My initial thoughts exactly. My experiments with a rudimentary grommet for the LCD-3 seem to confirm it. The fo.Q tape on the headband works much, much better, and is still effective with or without the grommet.

That's a great idea and I will try it. As I said in an earlier post, I have only become aware of the importance of the headband issue over the past couple of weeks. I don't see the point of your condom analogy though, since fo.Q tape on the headband actually works.

It may be very difficult to achieve complete acoustic decoupling of the headphones and headband. For example, Audeze LCD-3 phones appear to be reasonably adequately decoupled, with the use of a single screw to attach each earcup to the headband. However the headband still transfers significant...

Hi Ed - I will tke a look at the process involved in posting photos here in the near future. Meanwhile, in answer to your question about the point of my skull experiment : it is just an experiment, not a solution. I wanted to see if any significant vibrational energy is being transferred to the...

Results are in for the promised fo.Q skull test. It works very well, but not well enough to balance the inconvenience of applying the tape. I found the best results to be applying a long strip just above the eyebrows, and on the exposed bone behind the ears. In fact anywhere where the skin is...

Thanks Ed for starting this discussion and for your regular contributions. It's only in the past week or two that I have become aware of the negative effects of cross-talk in headphones and the need to eliminate it. I'm planning an experiment tonight where I will apply fo.Q tape to my forehead...

Having read some of the technical data available for fo.Q products including their TA-32 tape, I have discovered that this particular material does not appear to use OMMT clay to achieve its effect. Here's the quote: This is a composite material grounded in a new technology in which a...

It's incredibly important to treat the headband of the LCD-3, especially where it touches your head. Obviously without treatment vibrations transfer through the headband and into the skull, manifesting as the worst kind of cross-talk distortion. Fo.Q tape fixes the problem brilliantly (and makes...

They both work well so it's your choice. I have not found that thicker is better on headphones. On amps or speakers the thicker version may be slightly better, but it is marginal. The thin version has a very good advantage because it can be wrapped around cables, power plugs and connectors where...

Thanks Richard for your detailed descriptions of your crystal experiments. I have not tried many combinations at all, compared to you. The good thing about the large crystal is really for experiment and research, and to confirm for myself that the effect is real, rather than the final sound...

Fo.Q tape model TA-32 which you can get on eBay from Japan for about $35, easily enough for 2 or 3 large pairs of headphones. It is thin, removable, pliable, attractive when applied and most of all, very powerful due to its nanocomposite molecular structure. There is another even more powerful...

I received a large 5-inch 1.5lb quartz crystal from China today, and I have been experimenting with placing it on the back of my Burson headphone amplifier. Previously I only had a couple of 2-inch chunks of semi-clear rose quartz to play with. The rose quartz increases apparent volume and...

Hi Richard. You may be pleased to know there is plenty of scientific backing to support your crystal observations. The mechanical dampening properties of the piezolelectric effect (including quartz crystals) have been the subject of patents since at least 1948...

Hi and thanks to everyone who has posted in this topic. My name is Mark and this is my first post on Head-Fi. I'm interested in this topic because I have some non-professional experience with vibration control in audio equipment in general and lately with headphones in particular. I own Stax...