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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Sony MH1: modified by Rin Choi



At last, here is the final design of Sony MH1 modified by myself. Should I call this MH-RC?



What is so special about it? It's fine-tweaked to reflect my "reference" tonality. The original MH1, developed by Mr. Sead Smailagic of Sony Mobile, has too much emphasis in the mid-bass frequency range to my ears.


The overall tonality of MH1 is mimicking a sound power of a flat loudspeaker in a reference room condition, while compensating the equal-loudness characteristic of our hearing system. Moreover, there are psychoacoustic variables such as the tactile sensation & head-shadow effect missing, and they have to be considered too. All these ultimately reflect Mr.Smailagic's philosophy on electroacoustic engineering and I absolutely respect his decision.

However, it is important to remember that a headphone's natural localization closely resembles that of a diffuse-field, and as mentioned previously, if the localization property does not match up, such correlation attempt just falls apart, not to mention that I don't believe in the missing 6-dB effect & passive equal-loudness compensation altogether.


As there is no standard that defines "a flat reference(such as a sound power model)" of a diffuse-field, Sony MH1 has been calibrated to minimize all the compensations, while retaining an accurate diffuse-field sound as much as possible. Regrettably, since over-pressurization may damage the diaphragm permanently, the bass can not be cut any further. With the mid-bass emphasis removed, the sound is extremely well-balanced, and due to its high accuracy, the modified MH1 is also suitable for binaural synthesis.

Of course, all the credit goes to Mr. Sead Smailagic for creating an IEM with such an excellent electroacoustic potential. This modification wouldn't have been possible without his support & leniency.
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20 comments:

  1. UnknownMarch 6, 2013 at 9:57 PM

    Rin I suggest you start replicating and selling your modified MH1, this looks fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 7, 2013 at 1:54 AM

    My sentiments echo the first comment. If patent issues do not allow it, may I suggest a modding service of user-bought MH1Cs at a cost that reflects the cost of materials, your hard work and time? This seems too good not to share with other head-fiers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rin ChoiMarch 8, 2013 at 7:45 PM

      This MH-RC shall be sent off for a loan-tour very soon. :)

      Delete
  3. swimsonnyMarch 8, 2013 at 12:13 PM

    Would you be able top email me the modifications you carried out. I will call it the rin choi mod.

    SonnyIndiaone@yahoo.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rin ChoiMarch 8, 2013 at 7:46 PM

      A general modification tutorial has been given out already: http://rinchoi.blogspot.com/2013/02/on-modification-of-sony-mh1.html

      Delete
  4. KaigoMarch 12, 2013 at 2:43 AM

    Your MH1 mod results are VERY nice.
    Many (including myself) would really really like to repeat your success.

    It's especially interesting considering your reply to the reader's note that RockIt R-50 has poor lows — that your MH1 mod might be a solution.

    Can you please (pretty please :) take more pictures? And more of your pen sketches of hidden parts and steps you can't repeat?
    I (and I'm sure many) are particularly interested in dis/re-assembing + recabling.

    Can you give more details on materials and steps to cover the rear end?
    Is it hollow once you remove the plastic at the end?
    What other options there might be to cover it?

    How does the rear actually look like? (oh, drawing maybe?) Is the driver fully inside the barrel or sticks out a bit?
    Is the driver glued to the barrel or it's easy to remove?
    Is there a wire hole on the side of the barrel (once you remove the plastic ring) or it's at the rear?
    Maybe a drawing or a pic of the barre with all the plastic stripped?

    In other words — can you please make a new post on the little details of your great mod?
    If you provide more details maybe we could crowd-source some more ideas / solutions in the discussion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rin ChoiMarch 12, 2013 at 5:46 PM

      Thnx a lot. First of all, this pair will be on a loan tour at head-fi very soon. Upon gathering good amount of public opinion, i will decide what to do with it :)

      Delete
  5. AnonymousMarch 15, 2013 at 9:22 AM

    How's the isolation??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rin ChoiMarch 16, 2013 at 2:19 AM

      It all depends on the design of the mod you choose. Mine is more or less the same as the stock, but I can always go for more isolation, less microphonics, etc.

      Delete
  6. hobbyoneMarch 22, 2013 at 9:13 AM

    Do you think that Samsungs MH1C, the EHS71 Knowles TWFK uses? On the tests they mention thin bass + harsh highs + it has the sleeves of the 1. generation UE 700. The marketing says only this: "High-performance balanced armature driver."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rin ChoiMarch 22, 2013 at 11:46 AM

      Yup, for EHS71, Samsung ordered about 1 million units of TWFK from Knowles, and optimized the final design themselves. The manufacturing was done by Youngbo Engineering Inc. of South Korea.

      Delete
  7. hobbyoneMarch 23, 2013 at 12:57 AM

    Wow! Thanks for the info! I had a first generation UE 700. It was difficult to get a harsless sound, but when done, it sounded pretty good. It's dead now: http://www.myimg.de/?img=227a688e.jpg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rin ChoiMarch 23, 2013 at 7:06 AM

      NP, as long as the drivers are in working condition, your UE700 might be revivable with some tinkering.

      Delete
  8. hobbyoneMarch 23, 2013 at 8:09 AM

    The left side became a little different/quieter, so I think it's past away, I dont want to experiment with them anymore.
    It began with the peeling of the green dumping material on one side. Probably it was the ground for the re-emerging harshness. I removed the green material from the other side. This did not solve the problem of the harsness. I applied earbud foam into the nozzle, which got in to the armatures nozzle, and the sound got bad. I shortened the iem's nozzle to get them out. I was able to get the foam out, but the sound got different/quiter on that side. Maybe some foam got in to the armatures inside, or something was damaged. Finally I dismantled the house completely

    Otherwise, the sound wasn't bad with the sortened nozzle. I feelt the pure TWFK sound, which was interesting.
    I think that the nozzle shorting of BA iem's can have positive effect soundwise, and makes the insertion easier, especially by long nozzled BA's.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rin ChoiMarch 24, 2013 at 2:22 AM

      Regrettably, it sounds like the driver is permanently damaged. TWFK is a nice driver though, my favorite choice for a tweeter unit.

      Delete
  9. luisdentOctober 30, 2013 at 8:46 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. luisdentNovember 6, 2013 at 7:29 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. luisdentNovember 14, 2013 at 7:25 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. luisdentMarch 20, 2014 at 8:22 PM

    Hey udauda, good to see you back :) Can you explain more specifically which combination of mods you used and how you did the molding for your final modded mh1? I'm dying to try it.

    ReplyDelete

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