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Post by marveltone on Mar 28, 2016 12:57:50 GMT
So, in essence, you're getting a real smooth headphone for approximately $200 US and a little elbow grease. Sounds like a killer deal to me.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Mar 28, 2016 14:22:37 GMT
Normally with headphones Joe, I adjust and get a good feeling about their strong points but with time, I begin to find what I think are weaker areas.
With these, I got a good feeling, started to actively look for weaker areas that turned out not to be there when I compared directly with other headphones yesterday. You got me doing that, asking whether I could live with just one, which would it be.
It turns out that the weaker bits I thought I'd spotted were WORSE on other headphones.
I'm still liking them a lot and tbh they haven't come off my head since I modded them with the new pads. They are now closed in effect, but the sound is smooth (thanks to the pads) and weighty (thanks to the port closing). The port closing introduced a mid bass bloom which went when I closed the back vent on the cups. That last one was subtle, but it did it.
I really like the T50 a lot. Good recordings sharpen it up and show how fast the planar drivers actually are and lesser stuff like podcasts are smooth enough not to be nasty to listen to. I've tuned mine to be slightly bassier than neutral probably, but that is actually my preference.
I don't know of anything else that gives this kind of smooth, natural response. While I can understand that some like it stock with the harder pads, by comparison, the modded pair have lost the edginess in the treble which was noticeable on speech and the bass level has risen.
It's not as airy as the hd650 but timbre is similar. It's slightly less damped sounding than my modded T40 so is kind of in between the hd650 and T40.
To me, it's very natural sounding and I'm really pleased that I got the nerve to open it up and get stuck in. Normally, I don't like messing with a headphone because I haven't anything to measure what each change does, but it still does it for me. I like it a lot.
If you want more top edge, the dt990 has a similar kind of bass although the T50 has a more 'solid' bass for some reason but it doesn't have the sharp edge up top. That means that it sounds kind of normal at lower volume and really blooms at high levels without screeching.
The strange thing is that Fostex could easily have got a similar tuning for no cost and I'm puzzled why they didn't go just a bit further. The new stock version is certainly an improvement on the old one, but just a bit more makes it quite superior imo.
Worst thing is that it is an insensitive headphone and an amp is a must. It's possibly more 'in your head' than open headphones I think, but that's a common thing with closed headphones. Stereo pinpointing though is ok. On one recording of an opera singer, I could spot their movements on stage and could easily hear when they were turning their heads while singing.
With acoustic recordings, it sounds best to me at roughly 'live' volume, where many other cans turn edgy and you need to turn down because of it. They also work lower in volume pretty nicely as well though. Maybe mids could be stronger - I'm not certain of that though judging by just listening.
My two Ifi amps and the O2 seem to work well with it. The Fiios seem less clean. I'll go on to my Aune and Polaris with it once I have a real feel for its sound but for portable listening, it has a short lead and is the best I have I think with the Ifi. Switching in the crossfeed is magical.
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Post by c61746961 on Mar 28, 2016 15:54:44 GMT
If you want to lessen internal reflections you can unroll a couple of cotton balls and fix them on the cup 'wells' (on the bottom), a good distance from the driver and vents. It should not interfere with the tuning.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Mar 28, 2016 16:40:12 GMT
I imagine quite loosely in there? I've been listening all day and they really are engaging!! Probably, the 'fruitiness' I mentioned in comparison to my T40 is the result of reflections.
Have you measured what's going on yet?
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Post by c61746961 on Mar 28, 2016 17:50:21 GMT
Nope, on the contrary, quite compact pressed against the cup walls, you don't want to affect the air volume that the driver 'sees' considerably. Can't measure those slight effects reliably, my apartment is noisy 24/7
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Mar 28, 2016 17:57:40 GMT
I just keep flitting between my T40 which Frans modded and the new headphone to compare directly. It's pretty good as it is mow though tbh. The only thing it could do with is a bit more openness, but don't think it will open up since it's in effect closed!!
I do wonder about the open version but the FR of them all look really similar. The t40 looks like it doesn't go down quite as far as the other two in stock form; at least that's what they quote.
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Post by walbum4262 on Mar 28, 2016 18:31:08 GMT
I found that with the new t50rp mk3 the lawtons pads for denons is the most balancen pair of pads i have tried so far.
The shure 1540 alcantara pads just makes the bass to bloated and uncontrolled compaged to the lawtons.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Mar 28, 2016 18:48:18 GMT
Yes, they have a big bass with the 1540's. I can still uncover some of the plate vents to lessen it though. I fully covered the blow out on the back to counteract some of the bloom. In fact, I have dt990 levels of bass I discovered yesterday when comparing!!
The Lawtons are a bit difficult to get in the UK as well as the 1540s.
Did you cover some of the vents as well?
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Post by walbum4262 on Mar 28, 2016 19:11:05 GMT
The Lawton pads are also quite expensive luckily I was able to snatch op a pair in a deal I made with a pair of Denon d7000 that I was able to sell on with a profit without the Lawton pads. I did not have to cover any vents and the brilliant thing about the lawtons is the size of the inside ear space as it do not cover anything the original pads did not covor. With my pads rotation I found that the farther away you get from the driver with pads that more the midrange is sucked out So the Lawton pads provide just a small about of added space to the driver compared to the original pads and they add an angle so you don't loose midrange, the bass gets more presence without loosing control and bleeding into the midrange, the leather of the pads adds to a crisp refined high without adding to much and it gets sibilants I will soon try to move the baffle to my wooden cup mk2 project
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Mar 28, 2016 19:27:41 GMT
That mk2 looks rather tastey. I'd be frightened to open it up!! Have those cups got a vent on the back as well? I presume that you've used ZMF as the proto for this one?
I was always curious as to whether having wooden cups might make them a little resonant, unless so,ethimg like African blackwood is used.
I think the Shure pads put the mids back a little, but it's not too bad tbh. I'm quite chuffed with mine at the moment and it's getting a lot of use. I really showed up my dt150 and its 'hollowness' when I compared.
I quite like the bass raised a little so I left mine slightly higher in bass than some might like, but had to close the back vent to get the mid bass more controlled. That got rid of the bloom on mens' voices for me but kept a deep bass.
I really like the ease of tuning these. There are a lot of options.
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Post by walbum4262 on Mar 28, 2016 19:43:54 GMT
I got the wooden cups from member lohb from headfi The cups are made of monkey pod and they have 3 smal holes as vents you can notice them on the right cup I'm really exited about putting on the mk3 baffle
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Mar 28, 2016 20:10:01 GMT
Oh yes. That's what the ZMF cups have I think. All that baffle stiffening as well!! So I presume that you're going to fit the mk3 in there? That'll be interesting. With the double baffle, you get a nice way of tuning the bass so it might be a pretty simple transfer.
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jello
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Post by jello on Mar 29, 2016 20:13:31 GMT
Serial modders...some folk just can't help tinkering You guys should just buy good headphones in the first place rather than try to fix broken ones
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Post by c61746961 on Mar 29, 2016 21:38:08 GMT
Serial modders...some folk just can't help tinkering You guys should just buy good headphones in the first place rather than try to fix broken ones LOL, I have yet to run into a pair that is not broken in some deal-braking way... Good thing most can be improved upon with a bit of elbow grease.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Mar 29, 2016 21:43:52 GMT
Serial modders...some folk just can't help tinkering You guys should just buy good headphones in the first place rather than try to fix broken ones You've been reading the smart alec on HF haven't you?
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