[headphonatic]

How do you bring out more detail on the T50rp's? Lol, stuffing the 840 pads with cotton helped a little, but I need something a little more.
Loving the heck out of them, after I get a good seal, an good amp, and a good dac.

 

[kalbee]

For those that have previously removed the driver felt:
What kind of glue do you use to put the original white felt (or coffee filters/dryer sheets, etc.) back on?
 
I went an auditioned things like DT770/880 & K702 again today and, man, I have no treble lol. If removing the white felt and putting thicker felt can get me better extension, I'm willing to try...!

 

[Lurkumaural]

kalbee, do you have a reflex dot?

 

[wje]

Quote:

For those that have previously removed the driver felt:
What kind of glue do you use to put the original white felt (or coffee filters/dryer sheets, etc.) back on?
 
I went an auditioned things like DT770/880 & K702 again today and, man, I have no treble lol. If removing the white felt and putting thicker felt can get me better extension, I'm willing to try...!

I've used a clear craft glue. It was a gel type of glue and had a quick set up time.  It worked well.
 
 

 

[kalbee]

Quote:

kalbee, do you have a reflex dot?

Directly on the driver felt, no. Good point. Any suggested format I try first? I'm going to try making something else for the moment so won't be opening up the cups yet..
 
My current setup looks like this on the inside (now with teased cotton going over what you see):
http://www.head-fi.org/t/452404/just-listened-to-some-fostex-t50rps-today-wow/6615#post_8168705
 
 
Quote:

I've used a clear craft glue. It was a gel type of glue and had a quick set up time.  It worked well.
 
 

So I guess I won't be needing any special type of glue. Perhaps will try applying glue stick directly to the driver and stamping the felt back on then, or would you not recommend this?
 
Though for the moment I don't have thick felt. The only thing I got is a dollarshop felt show insole. Seems pretty dense, wondering if it isn't too dense. I'll post a picture later.

 

 

[rhythmdevils]

use rubber cement. 
 
The stock driver damping is not felt it's paper. 

 

[wje]

Quote:

So I guess I won't be needing any special type of glue. Perhaps will try applying glue stick directly to the driver and stamping the felt back on then, or would you not recommend this?
 

I think it all depends on how secure you want the glued item to be.  I'm not sure how glue stick works - if it fully cures, if it just "holds" an item in place, but can be easily separated, etc.  My guess is that if you were to try something on a temporary basis, the glue stick might be a good method.  However, when you achieve the sound signature you desire, then you might want to go with a glue that's known to set up properly as it dries.  If not, you could leave your headphones in the sun by accident, and the heat might soften the temporary glue and let some of your modifications loose.
 

 

[kalbee]

Good point. Glue stick doesn't work well on paper-paper, I'd support trying on metal-paper is stupid to even think of lol. Just wanted to avoid the need of buying something else again. The excess parts are excessive :X
Now as for rubber cement... I think I have some at home! Probably dried up though, worth a try. thanks guys!

 

[wje]

Quote:

Good point. Glue stick doesn't work well on paper-paper, I'd support trying on metal-paper is stupid to even think of lol. Just wanted to avoid the need of buying something else again. The excess parts are excessive :X
Now as for rubber cement... I think I have some at home! Probably dried up though, worth a try. thanks guys!

If you think Fostex is expensive, then don't try Grado. 

 

 

[kalbee]

The reason why I don't buy Grado's my stuffs tend to be geared towards value rather than purely SQ. Surely not all of them are such, but most of them!
 
Now the idea I spoke about testing... wonder if anyone has free time to try it out as well?
Basically I was wondering if speaker stand concepts can be applied to headphones: if the speakers were the headphones, then the stand would be whatever is in between that and the surface its sitting on; the earpad.
I was told that to achieve better sound on speakers (forgot what it was exactly... better soundstage or something?), the less contact point between stand and speaker should be minimized. In that case, pyramids or cones would be ideal speaker stands. So I decided to replicate these stands for the headphone.
 
Since having too much leaks between headphone and ears would make many frequencies lossy, applying point supports may not be a good idea; earpads are soft objects and may not support them well either. So I took some tissue boxes (again) and made triangular prisms out of them. Two 7cm long and two 5cm long prisms of about 1cm height per side. Taking one flat side and applying double sided tape to it, I stuck them to the rear of the earpads so a rectangular is formed. Now the earpads's contact with the headphones is greatly reduced, and the depth also (depending on how tall your prisms are).
 
By doing this I actually lost bass (as expected), and highs became more prominent. This could be due to the fact that the added 'enclosure' is not closed though. Sound stage increased, as expected. But overall this method of putting distance between driver and ear sounded better at least to me than doubling the layers of earpads or stuffing cotton (stock pads, mind you). Of course, the earpads are now pretty much only held on by clamping force but eh... thought maybe this method may have some worth to it if applied properly? If anyone has free time to kill and is willing to try, let me know your results! perhaps trying with less than 1cm height. My brain isn't very good at analyzing nuances...
 
(also considered stuffing it with plasticine or cotton or something, but didn't in the end because my setup was way too primitive.)

 

[Kibble Fat]

Hello everyone,

I just bought my first pair of T50RPs... Google "T50RP B&H" and you'll see them selling for $74 SHIPPED. It says $129 on the product page, just add it to your cart. I picked up some 840 pads there as well for another ~$20 with shipping.

Anyways, since I was so nice to share this deal does anyone have some extra Newplast and Paxmate they would be willing to sell me? My zip code is 48070 -- please PM me! I would like to have my modding materials in order soon after I finish burn-in.

Cheers,

- E

EDIT #2: THIS STILL WORKS. It's $74 in the cart, they just changed it so it doesn't say $74 on the product page for some reason. GO GO GO!!

 

[wdahm519]

Quote:

The reason why I don't buy Grado's my stuffs tend to be geared towards value rather than purely SQ. Surely not all of them are such, but most of them!
 
Now the idea I spoke about testing... wonder if anyone has free time to try it out as well?
Basically I was wondering if speaker stand concepts can be applied to headphones: if the speakers were the headphones, then the stand would be whatever is in between that and the surface its sitting on; the earpad.
I was told that to achieve better sound on speakers (forgot what it was exactly... better soundstage or something?), the less contact point between stand and speaker should be minimized. In that case, pyramids or cones would be ideal speaker stands. So I decided to replicate these stands for the headphone.
 
Since having too much leaks between headphone and ears would make many frequencies lossy, applying point supports may not be a good idea; earpads are soft objects and may not support them well either. So I took some tissue boxes (again) and made triangular prisms out of them. Two 7cm long and two 5cm long prisms of about 1cm height per side. Taking one flat side and applying double sided tape to it, I stuck them to the rear of the earpads so a rectangular is formed. Now the earpads's contact with the headphones is greatly reduced, and the depth also (depending on how tall your prisms are).
 
By doing this I actually lost bass (as expected), and highs became more prominent. This could be due to the fact that the added 'enclosure' is not closed though. Sound stage increased, as expected. But overall this method of putting distance between driver and ear sounded better at least to me than doubling the layers of earpads or stuffing cotton (stock pads, mind you). Of course, the earpads are now pretty much only held on by clamping force but eh... thought maybe this method may have some worth to it if applied properly? If anyone has free time to kill and is willing to try, let me know your results! perhaps trying with less than 1cm height. My brain isn't very good at analyzing nuances...
 
(also considered stuffing it with plasticine or cotton or something, but didn't in the end because my setup was way too primitive.)
 

 
The myth of the "cone" speaker stands is a a vibrational fallacy.  No matter how small the contact points are from the speaker to the base (albeit not considering microscopic here) the same vibrations will be transferred.  The amplitude of most of the vibrations, which are sine waves, that are transferred from the speaker to the base, or vice versa are so much smaller than the little tips of the cones on those speaker stands that it all is transmitted.  Its just another gadget to sell you.  You need isolation with springs to isolate a speaker from its base.  Springs will vibrate at their natural frequency, and will absorb energy (read: amplitude of transmitted wave) and convert that to a small measurable amount of heat (also energy).  That is the only true way to do it.  Putting those kinds of cardboard stands behind your pads will do nothing.  The sound quality changes you're hearing are purely due to the distance between your year and the driver.  
 
 

 

[kalbee]

Quote:

 
The myth of the "cone" speaker stands is a a vibrational fallacy.  No matter how small the contact points are from the speaker to the base (albeit not considering microscopic here) the same vibrations will be transferred.  The amplitude of most of the vibrations, which are sine waves, that are transferred from the speaker to the base, or vice versa are so much smaller than the little tips of the cones on those speaker stands that it all is transmitted.  Its just another gadget to sell you.  You need isolation with springs to isolate a speaker from its base.  Springs will vibrate at their natural frequency, and will absorb energy (read: amplitude of transmitted wave) and convert that to a small measurable amount of heat (also energy).  That is the only true way to do it.  Putting those kinds of cardboard stands behind your pads will do nothing.  The sound quality changes you're hearing are purely due to the distance between your year and the driver.  
 
 

Good to know, although I don't see why anyone even buys speaker stands... DIY them!
Meanwhile I don't think it's purpose is to damp the vibrations. If it was, the shape hardly matters as much as the material properties, which is exactly as you say.
All I can say is that rift now the sound I got is very sibilant, a far cry from my lack of treble. I'm attributing this to the exposed painted cardboard. For classical and instrumental (rather, violin, flute and piano) its very good (for the sole reason of actually having treble now I suspect) but put rock in there and my ears will bleed out!! Unfortunately putting springs doesn't seem very likely on a headphone :<
 
In any case, I set myself out to try as much reversible stupid things as I can in hope of one day being able to return contribution to you guys. Gotta say, most didn't work lol.

 

[Kibble Fat]

I don't know anything about audiophile use of the cone legs you're talking about, but I would suspect people use them because they essentially have a point contact. Imagine how much pressure is on tip of the cone. I could see a vibration being created or "amplified" much more easily with a 1-inch diameter hard rubber disc (creating a slight air gap repeatedly, like a slapping motion) than with a metal cone. Elastic vs. inelastic collisions and all that noise.

There has to be some sound reasoning behind it, realistic or not.

Would I buy a set? I doubt it.

Now, if you're talking about audio zen rocks that have been blessed by the dalai lama himself to set on your power cables... sign me up!

 

[iowercase]

Quote:

 
The myth of the "cone" speaker stands is a a vibrational fallacy.  No matter how small the contact points are from the speaker to the base (albeit not considering microscopic here) the same vibrations will be transferred.  The amplitude of most of the vibrations, which are sine waves, that are transferred from the speaker to the base, or vice versa are so much smaller than the little tips of the cones on those speaker stands that it all is transmitted.  Its just another gadget to sell you.  You need isolation with springs to isolate a speaker from its base.  Springs will vibrate at their natural frequency, and will absorb energy (read: amplitude of transmitted wave) and convert that to a small measurable amount of heat (also energy).  That is the only true way to do it.  Putting those kinds of cardboard stands behind your pads will do nothing.  The sound quality changes you're hearing are purely due to the distance between your year and the driver.  
 
 

 
True audiophiles get around this problem by employing advanced psionics to levitate their speakers during use.  The same principle should hold for keeping earpads off the baffle, but balancing the clamping force of the headband with erratic headbanging during operation might prove too much to handle for junior telekineticists.  Perhaps we can quantum entangle our earpads to achieve the same effect, though they might get a little frosty around the edges during extended use.