[28980]

Quote:

 
The Paradox uses FA-003 or Hifiman pads. You have to buy your own T50RPs ($100-130), pads ($20), and then the basic Paradox mod is $350, more if you want a paint job and recable. You would probably also want a Vmoda cable ($10-20).

So totals probably around ~$500. Meh out of my price range for now then; I'll look more into these when I decide to move up a tier since I still want to try a pair of m80s/k701s before I go above ~$300. Thanks for being so helpful though ^_^

 

[manveru]

Paradox Basic:
 

 
Paradox w/ Recable and paint job:
 

 
Paradox Premium "Vader", fancier cable, paint job on cups and adjustment sliders, further modded headband:
 

 

[Akha]

Wow awesome, I didn't expect to find a thread like this on a headphone forum. Not to derail, I made a post in the headphone recommendations thread, I did get some input but I wouldn't mind more before making such a expensive purchase xD. Could some of you provide me with some input on how the HD558 and HD598 fare with Japanese music, or possibly suggest others that might fit my requirement? I'm sorry I made it so general, ask me for more details if it helps you help me xD. I particularly like 40mP if that's anything to go on, he's my favourite producer. 
 
I have to stay on the thread I guess. How's the fall lineup so far? I have abstained from anime this past entire year due to a major exam this year and only watched Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou after severe bugging from my friend, which I'll say provided me with enough laughs to last the year xD. I won't be watching anything until November but I'm especially hyped too see how Little Busters turns out wafuuu~ (no kyoani, key y u do dis ;_;  J.C.Staff a ****), and also number that's too many to name throughout this year, if anything Shin Sekai Yori from this season really stood out to me with that PV.

 

[manveru]

Quote:

 
I have to stay on the thread I guess.

 
Don't worry about it. We have no real rules about derailing here. This thread is more like a chat room than a forum. We talk about all kinds of stuff, but including anime, manga, etc of course

 

[28980]

@Akha; welcome! I joined up recently too , I don't really listen to jpop, more kpop that would be similar to your listening tastes, but I also don't have many much experience with very many headphones apart from my 558 and my roommates ath m-50 but I really like the 558's with kpop. I have no really descriptive words for you like everyone else on this forum might because to be honest I don't really know what they mean and I'm not very good at describing sound. I also got mine refurbed for ~$100 and their great if you're just starting out!
 
I also haven't even watched anything recent in terms of anime at all; Everything I've watched is probably atleast 7-8 years old now, don't really have time to keep up with it @_@. 
 
And @ manervu thanks for the pics, they look awesome; do you know the price range of all 3? 

 

[graphidz]

Quote:

Intressssting. What does he need to do them/how much does he charge? Pads and headphones were mentioned above, and from the little bit I read it seems like these http://www.amazon.com/Shure-HPAEC840-Replacement-Cushions-Headphones/dp/B002Z9JWZS are the most popular pads I think? 
 
Fffffffffff. I just spent $250 today and actually am pretty close to my limit.. But i do get paid next monday sooooooo... >_@#!@JDKSNA^_^^^^>_>_^>

 
Yeah. But he also recommends the FA-003/HM5 pads. Or if you are rich enough, get the STAX O2 pads
Price differs for the version you want. You have to ask LFF himself to confirm. He can do recabling and paintjob too
 

 
He mods the inside of the cups, but yeah don't know exactly how as it's a secret. Paradox owners can't open them up and look inside either without destroying them because they are hermetically sealed. The suspension headband is just a bonus to make them more comfortable, and he doesn't use paper. He uses what looks like repurposed shoulder pads or something.

 
I think someone did successfully opened it up, but he promised not to reveal the secrets
 

Paradox Basic:
 

 
Paradox w/ Recable and paint job:
 

 
Paradox Premium "Vader", fancier cable, paint job on cups and adjustment sliders, further modded headband:
 

 
You forgot the trooper paradox. Though that site isn't LFF's, but they do help to sell them. But I think if you ask LFF directly, you can get it way cheaper
 

Wow awesome, I didn't expect to find a thread like this on a headphone forum. Not to derail, I made a post in the headphone recommendations thread, I did get some input but I wouldn't mind more before making such a expensive purchase xD. Could some of you provide me with some input on how the HD558 and HD598 fare with Japanese music, or possibly suggest others that might fit my requirement? I'm sorry I made it so general, ask me for more details if it helps you help me xD. I particularly like 40mP if that's anything to go on, he's my favourite producer. 
 
I have to stay on the thread I guess. How's the fall lineup so far? I have abstained from anime this past entire year due to a major exam this year and only watched Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou after severe bugging from my friend, which I'll say provided me with enough laughs to last the year xD. I won't be watching anything until November but I'm especially hyped too see how Little Busters turns out wafuuu~ (no kyoani, key y u do dis ;_;  J.C.Staff a ****), and also number that's too many to name throughout this year, if anything Shin Sekai Yori from this season really stood out to me with that PV.

 
Oh and welcome!
Audio Technica?
Since it's basically made in Japan and all

 

[manveru]

Quote:

So totals probably around ~$500. Meh out of my price range for now then; I'll look more into these when I decide to move up a tier since I still want to try a pair of m80s/k701s before I go above ~$300. Thanks for being so helpful though ^_^

 
I wouldn't worry too much about it. IME, the more you get into this, the more you realize that price does not necessarily equal good/better, sound. Learning your preferences, how to distinguish honest reviews from hype and ignorance, and how to correlate personal experiences to measurements are most important. And diminishing returns is very real. Once you've spent ~$150 on headphones, you are already most of the way there in terms of quality (though you may not be able to find your preference in a certain price range unfortunately). Though being audiophiles, we do want to extract those last several percentages anyway. Also, DACs and amps are not even half as important as transducers. I wouldn't say they're even 1/4 as important. I'd take "$1000" headphones out of an iPod over "$300" headphones out of a $2000 DAC and a $3000 amp any day of the week. Though I haven't heard any ~$1000+ headphones. It's possible that there really is another big quality jump somewhere, but I'm not so sure about that. It could also be that I'm somewhat of a semi-failed audiophile or something. I don't analyze sound for pleasure, I listen to music Sorry for the random little rant. This is just my humble experience of course.

 

[Akha]

Quote:

@Akha; welcome! I joined up recently too , I don't really listen to jpop, more kpop that would be similar to your listening tastes, but I also don't have many much experience with very many headphones apart from my 558 and my roommates ath m-50 but I really like the 558's with kpop. I have no really descriptive words for you like everyone else on this forum might because to be honest I don't really know what they mean and I'm not very good at describing sound. I also got mine refurbed for ~$100 and their great if you're just starting out!
 
I also haven't even watched anything recent in terms of anime at all; Everything I've watched is probably atleast 7-8 years old now, don't really have time to keep up with it @_@. 
 
And @ manervu thanks for the pics, they look awesome; do you know the price range of all 3? 

Don't worry you're probably way more familiar with headphones than I am xD I can't even describe my own preferences properly. I have yet to try the M50, it indeed is quite tempting since there are so many rave reviews about it, I slowly start to lean towards it then I'll run across one of those really critical ones telling me not to follow the hype. I guess I'll eventually have to listen to one and decide for myself. What do you mean by refurbished?
 
Also in terms of anime, there was a stage where I took out time just to watch a whole bunch of classics like Macross SDF/7, Space Battleship Yamato and Lupin. I'd say the classics will always remain good and are worth a rewatch, though Yamato was a little mind numbing and I felt annoyed at the end, I thoroughly enjoyed the earlier Macrosses.... Macross's? Macrii?, I started that phase after watching Macross F and seeing all the hate coming from people about lowered standards. I can see why people would think so but it's overblown to some extent xD
 
 
Quote:

Don't worry about it. We have no real rules about derailing here. This thread is more like a chat room than a forum. We talk about all kinds of stuff, but including anime, manga, etc of course

Oh alright :3 Sounds fun haha, and tempting of sorts e3e
Quote:

Oh and welcome!
Audio Technica?
Since it's basically made in Japan and all

I mentioned the M50 in that earlier bit of my post, I own a few cheap Audio Technica in ears and an ONTO from my brother and when I was buying casually, they're all good :3 but I still want to hear what the better stuff sounds like.
 
Thanks for the welcomes everyone.

 

[28980]

Oh crap its 1:30 am. Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm. Oops I have lab in 6 hours. g'night everyone ^_^; had a fun first day sortofish here. You'll probably see a lot of me in the future. Also I leave you with these photos of ohayocon from last year.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Also I refuse to tell you which one I am! HAH.

 

[28980]

Also @akha real quick; refurbished means that they were sent back to the manufacturer for some error; that error was fixed and now they're reselling it. It's still used but some people don't like it. I got it because it was cheaper and I was a broke college student at the time but it doesnt effect the quality of the cans at all unless you get a defective unit; and if you're buying from a good reseller you can usually return it for a different pair anyways. 
 
On an second note; the m-50's aren't really what I wanted; I didn't want a closed headphone and they weren't nearly as comfortable as the 558's for me; my roommates feel like the clamp down a bit after I listen to them for a while but those are just my preferences.

 

[Akha]

Sleep is for the weak!! ... The guy in the blue element shirt?

 

[manveru]

Quote:

 
Yeah. But he also recommends the FA-003/HM5 pads. Or if you are rich enough, get the STAX O2 pads
Price differs for the version you want. You have to ask LFF himself to confirm. He can do recabling and paintjob too
 
I think someone did successfully opened it up, but he promised not to reveal the secrets
 
You forgot the trooper paradox. Though that site isn't LFF's, but they do help to sell them. But I think if you ask LFF directly, you can get it way cheaper

 
LFF said the Paradox were tuned using the FA-003 pads (the Hifiman pads apparently don't sound any different though). I'm not sure suing any other pads would work, or at least, they would alter the sound.
 
Did they now?
 
I know, I'm just lazy, and the Vader was enough to get the point across. What with shipping and new pairs of T50RPs generally being sold at $130, I don't think there's too big a price difference if any at all. But yeah, I'm directly emailing LFF either way.
 
 
@28980
After getting the headphones and having to buy the pads and a Vmoda cable, they'd probably stack up to be something like: ~500, ~600, ~700. The more expensive ones don't sound different at all. You just pay extra for the spiffy paint job and fancy cables (LFF doesn't even believe in cables but he got so many requests lol). I normally can't afford stuff like this at all, but selling my current AD2000s (got them used with prior headphone sale and birthday money), will pay for almost all of it.

 

[DayofCalm]

Quote:

Sleep is for the weak!! ... The guy in the blue element shirt?

Verified. Guy in blue element shirt.

 

[manveru]

Quote:

Verified. Guy in blue element shirt.

 
Could've guessed, haha.

 

[28980]

dayofcalm is obviously a troll I'm gender neutral try to figure out who's of is general neutralllll.