[khbaur330162]

That’s an interesting looking trace, more intricate than some other neo-orthos.

It sort of sounds like RP-18 and T50RP had a child, after more listening, slight v-shape? It was a little too energetic in the top end with a certain album on my Dethonray Honey. It was better on the desktop rig, easier volume control, perhaps. Nice soundstage at times: intimate. Not quite as big of stereo image as Arya, and Arya also has more natural image, sounds less like a diaphragm/housing coloration and more like natural sound, more air between instruments. But does it compete? Haha. Probably up to the listener to discern, but it tricks me into saying it does at times. I'd like to hear them with Angel Hair instead of the rayon. Maybe future mod.

 

[RetroE83]

It sort of sounds like RP-18 and T50RP had a child, after more listening, slight v-shape? It was a little too energetic in the top end with a certain album on my Dethonray Honey. It was better on the desktop rig, easier volume control, perhaps. Nice soundstage at times: intimate. Not quite as big of stereo image as Arya, and Arya also has more natural image, sounds less like a diaphragm/housing coloration and more like natural sound, more air between instruments. But does it compete? Haha. Probably up to the listener to discern, but it tricks me into saying it does at times. I'd like to hear them with Angel Hair instead of the rayon. Maybe future mod.

Unfortunately I never had the pleasure of listening or owning the RP 18/T50. The current mod on my T-X0 sort of has hints of my modded vintage Fostex T20V1+V2 treble especially after putting the sticker/reflex dot at the rear of the driver. I never listened to the Arya, but what you describe kind of reminds me of my modded HE-5XX, it has a tall soundstage and air somewhat akin to my HD800. In my head, your DIY planar is kind of reminding me of my modded T-X0, which has a similar soundstage to the HE-400se I have. It’ll be interesting to see measurements.

 

[RetroE83]

My newbie measurement using MiniDSP HEQ compensation, average of 5 measurements for left and right channels.

Updated measurements with FR from 10Hz to 20 KHz. Modded T20V1 added for comparison

 

[RetroE83]

Here’s some photos of my modded Fostex T20V1. It has a warm sound and reminds me of my HD650s with foam removed from the back of the drivers: warm, present, forward mids and mid-bass presence that doesn’t bleed into mids; 3 blob soundstage, similar in size. Treble is sizzly, and bit steely but not harsh; it’s good but not super detailed.
Stock earpads are used; I had no lack with over earpads (tried Brainwavz HM5 angled pleather pads, Superlux HD662-EVO velour and pleather pads).

I had no luck using the stock foam puck as damping.

Modding Materials used:

-1.7 cm diameter black craft felt;

-3.5 cm diameter shammy cloth(synthetic?, generic dollar store brand);

-2 cm diameter reflex dot/circular price tag sticker;

-6 cm black craft felt;

-bluetac around circumference of driver with screw holes punctured onto tac

([1.7 cm felt on top of 3.5 cm shammy] on top of [2cm reflex dot]) on top of driver

6cm felt lines back of cup

Measurements for left and right channels (average of 5 measurements each channel) using EARS:

 

[khbaur330162]

Updated measurements with FR from 10Hz to 20 KHz. Modded T20V1 added for comparison

That T-X0 has a MEAN looking FR, that's impeccably flat to me... I do notice some sibilance with my modded T50RP so not really surprised to see some 7-9kHz energy there. The bass goes UP at ~14Hz? Wild. How did Fostex get so much bass from such a tiny planar driver? I will never know.

Unfortunately I never had the pleasure of listening or owning the RP 18/T50. The current mod on my T-X0 sort of has hints of my modded vintage Fostex T20V1+V2 treble especially after putting the sticker/reflex dot at the rear of the driver. I never listened to the Arya, but what you describe kind of reminds me of my modded HE-5XX, it has a tall soundstage and air somewhat akin to my HD800. In my head, your DIY planar is kind of reminding me of my modded T-X0, which has a similar soundstage to the HE-400se I have. It’ll be interesting to see measurements.

I meant the T50RP, not original T50, fwiw, so comparison to T50RP probably not too far off from your T-X0, although I've never heard one of those. Just imagine more detail and larger stereo image than T-X0, I suppose. The T50RP has a rubbery quality to the sound, imo, it doesn't sound like natural sound to me. These Chinese planars have a bit of that, too, but perhaps not quite as bad. My father heard the Chinese planars and said he felt the T50RP's that I gifted him sounded more natural... I think it had something to do with the high detail retrieval of the Chinese planars and the specific album we were listening to, I have a feeling with something recorded better he wouldn't say that. He's spent more time with modded T50RP's.

Arya sounds like my old HD800 in planar form more so than Chinese planars. Arya has a giant stereo image which tricks me into thinking it's doing similar things to HD800 enclosure imaging, and their tuning is more akin, perhaps HE-5XX has similar tuning. These Chinese planars don't have that same GIGANTIC stereo image, it's just a decent size, maybe little larger than RP-18, but comparable, probably not far off from HE-5XX, and the sound is more like you're in a studio than open venue, if that makes sense, there's just not the same AIR between instruments/sounds, imho, but soundstage can still be kind of eerily correct with the right recordings, there is some coloration to sound, imo, but room acoustics are kept intact, ime.

I purchased some Twaron Angel hair, couldn't hold off any longer. Will be revisiting Yamaha's and Chinese planars with new material. Might measure these headphones before I change it out, would be interesting to see the differences on a graph. The Cellucotton really doesn't sound BAD when you have nothing else... It's so cheap, what if the differences weren't that big???


Just trying to get community feedback here:
If you were building the Chinese planars would you line the wood driver housings with modeling clay to reduce housing reflections? I'm wondering if there's housing reflection coloration here, but I don't want to add more weight to these headphones if I don't need to, they are already heavy enough. Also, modeling clay is very "not easy" to remove once installed.

 

[RetroE83]

That T-X0 has a MEAN looking FR, that's impeccably flat to me... I do notice some sibilance with my modded T50RP so not really surprised to see some 7-9kHz energy there. The bass goes UP at ~14Hz? Wild. How did Fostex get so much bass from such a tiny planar driver? I will never know.

I meant the T50RP, not original T50, fwiw, so comparison to T50RP probably not too far off from your T-X0, although I've never heard one of those. Just imagine more detail and larger stereo image than T-X0, I suppose. The T50RP has a rubbery quality to the sound, imo, it doesn't sound like natural sound to me. These Chinese planars have a bit of that, too, but perhaps not quite as bad. My father heard the Chinese planars and said he felt the T50RP's that I gifted him sounded more natural... I think it had something to do with the high detail retrieval of the Chinese planars and the specific album we were listening to, I have a feeling with something recorded better he wouldn't say that. He's spent more time with modded T50RP's.

Arya sounds like my old HD800 in planar form more so than Chinese planars. Arya has a giant stereo image which tricks me into thinking it's doing similar things to HD800 enclosure imaging, and their tuning is more akin, perhaps HE-5XX has similar tuning. These Chinese planars don't have that same GIGANTIC stereo image, it's just a decent size, maybe little larger than RP-18, but comparable, probably not far off from HE-5XX, and the sound is more like you're in a studio than open venue, if that makes sense, there's just not the same AIR between instruments/sounds, imho, but soundstage can still be kind of eerily correct with the right recordings, there is some coloration to sound, imo, but room acoustics are kept intact, ime.

I purchased some Twaron Angel hair, couldn't hold off any longer. Will be revisiting Yamaha's and Chinese planars with new material. Might measure these headphones before I change it out, would be interesting to see the differences on a graph. The Cellucotton really doesn't sound BAD when you have nothing else... It's so cheap, what if the differences weren't that big???


Just trying to get community feedback here:
If you were building the Chinese planars would you line the wood driver housings with modeling clay to reduce housing reflections? I'm wondering if there's housing reflection coloration here, but I don't want to add more weight to these headphones if I don't need to, they are already heavy enough. Also, modeling clay is very "not easy" to remove once installed.

That T-X0 has a MEAN looking FR, that's impeccably flat to me... I do notice some sibilance with my modded T50RP so not really surprised to see some 7-9kHz energy there. The bass goes UP at ~14Hz? Wild. How did Fostex get so much bass from such a tiny planar driver? I will never know.

I meant the T50RP, not original T50, fwiw, so comparison to T50RP probably not too far off from your T-X0, although I've never heard one of those. Just imagine more detail and larger stereo image than T-X0, I suppose. The T50RP has a rubbery quality to the sound, imo, it doesn't sound like natural sound to me. These Chinese planars have a bit of that, too, but perhaps not quite as bad. My father heard the Chinese planars and said he felt the T50RP's that I gifted him sounded more natural... I think it had something to do with the high detail retrieval of the Chinese planars and the specific album we were listening to, I have a feeling with something recorded better he wouldn't say that. He's spent more time with modded T50RP's.

Arya sounds like my old HD800 in planar form more so than Chinese planars. Arya has a giant stereo image which tricks me into thinking it's doing similar things to HD800 enclosure imaging, and their tuning is more akin, perhaps HE-5XX has similar tuning. These Chinese planars don't have that same GIGANTIC stereo image, it's just a decent size, maybe little larger than RP-18, but comparable, probably not far off from HE-5XX, and the sound is more like you're in a studio than open venue, if that makes sense, there's just not the same AIR between instruments/sounds, imho, but soundstage can still be kind of eerily correct with the right recordings, there is some coloration to sound, imo, but room acoustics are kept intact, ime.

I purchased some Twaron Angel hair, couldn't hold off any longer. Will be revisiting Yamaha's and Chinese planars with new material. Might measure these headphones before I change it out, would be interesting to see the differences on a graph. The Cellucotton really doesn't sound BAD when you have nothing else... It's so cheap, what if the differences weren't that big???


Just trying to get community feedback here:
If you were building the Chinese planars would you line the wood driver housings with modeling clay to reduce housing reflections? I'm wondering if there's housing reflection coloration here, but I don't want to add more weight to these headphones if I don't need to, they are already heavy enough. Also, modeling clay is very "not easy" to remove once installed.

I’m not a fan of using modelling clay to mass load to reduce reflections mainly because of weight. Bluetac seems lighter from my experience but might leave an oily residue/markings on the wood after a while.

 

[VanHai]

I’m not a fan of using modelling clay to mass load to reduce reflections mainly because of weight. Bluetac seems lighter from my experience but might leave an oily residue/markings on the wood after a while.

I use AKasa Paxmate for damping all my modded Fostex TRP series. It is better and a bit more expensive than clay but no mess to deal with.

 

[khbaur330162]

I’m not a fan of using modelling clay to mass load to reduce reflections mainly because of weight. Bluetac seems lighter from my experience but might leave an oily residue/markings on the wood after a while.

I use AKasa Paxmate for damping all my modded Fostex TRP series. It is better and a bit more expensive than clay but no mess to deal with.

Ok. I do not want to use blue tac due to residue, my modded T50RP's are gross inside. Paxmate it is.



Modded T50RP's still sound like there's a midrange recession compared to Chinese planars, I doubt my T50RP's measure as flat as those T-X0's.

 

[VanHai]

Ok. I do not want to use blue tac due to residue, my modded T50RP's are gross inside. Paxmate it is.



Modded T50RP's still sound like there's a midrange recession compared to Chinese planars, I doubt my T50RP's measure as flat as those T-X0's.

I have 3 T-X0's, they have the same drivers as MK2 and produce the best midrange of all Fostex drivers. Trying not to cover the back of drivers and you will see the improvements of the mids.

 

[VanHai]

I have 3 T-X0's, they have the same drivers as MK2 and produce the best midrange of all Fostex drivers. Trying not to cover the back of drivers and you will see the improvements of the mids.

MK3 drivers are not far behind in mid-range compare to MK2's. Damping on the cups and the back of the baffles are the keys, i do not touch the drivers at all. All my modded Fostex have the mids that rival my ZMF Aeolus and Aeolus have one of the best mids.

 

[RetroE83]

I used the same foam initially with T20v2 to add bass using stock pads

Some horrendous channel imbalance that isn’t apparent when Im listening :s But then again I probably don’t listen long enough because the sticky, uncomfortable stock earpads get to me after 10 minutes or so

 

[Philimon]

@khbaur330162
1. Very cool driver / diy headphone.
2. There exists materials specifically for resonance control in audio applications, such as Second Skin Audio damplifier pro. They sell extra small sheets for hobbyists as well as sample packs. I recommend.

 

[khbaur330162]

Ty Philimon. Really enjoying them. Oh, I've seen that damplifier stuff, it's exactly like dynamat, I thought? Butyl rubber something or other. I did use some Sorbothane chunks on back of drivers for this purpose which seemed to clear up some sort of lower midrange ringing, I thought.

Ordered some Paxmate. In the meantime I switched from YH-1's to Chinese planars and was like, "I hear the housing reflections... I have to do something." YH-1's have an amazing sense of air between instruments and this was muddling everything. I bought this product by Second Skin called Mega Zorbe: sticky-backed sound absorbing foam. This was the first thing I installed in these, but it didn't seem to make a difference so I ripped it out to make room for Cellucotton which sounded way better. Well I just installed some Mega Zorbe behind the Cellucotton, but I sliced it in half with a blade to make more room in cups, and it seems to reduce the coloration and artificiality that was there before, sounds even more "studio" now. There was some sibilance but after placing little bits of Arctic Bamboo at the edges of the front of the driver openings, these did help I think and now sibilance is just tiniest hint with certain stuff. I wonder if Cellucotton has anything to do with brightness, maybe Twaron Angel Hair will take the edge off of things? Fingers crossed.

 

[khbaur330162]

miniDSP EARS arrived, had a complete brain fart, but seemed to have figured out the utter basics. Here's measurement of Chinese planars.

They weren't creating a seal with the EARS so there was severe bass roll off. Fixed it.

Here is Arya and Chinese planar comparison. Arya's have lambskin earpads which takes edge off of sharp treble, ime.

Spoiler: T50RP and YH-1 measurements

Really surprised YH-1's aren't more rolled off in lower frequencies... They are comparable to T50RP's kind of in measurement but don't sound nearly as bassy...

 

[Philimon]

DT880 premium. I was expecting the cup to be more open with a modular grill for 770/880/990. Well, grill is still modular and looks like it may just twist and unlock off/on, but the cup itself is more closed than appears from outside. Need to trim.

RP18 late in transit. No tracking updates since hand off to courier.