HD800 mod - wow

Doc B

Doc B

Former President For Life
Staff member
Well I guess I'm about a year late to the party, but I just did Tyll Hertsens' "Anaxilus" mod to my HD800s. Wow, color me impressed. Tyll is a totally together dude, and his rigor in experimentation shows it -

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/diy-modification-sennheiser-hd-800-anaxilus-mod-page-2?page=1

If you have HD800s, just do it. Takes all of 15 minutes, it's elegant, and it's reversible in about 2 minutes if you don't like it. With the HD800 treble peak tamed and some break in of the balanced cable (made from Mogami mini mic cable with a Neutrik 4 pin XLR) the Mainline is really starting to sing.
 
I was about to return my HD800s until I found out about and tried this mod.  There is a supposedly better variation that Anaxilus came up with, and another even better measuring variant on the way.  I am really loving them now with the S.E.X. 2.1, and can't wait to see how they would do with the Mainline.  Too bad you are West Coast.  It would be great to have you come to Chifiunifi in June in Chicago.
 
A cable upgrade is worthwhile too. I remember being very impressed with the way a Cardas balanced cable opened up the midrange at RMAF, and the Mogami seems to be doing the same thing. It's not as big a thing as upgrading an HD600 cable, but on our rig there does seem to be a hint of veiling in the stock HD800 cable that can be improved upon.
 
I've been meaning to try this for ages.  Did you both of you go with the 2mm creatology foam that Tyll ultimately recommends in the guide at the end of his article?
 
Yup, but you might want to wait until we try the Anax 2 mod. Hope to do so this week.
 
Yup, Anax 2 is nice. I did a slight hybrid. I already had Tyll's upgrade installed, which uses a thinner ring of felt over foam, rather than the Anax 2 wide foam only. I just put the piece of shelf liner in around that. It definitely gets some of the positive aspects of HD600s and 650s back in the lower mids, without losing that really open top end.
 
Hi Doc,

Did you use normal shelf/drawer liner that one can get from Walmart, etc.?  I think I have some of that somewhere that I can use. 
 
OK, I have PB's stock HD800s and my modded pair running on the Mainline.

Both are really great. The modded pair definitely has a more well filled in midrange to my ear. That extends to the upper bass, giving the modded pair a bit more bass punch as well as warming up vocals. And cymbals are more calm without losing the marvelous decay.

It's kind of as if you are sitting farther away from the musicians with the stock cans and the modded ones get you up close, like you are at one of the tables right by the stage, or maybe standing near the musicians as they play in the studio.
 
Okay! I've got almost all the stuff around the house to do this mod at no additional cost. 

All I need now is a spare $1500 for the HD800s.

I guess that's making some progress...
 
I installed the first Anax mod on my 800's a while back and I've been really happy with it. Since I'm kind of a treble head, it wasn't really a make or break change for me and I loved them stock too.
I'll give Doc's modified Anax ll mod a try and make a report here once I get a handle on the changes. I've got tons of that shelf webbing around here already.
 
Didn't have a chance to pickup shelf lining like I had hoped this weekend, but I took a stab at the original anax mod this evening.  Really enjoying the change at present!  Frankly, I'm wishing I'd tried it sooner.

The reduction in upper-mid glare is really nice on tracks with aggressive treble instruments - and for gaming too.
 
Hi Doc, Could you kindly explain how you built your balanced headphone cable with the Mini Mogami cable. I do have both the mini 3 conductor and quad Mogami cables on hand. How is the 4 pin XLR wired up? Which wire goes to which pin. Also where can you source the HD800 connectors?

Also could you kindly describe the difference between the sound of the Crack and Mainline. I initially ordered a Crack kit, but changed it up to a Mainline. One of the main attractions was the balanced headphone output as well as the switchable impedance which will let me use the amp with other types of headphones. The HD800 is my main can though. Currently running with a NuForce Icon, so I am excited to see how the Mainline will improve things. Any insights will be appreciated.
 
ALO audio sells the connectors. 

The 4 pin XLR is wired the same as an AKG K1000.
1 - left channel +
2 - left channel -
3 - right channel +
4 - right channel -

 
To answer the second half of your question - to me the Mainline has better resolution and speed, and more punchy bass. It also has a more black background. I find it sounds very natural without sounding like it's "warming up the music with that tube sound". One thing that strikes me is that recordings through HD800s and Mainline tend to sound very close to a live feed. In contrast we had AKG K1000s with 300Bs running them right next to an HD800/ Mainline rig at the last Head Fi meet. That setup was like a great Chardonnay - fat, rich, powerful. To my ear very entrancing, but not necessarily "real". It drew equal praise from listeners. I would put Crack a little more toward that direction, though not quite as much as S.E.X.

The upshot for me is I prefer the Mainline with HD800s.
 
Thanks guys for the advice.

Doc, I can't wait to put the Mainline together! The neutral sonic signature your described is what I am seeking as I am going to use this in my mixing studio. Glad Eileen allowed me to upgrade my Crack order to a Mainline, which I hear is going to ship any day now for pre orders!

One question with all the high end exotic wire used in all the high end aftermarket cables, I am surprised you found Mogami miniature balanced cable to give you an improvement over the stock Sennheiser cable. I'll probably do the XLR on the stock cable as shown by Adam's link first. I use both Mogami and Canare mini cables to wire up our recording studio patchbays. Did you use the standard balanced cable (3 conductor) or the quad (humbucking) version of Neglex?
 
Yes you need two twisted pair mic-style cable for a 4 pin XLR plug. And once you have struggled with soldering wires to those miserable to terminate headphone connectors (PB wouldn't even touch 'em, made me do it myself) you will understand why I used a skinny cable with very skinny wire. The coax that we prefer for interconnects would never work.

FWIW Mainline is definitely the amp I would choose for mixing with headphones.
 
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