[Philimon]

^ I placed some approx. 90mm round hybrid pads on top of stock pads. 90mm too large, needs maybe 75mm. Ive only tried them with stock pads.:

The Akai ASE-40 reminds me a lot of Fostex T10 and Yamaha YH-1 in terms of form and sound. The Akai is a lot smaller and lighter than expected. Metal parts are used but they are thin and the headband is very minimal which when combined with a light clamp is very comfy in comparison to T10 or T30 and comparable to YH-1. The tonal response and detail retrieval is right around T10 and YH-1 levels as well. I'm trying to be conservative on judging detail retrieval because Akai has a slight peak around 10kHz which is probably causing these to sound more resolving than they actually are... Fortunately, this 10kHz peak and apparent resonance is not fatiguing nor sounding smeared, cymbals sound extra clear and defined without being harsh. Listening to music without cymbals or other high frequencies is closer to the experience of listening to T10 or YH1.

I've not checked specs but I'm guessing the drivers are about the same size as T10 or YH1. As you can see in the pics these have pads that cover up much of the driver's face. I wonder how these would sound padrolled. That driver face grill is definitely not ideal either. From memory, the bass is nowhere near T30 or RP18. I wonder how @Feilong4 's Victor D90 relative sounds in comparison. The D90 afaik is just a double-sided magnet version of ASE-40 driver. Do you have pics Feilong4?

Please see the video I linked to a few posts above to see this headphone disassembled. There doesn't seem to be much space inside for damping materials. If I disassemble later it will be mainly to clean the driver face grill holes to get the most out of padrolling.

The rear grills have vents placed probably exactly where the driver's magnet holes are positioned making these headphones effectively open back at least in comparison to T10 or YH-1. I do get the impression that these are more open sounding but again I wonder how much is due to that small 10kHz peak.

I like them. Remind me most of T10 which I liked as well but comfort was holy hell! These meanwhile are possibly more comfy than YH1 with similar relatively good tonal balance.

 

[Philimon]

https://20cheaddatebase-web-fc2-com...uto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp
(ty @khbaur330162 for link)

 

[khbaur330162]

Hrm. My translation seems slightly better, diaphragm is 50mm according to this:

 

[headphones1999]

While we`re on the Akai ortho topic and anyone wonder about how the ASE50 are, managed to get my hands on one almost a year ago.
Cant find that much was shared on its sound here so will do a very lazy fast comparison vs, bass heavy NAD RP18 and Sansui SS100:

ASE50 do everything worse than the other 2, only the bass is more or less on par with the RP18.
the sound is pretty muffled, highs are nothing special, slight EQ at the 1Khz area helps a lot though to clear the sound, the bass is nice.
one thing they do better than the rest though is "ease of listening" since the sound is darker than the other 2.

 

[Philimon]

@headphones1999 Awesome share thank you!

———

ASE-40 had a lower bass imbalance so I took apart to troubleshoot. Fixed!

I think what may have been the problem is that one of the wire leads to the Left driver was caught in between the driver and back grill/cup causing an air leak. I carefully positioned wires when closing both sides backup and they now sound right.

Unsure but it does seem like they have zero internal volume. Its just a driver sandwiched in casing for purposes of grills and headband attachment.

 

[Philimon]

I will try writing ASE-40 vs HE-4XX impressions later. Fitting since they have similar designations (_-4_) and they are both unusual single side magnet.

 

[Philimon]

Update on YH1 (khbaurmod):

YH1 driver doesnt react the same way to the transplant mod as YH100 driver*. YH1 does not gain the same sub bass boost unfortunately. Just a heads up if youre going to try the mod. Id only recommend for YH100 drivers. However I havent finished experimenting with padrolling but so far YH1 isotropic doesnt have YH100 anisotropic bass.

* My YH100 experiments in stock enclosure also behaved differently from the same mods used on YH1 in stock enclosure. Pattern?!

 

[szerecsen]

meanwhile, this is what is printed on a factory box of an sfi16

....a microphone substitute effective in binaural recording and replay

 

[khbaur330162]

Cool nab @szerecsen . Let us know how they sound.

Update on YH1 (khbaurmod):

YH1 driver doesnt react the same way to the transplant mod as YH100 driver*. YH1 does not gain the same sub bass boost unfortunately. Just a heads up if youre going to try the mod. Id only recommend for YH100 drivers.

I respectfully disagree (sorry @Philimon !!!!). I'm not exactly sure how you've tuned yours, but given what you've said in PM's I imagine you've exhausted most avenues for modding, so why yours are behaving this way I can't really say. However my khbaur YH-1's and HP-1's seem to have the same effects of "moar bass" and actually YH-1's always had MORE bass than YH-100's. I realize this is contrary to popular opinion/belief, everyone seems to think YH-100's have more bass than HP/YH-1's but that hasn't been my experience and I can validate through measurements. Philimon was kind enough to gift me another pair of YH-100 drivers (yet to receive, waiting for vtory to finish his review of khbaur YH-100's and BP800's) and I plan on building a second khbaur YH-100 so we will see how these new drivers react to mods, perhaps these will have more bass, who knows.

On a different note, I decided to remove YH-1 drivers from my pair of khbaur YH-1's and swap the drivers for isotropic HP-1's. The isotropic HP-1's have better attack in mids and treble regions. Due to the differences I hear and see in measurements I have to conclude that HP-1's are a slightly different tuning than YH-1's placing HP-1's closer to YH-100's and HP-1a's. YH-1's are a bit smoother and less midrange/treble forward to a degree according to my ears. HP-1's are a little more forward with details. HP-1's seem like a steal if searching for anisotropic tuning/detail on the cheap. Here's a graph of khbaur HP-1's vs YH-1's vs YH-100's, all no damp (matched at 1kHz). Sub bass and mid bass are mildly better in both isotropic models. Tunings all seem really close, it's mainly their technical performances that separate the models.

I am experimenting with small neodymium magnets placed around isotropic HP-1 drivers (will not work with anisotropic variants, or anything with a flux plate). So far my initial impressions are that it brings low level signals forward making them cut a little deeper into the track, but it's hard to compare to stock due to amount of time it takes to modify both channels. I think this might be a decent mod, actually, and one that can bring the isotropic pinched ortho's closer to anisotropic detail levels, but just preliminary thoughts. The magnets themselves are super cheap, so it could be a way for people to forego finding the rarer and more expensive anisotropic models. There is still a chance this is all placebo, however, I haven't spent much time comparing stock to stacked neo's, so take this all with a grain of salt, but initially I was taking neo magnets on and off only the fronts of the magnets and every time I put the magnets back on my brain told me it sounded better for some reason. As of now it's been a while since I've heard my own khbaur YH-100's, but it's hard to imagine they are much better than the HP-1's with stacked neo's that I'm listening to right now. We will see.

I bought a Hifiman Sundara off used market. Sundara can have an added attack compared to khbaur HP-1's which can make imaging really pinpoint at times ala RP-18. I'd say khbaur HP-1's are little more v-shaped than Sundaras by a tiny bit: khbaur HP-1's little more aggressive and meaty, whereas Sundaras more even and smooth and clinical (Sundara's = dry, HP-1's = wet). The imaging in Sundara's can be weird, imo, they image behind my head for hard left/right noises sometimes which I don't like. I believe the Sundara's are a little thin somehow, the khbaur HP-1's sound thicker to me, little more fleshed out. Colors seem more saturated on khbaur HP-1's, Sundaras just a bit grey to me in comparison. Sundara cleanliness lends to interesting room acoustics at times for vocals. I'm so used to HP-1's at this point they don't wow me for room acoustics often, but Sundara's can grab my attention. -edit- There was finger snapping in this one song and it was off in the distance, I think HP-1's did it just as impressively as Sundara, just different presentations.

All in all, khbaur HP-1's and Sundara's are really close, imho. I like both, but the organic color saturation, projected imaging and bass quantity of HP-1's is pretty addicting still and a fair trade for larger image size (minutely) and occasional pin point imaging (most the time it's squashed on your face or off to the sides so far it's basically behind you or completely in your head). All comparisons were made with the rig in my signature. It's funny I would say Sundara's can be cleaner, but on first switching to them from HP-1's they can sound a little dirty somehow, but everything does seem very taught. If I was to say which one sounds more like a recording I think Sundara's sound like a good reproduction to me, but HP-1's sound more natural/realistic by a fair margin for me regardless of absolute speed of drivers. RP-18's are similarly more meaty but also less peaky than Sundara's, Sundara's sound a little glare-y to me. HFM Arya's take it a bit further and can be more convincing of a live performance than Sundara, Arya has bigger image, cuts deeper and better timbral saturation, imho (but still not worth new prices...).

 

[szerecsen]

look out for those small, but obvious differences

edit: inserted a higher resolution image for education purposes

 

[GREQ]

look out for those small, but obvious differences

The Eagle H4300 was my 2nd favourite SFI behind the Realistic Pro 30.
Nice, simple, entry level planar... and actually fit a human shape head unlike most of the others ^_^

 

[szerecsen]

The Eagle H4300 was my 2nd favourite SFI behind the Realistic Pro 30.
Nice, simple, entry level planar... and actually fit a human shape head unlike most of the others ^_^

They fit. And I somehow love the sound signature of these small sfi drivers.

sssspeeking into the driver

 

[Philimon]

Ive never tried Realistic Pro 30. I may have to now since Ive read its bassy. RP-30

———

@khbaur330162 I havent exactly copied your mods or have gotten the same pads yet (seller is afk due to covid restrictions in China). I will copy exactly later when possible and update with my results. I was drawing inferences based on my experiences with YH1 and YH100 in their stock enclosures. I may have been reaching.

———

Padrolling ASE-40 (see attached). ASE-40 just doesnt have the bass (eq reduces quality), not even YH1 bass. It reminds me most of Grado Hemp (tonally and ergonomically) + HD600 (bass quality and quantity) but with guitar virtuosity on level of RS2 (definition, attack, decay). Niche headphone but can be awesome with the right album (The White Stripes - Elephant was an excellent experience).

edit: fyi i am preferring the white pads. Similar to stock but with larger ear holes improving soundstage but maybe a little less bass.

 

[Philimon]

Yamaha compendium has a new update on that other friendly site: YH100 reviewed. And up next is YH100 khbaurmod! Good luck @khbaur330162

 

[Philimon]

This Fostex T10 arrived with a non-working Left channel. Inside I find what looks like a botched repair. The plastic driver casing has a nice melted crust in which the wire leads are encased. Hopefully it can be saved.