[zach915m]

 

 
I wrote this earlier in the thread to a questions about the t50rp with the X3:
 
"I was pretty shocked at how well my Fiio X3 drives the t50rp's, but I have no idea what equivalent that would be to their amps.  You can really blast yourself away with the high gain setting on that thing.  You get better timbre from other more expensive amps but the X3 is no slouch at all power wise."

 


Oops, I missed that. But does it leak sound? I want to be able to use it in a library, and I normally don't use high volume.

 
Not a problem it's a long thread!  I've been quite shocked by the x3 so far in how good it sounds by itself.  I still have my RSA intruder and use that along with the X3 sometimes but the high gain setting on the x3 is pretty beastly in it's own right for the price of the unit.  I mostly use the x3 by itself, mostly because I can't adjust the "bass/treble" eq settings on the x3 when using it out of the LOD.
 
The ZMF's and most t50rp mods are closed unless someone modifies them to open the vents more.  There is one small vent in the t50rp and usually part of how people modify the headphone has to do with how much they cover that vent up.  Even uncovered sound leakage is very minimal unless your blasting them! 

 

[n8sb]

Thanks to everyone for their review and impressions.
 
All of these glowing opinions have lead me to  purchase a pair of re-jacked v2's to compare with my 3.2 Mad Dogs with Alpha Pads. Planning on using the Alpha pads on the ZMFs and to compare before one goes back before the end of next week.  Hopefully my e12 will do them both justice in the comparison.
 
BTW Zach is awesome to work with.  Very very responsive to specific questions and helpful! (As has Dan at Mr. Speakers.)
 
Looking forward to determining a personal "winner to my ears" soon!

 

[Tiemen]

  Thanks to everyone for their review and impressions.
 
All of these glowing opinions have lead me to  purchase a pair of re-jacked v2's to compare with my 3.2 Mad Dogs with Alpha Pads. Planning on using the Alpha pads on the ZMFs and to compare before one goes back before the end of next week.  Hopefully my e12 will do them both justice in the comparison.
 
BTW Zach is awesome to work with.  Very very responsive to specific questions and helpful! (As has Dan at Mr. Speakers.)
 
Looking forward to determining a personal "winner to my ears" soon!

 
I'm really looking forward to your opinion and comparison of those two......

 

[FallenKnight71]

I just received my pair today.  First impression is Wow!  I will be giving some more detailed impressions after the weekend when I compare them to the headphones I currently have.
 
Michael

 

[satwilson]

  Thanks to everyone for their review and impressions.
 
All of these glowing opinions have lead me to  purchase a pair of re-jacked v2's to compare with my 3.2 Mad Dogs with Alpha Pads. Planning on using the Alpha pads on the ZMFs and to compare before one goes back before the end of next week.  Hopefully my e12 will do them both justice in the comparison.
 
BTW Zach is awesome to work with.  Very very responsive to specific questions and helpful! (As has Dan at Mr. Speakers.)
 
Looking forward to determining a personal "winner to my ears" soon!

I personally would not change the HM5 pads on the ZMF. Putting on the Alpha pads will change the sound for the worse. The E12 will work great. Check with Zach, I am sure he has tried the Alpha pads with his mod.

 

[n8sb]

I personally would not change the HM5 pads on the ZMF. Putting on the Alpha pads will change the sound for the worse. The E12 will work great. Check with Zach, I am sure he has tried the Alpha pads with his mod.

From the ZMF website:

"Of note, these also work with any pads I’ve thrown at them. They also sound amazing with The Stax-007 pads,the Lawton Audio pads, or the Alpha Pads from Mr Speakers!"

There are also others on this thread that say they prefer the Alpha pads, and unfortunately I ordered my ZMF without the HM5's, so I will be unable to compare.

What did you not like about the sound with the alpha pads?

 

[grizzlybeast]

alpha pads rock and improve most headphones-fact

 

[Tiemen]

The ZMF with the Alpha pads sounds good, but the closer the drivers to your ears, the better the sound. Therefore I prefer the Mr.Speakers Dog pads, or even the AKG velours pads.
But bare in mind that I had comfort issues with the Alpha pads. They irritated the hell out of me with their small opening and the leather all over.
 
And grizzlybeast: I tried the Alpha pads on the K272 and GMP8.300D, and none of those had an improvement in sound with them. On the contrary.
 
I don't want to start a discussion on the Alpha pads though. Just to give my opinion.

 

[satwilson]

From the ZMF website:

"Of note, these also work with any pads I’ve thrown at them. They also sound amazing with The Stax-007 pads,the Lawton Audio pads, or the Alpha Pads from Mr Speakers!"

There are also others on this thread that say they prefer the Alpha pads, and unfortunately I ordered my ZMF without the HM5's, so I will be unable to compare.

What did you not like about the sound with the alpha pads?

I have not tried the Alpha pads. I got my ZMF with the HM5 pads. Early on Zach posted the Shure 840 pads worked well also and I replaced the HM5 with the 840's as I preferred the fit of the 840's. There was NO bass and the treble became harsh. Back to the HM5 and all is well. Works well is a very subjective thing. Anyone who has modified the T50RPs can attest simply changing pads will change the sound, some times good or OK, usually for the worse. Mr Speakers recommends sending the Mad Dog back to him for retuning if you change from the Dog pad to the Alpha pad. You may like the Alpha padded ZMF, once again very subjective and a personal opinion. In the end what works for you is "best". satwilson

 

[satwilson]

  alpha pads rock and improve most headphones-fact

I am not sure where that is written as fact? On the BMF Incremental mods and measurements thread, a few people have tried switching from the Shure 840 pad, which is the "go to" pad for the most successful mods, to the Alpha pad. The sound quality suffered, the Alpha pad is not some magical pad you can put on any T50RP mod and make it better, you have to retune the internal mods to make it work. Mr Speakers recommends a retuning when switching from the Dog pad to the Alpha. As always YMMV. 

 

[zach915m]

From the ZMF website:

"Of note, these also work with any pads I’ve thrown at them. They also sound amazing with The Stax-007 pads,the Lawton Audio pads, or the Alpha Pads from Mr Speakers!"

There are also others on this thread that say they prefer the Alpha pads, and unfortunately I ordered my ZMF without the HM5's, so I will be unable to compare.?

If there's anything I've learned over the last year it's that every listener hears things differently. Before making these I just assumed that each user would hear somewhere near the same thing. It's just not the case. I've seen people literally exchange the same set of headphones and one person thinks they have no bass while the other feels they have too much.

I do think there is a bell curve and a range where "most" people hear the frequency range somewhat similarly, but those of us who get attacked by audophillia syndrome (not sure if that's a real thing) tend to obsess over the smallest of aural details. Ofcourse that's the fun of it, and where switching pads gives us pleasure in altering those minute details.

So anyways, yes, the ZMF doesn't need modification with any of the above stated pads, but it does provide a different flavor with each. Which is preferred by each user, is, well, up to the user.

 

[satwilson]

edit, the Dogpad to Alpha does not require a retune, it is the 840 to Alpha that does. from Mr. Speakers website, satwilson

 

[grizzlybeast]

 
I am not sure where that is written as fact? On the BMF Incremental mods and measurements thread, a few people have tried switching from the Shure 840 pad, which is the "go to" pad for the most successful mods, to the Alpha pad. The sound quality suffered, the Alpha pad is not some magical pad you can put on any T50RP mod and make it better, you have to retune the internal mods to make it work. Mr Speakers recommends a retuning when switching from the Dog pad to the Alpha. As always YMMV. 

didn't think of the retuning part, I have tried the alphas on other headphones and always liked the results. 
 
so not fact... I stand corrected. What someone else says is suffering in quality I may note as an improvement.

 

[satwilson]

  didn't think of the retuning part, I have tried the alphas on other headphones and always liked the results. 
 
so not fact... I stand corrected. What someone else says is suffering in quality I may note as an improvement.

totally, as in all things HF, YMMV satwilson

 

[georgelai57]

Anyone tried the LCD2 pads with this or the Mad Dogs?