[Vonx]

  The Emu-Teaks (Rosewood, Ebony, and Teak) are back on Massdrop, potentially going for $449.  In the wake of the massively saturating Fostex TH-X00 drops, how are these teaks going to fare?  I already have the mahogany version of the X00 and I declined to buy into  "the hype" of the purple hearts and the Ebonies that recently dropped.  I confess, however,  that I am intrigued by the Emu Teak ebony, which is about $50 cheaper than the Fostex ebony..  is there any way one can adjudicate between these two?  I have seen a review which ranks the Emu-Teak ebony above the Fostex mahogany X00.  I have still not completely determined whether I should forget all the other cans and simply hold on to my Fostex Mahogany X00, but I admit to being tempted by the ebony version of the X00 when it was running.  The Emu-teak ebony seems to be a bit superior to the mahogany X00 (at least according to what I read), but what is likely to be the difference between the EMU-teak ebony and the Fostex ebony (which costs about $50 higher than the Emu-teak ebony)?.
 
This is probably a tough question, given that the Fostex ebony X00 has not been released to the public since the drop, but this being head-fi where people seem to have access to the most exclusively owned gear, I am hoping someone can give me a helpful answer, and it would be highly appreciated.  Thoughts?
 
Patrick

You should go read moedawg's review of the thx00, he compares the emu ebony cups on the thx00 to the mahogany thx00 cups as well is the thx00 ebony's and purplehearts. 
 
From recollection of some other reviews I read somewhere, the EMU teak has less overall bass and more mids in comparison to the thx00 mahogany. The ebony cup gives more subbass and a smoother sound, and the rosewood cups are somewhere in between as you can see by the frequency response page on the massdrop emu page. 

 

[Eudis]

I believe the E-MUs have the same Fostex drivers, but are actually dampened and tuned differently (rather than cups being the only difference between X00 models).

Having owned both. Just the cups are different. I have measurements of both without out cups and they measure almost identically on my rig. Keep in mind teak cup are thinner, have more chamber volume and different wood type.

 

[Eudis]

You should go read moedawg's review of the thx00, he compares the emu ebony cups on the thx00 to the mahogany thx00 cups as well is the thx00 ebony's and purplehearts. 

From recollection of some other reviews I read somewhere, the EMU teak has less overall bass and more mids in comparison to the thx00 mahogany. The ebony cup gives more subbass and a smoother sound, and the rosewood cups are somewhere in between as you can see by the frequency response page on the massdrop emu page. 

Teak vs thx00: Cleanner mid bass, same subbass. More forward mids, smoother highs. I did a pretty extensive impression of both.

For those wondering, Audeze vegan pads SUCK majorly on TH series cans.

HM5 are pretty alright. They increase bass and push 5khz-6khz into a peak. I easily tuned it out. Comfort is 10x more.


The light purple is hm5 hybrid. The orange is stock thx00/emu pads.



See how I killed the peak on both sides with hm5 pads. Took effort, but now I have pads that are more comfortable and have the same sound...ish.




I no longer have a stock emu teak. Obviously. But I could cook up a pad mod for someone if they lend me a thx00. Anyways, stock pads are still sonically the best. Alternative pads require tuning. Audeze Vegan pads are dog **** on these kinds of cans (but oooohhh soo effing comfy).

 

[eobet]

See how I killed the peak on both sides with hm5 pads. Took effort

 
Could you describe exactly how, to someone who haven't done any modding before? Or did you use an EQ?

 

[Eudis]

Could you describe exactly how, to someone who haven't done any modding before? Or did you use an EQ?

Hmm its all about trying everything within reason. The biggest issue pad swaps introduce isna 5khz-6khz giga spike. To tune it down you gotta add dampening to the pad where the netting on the pad is. Thats why thx00 are shaped that way.

 

[dittore]

Guys,
 
I ordered the Lawton Audio tune-up kit. My question is for the people who've alredy done it, can I just use the foam on the back of the cups without the disc? It stays in the ebony cups very firmly, so no need for the disc for that reason. I'm also afraid of the driver mods, I want to able to remove everything If wanted to. Do you think the foam alone is a good improvement?

 

[fjrabon]

Guys,

I ordered the Lawton Audio tune-up kit. My question is for the people who've alredy done it, can I just use the foam on the back of the cups without the disc? It stays in the ebony cups very firmly, so no need for the disc for that reason. I'm also afraid of the driver mods, I want to able to remove everything If wanted to. Do you think the foam alone is a good improvement?

The only driver piece that is permanent is the small circle. The other strips stick to metal on the driver and are perfectly removable.

You can certainly use just the foam piece. However the disc it attaches to does more than just provide a place to stick the foam, it helps dampen the resonations of the cup.

Basically the foam piece will help absorb the very highest THD from flowing back into the cup, which reduces harshness. The driver pieces will take away the oddest and most off time reflections that have hit the metal portions of the driver which will increase phase coherence and thus soundstage. The disc that attaches to the cup will reduce the cup's resonations and will thus increase clarity (but at the expense of some low order harmonic distortion and thus lower the perception of bass).

Basically:
Foam - cuts harshness
Driver pieces - increase soundstage and imaging accuracy and clarity
Cup disc - increases clarity , cuts perceived but not actual bass.

The cup disc is the biggest judgment call, because some people like that bloomy 2nd harmonic distortion that gives the bass it's fullness. On the other hand if you just do it, and bump the bass with EQ, you will have faster, more detailed, taut bass.also the cup disc will reduce a lot of the differences in sound the cups provide, as it does away with a lot of the cup resonance, which is the main cause of the cups providing different sound.

 

[Eudis]

The only driver piece that is permanent is the small circle. The other strips stick to metal on the driver and are perfectly removable.

You can certainly use just the foam piece. However the disc it attaches to does more than just provide a place to stick the foam, it helps dampen the resonations of the cup.

Basically the foam piece will help absorb the very highest THD from flowing back into the cup, which reduces harshness. The driver pieces will take away the oddest and most off time reflections that have hit the metal portions of the driver which will increase phase coherence and thus soundstage. The disc that attaches to the cup will reduce the cup's resonations and will thus increase clarity (but at the expense of some low order harmonic distortion and thus lower the perception of bass).

Basically:
Foam - cuts harshness
Driver pieces - increase soundstage and imaging accuracy and clarity
Cup disc - increases clarity , cuts perceived but not actual bass.

The cup disc is the biggest judgment call, because some people like that bloomy 2nd harmonic distortion that gives the bass it's fullness. On the other hand if you just do it, and bump the bass with EQ, you will have faster, more detailed, taut bass.also the cup disc will reduce a lot of the differences in sound the cups provide, as it does away with a lot of the cup resonance, which is the main cause of the cups providing different sound.

Does lawton provide measurements to support this?

 

[fjrabon]

Does lawton provide measurements to support this?

not that I've ever seen, however, I will have mine measured in the next month or so (by a couple of different measurement rigs) and we can compare those measurements to stock measurements.  

 

[dittore]

The only driver piece that is permanent is the small circle. The other strips stick to metal on the driver and are perfectly removable.

You can certainly use just the foam piece. However the disc it attaches to does more than just provide a place to stick the foam, it helps dampen the resonations of the cup.

Basically the foam piece will help absorb the very highest THD from flowing back into the cup, which reduces harshness. The driver pieces will take away the oddest and most off time reflections that have hit the metal portions of the driver which will increase phase coherence and thus soundstage. The disc that attaches to the cup will reduce the cup's resonations and will thus increase clarity (but at the expense of some low order harmonic distortion and thus lower the perception of bass).

Basically:
Foam - cuts harshness
Driver pieces - increase soundstage and imaging accuracy and clarity
Cup disc - increases clarity , cuts perceived but not actual bass.

The cup disc is the biggest judgment call, because some people like that bloomy 2nd harmonic distortion that gives the bass it's fullness. On the other hand if you just do it, and bump the bass with EQ, you will have faster, more detailed, taut bass.also the cup disc will reduce a lot of the differences in sound the cups provide, as it does away with a lot of the cup resonance, which is the main cause of the cups providing different sound.

 
But if the foam is alredy in the cups, how can the disc remove resonations more, doesn't the foam alredy do that?

 

[fjrabon]

But if the foam is alredy in the cups, how can the disc remove resonations more, doesn't the foam alredy do that?

The foam removes high frequency resonance that's in the air already. The disc dampens and prevents the cups from ringing in the first place and removes more low frequency resonance.

 

[WayTooCrazy]

Measurements aside, is there an audible difference between stock and one with Lawton mods. The more I see the conversation going back and forth, the more I'm becoming interested.

 

[dittore]

The foam removes high frequency resonance that's in the air already. The disc dampens and prevents the cups from ringing in the first place and removes more low frequency resonance.

When you first wrote about you impressions on the mod, you said with only the foam it was really similar to the TH900. Was it only with the foam or the disc and the foam? I also don't want to attach the foam to the disc if I don't have to because then if a wanted to remove it, I couldn't put it back. 

 

[fjrabon]

  When you first wrote about you impressions on the mod, you said with only the foam it was really similar to the TH900. Was it only with the foam or the disc and the foam? I also don't want to attach the foam to the disc if I don't have to because then if a wanted to remove it, I couldn't put it back. 

the foam got you very close to the TH900's tonality.  The disc does reduce the perception of bass, and with the disc my THX00 sounds closer to the D7000 than it does the TH900.  THe disc is certainly a trade-off, but luckily, you can just sort of shove it in there without using the adhesive, and get a decent idea for how it will sound to "test drive" the impact without it being permanent.  Once adhered I think it does reduce resonance a bit more, but just shoved in, you get really close so that you have a pretty good idea.  
 
Ultimately the increase in clarity was worth it to me, even with the slight decrease in perceived mid-bass.  I can always EQ in a bit more bass if I want to get back to that TH series big bass, with the upside that it's even cleaner, faster and more layered.

 

[Whitigir]

To anyone that have EMU-Ebony cups and want to modify it to fit the Fostex series X00 or 900. This below picture show the groove that is thicker on EMU than Fostex. So, to fit it on Fostex, you will have to sand it down with sand paper (inner diameter), and or Dremel tool on it. Do it slow, steady, and you will get it to fit. Goodluck