Just listened to some Fostex T50RPs today... WOW!

I have been using mine for almost a week now, sounded average at first(my HD515's sounded more detailed) but have really come into their own over the last couple of days.
 
The was very suprised by them when watching the The Chronicles of Riddick last night, I have never heard a soundtrack bocome to alive on headphones. Very impressive.
 
I will mod them in a soon, I might wait for my O2 boards to arrive as to have a few amps to choose from when testing.
 
My only complaint so far is the 3.5mm plug/socket is a bit temperamental about the angle it is connected on, the right channel keeps dropping out.

How do you get the Paradox?

skinnypuppy said:

How do you get the Paradox?

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PM, LFF.  And before someone else asks.. they're worth every penny.

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flysweep said:

PM, LFF.  And before someone else asks.. they're worth every penny.

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I agree!!!  Best money I've spent on audio (aside from maybe my music collection as a whole)!!
 

Here's a couple of tips that will prevent you from reaching for the Aleve:
 
1. Avoid stripped cup threads when making many comparative mods. You know, open...close...open...close...ad infinitum. Eventually those plastic threads strip out. Then, what's to do?
 
I found some $45 PlastiFix on Amazon but, c'mon!  The seed of this idea belongs to symphonic who suggested a "belt" around the cups instead of using the screws while modding. Instead, use rubber bands. You know those blue produce rubber bands that are about 1 cm wide? Use 2 per cup. Works great.
 
If you've already stripped the cup threads like I have on some of 3 sets, get some of those plastic bag wire ties at the grocery store. Cut away the excess plastic coating on both sides. Cut a length twice the depth of the screw holes. Bend it in half like a horseshoe and hang on the edge of the thread compartment; one half inside the receiver thread compartment and one half hanging outside. Works great.
 
2. For those stripped out headband hanger threads, cut a piece of the plastic bag wire tie twice the depth of the receiver threads. Leave the plastic coating in place. Bend it in half and hang over the lip of the receiver thread compartment, as above. It's just the right size to fit into the other connecting piece attached to the headband hanger. Push it together and screw it down. Works great. 
 
No more headache.

Who here has tried the Acousti foam products and what did you find?
I received a sheet of the 3 layer stuff today and installed it into these SFI Nakamichis I made ( now on mod 10 at least). So far it's been the best version of the various modding. Tamed up the overall signature, it definitely works, and has made the music seem more "solid/grounded" as well as tightened up the sound considerably.
This sheet is HUGE! Managed to get it for just over $30 delivered.
 I opted for the 3 layer stuff because of it's acoustic decoupling effect, essentially the dense layer is in the middle just above the bonded adhesive side, with the less porous foam on either side. Apparently this helps to control the sound better than the 2 layer stuff as stated on their website . The technical section with all the graphs at the bottom of the page.
 
But I haven't tried the 2 layer to compare it to obviously.
It's really not that thick @ about 7mm.( it compresses if necessary).
Totally happy with what it's done and that's it for modding these further. Exactly what I was after all this tweaking I'm surprised the larger screws I had to use didn't strip out also.
 
Any feedback on the Acousti stuff? I had seen mention of the 2 layer but not anything with the 3 layer, at least that I could search out.
 
Enjoy your mods!
 
 

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bluemonkeyflyer said:

Here's a couple of tips that will prevent you from reaching for the Aleve:
 
1. Avoid stripped cup threads when making many comparative mods. You know, open...close...open...close...ad infinitum. Eventually those plastic threads strip out. Then, what's to do?
 
I found some $45 PlastiFix on Amazon but, c'mon!  The seed of this idea belongs to symphonic who suggested a "belt" around the cups instead of using the screws while modding. Instead, use rubber bands. You know those blue produce rubber bands that are about 1 cm wide? Use 2 per cup. Works great.
 
If you've already stripped the cup threads like I have on some of 3 sets, get some of those plastic bag wire ties at the grocery store. Cut away the excess plastic coating on both sides. Cut a length twice the depth of the screw holes. Bend it in half like a horseshoe and hang on the edge of the thread compartment; one half inside the receiver thread compartment and one half hanging outside. Works great.
 
2. For those stripped out headband hanger threads, cut a piece of the plastic bag wire tie twice the depth of the receiver threads. Leave the plastic coating in place. Bend it in half and hang over the lip of the receiver thread compartment, as above. It's just the right size to fit into the other connecting piece attached to the headband hanger. Push it together and screw it down. Works great. 
 
No more headache.

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i stripped out the threads for a couple of screws in my D2000.  i was going to apply some SuperGlue-Gel with a needle to one-half of the thread hole, but this is much neater.  thanks for the tip!
 

x3. Second best (009 #1) Headphones at the OC meet.
 
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tim_j_thomas said:

I agree!!!  Best money I've spent on audio (aside from maybe my music collection as a whole)!!
 

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proid said:

@HDman: That's really clear and it help me alot, i have just done this mod and the pad seal very well that lead to very deep and tight bass, thanks so much! But i think it brighten the sound, and mid is thinner than before, not sure because i don't have another pair to AB.
Edit: bass is good but the mid is too recessed with  this mod, so i  came back to original cotton stuff under earpad. 

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Thanks for pointing that out, I have been testing different variations, this is my conclusion.
 
If you use the plastic risers (with paxmate), then you get more space in the cups and less presurization, resulting in less midrange impact. Fix. Less cup fibreglass fixed the midrange weakness for me. I find a very thin layer of fibreglass is all that is needed when using the risers.
 
If you want to use the risers, you must modify your previous mods on the inside of the cups to suit the risers. They are much more spacious and comfortable to use than cotton wool in my opinion.

1. @HDMan. Is there any chance that you will show the measurements for your Response when your Realiser arrives? Your mod looks pretty nice.

 

hdman said:

Thanks for pointing that out, I have been testing different variations, this is my conclusion.
 
If you use the plastic risers (with paxmate), then you get more space in the cups and less presurization, resulting in less midrange impact. Fix. Less cup fibreglass fixed the midrange weakness for me. I find a very thin layer of fibreglass is all that is needed when using the risers.
 
If you want to use the risers, you must modify your previous mods on the inside of the cups to suit the risers. They are much more spacious and comfortable to use than cotton wool in my opinion.

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Forgot to quote..

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everlong said:

What is Paradox?

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It is when you keep on pressing that remote when you know it's dead. 
 

tim_j_thomas said:

I agree!!!  Best money I've spent on audio (aside from maybe my music collection as a whole)!!

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What is this Paradox, some kind of mod?

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everlong said:

What is Paradox?

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It's LFF's secret T50RP mod, which apparently sounds totally exquisite.  By secret, I mean he soldered a ADC=>DSP=>DAC chain into each cup, using a DSP that perfectly compensates for all of the T50RP's stock flaws.  Either that, or he took a couple layers of honey-combs and suspended them over the driver to diffuse reflections traveling between the front/back of the cup.*
 
Actually, nobody but LFF knows exactly what he did to make them, and it will remain that way until at least after the competition is over in April or so...or maybe he'll take it to his grave.  We do know that he uses the excellent Fischer FA-003 pads (sewn to the elastic band of a sock to fit apparently?) and reversible mods only, and that one of his mods is entirely novel.  The FA-003 pads are hard to obtain (if anyone knows a way other than flat-out buying an FA-003, I'm all ears!), but the take-home message is that you don't have to do anything irreversible or particularly scary to get mind-blowing sound out of these.
 
tim_j_thomas and Flysweep's posts indicate that you can buy a pair off him if modding isn't your thing, but I think he's been trying to encourage independent modding and experimentation.  (Odds are, that's part of the reason his recipe is secret:  A lot of us would just follow his directions and stop experimenting if we knew it, but that could prevent the discovery of something even better if it happens to be some kind of "local maximum.")
 
*Out of curiosity, has anyone tried anything like this?  I think Mr. Speakers (or maybe Hennyo?) said he doesn't expect diffusion to help much due to the small cup size, but I'm just wondering.

I'm surprised that nobody tried to drill those babies like a russian modder, maybe there's the future!