Who wants more treble/less recess on their UM1?

[norseman 0]

I know basically its just soldering a resister into both the left and right channels in the plugs then maybe something in between them for isolation. I've looked at some pictures and will try look for parts over the weekend and getting input from my dad. He's done some DIY audio components over the years so hopefully he'll know more about this.

[Zephyron 0]

I tried this technique on the Zen Aurvana + PA235 + REP.

 

The PA235 is a 500Ohm resistor at max volume blockage setting, so I had its knob turned at 1/3 of maximum, volume output of U3 at 22/40 and REP cranked to max. The Aurvana turned from a muddy POS to a totally different beast!

 

Faster PRaT, much better and much more extended treble, incredibly tight bass but still so-so mid-range. You guys who own an Aurvana should give this a shot on the Aurvana too

[norseman 0]

Got my adapters done! One 50 ohm, one 75 ohm. Real cheap too. Will post pictures later on.

[dle4e_2005 0]

Got my adapters done! One 50 ohm, one 75 ohm. Real cheap too. Will post pictures later on.

 

how much???

where???

[norseman 0]

Was in Johor for the weekend and found a small audio components shop. Got them done in a couple hours, price is just a few bucks Sing. Will post full details n pics when I get my hands on my roomie's camera phone.

[afbug 0]

So how do you find the 50 ohm one? Work as well as 75 ohm or better?

[norseman 0]

Ok, so I was in Johor over the weekend, saw this shop, went in and asked if I can get the parts to DIY a male/female plug with a short length of cable and 2 resistors soldered in.

I got: male plug RM 3.50

female plug RM 2.80

4 inch cable RM 0.20

2 resistors RM 0.80 matched set +/- 1ohm difference. Unmatched are 10 cents each

Parts Total: RM 7.30

 

 

The cable is neccessary as I'll be using it in and out of the house so some flexibility will reduce possible damage to the headphone jack. The wires and contacts are really small and fiddly so its a good idea to have exprienced hands doing this, unless you're confident you can juggle cable, wire, resistor, heat shrink tube, plug end, solder, soldering gun all at once.

 

Otherwise, the work is really simple.

On the female end, unscrew and you can see 3 contacts: left, right and ground. Ground is the biggest one.

This coresponds to 3 wires in the cable: red, white and exposed.

Solder one resistor to each contact on the plug (not the ground), then solder the red and white wires to the other ends of the resistors. Good idea to have heat shrink tubes in place for insulation.

The exposed wire goes to the ground contact on the plug. You may need to use a piece of solder to bridge the length taken up by the resistors.

 

The same thing one the male end, without the resistors. Just remember the colors of the wires for each channel. On the female end, when the ground contact is at the bottom my left contact is soldered to white wire, right to red wire (viewing from the inside end). So on the male end the 2 wires should cross to go to the correct contacts.

 

When you're done, screw up the plugs and you're good to go!

 

Pics:

 

2 cables

http://img107.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2cablesrz6.jpg

 

both plugs exposed, blue for 50 ohm, biege for 75 ohm

http://img137.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bothexposedkn5.jpg

 

75 ohm closeup

http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=75ohmcloseuppz1.jpg

 

75 ohm closeup 2

http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7...closeup2cp2.jpg

 

75 ohm ground

http://img100.imageshack.us/my.php?image=75ohmgroundte3.jpg

 

male plug

http://img221.imageshack.us/my.php?image=maleplugoj7.jpg

 

male plug 2

http://img158.imageshack.us/my.php?image=maleplug2rq6.jpg

 

male plug exposed

http://img145.imageshack.us/my.php?image=m...gexposedmf9.jpg

 

So far I've only tested out the 75ohm one on new um1s, source is my Dell Axim x51v PDA (my ipod shuffle on speed). Hissing definitely gone, have to turn up volume real high but mid/treble vastly improved. So much so that on some tracks e.g. Mariah Carey's Emotions, the forwardness of the highs can hurt a bit. Bass is quite lacking, but I solved that by turning the bass setting on the x50mix program all the way up. So now I have bass and mids and highs. Yay!

 

Will test out the 50 ohm one later on today, now I'm late for class

Edited November 8, 2006 by norseman

[norseman 0]

U guys can see the thumbnails? They were there for a while then gone again. I'll post the links.

[norseman 0]

The 50ohm resistor doesn't seem to have any effect other than somewhat deadening the sound. Can't really tell if treble is improved but bass is less. Need more time to AB a bit...

[Blightfire 0]

lol.. would you be going back there any time soon

[norseman 0]

Maybe in a couple week's time. But should be easy to get in sg right? Maybe more expensive but better parts...

[Donki 0]

Bought the shure vol attuenator.... not much improvement le.... any other better ideas?

[Newbie123 0]

Bought the shure vol attuenator.... not much improvement le.... any other better ideas?

 

Change IEM.

[norseman 0]

The shure ones damn heavy resistence leh. I think just stick to afbug's 75 ohm reccommandation. Can't go wrong!

[Donki 0]

Just got a black emperor from stereo, seem to improve the overall of the um1 quite a bit, especially the bass.