[BatFi]

Hi everyone,
 
I've been lurking here for a long time, learning a lot from the knowledgeable members here, as I got deeper and deeper into audiophilia. I never had anything to contribute, so I didn't register until now. I'd like to share with you a strange discovery that I made while experimenting.
 
I read a lot of recommendations for the Audio-Technica ATH-M50s for audiophiles on a budget, so I got myself a pair about a month ago. I'm very happy with them, they sound really good! There's just one thing that's been bothering me: something was wrong with the high frequencies. I'm not sure how to explain it, they're just not right, it's like there's a bit of noise / distortion in the treble. Once I realized that, it's all I could think about! I had to do something about it.
 
Then it hit me: high frequencies make the membrane move back and forth really fast, as opposed to low frequencies which make it move much slower. I got this idea that the problem might be that the membrane wasn't stiff enough to accurately reproduce the high frequencies, and the slight wobbling was introducing unwanted distortion.
 
How could I make it stiffer? By freezing it! So I put my headphones in the feezer (wrapped in a cotton cloth to protect them) and left them there overnight. The next morning, I took them out and let them go back to room temperature for an hour. When I put them on and played some music, WOW!!! The distortion was completely gone! Cymbals were amazingly precise, with very clean decay, without sounding harsh. Just very very clean. It was like night and day! The other frequencies still sounded just as good, they didn't seem to be affected by the process.
 
I've repeated the process a couple of times, and I came to the conclusion that doing it every ten days was the sweet spot. My M50s now sound like $300 headphones!

 

[SmOgER]

Now that's a topic of a year LOL

 

[SmOgER]

Now that's a topic of a year LOL

 

[davidsh]

Are you sure about the effect? The membrane should not be stiffer after a couple of hours at room temp

 

[BatFi]

Quote:

Are you sure about the effect? The membrane should not be stiffer after a couple of hours at room temp

 
I know, I was surprised myself, I didn't think it would last long, but the effect actually lasts several days. Like I said, 10 days is just about the sweet spot in my case. You might get different results with different headphones though. I think it's best that you just try it yourself and see how it applies to your headphones.

 

[Huggelz]

Too bad I just sold my M50's or else I might have tried this. I didn't notice any noise on the treble though.

 

[ev13wt]

Epic post is epic.
 
 
I am not freezing my headphones.

 

[AngryGuy]

I had a good laugh at this. Come on now though, you can't really be serious. If you are letting your headphones return to room temperature before listening there is no way that this is having an affect on the sound. Even if the diaphragm remained cold for a little while after you think it has returned to room temperature, it certainly would not last 10 days. If you were actually listening to the headphones while they were still cold, I imagine you would hear a difference across all frequencies, especially in the lows as well. 

I can't really find any solid evidence one way or another about the effects on condensation on the driver, but I certainly wouldn't want to expose my own headphones to it more than necessary. Brittle plastic would be another concern but since you aren't using them when cold I guess it doesn't matter. 

 

[davidsh]

I'm gonna freeze my HE-500 (not)

 

[BatFi]

I'm as surprised as you. I think that the relatively long exposure (~10 hours) has a subtle but durable effect on the membrane, that remains even after the main effect is long gone. You don't have to take my word for it, you can try it yourself! I can only vouch for the M50s though. I assume that the membranes on other headphones may be cut from a slightly different material, with a different thickness, and perhaps a slightly different shape, so YMMV.