[Dawgfish]

Quick question to other Argon heads.. Any way to baffle the sound leak on Argons. I kinda got miffed when I slowly realized the soundleak on these is tons. I wear these on my commute and love using them outside the house, but I don't wanna be that dope on the bus or plane who plays his music for all within earshot. So I wonder if it's the Zmf pads causing the leakage... Or the Fostex cups... Or both. Mine are the T40 closed variation. Any advice?

That's a good question. I always thought the leakage was coming from the vents around the hinges on the cups. You could try covering the vents with tape or some other material just to experiment. If that works you could try sealing off the vents from inside the cups for better cosmetics. I've also heard the RP series of cans leak at the hinge also. Might be able to close that off internally inside the cups. Other than that, I don't have anything else to offer. Hopefully others will have more insight.

 

[RONJA MESCO]

Dawgfish..

Thanks for this... I was pissed because I dont remember they being this leaky before I got them sent to Modhouse. I'm gonna try your suggestions and go from there. I was listening to a few tracks and it's like the sound comes not only from the vents, but thru the sides where the pads slip in. Idk... Will see where it goes. Thanks again...

 

[SonicDistortion]

So I tried to EQ My T60 Argon, since it's so very very bass heavy, I wasn't 100% sold on the stock tuning for classic rock. I often find myself with the volume dial 3/4 of the way to 100% with my jumpered emotiva basx 100. What I found is that EQing it to nearly flat will reduce the amount you need to crank up the volume on the amp, but It also seems to reduce some of that magic 'in a big room' soundstage effect of the argons. Some part of this effect is dependent on there being gobs of sub bass it seems. Instruments still sound like they are coming from different parts of the driver, but, the whole stage moves in. The width is there, but the depth, or how far away the instruments sound is greatly reduced.

Sometimes this is actually preferable, when you want intimate vocals, flattening the FR out somewhat moves the vocals inward. Flattening them really does show off how technically capable the driver is, but I will likely be leaving them alone most of the time, unless I'm trying to do critical listening with them for some reason, but that isn't what this headphone is about.

 

[Alderaan Rise]

@SonicDistortion So after having more time with the T60RP Argon, do you still think the biggest difference between it and the MKIII is just cosmetic. I am sending my my TH-X0 to get converted to an Argon and will use it at work, but wanted to pick up another headset for home use. Trying to decide between the Argon MKIII or the T60RP Argon.

 

[liampanto]

I've been listening to a lot of classical the last few hours on the Argons. I'm happy to say they sound absolutely amazing with classical! So much so that I think these are now my classical cans of choice. I whole heartedly recommend these cans for that genre and everything else I've heard on them for that matter. These are amazing cans!

Thanks! Had been considering k702/7XX, but now I'm leaning toward Argons.
Appreciate your input.

 

[AcidicEnd]

After trying out the Argons Mk3 with the Emotiva A-100 I absolutely agree with everyone saying the amount of power needed for these is heavily overrated. They sound exactly the same with and without the jumpers installed except the hiss to volume output ratio is far worse with the jumpers installed.

 

[Mexpat]

Dawgfish..

Thanks for this... I was pissed because I dont remember they being this leaky before I got them sent to Modhouse. I'm gonna try your suggestions and go from there. I was listening to a few tracks and it's like the sound comes not only from the vents, but thru the sides where the pads slip in. Idk... Will see where it goes. Thanks again...

Hi,

I had the same concern when I ordered my Argon from Modhouse, so I sent an email to Ryan and he proposed to put a little extra damping over the vents to make them more closed. And according to him: "This change would reduce leakage by 20-30% while decreasing bass by 10-20%" seemed like a good trade off so I accepted.

I have been using my pair for around 2 months at office and the sound leakage is almost none. They leak less than the DT 770 I used before.

Maybe you can send an email to Ryan so he can explain more.

Cheers,

 

[SonicDistortion]

@SonicDistortion So after having more time with the T60RP Argon, do you still think the biggest difference between it and the MKIII is just cosmetic. I am sending my my TH-X0 to get converted to an Argon and will use it at work, but wanted to pick up another headset for home use. Trying to decide between the Argon MKIII or the T60RP Argon.

@Alderaan Rise I really can't say as I don't have a MKIII Argon to compare to. I will say that with the Suede pad tuning I had to turn down the midrange via EQ in order to enjoy certain genres (rock etc) The lower mids are so forward with these pads that it makes a lot of music unlistenable. I turned down the 100-400hz range by about 2db from flat and they sound MUCH better. If you look at the frequency response graph in DMS' video about the MKIII Argon, the Microsuede Oval pads and Eikon pads give the most elevated lower mid response. I would have to get some protein pads in order to test this, but I suspect the same is true with the T60 Argon, but possibly to an even greater extent, since these have 'more treble' and 'less bass'.

Any music with reverb will sound washed out and veiled because of that elevated lower mid range. I suspect a pad swap would fix it since a measly 2db adjustment via eq made it unnoticeable. 2db is about what it appears the difference between Protein pads and Microsuede pads are around 300-500hz. And those are the ranges most affected by the reverb and other ambient sounds that are usually further back in the mix.

That is my best guess as to the differences based on pure speculation. I'm going to order Lambskin pads eventually and see how they sound vs the Micro Suede.

The soundstage is still very good with this minor amount of EQ. Honestly I can't really tell a difference. When I felt the soundstage shrinking from EQ, I was over adjusting certain ranges. I've locked in my EQ profile for these headphones now.

 

[Alderaan Rise]

So after doing a bunch research, video watching, etc I decided I am going to convert my T-X0 MK2 to a balanced Argon and also order a T60RP Argon.

I was also originally going to order an Argon MK3 as well, but from reading and hearing from people it seems the MK2 is the considered the more detailed and maybe “better” version of the Argon vs MK3 argon (obviously subjective). Also talking to Ryan, he said the main difference in sound between the mk2 and mk3 is that the mk3 has less treble between 8-10k. So doesn’t seem enough to warrant both as Argons.

I still want to complete the collection, so I think for the MK3 I am going to go the ZMF classic route in balanced setup. Something a little different than argons and also seems to get good praise. Plus always wanted ZMF headphones and this gets me in the door lol.

I will most likely use the Argon MK2 at work with my JDS Atom and D50s, while my home office I will probably rotate around with all the other headphones I have with a THX 789 and D70. I will probably upgrade my work amp to another 789 and balanced DAC down the road.

 

[docentore]

Am I only one who finds the bass on the Argons little too much extended? It might be my amp (Pmilletts new hybrid) which is basically hybrid-tube amp.
After using EQ and getting down the bass range by few db sound is great but before it was just tiring.

 

[ckhirnigs113]

I find the bass a little much on my Argon T-X0 (MKII). I use the Schiit Loki to tone down the sub-bass and mid-bass a little. It’s great for that.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

Am I only one who finds the bass on the Argons little too much extended? It might be my amp (Pmilletts new hybrid) which is basically hybrid-tube amp.
After using EQ and getting down the bass range by few db sound is great but before it was just tiring.

It's my understanding that they don't play as well with tube amps, they get a little overwarmed I think. (Yeah, I just made up a word, deal with it). It depends on what kind of bass you are listening to as well. The bass in 'rock and roll' can be a little too much, whereas if you are trying to reproduce electronic/hip hop bass, it's perfect.

 

[docentore]

It's my understanding that they don't play as well with tube amps, they get a little overwarmed I think. (Yeah, I just made up a word, deal with it). It depends on what kind of bass you are listening to as well. The bass in 'rock and roll' can be a little too much, whereas if you are trying to reproduce electronic/hip hop bass, it's perfect.

Little bot of both, mostly electronics but mixed with rock 70/28. 2% is hip-hop
Means I need probably to look at new chip amp.

 

[znev777]

If you cover up the vents on the cups it should reduce the bass. I've seen people put some masking tape over the outside, the more vents you cover the less bass you should get. You could also open them up and put the tape on the inside, or some mods use adhesive-backed felt to tone it down. Then again, argons might already do something similar...

By default t50's come with some sort of felt on the inside covering all of the vents

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

Little bot of both, mostly electronics but mixed with rock 70/28. 2% is hip-hop
Means I need probably to look at new chip amp.

yeah, for your music taste the Argons aren't bad, but you need a colder/brighter amp. With anything tubey or warm the Argons are going to sound marshmallowy and overbrowned....