Just listened to some Fostex T50RPs today... WOW!

[proid]

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You're like me and my first pair.  I thought I was going to wear the screw threads out - but, that never happened.  Opening them and closing them can be a bit manic - things will come into your mind as you sleep and then you'll jump out of bed and be all eager to try the latest tweaks that you had dreams over.
 

That's exactly my situation. The first time i got the T50rp and modded it, i expected that it would be a giant killer like "blow the HD650 out of water", "80-85% of the LCD-2", ... but i was totally disappointed, it sound just good for the price. After many attemp, trying every thing i can do, with every material i can find, it get better and better, i don't have a HD650 to compare but at this stage, i prefer it to the HD580. Modding is believing, i image one day my pair will sound as good as Paradox, that make me totally happy.
 

 
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I'm between the RP2 and the latest BMF mod. They seem to be the ones focused around being like the LCD-2, a headphone that I've put up on a pedestal for some reason. :/
I'm probably going to do one mod and stick with it mostly because while I may realize that (for example) the highs are a little too veiled (or something), I'll have *no* clue how to fix it.

Reflex dot might be the solution but i find it sound odd in my config. I also see many people tried reflex dot then went back to no reflex dot. In my experience, plasticine, paxmate open up hf, recable also bring out a lot of clarity and hf extend further too.
 

 

[kalbee]

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The hardest thing about these headphones seems to be figuring out which mod to do. I want them to be as good (to my ears) as I can, but I don't wanna mod 20 times to find out. 

Also trying to figure out which is easiest, because I'm not exactly good at building things.
 
Hopefully going to join the club soon!
 
Oh, and for those with them already, how do these fare as portable cans out of an ipod or phone? How about portable with a Fiio E7?
If it works well enough without amping, I may build some for friends/family.

And I'm going to say the opposite to what the others said--they can be driven from an ipod or phone. At least for any reversible mod version. Though I may as well mention my iPhone4S has its volume at around 40~60% with them, while most earphones and headphones play at 10~20%. The isolation isn't stellar either. While I do feel that they sound better amped, I've had experience with amps that made it sound A LOT worse. Unfortunately I can't tell you what amp/system that was; it was the store's test rig, I don't remember it. The e9 doesn't make it sound bad though, so e7 should be fine.
But as hans030390 said, best to try out stock ---> reversible mods ---> then you can embark in the RP2/BMF/etc mod journey. Just remember these may cost a lot more in total... don't remember for the BMF but as I recall the RP2 isn't designed for use with stock earpads, and the optimal pads are somewhere above 100$ alone.
 
 

 

[Magick Man]

The Shure 840 pads add a great deal of isolation and are much more comfortable. $20 very well spent, IMO.

Edit: I just tried again to drive them on my phone and it said, "What you tryin' to do? No bass for joo!".

 

[mmayer167]

^ I giggled. your post edit and that avatar, gets me every time. probably because i remember doing that, luckily to no harms end. 
 
Portably amping (phone or ipod headphone out/laptop jack) the t50 works but leaves me always desiring more. Headroom is limited and sound is seemingly displayed on a flat surface rather than that nice image you can get with an decent amp. 
 
-M

 

[BlackbeardBen]

I'm firmly in the "these aren't hard to drive" camp here.  No troubles driving them to normal listening volumes for me in the office/at home with a measly Clip+.  The only exception is that it doesn't have enough gain for very quiet recordings - which I suppose means that it doesn't have nearly enough voltage swing for the loudest peaks in orchestral music when listening at reference level.
 
This is comparing to both a PB1 and my Carver pre-amp.  No lack of bass, no lack of detail, etc. by comparison.

 

[sling5s]

With each modification...you conclude that you are done but you get an itch to try and improve it even more...
Little less...little more...
 
 
 
 
 

 

[proid]

I use my t50rp with iriver B20, i enjoyed it very much, bass is still there but lack a little volume and definition compare to amped.

 

[Magick Man]

With each modification...you conclude that you are done but you get an itch to try and improve it even more...
Little less...little more...

I glued them shut when I got what I want, to keep that from happening. If I get an itch to screw with the T50s some more I'll buy another pair, that's what so great about these, they're so inexpensive (comparatively).

 

[mrspeakers]

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I do have a question though when it comes to the modifications.  I had followed the Rastapants 2 mods via the Wiki, but realized that I noticed some variances that may have taken the modifications astray from where the Wiki links (not leaks ) left off.  At one point, Dynamat was being applied on the inside of the cups and the foil backing was retained.  In the open cup area, 6 cotton balls were "teased" and set into place before installing the baffle with the 4 screws.  Then, Dynamat was installed - again, with the silver foil in-tact over the ear side of the baffle, with a careful cut-out to keep the driver opening revealed.  Then, felt was applied over that before the cups were re=installed.
 
Is this still the case with the Rastapants 2 modification?  I ask because the other variation wasn't to use any Dynamat at all, but to install Paxmate on the inside of the cup on all exposed surfaces.  I've been through the modification process of using only Paxmate (or, rather, Silver stone) on the inside of the cup and didn't like what that material alone did to the bass.
 
I ask these questions so we can clarify a bit to ensure that if anyone is following the Wiki to a "T" to keep the modifications in line with a successful transformation.  
 
Thanks,

 
The dynamat on the inside of the rear cup is a very minor mod that reduces some plastic resonances from the rear cup.  Though I could hear a minor difference, I'd chock that up to optional.  If done, you must cover the interior dynamat with paxmate for the mod.
 
Silverstone probably is somewhat different from Paxmate, so I can't comment on the effect on bass.  The bass on mine is quite powerful.  Did you remove the stock felt, and how open are the vents?  Also, which pads are you using?
 
I haven't used dynamat on the ear-side of the cup.  That's actually my next experiment, where I will be to do a mod which is reversible and will use dyanmat on the ear side without any internal clay.
 

 

[mrspeakers]

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Reflex dot might be the solution but i find it sound odd in my config. I also see many people tried reflex dot then went back to no reflex dot. In my experience, plasticine, paxmate open up hf, recable also bring out a lot of clarity and hf extend further too.
 

Reflex dot actually reduced the mids in mine and degraded transient response (which was a bit of a surprise).  Definitely no dots in my configs at this point (maybe they work elsewhere, can't say, but not with my setup).

 

[Nevod]

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Reflex dot actually reduced the mids in mine and degraded transient response (which was a bit of a surprise).  Definitely no dots in my configs at this point (maybe they work elsewhere, can't say, but not with my setup).

Did you use reflex dot on the central column or directly on driver?
 
As for measurements, glad that I'd probably be able to replicate that - as I have no artificial heads, but styrofoam and cardboard are availible to me. That way it would be more or less possible to compare measurements.
 

 

[mrspeakers]

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Did you use reflex dot on the central column or directly on driver?
 
As for measurements, glad that I'd probably be able to replicate that - as I have no artificial heads, but styrofoam and cardboard are availible to me. That way it would be more or less possible to compare measurements.
 

 
The dot was right on the driver frame.  The central column in mine has a bit of paxmate.  That post caused a resonance peak around 700Hz, if I recall.  Covering it killed the resonance.   
 
Regarding testing, a stryrofoam block would be fine, it's what I use.  It does reflex the sound waves, so it introduces some peaks and troughs, but there's nothing you can do about that, and your ear/phone interface does that too, but in different places...  So as long as you've got a consistent test setup your phone measurements are at least relative, if not exact, and you can see the specific effect of changes.  A calibrated mic is a help, too.
 
 

 

[TierAngst]

So is there any sort of consensus that silverstone is better than paxmate? Has anyone tried both?

 

[Taowolf51]

Both are 4mm thick sticky-back acoustic-dampening foam panels for computers.
My guess? Probably exactly the same (they may even be made by the same manufacturer), a number of people have used Silverstone instead (it, the Sure 840 pads, and the T50rp's are amazon's frequently bought together items).
Of course, my guess is just that, a guess.

 

[Sardonyx]

At the start of this thread, most people were using Paxmate, but I couldn't find it at any store that had reasonable shipping.  The best deal I could find was Silverstone from Amazon, plus some items i needed anyway, to get free shipping.  Even if they are different - and I have no evidence either way - that doesn't necessarily make it "better".  The modding recipe is a combination of ingredients.  Suppose one absorbs more high frequency than the other.  If you don't like the result, there are other materials that can be added, subtracted, or moved around, to increase/decrease the treble.