Having printed out the measurements for all 41 Do-It-Yourself modified headphones sent to me over the past year, I spread them out over my kitchen table and set to work picking the best and worst measuring of the bunch. I also picked what I thought were the coolest looking headphones. And I scrounged around my lab looking for all the headphones I might give away as prizes.

Let's see who got what ...

Kabeer - "I am located in UK, and I have some orthos. Im not sure if its very viable for me to get anything measured?"

Tyll - "I really can't spend too much money on this, so I've limited DIY Ortho testing to the U.S. to keep the shipping costs down. Sorry."

Kabeer - "Id really like to send my Aiwa to you to get measured. I think its pretty great :). Wualta wants to see their measurements too and has kindly offered to pay you the postage back to UK for them."

Tyll - "Okie Dokie. If Wualta wants to see the measurements, it must be good."

You see, while Wualta might be a crusty old curmudgeon, he's also one of the patron saints of Orthodynamic DIYers, and if he thinks something is worthwhile ... well, you just have to have a listen.

By golly, he's right on the mark again!

Aw geez ... I feel so lucky. I teared up a bit as I unwrapped six DIY headphones from dBel84 on Head-Fi. The work, love, and enthusiasm of this owner/modifier/enthusiast just radiated from them. I feel so privileged to have people send me their pride and joy DIY cans. It's a very special thing for me personally.

Come, let's have a look at this very personal "personal audio" collection.

It's not often a pair of DIY cans comes walking in the door with its own monster branding. Not only has enthusiast 4nradio breathed life into this odd assortment of bits from previously dead or discontinued headphones, but unlike the good doctor of yore, he has fallen in love with the monster he brought to life, and given it character and personality.

Let's meet the monster.

More modified headphones came through the lab this week. scompton sent in three modified Fostex Orthodynamic cans, and Morphsci sent in a couple of Headphile.com modified AKG K340 headphones.

Quick pix, and impressions follow!