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

[mrspeakers]

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Couple quick questions, I bought these headphones partially modded then added a few of my own, it has some strange textured tape over the driver, anyone know what it is and how it would affect the sound? I see most people having some see-through white fur over theres:
 

 
And how would the felt being partially ripped on the underside of the pads affect sound?
 

That is transpore.  A few people say they've made it work, but every configuration I have put on for measurement had major problems (and never sounded good to me).  I recommend you get rid of it.
 
A bare driver or stock fabric seems to perform best, though each requires different mods to realize the potential.
 

 

[eltocliousus]

Would I need to replace it with anything? I have felt over the transpore at the minute, if I had just the felt without transpore, how would it affect sound? I'm mostly looking for soundstage and clarity with good mids/highs.

 

[mrspeakers]

Generally I have found a bare driver works fine if you have cotton or wool behind it, and some foam internally, which you have.  Some stuffing is key, otherwise there's a nasty resonance at 1KHz or so that gets quite "shouty".  Then depending on which pads you have you can open/close the port to tune the lower and mid bass.

 

[Magick Man]

On a side note, if anyone can recommend me a track very prone to sibilance I would be very grateful!

Queensryche's Someone Else from their Promised Land album. Most of the song is sibilant.

 

[eltocliousus]

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Generally I have found a bare driver works fine if you have cotton or wool behind it, and some foam internally, which you have.  Some stuffing is key, otherwise there's a nasty resonance at 1KHz or so that gets quite "shouty".  Then depending on which pads you have you can open/close the port to tune the lower and mid bass.

I don't have any foam, just cotton, I know I'm arguing against a veteran modder but I must ask, wouldn't the cotton get in the driver itself if there isn't anything blocking it?

 

[mrspeakers]

OK, folks.  Here's a nice and tested basic mod with absolute minimal cost and ease to deploy.  Super-predictable results, and totally reversible.  Let's call this "Reversible pants".  

 
The phone is entirely stock, with the following modifications:
 
1) Paxmate the whole rear cup.  I cut one single oval piece and make "slots" where the cables and posts are, and cut a square out over the vent.
 
2) Stuff the cup with 3 regular of 5-6 small cotton balls teased apart.  Wool works too.  
 
That is it.  The result is a massive improvement over the stock setup.  Bass is extended about an octave, and the major midrange resonances are killed.  This mod does NOT work well with any other pad, stock pad only.
 
There is a resonance at 6.5K which is a measurement artifact, but as you can see from the chart, this is a huge improvement over the stock phones both in frequency response and waterfall/time domain.  The sound is slightly bright of neutral, but not offensively so.  Mids are forward and clear.  
 

 

 
What I have found through experimentation is that the stock felt generally allows mods to be made with smoother frequency response curves and a brighter sound.  However, removing the stock felt tends to allow for more bass output, and improves the time domain (waterfall) response, with faster decay and greater sense of air, dark space between the notes, and a bigger soundstage.  These are general comments, and the choice of ear pads can really change the results hugely, depending on which way you go.  
 
For beginners, or people just wanting a quick, easy and fool proof mod, this is a good candidate.

 

[mrspeakers]

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I don't have any foam, just cotton, I know I'm arguing against a veteran modder but I must ask, wouldn't the cotton get in the driver itself if there isn't anything blocking it?

Not if you don't tear it up.  You could always put a light screen fabric in that would provide a bit of protection if you're worried.  In practice, I've had cotton stick to the frame around the driver where there is adhesive, but I have had no problem with this in many, many mods.

 

[eltocliousus]

Friday night and I'm modding headphones, life couldn't get any better!
On recommendations from soundstige (the lovely person I bought them from) and BMF I'll keep the transpore on but I will play with the felt and cotton as you suggested,, I can always revert if it doesn't comply with my tastes (more soundstage!), thankyou for the advice mrspeakers, I may grab some LCD-2 pads and see if I can get them to fit without resorting to third party materials and will let you know.
 
One other quick thing, the cotton pads I have are quite thick which led me to tear them up, here's a picture, do you think I could get away with leaving them in-tact and laying them as I would paxmate?
 

 

[leeperry]

 
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Friday night and I'm modding headphones, life couldn't get any better!

It only really becomes an OCD when you end up cutting anything you could find in the kitchen and stuff the cups w/ it at 3AM. It's pretty much on the same level as 3AM opamp rolling. The force is within you, young padawan. Oh yes I can feel it, the force is strong!

 

[rhythmdevils]

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Friday night and I'm modding headphones, life couldn't get any better!
On recommendations from soundstige (the lovely person I bought them from) and BMF I'll keep the transpore on but I will play with the felt and cotton as you suggested,, I can always revert if it doesn't comply with my tastes (more soundstage!), thankyou for the advice mrspeakers, I may grab some LCD-2 pads and see if I can get them to fit without resorting to third party materials and will let you know.
 
One other quick thing, the cotton pads I have are quite thick which led me to tear them up, here's a picture, do you think I could get away with leaving them in-tact and laying them as I would paxmate?
 

Again, you need to try some of this stuff.  If you take the transpore tape off and don't like how it sounds, just buy some more transpore tape and put some back on.  It's not that big a deal.  Try cutting up the cotton, try not cutting it up.  You have to try things. 
 
LCD-2 pads are a different story because they're expensive.  I don't recommend them. 
 

 

[eltocliousus]

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It only really becomes an OCD when you end up cutting anything you could find in the kitchen and stuff the cups w/ it at 3AM. It's pretty much on the same level as 3AM opamp rolling. The force is within you, young padawan. Oh yes I can feel it, the force is strong!

I'm going to audition the LCD-2/SA5ks tomorrow to see how they feel, hopefully it'll be an end-all to pads for the T50RP, but I'd still love to try some gels!
Do you have a personal pair that you tamper with Max? I'd love to know what your primary listening apparatus are.

 

[eltocliousus]

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Again, you need to try some of this stuff.  If you take the transpore tape off and don't like how it sounds, just buy some more transpore tape and put some back on.  It's not that big a deal.  Try cutting up the cotton, try not cutting it up.  You have to try things. 
 
LCD-2 pads are a different story because they're expensive.  I don't recommend them. 
 

It's either the LCD-2s, STAX or SA5ks, there are (as always) a lot of mixed opinions on all three.

 

[Kibble Fat]

mrspeakers, where's the rest of it?

 

[mrspeakers]

 

It only really becomes an OCD when you end up cutting anything you could find in the kitchen and stuff the cups w/ it at 3AM. It's pretty much on the same level as 3AM opamp rolling. The force is within you, young padawan. Oh yes I can feel it, the force is strong!

I draw the line at using carrots for diffusion. Onions worked pretty well, but I didn't like tearing up during extended listening..

 

[mrspeakers]

mrspeakers, where's the rest of it?

I assume you mean below 1khz? Low frequency waterfall is dominated by ambient noise in my not ideal setup so it isn't terribly informative below 1khz.

This response is a huge improvement over stock, which has a pretty ragged frequency response and lots of resonances. The rastapants have better transient,response and bass, at the expense of a bit less upper midrange. I prefer the clarity of the rastapants, but this is meant to be a super easy setup for someone,getting started that yields big improvement withmlittle effort or risk and no major problems...