[Rearwing]

Very good with both iDSD and Hugo.

 

[shoegazer72]

Well, I exchanged my first set of T40rp mk3 headphones for a second set.
 
The second performed very differently.  So much so that I felt compelled to remove my initial impressions.
 
I guess the worst thing I can say about the T40rp mk3 - is that sample to sample variation appears to be extreme
 
Anyhow, I have not had more than 1/2 hour with the new set and have not tried them with an amp quite yet.  My overall impression is that they are relatively neutral (maybe a bit mids-centric).  PRaT does seem a bit slow, but I would now regard this as "relaxed" rather than a deficiency.  A bit more "analytical" than "musical".
 
Comfort is still TBD.  It seems slight adjustments to the extension can make a big difference in their comfort.  But  I have not worn them for long periods yet.
 
More to come once I spend a bit more time with them and sample them with an amp.

 

[SeEnCreaTive]

Well, I exchanged my first set of T40rp mk3 headphones for a second set.

The second performed very differently.  So much so that I felt compelled to remove my initial impressions.

I guess the worst thing I can say about the T40rp mk3 - is that sample to sample variation appears to be extreme

Anyhow, I have not had more than 1/2 hour with the new set and have not tried them with an amp quite yet.  My overall impression is that they are relatively neutral (maybe a bit mids-centric).  PRaT does seem a bit slow, but I would now regard this as "relaxed" rather than a deficiency.  A bit more "analytical" than "musical".

Comfort is still TBD.  It seems slight adjustments to the extension can make a big difference in their comfort.  But  I have not worn them for long periods yet.

More to come once I spend a bit more time with them and sample them with an amp.

That's actually very interesting to hear. Hmm I wonder why.


Both channels weren't great?

 

[kimikaze]

Ok hello guys
 
First i'm new here and my native language is not English, so excuse me for any wrong grammar.
I'm not in any way audiphile, although i'm looking in that way but my wallet don't alow me
So i ended up with ne fostex t50rp mk3 and i feed it through my nad c352 integrated amp with phone plug. Yeah nothing fancy, but good enough.
 
My observations about these headphones are next:
 
I haven't use any of previous models so i can't compare. My previous was hd201.
I need mention my ears are quite sensistive to high frequencies, so i don't like bright sounding headphones and i like that mids are bit forward, so that sound become a bit lush and not tiny sounding, but also not to much to not blend details. So V-shape are are no no fo me, specially if mids are by default more back. And that's where i have problem with t50. No they not have obvious V-shape, but somehow i still find they sound that way by default. Mid range are obvious there, but somehow highs polute it. So whole sound picture are bright and and mids beacuse of that sound more tiny than they really are. In the end(not modded) they sound like some frequency spectrum felt, just not right to my ears. As i'm reading through forums, this is just how propably most of planars sound out of the box. Rich high-mids and highs, which can prevail if internal structure of earcups are not perfectly designed and tuned. 
 
Next thing, don't put deep earcups on these, if you are not prepare to mod internal area of cups and you really know how to. I simply buy Brainwavz Hybrid(was recomended) and was hoping for sound improvement. Yeah now i know what a noob i was Those pads make things that are bad by default even more bad. With those hybrids sound become even more tiny and squashed in mids, like only lows and highs were come out. So there is a reason why they put shallow earpads by default on those fostex. They sound best if ear is close to driver as posssible on default(not modded) configuration as they have smooth sound and unmatched detail resolution at that price point. If someone are not prepared to mod those phones, but stil want more comfort, he should buy shallow earpads as possible with more open area. Ears of some will probably touch iner parts, but there will be always some trade offs is we are not prepare to full modding. I was make own mod in the end and ended with reasonable result: Leave default erpads, remove dense foam from front of the driver and replace it with own 60% less dense foam. Open earcup and fil it with one layer of the foam, but don't fill it to much, leave some room hehind drivers. Take of black strip from back of earcup and cover it with foam. Now sound become more airy, more natural, less compressed, so highs lose some energy, bump around 100-125hz is less obvious. The only bad thing is, you lose some bass energy, which can be easily fixed with different earpads. I personally was still need to tweak EQ to finally accept them, but i'm still not pleased with them 100%(sound signature) and probably will never be. I wan't to sell them, but simply can't as they have resolution and smoothnes beyon 300$ price tag. And oh boy those properly live recorded mandolins and guitars sound absolutely fantastic.
 

 
Next (which is probably related to all sound transducers in some degree and how our ears work), they sound best at lower volume, when volume is cranking up,sound becoming worse and V-shaped. This is true for all headphones, but it seems fostex are even more sensitive for that.
 
This is my first impressions  and i hope, they make sense somehow.
 
Have a nice evening or day.

 

[Grayson73]

Anyone have these and the Fidelio X2?  Looking for a comparison.

 

[lawrecedent]

Inertianinja spoke about owning both these headphones a couple of pages back and might have something to say.

From memory (which is fairly unreliable) I think the X2 was a little bit warmer with better bass extension but less detail retrieval at the top end. I think the mids may also have been much more forward on the X2.

 

[lawrecedent]

You should definitely try modding the mk2. The mids are naturally very forward on that particular model with mods just adding your desired level of bass and treble. The end results are auperb especially when you factor in the total cost.

 

[kimikaze]

Mids on mk3(default) are not so forward, probably a lot less than on x2 and less than on mk2. X2 have sure more bass extension than mk3 out of the box. X2 are probably less fatiguing out of the box because of better tonal balance, although mk3, with definitelly more hot highs are not so bad either, not in some well known fatigue Beyer's range, but after long sessions, mk3(out of the box) can become a bit fatigue on higher volumes for people with sensitive ears.

 

[Grayson73]

  Just wanted to post up my "lasting" impressions of the T50rp MK3 from when I had them for a few weeks back in October (I wrote down some notes, thinking I was going to do a review, but that's obviously not going to pan out now).
 
First, I ended up returning them to Guitar Center because they were just too damn uncomfortable and I couldn't wear them longer than 10 minutes no matter what I tried. I did try stuffing the earpads with rolled-up fragments of toilet-paper but that did absolutely nothing.
 
Sonically they were amazing—and I mean, amazing! And for the price, they're a total steal and no-brainer! By far one of the biggest "bang for the buck" headphones I've ever heard, right up there with other giant-value killers like the KOSS KSC75, Yamaha MT220, and Audio-Technica MSR7. They were so sonically amazing that people really shouldn't be thinking about these especially when they're only $160—just buy them already! (And make sure to mod the earpads for comfort of course, which I didn't bother to do because I was just lazy & cheap.)

 
Between the two other closed headphones that I had at the same time, the MT220 and MSR7, the T50rp MK3 was way more similar to the MSR7—actually, it was definitely along the same sonic lines. Similarly very clean & clear, with a bass that managed to hit surprisingly hard & deep despite being clearly under-driven by my Gilmore Lite. And it sounded more "open" and spatial than the MSR7, which was expected from its semi-open design—larger soundstage, higher sense of the music being projected outwards more. The MSR7 was actually sort of closed-in and upfront-sounding in comparison. If I had to use an analogy, the MSR7 is definitely for those who like (or wouldn't mind) their music being served up somewhat-intimately and very directly, kinda like being close to the stage at a rock concert, while the MK3 is definitely for those who want more of a laid-back spatial "concert hall", if you will.
 
Another non-sonic reason I didn't warm up to the MK3 was because of its inefficiency—as I wrote before already, there was absolutely no way I could use it directly out of either of my computers, and I didn't really want to buy a new amp for my dedicated "Head-Fi" system either for music-listening purposes. I really thought it had potential as a computer headphone sonically too, but the inefficiency killed that for me, which was just too bad. I would've loved its sound for gaming as well—its inefficiency became one of the most soul-crushing disappointments I've ever had in my closed (or semi-closed) headphone journey.

 
Now if only Fostex could plant the MK3's sound into a headphone that's actually comfortable to wear and efficient enough to be driven directly out of a computer sound card, that would be fantastically amazing! (And that's definitely one of the reasons I got on board the TH-X00 hype train!)

 

 
Did you try them with the Alpha Pads?  It's supposed to improve comfort and sound.

 

[Grayson73]

  Mids on mk3(default) are not so forward, probably a lot less than on x2 and less than on mk2. X2 have sure more bass extension than mk3 out of the box. X2 are probably less fatiguing out of the box because of better tonal balance, although mk3, with definitelly more hot highs are not so bad either, not in some well known fatigue Beyer's range, but after long sessions, mk3(out of the box) can become a bit fatigue on higher volumes for people with sensitive ears.

That's not what I want to hear.  I find the X2 mids slightly recessed compared to the rest of the music, probably because of the warmness/bass boost.  I'm looking for something with more balanced mids so that the vocals are more engaging.

 

[peter123]

That's not what I want to hear.  I find the X2 mids slightly recessed compared to the rest of the music, probably because of the warmness/bass boost.  I'm looking for something with more balanced mids so that the vocals are more engaging.

I've got two modded pairs (different mods on them) of the T50RP MK2 and although I don't find the mids on the X2 recessed the T50RP (stock and with the mods on my pairs) are certainly more midcenteic in comparison.

It's difficult to make any universal statements though since the mods will differ from pair to pair and potentially (and probably) make them sound different......

 

[kimikaze]

  That's not what I want to hear.  I find the X2 mids slightly recessed compared to the rest of the music, probably because of the warmness/bass boost.  I'm looking for something with more balanced mids so that the vocals are more engaging.

Bear in mind to put those fears down a bit , this is still my opinion create on basis of my gear, my ears and my perception, your real experience can be quite different. I still think, mk3 can sound quite different on different gear with different ears and specially with included modding . I mod it a bit(nothing than can't be reversible) and this changed sound from i don't like signature at all, to i'm quite pleased with them. Also time help, as is well known fact, that brain and ears need a bit time to become used to new sound and only after a while you become to hearing qualities that particular headphone have. Often there are cases, that some phones providede "Wow" factor at first listening session, but after a while become boring and nothing special(similar sounding that everything else) and headphones on the other side, that sound "so so"(you can't decide because you are not used to their sound because are different from mainstream), but more you listen to them, more the qualities start to revealing and you become more and more impressed. I think t50 are like that(although you can hear some driver qualities already from first listening, like smoothnes and grainless free sound, also control over the sound like a boss ), specially if you start mod them to your liking.
 
Also Nad c532 is also a bit dry sounding, not much, but is on dry side(specially compared to tube)and a bit grainy, which doesn't help with midrange, so with different proper amplifier, those impression that i have, can be changed i believe. So don't take my impressions as facts, just orientation, what could happen in some scenarios.

 

[Grayson73]

I ordered a used pair of T50RP MK3s.  What mods (if any) should be made?  Should I buy the Alpha Dogs earpads and if so, why?

 

[kimikaze]

I think you should try first as they are, and evaluate it for a week if you like it or not. I already mentioned what i did in some of previous post. I certinly don't like deeper pads on it(they make things that i don't like about sound quality(sound signature) even more bad), but i weren't try alpha dog pads or some of similar high cost options. So i don't know how will sound on those. I'm simply not prepared to waste 60€, if i'm not sure if there will be improvement in sound quality apart from greatly raised comfort. Specially after wasting 30€ on hybrids. For my taste of course. But one thing is for sure, be prepared your head will be heavier , so a bit uncomfortable if you are used of plastic stuff and you will probably feel preasure on top of head because of whole weight and reasonable strong clamping force . I'm thinking about some sort of soft headband or solution that is used in paradox modded version.

 

[Grayson73]

Fostex T50RP MK3 for $139.46 on Amazon.
 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0167XM092/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new