Orthodynamic Roundup - Page 990

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kabeer 

Thanks, Iv put it on watch. Getting it down from USA might be a bit pricey for a headband...but looks like it should do the job I want. Ill see how it goes.

 

Does anyone else have an equally useless dynamic I can take a large headband from?

 

 

PS, if someone is REALLY interested in a vintage Fostex T50 and isnt afraid to pull out the green for one, send me a pm...

Don't you dare butcher that frame!  It deserves to hold my electret drivers! 

It would be much easier to use a modded Grado frame.  I have the first KH-33 frame, but it mounts in the center of the cup back like the T20/T50s.
 

What's really wild is the Q45s look like T50/RP18 frames/cups with Kenwood style front baffles.  All of my KH-*3 series cans have that slightly extended, chamfered front baffle, only the inserts in the back center for mounting the drivers changes.  Pretty ingenious tooling for injection molding so many different headphones off one basic set of dies. 

Kabeer, have you thought about trying a beyerdynamic headband?  The DT770-DT990 series have a headband that was a perfect replacement for the headband on my Pioneer SE-500 and the headband for the DT100/DT150 series is larger if needed.  If not, I have an old "SoundDesign" headphone with a nice big headband.  PM me if you still need it.

I have read some on ortho/isodynamics and still haven't found out what was really wrong in all the vintage orthos, that made them sound so bad, compared with modern high-end orthos? Is this a lack of damping (most mods focus on damping), something with earpad construction (vintage and modern pads are quite different, it seems) or something with too much reflection whithin the can ( modern ones look much more open than vintages).

Some vintage orthos are very nice.

However, the new high-end orthos compete with new stronger magnets, headsets that have fewer compromises....
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nevod 

I have read some on ortho/isodynamics and still haven't found out what was really wrong in all the vintage orthos, that made them sound so bad, compared with modern high-end orthos? Is this a lack of damping (most mods focus on damping), something with earpad construction (vintage and modern pads are quite different, it seems) or something with too much reflection whithin the can ( modern ones look much more open than vintages).

It just looks like back in the 70s/80s hedphones were overlooked, not considered really important. Nowadays, they're certainly a strong force.

By the way, are there any photos of LCD-2's drivers? I'd like to peek at the heart of what seems to be the best ortho. :)

I'm glad that orthos are resurrecting. 'Stats will probably still be the king of the hill when it comes to sound, but the requirement of a special amplifier is what keeps them away from people. Orthos, on the other hand, have potential to be really popular.

Hope that Fischer will release their ortho phones soon, and that they will be on par with other great planars out there, being at once affordable and availible there..

Since orthos cost more in materials than do dynamics, the only place for orthos in the modern market is in the mid-to-high-end market. This is a market that didn't exist back in the ortho hay-day. Since the orthos had to compete in the same price bracket as the cheapo, poorly constructed dynamics of the day (there are plenty of good vintage dynamics, though -- at least as many as there are orthos), they were forced to compromise. The problem wasn't inherent to the vintage orthos, but to their sales models. While the original Yamaha line of orthos were quite bass heavy and underdamped, The Yamaha YH-1000 and Fostex T50 (the original) were a different story. The latter were designed for a much more discerning crowd, and so were afforded a much higher price-tag. This gave them more headroom to trade bass for the impulse response and the smooth mids and highs that orthos are now known for. Unfortunately, while they were better than the lesser yammies and Fostexes, they are far rarer, due to their higher price-tag.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nevod 

I have read some on ortho/isodynamics and still haven't found out what was really wrong in all the vintage orthos, that made them sound so bad, compared with modern high-end orthos? Is this a lack of damping (most mods focus on damping), something with earpad construction (vintage and modern pads are quite different, it seems) or something with too much reflection whithin the can ( modern ones look much more open than vintages).

The vintage orthos did have some competition with vintage electrets and stats. (I won't say anything about whether the stats were high-end, but I sure thought that the vintage stat I tried sounded good.)

One headphone review preferred the Sennheiser Unipolar over the Yamaha YH-1000. Sparklier highs in the Unipolar, the reviewer though.

I haven't heard any good reason to believe that stats will be "king of the hill" in the future.

My best guess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta 

A good guess. I've never seen a PMB equivalent of the YHD series. But they could've made them-- they simply didn't. So something even more sinister than the Walkman was afoot.

A dynamic maffia cartel?

I think the Walkman and costs were the reason too. The YHD series while small, still required a lot of power, more than dynamics. Maybe PMB just felt it wasnt worth it.... But saying that. if the YH5m could achieve such sensitivity, there were still ways around it...

So im gonna put my money on making light dynamics were cheaper, and the companies went where the money was.

Well, most of the audio equipment's price is R&D and brand. Even neodymium magnets aren't so expensive, and given mass(i.e. really mass) production, orthos can be made more or less cheap, I think.

As for why I think stats will still be the king of the hill - because the technology itself is somewhat more linear and the membrane is noticeably lighter. But stats will only prevail in the absolutely-top level, if ortho tendency will continue, Stax will probably make something better than Omegas. Or the other way round, stats can be made cheap - but only the headphones themselves, they would still need an expensive and special amplifier, or at least a transformer box, connected - again - to amplifier. That's why I don't see them dominating mass market at all, while orthos can be (well, hardly, but it's possible) used without an amp, or with a 'common and normal' headphone amp.

The technology is more linear? What do you mean by that?

(by the way, no one knows the weight of the LCD-1 and LCD-2 membranes, as far as I know...)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nevod 

As for why I think stats will still be the king of the hill - because the technology itself is somewhat more linear and the membrane is noticeably lighter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JadeEast 

My best guess.

This brings back memories.   Many moons ago I was on a flight from PDX to Boston on a, then new, 777.  I had a mileage + upgrade to first class and I was sitting right in the front row, getting ready to watch a movie, but I was listening to my blue Walkman while I waited.  I was listening to a new album I had recently bought, "Together Again For the First Time", Mel Torme and Buddy Rich, and I was really enjoying it.  This gentleman walks up and asks if I minded if he sits in the front row to watch the movie too.  It was the velvet frog himself, Mel Torme.  He hadn't listened to the album since it had been released.  It was a great flight, great to talk to Mel, and I don't have any recollection what the movie was.  Subsequent to the flight, Mel bought a Walkman for his daughter.   I was not listening to orthos at the time. 
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nevod 

Well, most of the audio equipment's price is R&D and brand. Even neodymium magnets aren't so expensive, and given mass(i.e. really mass) production, orthos can be made more or less cheap, I think.

 

As for why I think stats will still be the king of the hill - because the technology itself is somewhat more linear and the membrane is noticeably lighter. But stats will only prevail in the absolutely-top level, if ortho tendency will continue, Stax will probably make something better than Omegas. Or the other way round, stats can be made cheap - but only the headphones themselves, they would still need an expensive and special amplifier, or at least a transformer box, connected - again - to amplifier. That's why I don't see them dominating mass market at all, while orthos can be (well, hardly, but it's possible) used without an amp, or with a 'common and normal' headphone amp.

 

 
"the technology itself is somewhat more linear"  Still doesn't make sense.  More "linear" than what?  Linear as in the opposite of non linear?