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

[burgunder]

I was just about to post that all this damping was getting out of control

 
I did BTW. just receive to pairs of T50rps and I'm listening to the stock version as I type, and I find them very pleasing even in stock form, with the Jazz I'm listening to right now ( Lucky Thompson Quartet) the sound is sweet and flows very natural and it even seems to have better detail than the AKG K340 I used until these came this monday.
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Good call.
 
I mentioned the weight issue.  It's a heavy issue. With all the plasticine, foam, and Dynamat these are too heavy to be comfortable for more than 15 minutes. So, I took #6 v2 apart, removed the Dynamat in the cups, the side pieces of AcoustiPack Lite, and about 1/2 of the plasticine...yes, you can have too much of a good thing.  I left plasticine in place from the edge of the driver perimeter sloped down to the baffle rim.  Re-installed AcoustiPack Lite to the bottom of the cups and over the 1" square in the central section opposite the intact bass port felt. Comparing in retrospect, the bass was not quite right probably due to some congestion from over-damping. The SQ is improved and the weight is no longer a  big problem.  Tomorrow I will remove 1 of the 2 layers of Dynamat around the drivers on the ear side which will further lighten them.  
 
There have been several mods I really like and some not at all.  Many are not better than the others, just different from one another. Still having fun with this. 
 
 

 

 

[drez]

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If you wanna talk to the godfather of damping clays, try this forum: http://audioqualia.freeforums.org/index.php
 
the owner made some very light 0.8 damping factor homebrew putty, but it's not available for sale yet and at this stage he doesn't seem to be able to send samples either: http://audioqualia.freeforums.org/post71.html#p71
 
anyway, newplast reaches 0.635 and is dead cheap: http://qualia.webs.com/newdampingfactors.htm
 
tungsten is 0.725, spendy and very heavy, blutack 0.166 and plasticine 0.304...so major bang for bucks here.

Awesome research there, thanks for posting!

 

[leeperry]

I mentioned the weight issue.  It's a heavy issue. With all the plasticine, foam, and Dynamat these are too heavy to be comfortable for more than 15 minutes.

Good point, and I can remember that newplast is noticeably heavier than blutack...but audibly speaking it's well worth the 4X higher damping factor to my ears. Plus, I do think you put way too much plasticine if it really goes as high as the top of the driver. And I don't see how dynamat can be good to anything in a phone, but that's just my personal opinion...I cannot stand the smell of tar, and I don't want to breathe it in on a permanent basis either and especially not stuck to my ear canals. Plus, it's very heavy so all this nutella pasted plasticine + dynamat could indeed end up being too heavy, and even more so w/ the vastly uncomfy stock earpads.
 
I like mrspeaker's idea to add clay within the surrounding parts of the cups/baffles, did you try this one at all? Maybe I'll venture doing it in the next coming days, together w/ adding akasa on the curved walls of the cups.

 

[dogears]

It was so relaxing wearing the T40 free from clay

 
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I was just about to post that all this damping was getting out of control

 
 
 

 

 

[bluemonkeyflyer]

Good information.
 
I think plasticine applied flush within the baffle compartments may underdamp. I took it all the way in the other direction by "super mass loading" with plasticine to see what would happen.  I think this is too much and likely overdamped,  took up too much cup volume, and added too much weight.  By trimming it down to about 1/2 and sloping down from the driver perimeter to the baffle rim I think I've found the sweet spot with plasticine for me. I want to try Newplast applied flush with the baffle compartments to see if this frees up some cup volume and provides equivalent damping compared to what I'm currently doing.
 
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It's actually possible to overdamp...
 
(for simplicity sake we will just consider vibations due to a single impulse)
 
Underdamping means it will oscillate, with the amplitude shrinking over time and eventually settling to zero. Critically damped means it does not oscillate and reaches zero relatively quickly. Overdamped also means it does not oscillate, but takes longer to reach zero.
 
Sometimes in audio, underdamping may be desired. This is because while there is still oscillation, the initial return to zero is faster than the critically damped config, and the size of the subsequent oscillations may be insignificant.
 

 

 

[bluemonkeyflyer]

Not yet, but it's on my "to do" list.
 
I added Paxmate in the baffle outer rim of one mod. Plasticine or Paxmate in the outer rim may seal better but I have not noticed a difference in sound with Paxmate applied there.  It does make it a bit harder to close and I found I had to apply pressure against the baffle and the cup to get the 4 screws in.  I wonder if the added pressure stresses the plastic threads and if they will strip after multiple opening/closing.
 
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Good point, and I can remember that newplast is noticeably heavier than blutack...but audibly speaking it's well worth the 4X higher damping factor to my ears. Plus, I do think you put way too much plasticine if it really goes as high as the top of the driver. And I don't see how dynamat can be good to anything in a phone, but that's just my personal opinion...I cannot stand the smell of tar, and I don't want to breathe it in on a permanent basis either and especially not stuck to my ear canals. Plus, it's very heavy so all this nutella pasted plasticine + dynamat could indeed end up being too heavy, and even more so w/ the vastly uncomfy stock earpads.
 
I like mrspeaker's idea to add clay within the surrounding parts of the cups/baffles, did you try this one at all? Maybe I'll venture doing it in the next coming days, together w/ adding akasa on the curved walls of the cups.

 

 

[snakeeater69]

What is the general consensus on the best sounding mod to go with the Shure 840 or stock pads?

 

[mmayer167]

These headphones are turning me into an electronic slu7... 
 
I liked electronic stuff before but its hard to listen to much else when these things separate electronic out so well !   The one word I use quite frequently to describe these is " E x p l o d e d ".   Listening to these is like looking at an exploded view of something, ie: the exploded view of the t50 per manufacturer booklet. Of course every once and a while I switch it up with some actual music
 
You guys are right... these could be the phone I retire this silly hobby with

 
Cheers, Still listening with the simple medium mass loaded baffle, paxmate in the back of the cup, cotton balls filling up the space and 3 of 4 bass ports plugged, and O2 pads. As soon as fischer pads are in stock I'll be finding a pair of those to get a better seal and keep the O2 for thunderpants.
 
Also, If you haven't already, do the suspension headband mod. It is really, really nice. It makes them feel much lighter than they are.
 
M

 

[sharkz]

I agree that electric music sounds good, even though I am not generally a fan. I use Passion Pit to test bass after making my changes usually. I tried listening to some Infected Mushroom but it was too "cluby" and not really my thing. I need to find some good new electronic music to listen to.
 
I finally tried some of the stiff Michaels felt and I am pretty happy with it. I also finally glued it down with some contact cement and added a small amount of Paxmate on the baffle under my 840 pads. I have to say, I am really happy. I am not sure how much else I will be playing around with these. I might get a second pair to tinker with, but I really want to try a pair of electrostats. I have now heard several pairs of Orthos, but no estats.

 

[mrspeakers]

Gave a good listen to LFF's Paradox today, and was very impressed.  It has a more balanced feel than my curent rev and I felt did sound a level better than mine.  Which is pretty cool 'cause I do like the RP2 right now and had I not heard the Paradox, I probably would have called it quits.  I've been building out some test and measurement capacity to do a better job actually quantifying and showing the improvements, and have used this to further tune the setup.  
 
Alas, one part of LFF's design I like involves unobtanium; Fisher 003 pads.  I felt that they just dropped into my setup very nicely, and smoother out the response.  I'd like to get some to measure, but, unobtanium, so another month(s).
 
Anyhow, kudos to LFF on that, I had thought it would be hard to better the RP2 on the T50 platform, but he did.  So far.  

 

[rawrster]

So much for your last mods
 
I think the T50RP have opened up a door that should never have been opened up for me. Since the T50RP I have bought the HE-4 and now the HE-500 and they all sound great. The only dynamics I've listened to since is briefly the DT880 and the K501 but those two are going soon probably. They just cant compete although the weight of the T50RP and HE500 is a bit more than I prefer it still is nothing compared to my Magnums in a 325i shell..heaviest headphone I've ever used by a long shot.
 
 
edit: I got the HE500 and decided to take the O2 pads and use them on the HE500 as I haven't used them in a few days..I think it's time to get the black O2 pads lol On another note whoever made the stock pad design must have been on drugs cuz they are horrible as that was my first attempt taking them off. Thankfully the new pads are so much easier but I tested out the O2 pads since they looked like they fit and they are quite comfortable but the good news is that I'm not too sure about sound

 

[snakeeater69]

Is the modeling clay have to be oil base or does it not matter, just as long as it does not dry.

 

[dyna10x]

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Gave a good listen to LFF's Paradox today, and was very impressed.  It has a more balanced feel than my curent rev and I felt did sound a level better than mine.  Which is pretty cool 'cause I do like the RP2 right now and had I not heard the Paradox, I probably would have called it quits.  I've been building out some test and measurement capacity to do a better job actually quantifying and showing the improvements, and have used this to further tune the setup.  
 
Alas, one part of LFF's design I like involves unobtanium; Fisher 003 pads.  I felt that they just dropped into my setup very nicely, and smoother out the response.  I'd like to get some to measure, but, unobtanium, so another month(s).
 
Anyhow, kudos to LFF on that, I had thought it would be hard to better the RP2 on the T50 platform, but he did.  So far.  

Mrspeakers did you manage to steal a look at the secret sauce inside those phones because we are all wondering just what that secret is. Perhaps you had to sign a non-disclosure contract or was the safety of your family threatened if you reveal the mysteries of the paradox.
Glad to hear you have a new goal to work towards with your mods. I hope you achieve new standards in sound from the T50. I would also like to acknowledge and thank you for your efforts in modding and reporting extensively on your mods in this forum as I know how much extra time and effort that takes.

 

[drez]

Hmm just though of a name for my t50 - inside-out-pants 

 - my idea is to damp the outside of the cup with dynamat so as not to overly reduce cup air volume.
My theory is that dynamat is there mostly to reduce vibrations travelling in the material of  the cup itself, rather than stopping reflections.
Therefore to me I can't see why damping one side would be any more effective than damping the other.
 
Still undecided between paxmate and speaker felt.  Maybe I need a second pair.

 

[mrspeakers]

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Mrspeakers did you manage to steal a look at the secret sauce inside those phones because we are all wondering just what that secret is. Perhaps you had to sign a non-disclosure contract or was the safety of your family threatened if you reveal the mysteries of the paradox.
Glad to hear you have a new goal to work towards with your mods. I hope you achieve new standards in sound from the T50. I would also like to acknowledge and thank you for your efforts in modding and reporting extensively on your mods in this forum as I know how much extra time and effort that takes.

Alas, even if I knew what he did, I wouldn't share without LFF's permission...  Sorry.  He has only said a) he uses the Fisher 003 pads, and b) all mods were reversible, and he shared his super comfy headband design, which is definitely worth trying.  It takes the pressure point off the top of the head, and it's very easy to make.