It seems a reasonable assumption that anyone who’d be willing to spend a few hundred dollars on a pair of headphones is probably the type of person who has a passion for high quality audio. That, or they work for the government. We’re fairly sure [Daniel Harari] falls into that former category though, given how much thought he gave to adding a decent microphone to his Sennheiser HD650 headphones.
Not happy with the results he got from microphones clipped to his shirt or mounted on a stand, [Daniel] realized what he really wanted was a sensitive boom microphone. This would be close enough to his mouth that it wouldn’t pick up stray noises, but at the same time not obstruct his field of view or otherwise get in the way.
He found a few options on the market which would allow him to mount a boom microphone to his HD650’s, but he didn’t want to stick anything to them and risk scratching the finish so those weren’t really an option. [Daniel] decided to go the DIY route, and eventually settled on a microphone that would mount to the headphone’s existing connector which plugs in at the bottom of the cup.
To make his mount, he 3D printed a two piece clamp that could be screwed together and securely attach to the connector without making any permanent changes. Once he had that base component printed, he salvaged the flexible metallic neck from a cheap USB light and used that to hold the female 3.5mm connector. Into that he’s plugged in a small commercially available microphone that is usually used on voice recorders, which [Daniel] said sounds much better than even the larger mics he had tested.
Finally, he used Sugru to encapsulate the wires and create a flexible strain relief. The whole assembly is very light, easily movable, and perhaps most importantly, didn’t require any modifications or damage to a pair of headphones which have a retail price that could double as a car payment.
It’s been a few years since we’ve seen anyone brave enough to hack their pricey Sennheiser headphones. But in the past we covered a modification which gave them an infusion of Bluetooth and even one that reversed a sneaky manufacturer hardware limitation.
Finish ugly as fuck…
He wont be looking at the finish when they’re on his head. Unless he’s admiral akbar.
Burn.
Ok. Is that government comment about the cost that news outlets report like a $900 hammer? If it is that is not what the government actually regular pays for the original hammer. The original hammer is what we would pay, the other $880 accounts for all of the warehouses and personal that the hammer goes through and touches it respectively. The $900 total is just a way for the government to spread the funds from one entity to all of the other entities that are involved in the process.
Granted the government does at times pay more than it should, what the media reports are the accounting tricks that are used to move money from one entity or department to another.
I assumed that was some kind of ‘spy’ comment. Spies need good headphones for their eavesdropping shenanigans you know.
I think there’s a typo:
“but at the same time not obstruct his field of video ”
-> “but at the same time not obstruct his field of view “
SUGRU HACKING PUTTY
I remember KipKay had a sponsorship from them back when he was the state of the art for online “diy” videos.
VModa makes a fantastic boom mic for like $25, this seems silly.