Yes i agree. one of the reasons in think the Aiva sounds so good is that perforated inner metal grill. Something the other clones dont have until now with the Sivga. it has it. But i so love the close soundstage. i just wish it didnt have so much treble. thats why i was thinking of using some kind of damping material inside the cups.
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Im extremely interested in cracking these bad boys open and get the mods going, seeing whats possible I canāt stop thinking of doing a fazor mod. might give it a shot tomorrow
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wow sounds cool. let us know how it goes
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Yes please let us know, im to shit scared to open mine up as I canāt afford another pair lol. I also have both sets of Aiva pads en prefer the new pads. My ears touch the driver so hope the thicker and bigger ZMF pad will help with that
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Im sure they will. and about to get to taking them apart right now.
Please post pics as you go. Will like to see the process
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Opening up the sendy Aiva's and Mods
Okay so im back from opening up the Aivaās, I can definitively say its easy to open up everyone SO LET THE MODS BEGIN
Taking out the driver
Lets start with taking off the first set of four screws
These long screws arenāt actually screwed in 100% from factory all of the way if you do it wonāt leave enough gap to put on pads, so in terms of getting more space between the rear of the driver to breathe that could be done.
taking out the driver is so easy, after those first four screws the whole driver just pops out as a planar sandwich all held together with philips head screws as to be expected from the double sided planar.
Mods - Fazor
the sandwich is SO tight that no fazor could be put any closer to the driver than just on top like you see when you take off your pads so the fazor mod has to be done by taking off the stuck on screen mesh (it re-adhears really easily so dont fret about taking it off)
Dampening
Heres the rear of the driver where all the dampening is done and its a soft felt. I feel that more dampening could be done here if you wanted to (I personally love it so far but im excited to see what the community comes up with)
There are so many mods alone just from popping out the driver from the wood. more dampening on the front undampened plastic around the driver, and maybe more on the back of the driver. Fuzzor on the front and back taking off the meshā¦ now heres where I took it too far and I should have stoppedā¦ but I wanted to know moreā¦
Driver Disassembly
Iā¦ Began taking out the screws on the driver (The forbidden planar sandwich), all the black ones are driver screws all silver screws are just holding the driver to the wood.
Now to actually get off the front magnet array you need to remove the soldered cable to the post on the driverā¦ I accidentally ripped off the wire from the post so now we all get a good look at the voice coil.
I dented mine right in the middle. Good news it didnāt affect the sound thank god, these arenāt cheap and my favourite headphones but now Iāve got tape holding it down on the post barely all put back together. So dont take apart the driver it was a TOTAL mess trying to get it back on. But if you want to take it apart, desolder the wire on front post, the second you get the last screw off the driver it will basically eject the magnet away from from the voice coil which is great immediately pull the driver away and set it aside. The voicecoil is surprisingly strong and flexible membrane
After youāre done your driver modifications then set the rear magnet and voice coil in the wood then VERY carefully angle the driver down to align the bottom screw hole then the left and right screws (no diagonal screws yet) then the top now youāve set the driver in place continue to do the rest. REALLY sinch is down tighten those screws as to get the magnet down to the voice coil.
Reassembly
Then put back on the top pad mounting platescrew down the wood each with care and leave enough room for the pads to go back on and DONE youāve modded your Aivaās.
My Aivas are now back to together with black tape holding down the wire to the post so Iāll be ordering a soldering kit to put that together but if you dont take it apart its so easy to mod im suprised no one has yet (and i 1000% dont recommend taking apart the driver its pandoras box)
Iād love to hear from everyone how their mods affected the sound. Iāll be doing a fazor mod to both sides once ive resoldered the wire to the post.
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Awesome, think you are the first guy ever to start modding the Aivas. So curious to start playing around on mine as well
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Forgot to ask, why mod did you actually do so far? Or did you just open it up to get a look as to what is possible.
I recently pad rolled the Sivga variant and I really like the ZMF Universe perforated suede. They add a bit of bass and mids and take down the treble slightly, but add soundstage.
But Iām thinking that those pads or the non perforated suede in conjunction with some mods may be a game changer combination.
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Iāve taken measurements for the fazor that im working on making it out of felt so this will take a day or two and four of them for each side
Yeah I was thinking that exact combo with a fazor getting that air out directly to those ears, capture more of that detail
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My first move will be the ZMF pads Hazi59 mentioned
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I actually like the pad change, but it definitely is a much more "pushed back " variation of the stock sound because of the added soundstage. Iām thinking that the non perf pads may be a tad better to capture a little bit more of the mids. I tried the ZMF ori suede and it was just too much of a loss of mids. The suede auteur sounded decent, but the pads are a bit too large IMO.
Why do you say a bit too large?
The auteur pads are larger than the universe pads dimensions. They stay on, but not as well. Also, the auteur earpad hole size is larger in diameter as well.
But you posted pics of the universe pads if not mistaken?
Do you perhaps have a pic of the Auteur pads on the sivga?
Yes, the universe pads fit. The auteur pads were very loose. Dont have pictures.
Iāve stuck together a quick and dirty Sticky tape fazor. So far sounds great for the mid range. The treble which is one of the best parts of the Aiva seems mostly preserved. Iāll be building a proper felt fazor so far so good. Also took the time to moisturise the wood
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