Balanced Beyerdynamic DT1350 headphones for Pono Player
Here is another pair of balanced headphones for Pono Player. These are some beyer DT1350 which have been re-cabled with our low capacitance litz copper and re-wired internally to make them balanced. On the other end of the cable is a 4pin MiniXLR socket so you can plug in a choice of adapters to work with various other balanced and unbalanced configurations.
These ones have been airbrushed in british racing green and yellow to make them really stand out
Modified Beyerdynamic tesla DT1350 with balanced connection to pono
Uber HD650 with balanced cable for the PONO Player
Here we have another in our range of modified headphones designed to take advantage of hi-res audio and balanced output on the PONO Player. Keeping with our theme of taking already great headphones and making them better we have plumped for the HD650 ( we also the the same mods on the HD600 as well )
The HD650 have been very popular in the audiophile community for a long time and are now widely being used in studios as well. They are very comfortable for extended listening periods and have a lovely open airy sound. You can close your eyes and you feel like you are there listening live. The only real complaint most people have it that they sound a little veiled and maybe a bit too smooth. This is great for MP3s as they are quite forgiving of the digital artefacts but in the age of High resolution audio we thought they could probably produce a bit more detail and be made a bit more engaging with a few tweaks.
On this version we have removed the foam from the back of the driver which is a popular mod in the DIY community and really livens them up a bit. We then mass load and brace the driver using lead to help the low end detail.
We also swap the stock cable for one of our ultra low capacitance ones the improve timing and impact which again brings out the added detail of FLAC and high-res sources . We can supply an adapter so you can use the balanced pono cable with other equipment as well for a small extra cost
The lead adds mass which helps the driver reproduce the very low frequencies more accurately. We did a bit of testing using a similar mass of clay and the lead seemed to improve things more noticeably. We are still not 100% sure why the lead made additional improvements but it may be something to do with leads diamagnetic properties pushing some of the magnetic flux back in towards the voice coil – either way it livens up the HD650 and HD600 and gives more low end detail.
You can buy them now in our shop HERE
upgraded HD650 with tweaks for hi-res audio
Headphones for Pono
Balanced and tweaked HD650
Modified HD650 with opened up drivers and mass loading
Get some Cheap modified Sennheiser HD600 while stocks last
We made a bit of a schoolboy error and ordered a box of HD600 instead of HD650s. We need to shift them quickly so we can get some HD650s in so if anyone wants a pair of modified or customised HD600s just emailm me through the custom cans website.
We can do all the standard mods like mass loading the drivers, removing the foam to make them less veiled and re-cable them and I’m willing to do them at cost price to clear them quickly. Unfortunately our cost price is only just below retail so don’t expect amazing discounts but we can make you a pair that sound even better than the standard ones you can buy in the shops and we can personalize them if you want as well
HD700 balanced cables for the PONO Player
Over the next week we will be introducing some balanced cables for the HD700 and HD800 to plug into the PONO player.
This first one is an entry level cable for the HD700 – I know what you may be thinking… why produce a basic and relatively inexpensive cable for connecting an expensive pair of headphones to a high end player?
Well this will enable you to run them in balanced mode and using the second amp in the pono will help it drive them better and louder. If you are not a “cable believer” and just want to get the advantages of a balanced connection without investing too much money then this is for you.
It will be available in lengths up to 2.5m and will cost just £25 if you want it “naked” or £30 wrapped in a colour of your choice from our shop HERE
A basic entry level balanced cable to connect the HD700 to the Pono player
We will of course be making some sexier and more advanced cables for both the HD700 and HD800 which will be ready to go early next week and I will try to remember to post some pics of those as well
Some of our fave custom headphones from the past month
These custom airbrushed HD25-1 have blue metal flake in the white background to make the lightning sparkel
Some nice sennheiser HD25-1 with custom laser engravign
Some Jackson Pollok style sennheiser HD25-1 with black and red splatter pattern
SOme more drip painting headphones
Toxic blue sennhesier hd25-1
some custom HD25 aluminium in gunmetal grey
We used a new waterslide decal process to get a photo onto some of our headphones
some nice custom hd25-1 with splattery text
white Sennheiser HD25-1 with orange splatters
Nice to do some really girly headphones now and again
More Balanced Headphones for PONO player – this time a balanced version of our Uber HD25
We have been selling our modified version of the HD25-1 for a couple of years now. It has an SPC cable, modified drives and improved damping to give them incredible levels of detail across the range, better bass extension and less muddy bass. Now we have made a version to take advantage of the balanced mode on the PONO player – ideal for the audiophile on the go
Custom Cans Uber HD25-1 with balanced wiring for use with the Pono Player
Some new alien invasion sennheiser HD25 Aluminium by Paul Newman
It’s always nice when we can do a colab with someone else. We were lucky enough to have the artist and illustrator Paul Newman in the building for a few days and he made us two pairs of hand drawn headphones which we then clearcoated to protect the artwork. These are hand drawn with rotring rapidograph pens over one of our white HD25 Aluminiums
Some hand drawn custom sennheiser hd25 aluminium
More Balanced cables for the Pono Player
We have been making a lot of PONO cables over the last month – so many that we have had to take on a new member of the team just to deal with the demand. Most of they have been in classic black which is all well and good but it is always fun to make some other colours as well 😉 Here are a few we have made in other colours
This one is a 3m one in fire orange – may be a bit hard on the eyes but you would not lose it 😉
A balanced HD600 cable for use with the Pono Player
This is quite an awesome one in glow in the dark white – again easy to find, even with the lights off. This one also has neutrik right angled TRS plugs which I personally prefer
White balanced pono cable made of litz copper
Here is quite a cool camo green fully shielded balanced XLR to TRS cable for pono
Fully shielded balanced XLR to TRS for the Pono Player
The one above has individual shielding for the + and – conductors. Inside they are based on our 84 strand high purity litz copper which is then wrapped in silk, then an oversized former, then the shielding and finally covered in paracord – as we make the cables up by hand – these take a long time to make.
Custom Cans Balanced Uber DT770 headphones for PONO Player
New from our black ops department … A balanced version of our Uber DT770 for use with the Pono Player and other balanced amps and equipment.
We take a stock pair of beyerdynamic DT770 and modify the drivers and enclosures with mass loading and damping to give more detail and bass extension. They are them rewired internally with Litz copper wire in a balanced configuration and fitted with a 4pin MiniXLR to give them a detachable cable. They come supplied with a braided Litz copper cable terminated with balanced connections of your choice and we re-terminate the stock cable with a 4pin MiniXLR as well to allow them to be used as standard unbalanced headphones as well.
With these mods the DT770 become a much warmer and more engaging headphone and would put a lot of headphones twice their price to shame.
They are available here in our shop
This moded and balanced
Version of the DT770 gets the most from the pono without breaking the bank
Capacitance testing on our new audiophile cables
We are always tweaking and testing our designs. Our latest Litz ultra low capacitance cables have several advantages over our SPC cables. They have even lower capacitance and inductance and eliminate skin effect from the audio spectrum. To do this we started with 84 strand litz copper, it is made up of extremely fine strands of copper which are individually insulated to keep them separate and gives them a very small cross-sectional area. This takes the skin effect way outside the audio spectrum so it keeps the sound neutral. Our original ultra low capacitance cables had around 30pF which was pretty impressive but our new cable now has such a low capacitance it is not measurable on our equipment. A lot of that is due to the litz wire being wrapped in silk rather than using a traditional dielectric coating – it makes it trickier to build but gives better results. The lower capacitance ensures all the frequencies arrive at the same time making it sound more realistic with better timing and impact. The cable also has lower inductance ensuring less crosstalk, better stereo imaging and soundstage. We also do a balanced version which further improves things when used with a balanced headphone amp
Here is a pic … As you can see a stock HD650 cable shows roughly 612pF of capacitance and our cable is below 0.01pF
here is a picture showing the capacitance on our new headphone cabel