Thoughts on Custom M1060C Mods (3D printed Open back,3D Printed Fazor, etc)

I ended up writing a lot of info for my Sale post in /Avexchange so I decided to post the information I had here.

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Revision 1 Revision 2

For my customized M1060C I set out on this project to analyze what Audeze does that makes their LCD-2, LCD-X, LCD-C etc... so much better than the monoprice other than material and driver choice. Essentially, what I could change within my ability to see if the gap can be closed(unfortunately I am not currently to make a planar driver by hand LOL, hats off to the verum one guy). Only real reason im getting rid of this guy is that this was the beta test/test platform for the better one I made seen

Here are my mods and observations

-Removing the stock damping material on the earpad side of the mod increased treble response a bit and very slightly added to the soundstage

-Open back, Increased the soundstage a solid amount and decreased the bass slightly. The soundstage has reached a good level, but is more like a LCD2 by having average width(for an open back) and higher intensity , but will never reach an insane level like the hd800 etc.

-3D Print Open Grills - No effect other than damping sound leakage and decreasing soundstage slightly.

- Changed Cup Damping Material to a More Open Celled Foam, Increased soundstage & Sound leakage.

- Found and 3D Printed 2 Types of Fazors One with open sides and one with Closed sides, both fazors increased midrange, relaxed the treble slightly and improved detail retrieval. The open sides decreased bass more, closed decreased the bass slightly, but did not add as much detail as the open sided fazor, so I opted for the open sides and tuned them with felt.. Bass is still present and well extended for both fazor designs.

-Added a bit of felt the fazor to up the bass slightly due to personal preference.

Note: Pad Rolling Does have a solid affect on the sound of these, BUT you do have to deal with peeling/reapplying of adhesive if you do so.

With all these mods Id say the headphone is a notch below the Argon MK3 in bass etc... but has a more narrow stage but a slight edge in detail, these mods did end up getting it a lot closer to the LCD2/LCD2C than just the open back mod. In terms of overall sound I would place it in upper mid-fi between the argon and the LCD2. Apart from the cost of doing research and finding what works, I would say these mods/reproducing these mods is worth it. Once you get into the realm of replacing pads for $60+ and replacing the stock headband for $75 like I did for the revision 2, unless you love the headphones It is most likely more effective to actually get a LCD-2 etc..

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For revision 2, what I modified/fixed was changing out the pads for the Dekoni Elite Hybrids, I got my fazor printed in a higher level of precision that I could do at home from sculpteo, Replaced the stock headband with the hifiman replacement band and of course got a periapt 2.5mm cable. On the note of cables, I did test several cable types and did notice a sharper treble response when using silver plated cables such as the NewFantasia on amazon