[Yumyums30]

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Nice, how much did they charge for that?

 

[mrspeakers]

Balanced is now up on the store...

 

[thoir]

I got my Mad Dogs Alpha Pads in the mail yesterday and WOW! what a difference from my old pair of Sennheiser HD448 the only problem is my old Creative Zen Vison M broke for good now so I have looked and I think I'm sold on the Fiio X3 that's coming out in june/july. but for now what would be a good portable DAC to use with my Samsung Galaxy S3? I listen too rock, country and pop a lot but do listen to most types of music as well. any suggestions would be great thanks

 

[kskwerl]

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It may not work because of the fact it's a TRRS connector (4 pins) instead of TRS (3pins) but I guess the only way to know for sure is to buy one and try it out!
How much did you have to widen it out with the Dremel? I've heard the plastic in that area is relatively thin and can easily get messed up with a but of enlarging...
And I see a fellow contacts wearer too?

To be completely honest I didn't really measure at all, I just used the dremel little by little until it was a snug fit. Idk about the plastic getting messed up but to me it felt like the hard clay and easy to get off. At one point I was just using a razor blade to widen it and polished it up with the dremel. 
 
I love/hate contacts, I wear em for like 6 months straight lol I'm prob gonna go blind but as long as I got my ears 

 

[kskwerl]

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Balanced is now up on the store...

This is awesome

 

[labrown]

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Balanced is now up on the store...

Does the new cable work with any mad dog or do you have to mod them specifically for the balanced cable?

 

[elwappo99]

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Balanced is now up on the store...

 
Any further information on this?
 
Details! Details! Details!
 
 
 
 
 
.... and pictures 

 

[jazzerdave]

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Does the new cable work with any mad dog or do you have to mod them specifically for the balanced cable?

 
There would have to be a mod.  As it stands now, the current Mad Dog (and any stock/most modded T50RP's) are not compatible with balanced amps.  The input jack for the cable is 3.5mm TRS (left and right signal + common ground).  There are several ways to fix this, but they all require modification as it's not possible when using the stock input connector.

 

[mechgamer123]

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To be completely honest I didn't really measure at all, I just used the dremel little by little until it was a snug fit. Idk about the plastic getting messed up but to me it felt like the hard clay and easy to get off. At one point I was just using a razor blade to widen it and polished it up with the dremel. 
 
I love/hate contacts, I wear em for like 6 months straight lol I'm prob gonna go blind but as long as I got my ears 

Huh, okay. I've been too scared of messing up the headphones to perform any modifications to be honest. If Dan could put some Hifiman/Sennheiser terminals at the bottom of the Mad Dogs and give us the option of going with whatever kind of cable we want, I think that would be awesome! Guess I'll just have to be happy with the Vmoda cables though.
 
Heh, I guess it depends on the contact type but mine are only supposed to be worn for 2 weeks at most, but I can get 3-4 weeks out before they start to bother my eyes. Guess you can do whatever works for you though!

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@Dan: Any chance you will have time to do some measurements on the Mad Dogs with and without balanced cables to show if it makes any difference in the graphs?
Also, any chance we will be seeing any CSD plots of the new Alpha pads in comparison to the LCD2? 

 

[paradoxper]

You ole dog, Dan. I didn't think you were getting balanced done so soon. 

 
 
Are they using mini XLR's? I didn't see this disclosed in your message.

 

[mrspeakers]

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Does the new cable work with any mad dog or do you have to mod them specifically for the balanced cable?

 
New cable is only for the balanced phones. 

 

[mrspeakers]

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Huh, okay. I've been too scared of messing up the headphones to perform any modifications to be honest. If Dan could put some Hifiman/Sennheiser terminals at the bottom of the Mad Dogs and give us the option of going with whatever kind of cable we want, I think that would be awesome! Guess I'll just have to be happy with the Vmoda cables though.
 
Heh, I guess it depends on the contact type but mine are only supposed to be worn for 2 weeks at most, but I can get 3-4 weeks out before they start to bother my eyes. Guess you can do whatever works for you though!

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@Dan: Any chance you will have time to do some measurements on the Mad Dogs with and without balanced cables to show if it makes any difference in the graphs?
Also, any chance we will be seeing any CSD plots of the new Alpha pads in comparison to the LCD2? 

 
The HiFiMan is a mini-smc connector meant for 50 ohm coax.  We looked at it and didn't feel it fit our needs (nothing bad about it, it just requires two new holes and also coax cable, which is not the type we wanted to use).  The female Sennheiser sockets are rectangular, so we can't reliably cut holes, it'd require us to fabricate new cups.
 
I won't be posting measurements of balanced vs regular.  First, my test fixture doesn't support it.  But the differences are likely going to be amp specific, as with single ended amps, so it's not really meaningful to compare one amp's balanced/unbalanced and to generalize. 
 
Besides, I'm not out to say balanced is better or not...  I'm really agnostic on this.  I want to support people who have balanced or have decided to go that way and are looking for a competent and comfy closed phone.  Due to the price of a lot of balanced gear, it's safe to assume the owners will likely have one or more open phones, much like my customers with high end single ended amps, and be looking for a closed/comfy/competent closed phone.
 
I'll post photos once I have final cables.  Right now the prototypes work great but are not beautiful, and the housing is going to change to allow it to be more flexible.

 

[wolfetan44]

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Huh, okay. I've been too scared of messing up the headphones to perform any modifications to be honest. If Dan could put some Hifiman/Sennheiser terminals at the bottom of the Mad Dogs and give us the option of going with whatever kind of cable we want, I think that would be awesome! Guess I'll just have to be happy with the Vmoda cables though.
 
Heh, I guess it depends on the contact type but mine are only supposed to be worn for 2 weeks at most, but I can get 3-4 weeks out before they start to bother my eyes. Guess you can do whatever works for you though!

---

@Dan: Any chance you will have time to do some measurements on the Mad Dogs with and without balanced cables to show if it makes any difference in the graphs?
Also, any chance we will be seeing any CSD plots of the new Alpha pads in comparison to the LCD2? 

 
The HiFiMan is a mini-smc connector meant for 50 ohm coax.  We looked at it and didn't feel it fit our needs (nothing bad about it, it just requires two new holes and also coax cable, which is not the type we wanted to use).  The female Sennheiser sockets are rectangular, so we can't reliably cut holes, it'd require us to fabricate new cups.
 
I won't be posting measurements of balanced vs regular.  First, my test fixture doesn't support it.  But the differences are likely going to be amp specific, as with single ended amps, so it's not really meaningful to compare one amp's balanced/unbalanced and to generalize. 
 
Besides, I'm not out to say balanced is better or not...  I'm really agnostic on this.  I want to support people who have balanced or have decided to go that way and are looking for a competent and comfy closed phone.  Due to the price of a lot of balanced gear, it's safe to assume the owners will likely have one or more open phones, much like my customers with high end single ended amps, and be looking for a closed/comfy/competent closed phone.
 
I'll post photos once I have final cables.  Right now the prototypes work great but are not beautiful, and the housing is going to change to allow it to be more flexible.

How long is the cable going to be?

 

[mrspeakers]

The standard cable will probably be 5', and I'll offer a 10' option.  I'll also have a short XLR to 1/4" adaptor.  The 10' and adaptor prices are TBD, but I expect to have them available as soon as the phones...

 

[eac3]

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An amp is the final percentage on a headphone like the Mad Dogs. If you want more bass, an amp isn't magically going to fix that. Look to EQ, or get another headphone.

 
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Amps can only do so much. It's not going to magically turn the MD into a basshead can. The MD isn't that hard to drive like say an HD650 to where it will transform the bass, but hey, if someone wants to spend hundreds of dollars on a 1db bass boost (if that), to each their own. A subtle EQ will transform the bass more than any amp ever will, IMO, and it's free.

The MD wasn't made to be bassy, I'm sure you will agree, so I don't see the problem of recommending EQ or an actual headphone that highlights the bass.

 
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I didn't say bass head, of course it's not doing that, but you will hear and feel the change.  And it doesn't have to be thousands, simply moving up to something like an Asgard with high power capability can make a notable difference, it hardly breaks the bank.  And usually better amps have better performance through the whole spectrum, so there are many benefits.  
 
If someone wants bass head tooth rattling, sure, use EQ, but if you want more power and finesse in bass step up the amp. 

 
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I've said it before, and I'll say it again in regards to the bass. I think a tiny bit of EQ to bump up the small 40-80Hz notch does a great job at rounding out the sound (see Dan's measurements on his site).

 
Thanks for the responses. I feel as if when people refer to a little more bass, people naturally think they are a bass head. Is this true? If so, then I really didn't want it to sound that way. I feel the bass head people are those who are willing to pack 20 subwoofers in their truck. For me, bass is something that i want it to go low and is very accurate. Perhaps the mad dog provides me that and maybe I am so used to other headphones have a large boost in this frequency. My lack of experience really has me at a place where I really cannot specifically outline what musical traits I want from a headphone. I can only comment on one what I have learned from other's opinions and what I like/dislike of the headphones I have bought.
 
I have bought the ATH-M50. I really like the upper-end for the music I like to (The music I like includes a lot of uplifting trance/house/..., chillstep, reggae, dancehall, a little bit of rap and RnB, electronic, piano, classical). I then had the opportunity to listen to a friend's V-Moda M100. I went in knowing that many lauded them for their bass, and how it was a "fun" headphone (whatever that means). I did find it pretty good actually, but what spoiled it for me was the narrow headphone cups --uncomfortable. I then bought the Ultrasones Pro 900 and I went in knowing that it had superb bass. Would be great for watching movies, that's for sure. I really don't need all of that bass though.
 
I find the Mad Dogs excel very well in the upper range though. However, I am generalizing a lot with upper range and female vocals. I am not sure what sub-bass exactly means but I guess, like others, am so used to a lot of bass. But what does that mean? 12dB more within that range? Is it possible to have a headphone that sounds like the Mad dog in the upper range, and have the bass of something like the ultrasones? I think I now understand the meaning of a neutral/flat sound and would be great if I was recording my own music.
 
I am really a newbie into all of this and I hope I did not offend anyone. I hope I don't give others the impression that I want to waste money as well but I am not fortunate enough to visit a local store and try heaphones from the more popular headphones.
 
Thanks for your time.