I opened them up, it was fairly easy and painless. 4 screws is all it took to set the driver free. Then, below the driver I unscrewed, I believe, 6 screws to let the grill free.
The grill consists of 3 parts: the metal ring (black), the metal grill (black), and the perforated plate (silver).
I completely removed the silver plate and put the headphone back together. I only removed the plate on the right side, this way I could tell apart any sonic differences. What I found out is that the sound it â obviously â more open and less intense. There is less âoomphâ from the bottom-end and some details are lost. I should say that the black grill rattles when the silver plate is missing. If someone wanted to make this a permanent mod, all you would have to do is measure the thickness of the silver plate, find a thin foam or something of that sort, trace the shape (outline) of the silver plate, and just cut it out and insert it in the same place where the silver plate would be.
Interestingly enough, both yesterday at night and today (before opening them up) I didnât notice the weird-sounding mid-range. To be fully honest, I questioned my sanity, and was asking myself where I heard the tinny quality before. I even compared it to other headphones, and it sounds normal.
Feeling confused, but if 24h burn-in is a thing, then may that be it. Otherwise, it might be because I was partially lying on a pillow.
When I first got the pc38x my drivers sounded blown and sounded like they rattled. Burned them in for about 12 hours and they sounded normal⊠but they were dynamics with an obvious stiffness problem. Never heard of a planar having crazy burn in like that. Weird.
The thing is that I was also using them with different amps, portable amps. Whereas, today and yesterday I exclusively used them with the DX300+AMP12.
It is highly possible that it was a negative placebo. Perhaps my initial negative impression stuck with me and that was the negative placebo that I was hearing. But when I went ahead and compared them to other headphones, it sounded normal. But⊠the thing is that I do remember comparing them with the SR2, and found the weird tonality.
It is very weird. Never had anything like this happen to me. Never.
I think I just confirmed and figured out what was happening.
Just by placing my hand slightly behind the headphone, I immediately notice the qualities that were audible to me before. This would confirm that I was hearing the tinny quality because I was listening to them while lying on a pillow. Silly.
Iâll have to check that out. I listen resting on pillows all the time. Mind you I have the Sendy pads on that cut the bass slightly in the lower regions.
The way I rest on pillows is that most of my upper back is resting on the pillow, while only the lower part of my head rests on the very top of the pillow. When Iâm on my laptop, I sit my pillow upright, so itâs more of a âsoft wallâ than it is a pillow. The pillow is ear level behind, meaning that the sound that leaks through the larger perforation holes gets reflected back, resulting in an unpleasant effect.
I really think that both the AIVA and the P-II wouldâve been much better headphones if the company hadnât decided to go with a visually appealing plate. It just doesnât make sense. Whenever you are designing something around a speaker driver, you aim for it to be as consistent as possible. Having much smaller perforation closer to the middle is not a smart idea. I personally find this the worst feature on the headphone.
In terms of checking it out, just put your hand tight together, press it firmly against the back of the headphone, and aim it slightly forward.
Yes There is a change in the sound. Just casually checking it out. But it is a very open headphone. Any sort of covering or angled reflector (pillow) could change that.