Just listened to some Fostex T50RPs today... WOW!
Dec 30, 2011 at 8:00 PM Post #5,673 of 11,345
I just found out that the 1/4in to 1/8in adapter I have around the house was mono. I'll have to get an adapter tomorrow. =(
 
Dec 30, 2011 at 8:29 PM Post #5,674 of 11,345

Sorry for the horrible picture quality. Notice the black housing? The T20RP MKII no longer uses the white housing driver that Smeggy talked about, which means that it has the same driver as the T50RP. Writing and everything on it is the same.
 
So, what is the difference between the T20RP and the T50RP MKII? There's a very, very thin piece of translucent material covering the ports.

Compare that to the T50RP's ports.
 
fostex_t40rp_t50rp_09.jpg

 
That's right, when they advertise superior damping on the T50RP in their advertisements, they mean they have those two bits of felt right there -- one in the middle, and a more dense one over the ports.
 
As far as I can see, the T20RP MKII is in stock and a bargain for someone who wants the T50RP's driver. You're missing the golden colored adjustment bars and two pieces of felt. 
 
Dec 30, 2011 at 8:36 PM Post #5,675 of 11,345
Is the second picture or the T20RP? If so, the little plastic cover over the headband assembly screw compartment in the center of the cup is missing and the dampening material over the bass vents is thinner. Is that about the extent of the differences between T20 and T50?
 
Quote:

Sorry for the horrible picture quality. Notice the black housing? The T20RP MKII no longer uses the white housing driver that Smeggy talked about, which means that it has the same driver as the T50RP. Writing and everything on it is the same.
 
So, what is the difference between the T20RP and the T50RP MKII? There's a very, very thin piece of translucent material covering the ports.

Compare that to the T50RP's ports.
 
fostex_t40rp_t50rp_09.jpg

 
That's right, when they advertise superior damping on the T50RP in their advertisements, they mean they have those two bits of felt right there -- one in the middle, and a more dense one over the ports.
 
As far as I can see, the T20RP MKII is in stock and a bargain for someone who wants the T50RP's driver. You're missing the golden colored adjustment bars and two pieces of felt. 



 
 
Dec 30, 2011 at 8:40 PM Post #5,676 of 11,345
The 2nd picture is the T20RP. The main thing I noticed was the damping over the vents, yeah. I didn't see any other real differences between them. I feel like if you put some acoustic foam over that  screw compartment and tuned the bass ports like normal, there'd effectively be no real difference. 
 
Quote:
Is the second picture or the T20RP? If so, the little plastic cover over the headband assembly screw compartment in the center of the cup is missing and the dampening material over the bass vents is thinner. Is that about the extent of the differences between T20 and T50?
 


 



 
 
Dec 31, 2011 at 5:21 AM Post #5,677 of 11,345
About to buy my own T50 RPs and some modding materials. Placticine, tungsten putty, silverstone accoustic foam, dynamat, cotton balls, and shure 840 pads. Am I missing anything?
 
Dec 31, 2011 at 5:44 AM Post #5,678 of 11,345
Electrical tape for the bass ports. I don't think you need dynamat and acoustic foam at the same time, same with plasticine and tungsten putty. 
 
Quote:
About to buy my own T50 RPs and some modding materials. Placticine, tungsten putty, silverstone accoustic foam, dynamat, cotton balls, and shure 840 pads. Am I missing anything?

 
I got the T20RPs working by virtue of having a 3.5mm to 3.5mm male to male cable which I use for the auxiliary port in the car. It fit the T20RP's removable cable slot perfectly, so I was able to use it without an adapter.
 
 
Sorry for the bad picture quality again.

I mass loaded with plasticine. Standard procedure.

I filled the little headband screw area with plasticine as well. The T20RP MKII does not have the cover for this area, so I thought I'd cover it myself.

Then I covered the top of the plasticine with acoustic foam on the headband screw area. This is my replacement for the felt that is on the T50RP models.

I filled the rest of the areas with acoustic foam on the side opposite the driver, careful not to mess up the area where the screws go through.

I put two teased cotton balls into the baffle as well before sealing it back up.

Final step for my modding was to add a ring of acoustic foam to the outside to puff out the stock pads as well as isolate that area a bit more. More isolation to the pads can't hurt.
 
Not pictured: I covered 3.75 of the 4 bass ports with 2 layers of electric tape to tune the bass and treble. 
 
 
 
My first impression after I did the first mods was slightly disappointed. I had mass loaded, acoustic foamed, one cotton ball, and 3 bass ports filled. The bass had come out to play, but the highs were massively recessed. I covered half of another bass port and added a cotton ball to each side and that let the highs come back to a level I liked. Sound balance feels very nice, significantly better than stock, but I still find it slightly behind where I want it in treble.
 
The Lows: Although not as hard hitting as the +10dB equalization that I had done before at stock, the bass was certainly significantly better than stock with significantly greater presence. Compared to the aggressive equalization, the bass slam felt greater before mods, but I feel like the bass has tightened up after mods to compensate. There's enough bass for me with 3.5-3.75 bass ports covered, I wish it were a bit more but I feel like I start compensating the upper frequencies when I mess with that.
 
Overall, I'd call the bass on the quick side. Zabava by EnichKin's bass line is rendered quickly and cleanly, as clean as any headphone I own can do.
 
The Mids: Very clean and detailed. The lower mid hump is gone from the sound signature. Vocals no longer feel unnatural or congested. The issue with the singer feeling too far away has been corrected. Overall, I'd say they beat my beloved KRK KNS 6400 in terms of mids detailing, and that's the KRK strong point. Killer mids, though. The detail that you could hear in the stock form has come out very nicely with the more balanced sound signature. I'm very impressed overall with the mids.
 
The Highs: After mods, they have sufficient volume in the upper highs (12khz+). It can hear the odd high pitched clicking in Holiday by Swimming with Dolphins (as far as I can tell, this sound is centered at 16khz, but extends in both directions, of course), but it isn't overwhelming. I'm admittedly a guy who likes very bright headphones (I love Grados, bump up the treble on my KRKs, Beyers don't bug me, and I rather aggressive equalize Sennheisers) and these are my most subdued headphones of the bunch -- I wouldn't describe them as dark, but they're certainly not bright by my standards.  My ears do yearn for a bit more treble than what the Fostex is giving me, but it gives enough.
 
Percussive attack is greatly improved. It's not perfect, but it's very good. When you start adding more percussive attack through EQing these headphones, you make sacrifices because the treble and vocals start coming forward more and also run the risk of sibilance.
 
I'm convinced of orthos. I'm still a little in awe of how good this headphone is. I still want to try and tune out the little bits I don't like about it, but this level of progress is crazy,
 
Dec 31, 2011 at 3:58 PM Post #5,679 of 11,345
i've been trying to physically tune relative to a headgraph (http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ast/24/5/311/_pdf with pinna).
 
i still need around +6db in the 5-9khz. (using naked drivers with tape covering 80%ish, natural sponge, coffeefilter over driver, plasticine, aucosticfoam and tape over bass ports.)
 
the coffee filter helps with 1k peak i find. (the filter is flat/foldedinhalf type, not the loose fluted type).
 
--
 
might also try eq'ing to an ambiophonic curve should i manage to up the 5-9khz.
 
Dec 31, 2011 at 4:27 PM Post #5,680 of 11,345
you guys concentrate too much on back of the driver. front matters too. if you use the shure pads, you can easily stuff the inside of the pads and experiment with speaker cloth,coffee filters,ect and try different types of layering combinations as well. remember planers fire both ways so front of the driver where the sound enters the ear is as important if you want to prevent resonance around the inner ear. try it. you'll be surprised how much the sound changes placing stuff in front of the driver inside the pads does. also distancing the driver with use of stuffing the pads with cotton balls or TP to fluff out the pads more will alterer the sound as well. need to experiment with other stuff besides using that play-doh and car stuff all the time.
 
Dec 31, 2011 at 7:21 PM Post #5,681 of 11,345
I actually will have to revise my review a bit. I wrote most of it before I decided to put acoustic foam under the pads. It improved my seal a bit and basically solved every gripe I had with the headphone. Small change, but it made a nice difference. 
Edit: I added a second layer of acoustic foam. It made the stock pads a little hard to fit onto the headphone, but once they were on it was excellent.
 
Quote:
you guys concentrate too much on back of the driver. front matters too. if you use the shure pads, you can easily stuff the inside of the pads and experiment with speaker cloth,coffee filters,ect and try different types of layering combinations as well. remember planers fire both ways so front of the driver where the sound enters the ear is as important if you want to prevent resonance around the inner ear. try it. you'll be surprised how much the sound changes placing stuff in front of the driver inside the pads does. also distancing the driver with use of stuffing the pads with cotton balls or TP to fluff out the pads more will alterer the sound as well. need to experiment with other stuff besides using that play-doh and car stuff all the time.



 
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top