[scompton]

Quote:

I think it's time for you to meet Mr. Stax's vintage son, the normal bias Lambda. 
 

They are the most forgiving, non low end, headphones I own.  It amazes me how crappy recordings sound decent.  That's not true for the Gamma or SR-5, or as true for my Yamahas

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Quote:

They are the most forgiving, non low end, headphones I own.  It amazes me how crappy recordings sound decent.  That's not true for the Gamma or SR-5, or as true for my Yamahas

He likes the AKG sound sig a lot and my Lambdas were everything I loved about my AKGs and then they are just at a much higher and faster level! 

 

[scompton]

 I think the last time my AKGs were out was a meet over a year ago.

 

[nickchen]

Quote:

I'm beginning to think that vintage orthos aren't for me.  No matter what I do they are pretty harsh in the upper midrange.  I've only heard Fostex and Yamaha, so maybe they exhibit this and others don't?  It seems strange because most of you don't seem to have this problem. 

I think your HRTFs must be very special...

 

 

[iQEM]

i introduced you guys, Victor HP D-50...similar with Akai ASE40j, my friend grab it from japan several months ago...

 
driver dismantled...







 
will add it to wikiphonia when have more time...

 
edit:
my friend, the first owner of this D50 had post it here before me, on this post:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/111193/orthodynamic-roundup/15810#post_7117814
 
sorry...

well, at least i share the impression than only shared picts... lol

 

[Kabeer]

Awesome iQem! can you tell us about the sound?
(i miss the days of ortho discovery, you brought it back =]  )

 

[iQEM]

Thank's Kabeer, long time not chit-chat with you, buddy...
how's world ?
 
about the VIctor HP D-50, until last night i still think the D50 are identical with ASE40j
http://20cheaddatebase.web.fc2.com/AKAI/ASE-40-J.html
even they both share the same specification...
 
but after seeing again this page:
http://wiki.faust3d.com/wiki/index.php?title=Akai_ASE-50
it's pretty similar to ASE-50 as well, you can see clearly that they both share similar trace diapghram and clamp, but use different size of housing...
i guess D-50 are smaller than ASE-50, maybe they tune differently or use different mylar thickness...
 
too bad i haven't got in fully on stock form when a friend send it to me (to get modded, offcourse)...
so without the stock cable & factory damping material inside, i think i can only heard a simple modded one...
 
it sounds a lil' bit more like my bassheavy NAD in stock form, but less powerfull..
have same dark ambience but have good mid & highs (not a roll-off high), deep punch on low extension and still listenable...
the pads similar to stax SRX pads but more comfort, the inner hole are wider than NAD pads, so that's why the high are there..
the housing overall not very good plastic quality, makes the sound reverb..you might see the baffle that hold the driver are thin plastic...
that's why i add some foss there to increase seal, and i add more foss sealer on the cover cup in thin layer...
but even with that condition, i think this cans are good for their price...this ads clear their costs...
http://20cheaddatebase.web.fc2.com/VICTOR/DYNA.jpg
 
i named the D50 as "baby NAD/T50v0" cause of sound are similar but less detail, huge & powerfull..
with little effort, i'm pretty sure this cans have good potential to surpass Fostex T-10...
maybe as the same level as T30, but not as good as NAD or T50 once modded..cmiiw

 

[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

I think your HRTFs must be very special...  

 
It's certainly possible, but I don't think so.  My speakers are Mackie Monitors, which are very flat in their response, and one of my favorite headphones is the Joe Grado HP1000, which is one of the most neutral headphones ever made.  I am more sensitive to harshness and peaks in this area than most people though.  My audio search is actually mostly about finding headphones that don't have them- I care less about HD type "hi-fi" and much more about tone and even/balanced FR.  Which is why I often prefer cheaper, less resolving headphones with flatter FR over more expensive phones like the HD800 or GS1000 which have IMO, uneven response. 
 
I don't think it's the supraural pads, because I have the exact same problem with my T20v1 w/ O2 pads w/ the stock housing and with my grado cups.  Even when the midrange (male vocals) and/or the treble is recessed (cymbals) there is still always a peak in the upper midrange that makes things like electric guitar, some higher vocals, flutes, some wind instruments, etc too loud (louder than anything else) and thus harsh. I'm getting closer though the more I play with them....
 
I'm suspicious that the driver's FR is tuned for an underdamped enclosure and that's why it's so hard to get rid of these peaks. 
 
Or maybe I just suck at damping which is likely.  But I've tried a lot of different things every night for the past few months and I would think that at this point luck would do something for me.

 

[gurubhai]

Nice find iQEM !
 
@rhythmdevils : you are not alone in having issues with peaky upper mids. I have had similar experience with most fostex orthos I have had. The issue can be controlled by careful damping though. However, I have never had much problems with yamaha orthos especially bass heavy ones. In fact, I find that the yammies have a slightly recessed upper mid-range much like LCD-2.
YMMV!

 

[rhythmdevils]

That's good to hear!  I don't remember hearing upper midrange peaks in the YH100 or YH1 I owned before I got into damping.  And the YH3 I have doesn't seem to be bass heavy so maybe that's the problem. 
 
On another note, I drilled holes in the back of my YH-3 and my T20v1 stock housing and it had surprisingly good results!  I'll post some pics when I get a chance.  I drilled about 100 holes into the back of each T20 cup. 

 

[gurubhai]

100

.
Poor ol' T20 , pics please!

 

[rhythmdevils]

It's lucky!  It can finally breathe!  The devil needs to get out!

 

[iQEM]

Nice find iQEM !
 

thanks gurubhai..

@ RD:
for the peak on fostex,you might want to remove all micropore or other tapes from your cans..try to damp without any tapes,it meant for cans with minimum space issue on the cup..

 

[rhythmdevils]

Yeah I only tried the tapes briefly and quickly decided it didn't work for me with Fostex.  I am now using transpore tape on the front of the driver, covering the entire half closest to the back of the head.  There's no loss of detail, but it keeps the sound from being as harsh and it also dampens the driver nicely. 

 

[wualta]

RD, did you try taping first one side of the driver, then the other, to see which sounded better?