[kwkarth]

Quote:

I imagine the EF5 would work well as a tube amp (it was made for orthos).
 
I have the NFB12 and it works great with the t50. It has more of a warm amp section so the highs are not as shimmering as some, but the bass and mids are excellent. The DAC portion is excellent (dual WM8741's), its not quite as versatile as the D1 (no analog inputs), but it is hard to beat for the price (and the build quality is superb).
 
It can comfortably drive the t50s past death-metal concert sound levels without any clipping or reduction in dynamics (that I can tell), and it sounds excellent even at very low volume levels.
 
/gush
 
the lyr did very well powering the t50s (and the HE6), really brought out the dynamix.

There are no dynamics at death metal concerts. 

 

 

[mrspeakers]

At this point, my Rastapants are sounding better than my JH16.  They serve a different purpose, but the "reality factor" has gotten clearer as I've spent more time with both.  They serve totally different purposes and aren't really interchangeable, and the JH16 and UE Reference are the two IEMs I've hear I love, but the T50 driver just gets it so right...  This was really worth the tuning it took.
 
Three cheers for all the pioneers on this who came up with so many interesting and different ways to approach tuning, it's been very fun and worthwhile to build on their knowledge.
 

 
P.S. I made three sets for my daughter and nephew and niece's birthdays (all teens).  Feedback from the target audience was "best sound I ever heard" and "best present EVERRRR!!!!!"  
 
P.P.S. Favorite albums for my phones right now:  Younger Brother, Vaccine and David Sylvian's Nine Horses project (excellent production on both, and amazing, complex and subtle music).
 

 

[RanDiesel]

I just wanted to give a big thanks to mrspeakers, maverickronin, and all the other people who have contributed to this thread. This was my first DIY audio project and I am extremely happy with the results. The bass is tight and plentiful, but with fantastic detail and clarity in the upper mids and top end. I am hearing elements of songs I had never heard before. So after sifting thru all these posts I ended up using the Rastapants technique and I am just put the finishing touches on my T50RPs that I am affectionately calling the Ninjapants (all black Rastapants). I just put felt over the driver in the earcup to cut some of the bite out of the highs as I was feeling some ear fatigue after a 5-6 hour session at work.
 
Here is what it really boiled down to for me:
 
Materials:
Fostex T50Rps - $74 at B&H Photo
modeling clay and felt (all black for stealth purposes) - $6 at Micheals
Shure 840 earpads - $20 at B&H Photo
Asaka Paxmate - $20 at SideWinder Computers (thanks for the link maverickronin)
 
misc - small screw driver, rubber cement, putty knife, and the intestinal fortitude to open a brand new pair of headphones and start scraping tape and felt off the driver and earcups.
 
Cost = $120 and a few hours of tinkering for some awesome sounding headphones.
 
Here is what I ended up with (really just a reiteration of what mrspeaker did, but it may save a newcomer some digging):
1. take the headband off with the two large screws, much easier to work with
2. take the pads off and scrape the felt off the face of the earcup
3. remove tiny screws and take baffle off
4. scrape off the white tape on the back of the driver (this did not come off easy for me and was the point where i fully committed to the process)
5. fill in the baffle with the modeling clay
6. line the interior of the cup with the paxmate and yank the stock felt from the vent
7. cut and place your felt over the back of the driver and the vent using a very small amount of the rubber cement, I used super tiny dabs of Barges cement on the corners of the felt
8. reassemble, keeping the red dot on the driver pointing down
9. line the face of the earcup around the driver with paxmate
10. cut and place a piece of felt over the front of the driver
11. the last and what turned out to be the most important step for me was to tune the port of your cups with electrical tape on the outside, you could start with 75% and reduce for additional bass as mrspeaker has recommended.
 
This tuning was really the key for me because after all the mods the bass was awesome but the voices sounded distant. Then i put the tape on and it moved the vocals right up in front of me, amazing. And now for some crappy IPhone pics (sorry, couldn't find my camera).
 

All black ninja style, btw black modeling clay stains your hands.
 

Not the best Paxmate work, but seems to do the trick.
 

Just added that last piece of felt and loving it.
 

Finished product with the shure pads, they are a tight fit but worth the effort, very comfy.
 
Thanks to all, I love these headphones.
 
 

 

[kiteki]

I never knew these were famous for being "natural sounding"... I love natural sounding stuff... is this the headphone for me?

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

I just wanted to give a big thanks to mrspeakers, maverickronin, and all the other people who have contributed to this thread. This was my first DIY audio project and I am extremely happy with the results. The bass is tight and plentiful, but with fantastic detail and clarity in the upper mids and top end. I am hearing elements of songs I had never heard before. So after sifting thru all these posts I ended up using the Rastapants technique and I am just put the finishing touches on my T50RPs that I am affectionately calling the Ninjapants (all black Rastapants). I just put felt over the driver in the earcup to cut some of the bite out of the highs as I was feeling some ear fatigue after a 5-6 hour session at work.

I'm glad your enjoying them and that some of my ramblings were useful to someone but I'm just building off of what others have done before me.

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

I never knew these were famous for being "natural sounding"... I love natural sounding stuff... is this the headphone for me?

They could be.  They sound pretty good right out of the box but they need a little work to sound great.  The timbre can be a little hit or miss stock depending on what excites the resonances in the the cheap plastic cups but some mass loading or constrained layer damping make it good pretty much all the time.  When you get it dialed in vocals are pretty amazing.

 

[kiteki]

It sounds very appealing all of a sudden.
 
I have this obsession with the MDR-E888 earphone for natural sounding vocals, I haven't heard an earphone or IEM yet that can do vocals more natural, but no one ever talks about it anymore.

 

[kiteki]

Anybody want a Sony V6, Fostex T-5 and two Fischer Audio IEM's in trade for their TR50p? =)

 

[lorriman]

Well I got my T50rp's today and they sound just like a load of old plasticine :




Ok, well maybe I didn't get them today and I'm still waiting on the US postal service to deliver to to the UK; but I've got a darn load of yellow plasticine with nothing to do while I pace the floor.

 

[geetarman49]

no disrespect, but ...
.
.
. 
have u considered a plastic surgeon?
.
.
.
. okay .. a groaner ... but i couldn't resist .. sorry  ..

 

[ambchang]

Just got my Fostex T50-RP, and looking to do some mods on them.
 
First question, and this is going to make me sound totally incompetent, how do you remove the pads without damaging them?
 
I am eventually looking to replace the pads, but I am not sure which pads fit.  From what I heard:
 
Sony MDR-5000 - but I just can't find them anywhere
Shure SR840 - barely fits
 
What other pads can I use?
 
My plan is to just stuff the cups with felt, blu-tack, and cotton.

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

Just got my Fostex T50-RP, and looking to do some mods on them.
 
First question, and this is going to make me sound totally incompetent, how do you remove the pads without damaging them?
 

Just stick your fingers under the pad from the inside and slowly pull them off.  There are a few pieces of double sided tape holding them to the baffle as well.  Just slowly and gently work your way around the edges and break the connection.

 

[lorriman]

no disrespect, but ...
.
.
. 
have u considered a plastic surgeon?
.
.
.
. okay .. a groaner ... but i couldn't resist .. sorry  ..

I've no need as I am a qualified and skilled plasticine surgeon; self-evidently. But thankyou for the kind words of advice. I'll never forget them. :veryevil:

 

[lorriman]

Anyone tried Mrspeakers mod with and without removing the white material on the back of the driver? I would like to avoid irreversible mods if I can.

Is it really that important?

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

Anyone tried Mrspeakers mod with and without removing the white material on the back of the driver? I would like to avoid irreversible mods if I can.

Is it really that important?

I haven't done that yet on mine and its still great with the other mods I added.  I got another pair to try it on for some A/B testing between stock driver damping and modified driver damping but haven't got around to actually doing it yet.