[Makiah S]

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Watch this with the DJ100. It's really amusing!
 

 
Testing the Modi vs ODAC now. Right now I think the Modi is about 5% better (to my ears and not yours). Shh, don't tell anyone.
Both sound completely flat and when comparing them it's about as bad as trying to hear a mouse fart from 100 feet away.
The Modi seems to have better imaging, easier to spot detail and a slightly better (more accurate) soundstage.
They're both very good. It seems like when you listen to things in front of you on the ODAC, the distance is less accurate or hard to judge.
For example, when listening to Tony Bennett I could determine the proper distance of where he was at singing in front of me. On the ODAC it's like I can't tell as easily. Kind of nit-picking,
ODAC seems like 1% more clear

all I hear is my Odac and my Mad Dogs spewing out digital noise from that crappy quALITY clip... still though the odac is the dac I has and I enjoy it <3

 

[doublea71]

I tried out the M50 pads today and really enjoyed them. Luckily, my ears do fit in the oval shape completely. The sound stage does seem to be bigger if memory serves me correctly. I'm not going to A/B them against stock pads because I don't want to stretch them out too much. I was using Foobar 2000 with wasapi + crossfeed through a Fiio E17. Aside from the sound stage, nothing else jumped out at me compared to the stock pads. I listened to quite a bit of The Beatles USB release (24/44 rez and really well mastered). I liked it a bunch more with the crossfade, too. Damn, is it crossfeed or crossfade? It's late here in SE Asia....at any rate, they are more comfortable than stock. I think my next set of full-size cans are going to be MadDogs T50RPs with Alpha Pads - those suckers look like buttery-soft leather pillows and look really comfortable.
 
Are there any simple mods with blue tack or anything else that are worth doing to the DJ100? TDock, any recommendations? If anybody knows of one, it's gotta be you, pal.

 

[Impulse]

Crosfeed? I wasn't aware the E17 did that, or is it in the mix or something?
 
According to Google/Wikipedia crossfade is either a band or a DJ'ing technique... It's also a V-Moda branding across several of their headphones.
 
I've been eyeing those Mad Dogs myself as my next headphone...

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Are there any simple mods with blue tack or anything else that are worth doing to the DJ100? TDock, any recommendations? If anybody knows of one, it's gotta be you, pal.

 
I wasted a ton of time a year ago with mods, but they just changed the sound way too much. You can improve the bass slightly with Blu-Tack, but it seems to change other areas of it's sound signature. The worse area to apply mods to is directly behind the drive in the cup.
 
The only mod I want to try sometime is to remove the round circle of plastic inside the cups. I wonder what this would do? Probably increase treble. The negative of doing this is that you would possibly ruin a perfectly good DJ100.
 
The only mod I now like is poking holes into some Pearstone mods

The Auray Sheepskin pads are good enough that this isn't required.
 
Since you have M50 pads, those pads are not really required.
 
One mod you can try that's 100% reversible is this...
 
look under the edges of your M50 pads and check for some holes. Try to temporarily block a few or all with tape and see if you can hear any change. I never tried this, but it might make it even better.
 
This might be worth trying for those that think the M50 pads give the TBSE version too much treble.

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

all I hear is my Odac and my Mad Dogs spewing out digital noise from that crappy quALITY clip... still though the odac is the dac I has and I enjoy it <3

 
What? It's not music and is only talking..I don't think audio quality of the clip is important for what it's demonstrating.
 
If it doesn't play something must be wrong with your setup.

 

[doublea71]

Thanks for that, TDock. I think I'm going to let them be what they are.
 
The E17 doesn't have crossfeed, but Foobar 2000 does have it available. I wish it worked like the one on Rockbox where you can adjust the amount of crossfeed precisely the way you think sounds best. Heck, I wish Rockbox would make a player for computers, too.
 
I've read a bit about LFF's Paradox, but those are a little pricey for me. I think there is enough positive feedback on the MadDogs for me to take the plunge - I think they're going for around $300 new.
 

 

[Impulse]

Foobar, duh... I didn't know Rockbox'd devices could do crossfeed tho, never paid much attention to it tbh, is it available on most or only a few? Might have to try it on my Clip Zip if possible, thanks.

 

[doublea71]

Quote:

Foobar, duh... I didn't know Rockbox'd devices could do crossfeed tho, never paid much attention to it tbh, is it available on most or only a few? Might have to try it on my Clip Zip if possible, thanks.

I'm pretty sure it will work on your Clip Zip and it is an awesome GUI. You can tweak the sound of your music six ways to Sunday and it's pretty easy to use, too. It also allows you to use almost any type of music file - wav, flac, mp3, ogg, etc. It is as good as you've heard.

 

[Impulse]

Yeah I was aware of it and whatnot, just didn't know it did crossfeed (and if said feature was device dependent). Thanks for the heads up, I'll try it out sometime.

 

[Makiah S]

Quote:

 
What? It's not music and is only talking..I don't think audio quality of the clip is important for what it's demonstrating.
 
If it doesn't play something must be wrong with your setup.

haha I know I'm picking on you guys lol, but yea I do enjoy it! It sounds best with my dt 990s [except it sound more digital]

 

[FightBrothers]

After about 20 hours of listening, i can finally see why this headphone is tdock's favourite.
Before reading about my impression, you guys must know i am still pretty unfamiliar and a newbie to headfi but i will try my best to describe my impression
My impression of the TBSE
Build Quality:
For 65 dollars, these are really something. The build quality on these are almost the same as something that should be in the sub 200 price range. I really loved the metal housing making it feel sturdy and durable. The headphone's build quality is quite good but there is only one thing that is really annoying to me, that one thing would be the squeaky ear cups. When i got home from the store i just noticed that when i try and adjust the ear cup angles, the hinges would squeak and it has been quite annoying, but I'm sure that was just bad luck. One thing i wish that would be on these headphones would be having better finishes around the edges as they are slightly rough, giving a slightly cheaper feeling to the headphone. Overall for 65 dollars these headphones have really great build quality to them.
Isolation/Comfort:
The isolation on TBSE (stock pads) are sub-par for me. These isolate slightly less than the m50s, but for me personally these should be enough isolation to satisfy me. As for comfort, these i really enjoy wearing. The clamping force is perfect for my head size, The padding is soft and feels great, and the amazing light weight on these headphones makes it barely noticeable after long period of listening. An issue that might occur for people with large heads would be the headbands, i have relatively average size head and i had to set the headband 2 clicks for each side from the maximum extension. If people have larger heads, the headbands could be a problem.
Sound Quality:
First thing when i first started listening, i thought the bass was very slightly underpowered and mids were definitely forward and very slightly bloated. As hours past by, i grew further in love with these headphones. About 10 hours after purchase the mids is slowly receding and the bass is starting to come out, the treble was also very smooth which is great for long periods of listening, but i personally would like a slightly more aggressive treble. When i tried the pads with stuffed tissue paper, the bass and mid sounded perfect to me, the treble was slightly better but still smooth which i didn't really enjoy.
Some Questions:
If i were to get an amp or dac with the m50 pads, would the treble, detail, and soundstage improve? If so which amp or dac under 100 would be the best?
 
@tdocks
you said e11 is ok with dj100 but what about other options like the C&C BH and e12, would they improve the treble response? And are there other sub 100 dollar alternatives?

 

[Tsujigiri]

I have a pair of these on the way, hope they'll be a good beater pair. But reading through this thread... does anyone buy cheaper headphones and listen to them stock anymore?

 

[Makiah S]

Quote:

I have a pair of these on the way, hope they'll be a good beater pair. But reading through this thread... does anyone buy cheaper headphones and listen to them stock anymore?

I do as often as I can xD I... tried a pair of JCV Hx-300 or something... it reminded how terrible head phones can sound e.e

 

[Tsujigiri]

Yeah, it kind of reminds me of the Japanese pocket rocket craze a few years ago, where people would buy a $20,000 car and spend $50,000 on upgrades and modifications, ending up with a car that performs worse than a $70,000 Corvette or BMW. While I know pads do make a difference, I suspect that a lot of it is wishful thinking on the part of audiophiles who want to cheat the system by making a cheap headphone sound good.
 
In any case, if most of the reviews are to be trusted, the DJ100's are decent in their own right. I don't plan to spend almost as much as the headphones cost in mods when I get mine, but I think I'll still have a decent pair of headphones that I won't be afraid to stash in my backpack and carry around.

 

[doublea71]

It seems these are not mod-worthy headphones, but the M50 pads are much more comfortable (my ears comfortably fit inside of the pad since it's oval in shape) and do improve the sound stage by adding more space between your ears and the driver. The only other thing I would consider doing to mine is replacing the long coiled cable with something lighter for purely ergonomic reasons.