Is it just me or is the spike boosted at 5khz and created at 8-9khz by the alpha pads too much? I just do not hear the "improvement".   Stock http://i.imgur.com/I2vZ22e.png   Alpha http://i.imgur.com/BQ9Qqkk.png

Thanks, I have done this.

I've managed to dig up measurements (credit not to myself) regarding the impacts of alpha pads on the x00 signature.   Stock pads http://i.imgur.com/I2vZ22e.png   Alpha pads http://i.imgur.com/BQ9Qqkk.png   The bumps at 5k and 8-9k appear to be what are bothering me. I'm not completely...

There is two plastic rings. One to mount the pads themselves, I obviously moved this into the alpha pads to be able to mount them to the cans. Below that there is another harder plastic piece that is part of the OEM pads.   The mids on the Alpha pads definitely get pushed back as a consequence...

I've recently installed the Alpha pads on the TH-X00 and I found it pushed the mids back too far and the highs too forward. I think there is something going on with the OEM plastic ring within the original pads to tame the treble. I much prefer the sounds of the stock pads on the TH-X00. That...

O2 doesn't have a bright signature... At all. The entire point of it is to be linear.

I currently have the Philips X2 and Denon D5000 and have a few questions regarding how the Fostex TH-X00.   I like a warmer sound, with smooth vocals and a boosted sub bass. I find the X2 to be one of my favorite headphones. There is a bit of "hardness" at 3-5khz in the X2 that bothers me at...

I'm looking for a T50RP with the most bass... how does this compare on full bass vs alpha dogs with full bass? Is the bass a sub bass? What about this vs the V2 vibro. I have the denon D5000 and treble is too harsh for these ears.

The HTC (M7, M8) and Samsung(S3, S5) offerings had a horrible hiss on high sensitivity IEM's. Can't do it.

Okay... so I have all of these cans and cant really peg which I like the most. 95% of my music is EDM...  To capture it subjectively here goes...   UE6000... Well I *LOVE* the vocals in these, no soundstage though, love the sub bass and how clean it is. No sibilance ever, *SO* dark. Normally...

TH600 were bright to my ears, along with the D2000s.  Havn't tried other models.

Ew, not the XB1000s for cannons. I've had the XB500, XB700 and the XB1000 all at once. The XB1000 were easily the worst sounding with the least bass (yes amped) of the bunch.    The XB700s are for sub bass but lack punch, they are bit bright at some frequencies for my ears. The XB500s are the...

I've had these... along with the XB500, XB700.   They were my least fav among the 3 as well, they also measure with higher distortion and lower bass. If you want head pounding bass get the XB500, If you want some more treble and less kick and sub bass focus get the XB700. The XB1000's just...

Wow... Thanks for the info... I was considering getting these too.  The IE80 are really close to perfect for me though.

I feel like a troll saying this... but isn't the 8ohm output impedance paired with hissing for high sensitivity IEMs a deal breaker for you?

Glad to hear that's working out for you. I simply cant bear the hiss on the M8, coming from an electrical background that impedance is unacceptable on a premium device from an engineering standpoint. 

Those "hacks" don't work. I've tried them. You cant fix a poor hardware implementation. Where the problems lay.. I don't know. The M8 has a horrible 8ohm output impedance... completely messing up the response of IEMs.

I'm not sure what the hiss i hear on androids comes from. I've always assumed its from the Qualcomm SOC implementations. However, for example, the nexus 4 although measured poor has the least audible hiss I could hear on an android device to date. I've heard the M8, owned the M7 and Galaxy S3...

Yeah, i'm trying to ditch apple stuff but am addicted to the super black noise floor on my iPhone 4s. All these fancy android phones look amazing but sound quite bad. :(

Qualcomm makes the "DACs" as part Snapdragon 801 SOC.

I bet, sadly that i could hear the noise floor on your UE18s on the HTC One. 

The problem I'm having isn't based on impedance, it seems more like sensitivity.

And the S3, and the Htc M7. Oh! This one too :( Hate using attenuation.   I'm seriously considering the next iphone (6?) or hunting down a wolfson samsung (eek) to see if it remedies the issues. I'm starting to wonder if Qualcomm's chipsets just have poor output, every one I've heard hisses. ...

Ew amoled... if you like oversatured colors, blotchey, blotchy blacks in the dark, pixel sharing (pentile).  Never another pentile screen for me.   I'll bet that they both hiss for music, I can imagine the samsung being worse. My S3 was horrible.

Wow... 5db is a big drop in power. About 3 times, not to mention the reduction in bit depth. I was excited for this phone until I read about the hissing in the background, similar to the M7.