P701
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2013
- Posts
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- 16
just got these on saturday. eagerly awaiting the arrival of my fiio x5 to pair with it
Wow! Thanks for this valuable information!
just got these on saturday. eagerly awaiting the arrival of my fiio x5 to pair with it
Yup the 770's are way over hyped in the lows so I only used them for listening in the end and then they died which gave me an excuse to seek out a pair with a flatter response. I never quite understood why the 770's are often recommended as a good pair for critical listening / reference headphones after I got them. So far I found the Focals to be much cleaner, not tried or seen the Phonon's before so have no idea how they might compare!
My first complete track almost completely mixed down and mastered on these is available for download here if your interested.. (used the monitors a little).
https://soundcloud.com/pret-a-ecouter/ian-morbey_extract-of-the-day
It's a 320 mp3 but gives you an idea. I did end up doing about 4 takes until I was happy to post it (which is not unusual for me - I can't help tweaking things to death).
To summarize I was definitely closer with the first draft of the mixdown than I have been with monitors alone. Tweaking was much easier with specific tracks (The bass where I ended up tweaking the synth itself to remove some abrasiveness in the source, and eqing some sub out of the kicks for example). I struggled most with the high mids and highs which are very different to anything I have ever listened to before but I'm getting there with them.
All in all these are helping me to improve my overall sound which can only be a good thing.
I like the Focal Spirit Professional, can anyone contrast it in SQ/sound signature to a basic modded Fostex T50rp?
(or the NAD Viso HP50/B&W P7)
I just picked up the NAD HP50's (less than 2hrs on them), I have the FSP's with less than 15 hrs on them. Running both off my Mac Book Air (travelling with no amp), the HP50's have a slightly more pronounced top end (more sparkle) than the FSP's. The FSP's have an ever slow slightly beefier bottom end.
The FSP's spackle finish is nicer to me, and feel more solid in build. The HP50's come with a nicer bag, and can be folded flat for travel.
Overall the HP50's sound a little more exciting to me, and would have to pick them due to the $100 price difference...
You can tune your T50 to sound like a FSP with a bigger soundstage and deeper subbass. I tuned my to the paradox, mad dogs 3.2 and my studio monitors (genelec 8040). After I got the FSP I retuned the T50 because they cleary had less 3khz. This is a T50 cup/driver flaw which isn't fixed with those commercial mods I mentioned above. I have a measument rig which I use to double check my impression. FR wise the commercial mods have around 6db less energy at 3khz with a low Q which let them sound way deeper/bassier than neutral should sound. Some call it dark but the T50 highs are spot on if they are tuned right. The FSP is an amazing reference I just don't like on-ears. Can't wear them more than 1 hour till it hearts. -_-