[PragmaticPulp]

This mod was done many years ago, before it was common to be able to find someone who could do proper frequency response measurement. Unless someone measured them in the thread, I wouldn’t assume the visual difference check identified 100% of the differences, including material differences.

Sennheiser likes to reuse parts across their headphones lineup. They have several current models that look similar despite tiny internal differences but have substantially difference frequency response due to those tiny changes.

This is always going to anger the people who think the cost of objects should be based solely on the cost of materials. I find that especially ironic for a a website where most of us work on software products where the cost of running and distributing the software is vanishingly small and produces margins these hardware companies could only dream of.

[atVelocet]

But you realize that the drivers (can be seen on the replacement driver from Sennheiser which states it's for both models) and even the construction is the same?

So it is not about looking the same with different internals .. it basically is the same just without the dampening.

[dagmx]

I think the larger point is that they could be drivers that don’t meet the same quality standard. Just like how processors get binned.

It’s hard to make electronics that are identical. It’s easier to make them such that they fit within buckets of tolerances.

Without proper testing, it’s hard to know for certain

[ObscureScience]

This would make sense if not for the claim that they list the same drivers as the replacement part for both models. Or do they when picking up the order do the testing to see if it's a 595 or 555 part?

[Pet_Ant]

Well it could be that the replacements are substandard, I mean otherwise they'd have to be a matched pair. And if you damaged one, who knows what shape the other one is in.

But I'm willing to bet that at the lower end it's not worth the end. These aren't studio grade.

[throwaway290]

Or it could be that replacement drivers are 595 quality and quality control is factored in their price.