[darren700]

Hello All.
I finally received my repaired Alpha Dogs back from Mr. Speakers today.
Several days after initially receiving them, i noticed a weird distortion/vibration in the right cup.
The strange thing was it was only apparent on some songs, and intensified as the volume was increased.
I sent it back to Dan at Mr. Speakers and initially he was unable to track down the issue. He was ready to send me a brand new pair of Alpha Dogs, until he finally found the issue.
Here is what he sent me:
 
"We were worried we couldn't track it down so we tried again.  Turns out it was the wires on the driver were bent "just so" and would vibrate, so you'll get your phones back, with the tuning dots installed.  We've adjusted how we bend them to avoid this in the future."
 
So basically, he solved the issue on my Alpha's and figured how to prevent it in the future. Dan was also kind enough to include the new "Doggie Treats" Tweaking Kit for free!!
 
Needless to say, Mr. Speakers has amazing service and I wouldn't hesitate to do business with them again.
 
Sounds amazing with the tuning kit installed and paired with my Norse Audio Norn 8 Wire Balanced cable.
*Note the cable is a darker brown than it appears, the LED flash on my GS3 just drowns it out.
 
 
 

 

[MattTCG]

Good looking cable. And I agree, Dan has some of the best customer service in the business. 

 

[kstuart]

  Powered properly with good source and material.... I haven't noticed a peak or ragged treble. I'm sensitive to those anomalies..... When you run out of current the amp runs afoul and the treble is when you first notice trouble.  

I would agree with this... and I would add that MrSpeakers has mentioned that there is variation between different individual T50RP drivers, and some may not have the peaks.

 

[kstuart]

 

  These peaks also created a sort of "grainy" sound on a lot of instruments to my ears (think a TV with the sharpness set too high). Many perceive this as additional detail, and I can see why many would like that. I thought the peaks were strong enough to overpower much of the music and give it an overall grainy quality vs. just an isolated, grainy quality. In a sense, you could think of this as a grayer background due to the grain/noise. Smoothing out and attenuating these areas help alleviate this and give a sense of a blacker background. Or, depending on your music material, other audio gear, and personal hearing sensitivities, you might just hear it as a loss of detail.

 
I beg to differ.  I've never heard the T50 RP drivers to sound grainy regardless of how I EQ'd the treble - even with mods I got them very bright - but never grainy.  Not in comparison to say the HD650 and K701, the HD650 is quite grained even though it has a levelled treble, and the K701 is slightly less grained than the HD650 even though the treble was accentuated.  I have never heard a planar driver that sounded grainy no matter the treble response.

And I have to agree with this also.  One quality that the Mad Dog and Alpha Dog have in common is complete freedom from grain.  (That is why I am interested in hearing a generic new unmodded T50RP to see what qualities are in the original design.)
 
Perhaps it is just a semantic problem and another word would not intersect with the usual use of "grainy" for headphones.

 

[hans030390]

You guys are probably thinking of "grain" differently than I am. Probably not the best word for me to use, but a lot of music I listen to has information in those areas (noted peaked areas on, at least, tour AD) that, if accentuated, sounds rather grainy. That's just the best way I can describe it. Obviously this was true of metal, rock, etc., but there were some other random samples here and there that exhibited the same quality despite being a considerably "smoother" genre.
 
This is why I try to speak on a more objective level. "I hear a peak at X and Y" is less confusing from an semantics perspective and easier to reference than "I hear extra grain." On the other hand, some aren't as adept at translating specific frequencies into an idea of what that might sound like (which is fine), so these things can be quite confusing to discuss.
 
Either way, it's a non-issue with the dot tweak and, if you use them, tuning discs. Still aren't hearing it even without those tweaks? Keep on enjoying, then...
 
Again, and as always, consider personal sensitivities and tastes, driver variation, and so on.

 

[zeedogwhisperer]

Cool headphones *drools*

 

[gelocks]

  Hello! new here. What do you think guys of the best brand for earphones. With wild bass \m/

 
Welcome to head-fi.
 
And... not these...
 
Work in progress: http://www.head-fi.org/a/the-best-bass-headphones-a-head-fi-wiki
Basshead Thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/573826/the-basshead-club

 

[MattTCG]

rofl..."wild bass" and Alpha Dogs just really don't go hand in hand. 

 

[vincent215]

Probably the first picture of the 2 brothers Fostex TH900 and Alpha Dog together.
I am going to own an Alpha Dog when my friend tired off it (and he has this tendency with anything he owned), but not the Fostex TH900.
 

 
 

 

[MattTCG]

Two very nice looking hp's!!

 

[mrspeakers]

FYI, we're shipped through Feb 12, so we're back under 4 weeks.  
 
I am working towards shipping the black Alphas towards the end of next week.

 

[MattTCG]

^^ Very nice. Not that you have time but we'd love to see a few pics of the black Alpha. 

 

[vaed]

  ^^ Very nice. Not that you have time but we'd love to see a few pics of the black Alpha. 

There are pictures up here!
 
https://www.mrspeakers.com/MrSpeakers-Alpha-Dog-Headphone?product_id=94
https://www.mrspeakers.com/MrSpeakers-Alpha-Dog-Headphone/MrSpeakers-Alpha-dog-Black

 

[PRaT]

  FYI, we're shipped through Feb 12, so we're back under 4 weeks.  
 
I am working towards shipping the black Alphas towards the end of next week.

 
Thanks for the update.
 
Ordered mine on Feb 19th. One more week before the AD ship I guess. 

 

 

[jaywillin]

brand spanking new owner here, i bought a pair used off the sale thread, and it arrived today.
so far, only a couple of hours head time, and i'm very impressed ! fast, detailed, clean !
i've heard only one closed headphone before, the akg 551, and didn't care for it a whole lot
not bad, just not my cup of tea.
the alpha is a whole other ball of wax for sure.
dan, i'm sure you've heard it before, but "ya done good !!"
 
disclaimer: these are first impressions, further thoughts i'm sure will follow, and evolve !