Headphone Reviews

REALISTIC PRO 30's ( Semi-closed 32 ohm SFI style stock driver OEM'd by AudioTechnica )
Went in for the mod on these because the original sound was too untamed and, well honestly, I can't remember now what it was like other than it was not to my liking. These are completely stock except for internal damping materials. Original stock sound impressions can be found at WIKIPHONIA. Sent Waulta an identical mod kit; he may or may not get to it for comparison.

MOD DETAILS ( Around 15 or so trials )
I used a large donut of 3-layer Acoustifoam around the outside of the cup edge to effectively seal off the main venting---that is on the thinner outer perimeter of the cups. The adhesive backing layer ensures this. This also was just deep/tall enough to fill the sides with foam, and at the same time this also acts to control resonances. There is a very tiny amount of venting hidden just below the silver badging edges on the back of the cups, so I relied on that only for venting and left it alone. ( This amount of tiny venting may/seems to vary model to model with the Pro30's depending upon how the metal badge is fit. ) The very back of the main cup cavity has a disc of open-cell foam from an earpad kit centered directly on the cup back. The edges of this foam extend up the sides of the cup when it is pressed into place. Directly on back of driver is a donut of thin dense white felt leaving the middle hole exposed.

GENERAL SOUND
Sensitivity is way down compared to stock. Being supra-aural, and nearly closed now with a very small cavity, they have some disadvantages right away as I see it for soundstage. Definitely not a spacious sound. The sealing of the outer venting with Acoustifoam made the sound fairly dark, so I had to use the white felt donut to bring up the details and mids/highs. I do, however, like the overall sound compared to stock, which I can't recall at this point, but I do remember thinking that while doing the rapid-fire succession of mods. The felt donut, as opposed to a disc damping on the driver, was a compromise between bringing up the highs and mids while not losing bass levels. ( The middle hole is the highest point of driver excursion=bass level potential ). Highs and mids are at pretty high levels from what I can tell. Detail levels still up enough. Probably the most revealing of all the ones sent in, if memory serves. Most noticeable with orchestral stuff. Unfortunately some adhesive from double-sided tape wept into the fabric covering the middle rear hole so that may act as a reflector to a small degree. Sound would otherwise be a bit bassier.

I really don't mind it's signature though at this point. Maybe some seriously extended listening will change my mind on the highs.

This is how they stand so far, maybe see how they measure up then make a possible change later. On second set of screws already with these.

Measurements