembled headphones look like, with the ear cup modifications and the casing for the female mini XLR jack glued in place.

Soldering the new wires & connectors

The next step is to make the wire harness and solder the female mini XLR jack. I used some left over cable and used one of the white wires for the shield, which I marked at either end.

Then, I soldered the additional wires needed for the right ear cup and shrink-tubed the joints:

The lower wires are for the left driver, the two twisted wires are for the right driver; the left driver needs the shield, negative and positive wires soldered to the terminals, while the right driver only needs the shield and positive wires soldered. This is the left driver with the new wires soldered in place (from left: white wire=negative, blue=positive, white (marked)=shield).

Before soldering the right driver, I shrink-tubed the wires with both blue and red shrink tubing, just to match the corresponding blue (L) and red (R) details. You want to have enough wire that will allow you to extend the cans all the way without stretching the wires. Shrink tubing is a good insulator as well as protector for your wires, definitely better than the thin insulation of the stock wires.

This is about how much room you want to leave yourself for soldering in the wires to the drivers. I also placed small cable ties inside the ear cups to avoid the wires pulling on the soldered connections as a precaution (not really necessary since there’s plenty of room to stretch the can, but just in case someone or something pulls on the wires at either end, they’ll be extra protected). The wires don’t need to be secured under the headband, they simply tuck inside and then you snap the headband’s buttons, that’s all.

This is a close-up of the cable tie from the inside of the ear cup:

Putting it all back together

After you’ve soldered the drivers, simply tuck in the excess wire into the ear cup, place the foam disc over the drivers and snap the holding rings back in place, then the ear pads; have fun putting these back in place

Building the new cable

The Male Mini XLR connector:

One of the things I like to do after soldering all my connectors is apply some hot glue in between each terminal for added stability and insulation. There’s going to be a little bit of excess glue preventing you from closing the connector with the tiny cover, so if you do this, you’ll also need to cut off the excess glue until you are able to cover the connection with the cover as shown in this pic.

Once soldered (and this goes for the female connector in the left ear cup), slip the soldered connectors into the casings to make sure they fit, then put a little bit of E6000 glue on the connectors and slip into the casings. Let dry and then fill the cavities with hot glue gun (for even more insulation and stability inside the casings).

The Furutech 1/4″ plug:

What is hidden by the cover on the Mini XLR connector above is the fact that I soldered the two blue and white wires to each of the positive and negative terminals on both connectors. This is definitely not a requirement, but many believe that doubling up the wires improves performance. I can’t tell for sure, but I did notice more separation of instruments that isn’t as noticeable when listening to the stock DT 770. I’m certain it’s not a placebo effect either, since I’m able to switch between both sets using a passive switcher that I built.

On the mini XLR end, I added about 4 layers of shrink tubing for strain relief and on the 1/4″ end, I used the coiled strain relief included with the Furutech plug. This was a bit of a challenge since the addition of Techflex made the cable diameter slightly larger, but found that turning the coil counterclockwise while pushing it through did the trick.

In Conclusion:

I’ve put together this two part tutorial about 8 months after I made this modification and I’ve put these cans through a lot of use since then. I definitely am hearing an improvement throughout the entire frequency range and they are not fatiguing to listen to (at moderate volume levels). These have become one of my favorite pair of cans to listen to music on, and I use them also to check my masters. They have not eliminated the use of my Bowers & Wilkins speakers (685 bookshelfs with 608 sub) for checking my masters, but I rarely find the need to make tweaks to my audio work after checking it over these.

I hope you found this useful; if you have any questions regarding this build, feel free to drop me a line.

Online, I found that many people  modify these headphones for bass reduction (some people even use blunt wraps, no joke). The most popular modified configuration for these includes wiring both drivers as opposed to wiring a harness to the left driver that also feeds the right driver and a cable upgrade to replace the flimsy stock cable.

I also painted these; I hadn’t airbrushed in years. We won’t go into the painting process much, as that could be a tutorial on its own.

I keep all my prized cans in flight cases, so for my mod, I wanted a detachable cable that I could store in the case and that would still feed into the unit from the Left ear cup, which meant that I also had to make a wire harness to replace the old one. I decided to use a Mini XLR connector and later found out that it’s one of the toughest connectors to solder as the terminals are tiny (as you will see later).

Overall, I’m very happy with my mod. I purchased a second pair of DT770′s which I’ve properly burned in for comparison (don’t rule out burning in headphones and cable upgrades until you’ve done your own research). I found that my original thoughts about these cans still held up when listening to the stock pair.

In the modified pair, I can still hear a good amount of bass, but it sounds tight and not muddy, it almost sounds like I’m listening to the low end of my B&W 685′s. I can also hear more details in the overall lower to upper mids; I’m getting a nice reproduction of frequencies around 600Hz – 1kHz without overpowering the lower frequencies. The high frequencies no longer have this “tiny” sound to them and I’m also hearing a wider stereo image which I believe is due to the cable upgrade.

This is what a stock DT770 looks like:

This tutorial will be broken up into two parts:

• Part I:
  • Introduction
  • Materials
  • Tools
  • Disassembling the headphones

• Part II:
  • Desoldering and cleaning the connections
  • Soldering the new wires & connectors
  • Modification of the ear cups
  • Putting it all back together
  • Building the new cable

Materials used for this mod

Dampening Material. I had some leftover acoustic foam underlayment from when we put down our floors, and I’ve used the same material under my nearfield’s MoPads to give me a little bit more absorption.

Canare Star Quad cable (L-4E6S). This cable is excellent for headphone builds. It has great shielding and four .21awg wires for our +/- connections.

1/4″ Techflex. I like sleeving my cable builds with Techflex, it gives the cables a good appearance and it stays cleaner than having the bare Canare sleeve, which can get dirty really fast.

3/16″, 3/8″ & 1/2″ Shrink Tubing for the ends of the connectors and the wires coming out of the earcups.

Desoldering Wick. The terminals on the drivers will have a good amount of solder and to be able to see the tiny holes on the terminals to feed the new wires into, you’ll need to pull the solder out using one of these.

Cardas Quad Eutectic Solder. This is considered by audiophiles to be one of two things: The best solder available for high end audio gear or Overrated solder that doesn’t offer any more quality than a much cheaper, high quality lead-free solder. I personally don’t have time to test the quality of various types of solder, so I went for it; I can say that it is very easy to work with, it melts easily and my connections were all nice and shiny (and at the end of the day, what matters most is the best possible connections).

3-Pin Male & Female Mini XLR Connectors. (Redco #RED TA3FB for Female connector & #RED TA3MB for the Male).

Furutech FP-704 1/4″ TRS Plug. This is a cryogenically treated plug for demagnetization. It’s a heavy plug, all-metal 24k Gold Plated.

E6000 Glue. To glue the female mini xlr casing to the left 770 ear cup. This glue chemically fuses plastics and other materials together; makes Krazy Glue look like Elmer’s. You have to use this outdoors and be careful you don’t breathe the fumes.

One #83 “O-Ring” washer. I used this 1/2″ washer at the base of the female mini xlr connector to make it look neater and hide the rough modification to the ear cup.

Tools

Soldering Iron. I have a Weller WLC100 (under $50). This temperature controlled station is good enough for this kind of build and for making interconnects. It’ll make your life easier if you use a small flathead tip for tinning and soldering the wires to the plug’s terminals and a conical tip for soldering the driver terminals.

Tip Cleaner. I use the Hakko 599B Tip Cleaner because using a wet sponge will affect the heating element in your iron by quickly bringing down the heat on the tip (and this iron isn’t as good as the better temp-controlled stations that do a better job of quickly recovering) ; using a dry cleaner like the 599B lets you clean the excess solder off your tip and get back to work quickly.

Helping Hands Soldering Tool. These can be found for under $10 and they usually have two alligator clips and a magnifying glass to help you hold the connectors and wires steady while letting your real hands control the soldering iron and solder.

X-Acto blade.You can also use wire strippers to strip the wires for soldering (yes, I slice my fingers every now and then, so maybe get a good pair of wire strippers).

A very thin flathead screwdriver to remove two rings (one for each ear cup) to get access to the drivers

A small screwdriver to remove the screws that hold together some of the parts on the headphones.

Hot Glue Gun. After soldering the terminals to the 1/4″ plug, pouring hot glue to fill in the gaps between the soldered terminals helps seal the terminals, preventing oxidization as well as providing good insulation; hot glue is an excellent dielectric.

Heat Gun for the shrink tubing. Use one that has a low setting so that you don’t melt the wires’ insulation and techflex sleeving.

A multimeter (analog or digital) to test your connections for continuity. I have a cheap one I bought for about $10 as the need for a sophisticated multimeter for this build and for making interconnects isn’t necessary.

Dissassembly

First, gently pull out the ear pads. Pinch the edge of each pad where the elastic material meets the ear cup and slowly pull out.

Second, remove the eight screws as shown:

The screws are two different sizes, so keep track of which ones go where. One good rule of thumb when taking apart plastic pieces that are to be re-screwed later is to try your best to stick to the same screw per hole, even though they are the same technically, physically there could be slight variations in the plastic.

Once these small pieces are removed, you will then have access to the drivers. Each one has a metal ring that keeps the drivers in place. Use your small flat head screwdriver to pry out these metal rings, but be very careful when doing this as you can go right under the ring and puncture the driver underneath.

These rings snap into the ear cups, I found that just a little bit of pressure towards the center of the driver and then a quick lift took care of it.

After doing so, remove the foam discs and you will then have access to the drivers; here’s a shot of the Left driver. The enamel-coated wires are for the Left driver and the copper and white (insulated) wires go to the Right driver (I was surprised to see the use of enamel coated wire for the Left driver AND an insulated wire for the Right driver on a professional headphone):

Enamel-coated (copper) wire was not designed for use in professional audio applications where maximum insulation to avoid noise being introduced into the signal is desired. The enamel coating provides a very thin insulation which is okay for many non-audio applications, so it looks like Beyerdynamic has skimped on the quality of the cable for this headphone (at least for the L driver, the R driver had a much thicker unshielded wire and an insulated wire going to it as you can see in the picture; wiring should be consistent to all the components).  I believe upgrading the wires and making good soldered connections has helped these cans sound even better.

I also noticed that there was a lot of solder on the terminals, as you can probably see from the picture above. This is not how you want to make your connections. You want an even amount of solder to make a stable contact; too much time spent trying to solder a terminal can damage it and I noticed also that the terminals were a bit bent and the plastic housing behind the terminals was a little warped.

In Part II, we’ll go into more detail about desoldering the terminals, and finishing up this modification.