Orthodynamic Roundup
May 30, 2009 at 8:55 PM Post #10,771 of 27,179
The Eagle International H4300 Reflex Headphone arrived today in a box from the Netherlands. It sounds dark and closed-in from my vintage Nad preamp.

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Strangely, the box promises 8 ohms impedance, whereas the Sawafui SF-16 that looks identical supposedly is 120 ohm.
 
May 30, 2009 at 9:41 PM Post #10,772 of 27,179
nice find.
has anyone ever compared the pro30, eagle and sfi drivers in the same enclosure? i wonder if they all sound roughly the same, or if one is better than the others
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May 30, 2009 at 9:52 PM Post #10,774 of 27,179
Quote:

Originally Posted by DefectiveAudioComponent /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I'm supposing the Eagle has an SFI driver in an SFI enclosure
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but isnt it 8ohm, compared to the usual 32 and 120ohm SFI drivers? it might sound slightly different
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is the pro 30 driver made by sawafuji as well, or is it just mysteriously similar?
 
May 30, 2009 at 9:55 PM Post #10,775 of 27,179
I have to take the Eagle apart to damp it, then we'll see if it is similar to the normal SFI drivers. It lacks a bit of the lowest end too. Hopefully it can be fixed by damping as well. Headstage is fine though.

If I had a multimeter than I could have measured the impedance. Now I just assume someone at Eagle International had a multimeter.

Also, if we could get some more of the SFI orthos, then maybe there would be one with the pro 30 driver inside? (maybe that's what's in the Eagle?)
 
May 30, 2009 at 10:10 PM Post #10,777 of 27,179
Build is very solid. The headband has metal inside, and the cup holders are metal. It swivels a bit left/right in addtion to up down. The cups though are too light to be anything but plastic. The screen in front of the drivers seem to be metal. But I am not sure.

They do seem NOS, although the silver color on the cups is scratched on my pair in some places. So maybe they have been used. The cable is in very good condition and that usually means they have not been used a lot.
 
May 30, 2009 at 10:11 PM Post #10,778 of 27,179
Quote:

Originally Posted by bjarnetv /img/forum/go_quote.gif
but isnt it 8ohm, compared to the usual 32 and 120ohm SFI drivers? it might sound slightly different
ph34r.gif


is the pro 30 driver made by sawafuji as well, or is it just mysteriously similar?



Dont forget the mysterious Technics EAH-810. Had impedance somewhere in the 60-ish ohms. Looked a lot like an SFI too. (cant remember its holes though...)
 
May 30, 2009 at 11:11 PM Post #10,780 of 27,179
just in case anyone else in considering playing with the Koss R10 pads, they cost a whopping 5 dollars inclusive of shipping, for a pair, and they come with a double sided donut shaped piece of tape to secure them to whatever.

They fit the YH100 well, except they are thicker than the stock YH100 pads, and have a smaller opening. I'm not sure how they would fit other orhos/yamahas, but they're so cheap, they are a good option.

And thanks to Boilermaker for having so much fun with my YH100, I'm sure they will sound much better than when I sent them to you!
 
May 31, 2009 at 12:47 AM Post #10,782 of 27,179
Quote:

Originally Posted by bjarnetv
but isnt it 8ohm, compared to the usual 32 and 120ohm SFI drivers? it might sound slightly different..


The Eagle really is only 8 ohms. Markse had a pair a little more than a year ago and measured them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjarnetv
is the pro 30 driver made by sawafuji as well, or is it just mysteriously similar?


That's the fun part! We don't know! Not for sure, anyway. The similarity is pretty strong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DefectiveAudioComponent
I have to take the Eagle apart to damp it, then we'll see if it is similar to the normal SFI drivers. It lacks a bit of the lowest end too. Hopefully it can be fixed by damping as well. Headstage is fine though.


If it's not kind of bassy and dull sounding, let's hope it's got a leaky baffle or something that when fixed will make it bassy. Don't forget to damp the vents. Markse never got around to damping his, but the Eagle's internal design is clever-- there's a cone that bounces the backwave away from the diaphragm.

We've only seen 32 ohm and 120 ohm dipole SFIs, but that doesn't mean they didn't make a bunch of 8 ohm dipoles for special clients. The Eagle could be it.

Good photos, DAC.

Has anyone heard from our orthoninjas at CanJam?
 
May 31, 2009 at 5:35 AM Post #10,785 of 27,179
I finally modded my YH-3s this evening, after much prodding from Kabeer to get it done so I have a better reference for the YH-100 mods. First thing I did was ring the driver with Blu-Tak and seal it off to the front bezel.


I had tried the driver completely taped off with just the Smeggy felt in teh cup and it was great sounding mids/highs, but limited bass. So I went back to Ludoo's scheme with the Moorbrook over the driver's holes. Mine are apparently VERY bass heavy! Ludoo's bass heavy mod with the Moorbrook over the Smeggy felt was still under damped far too much. I taped off three holes on each side, the three outer most holes that weren't easily covered by the felt disc. Back to over damped. Took off the tape on two sides. Man, back to under damped again. Can six holes make that much difference? YES! I ended up taping all three holes on each side off again, then cutting out the middle hole. Eight holes taped off, four partially covered by the felt, the rest covered by the felt. I also trimmed the Smeggy felt undersized and ringed it with a thickness of Moorbrook the same height as the cups.

And the result was exactly what I hoped for! Great bass to go with the sweet mids and highs. I'm in awe of the sound, and most importantly for me, pianos sound like live pianos! WOOT! WOOT! Thanks Ludoo, cetoole, and dB, but especially Kabeer for pushing me to mod them!
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Now I'm ready to tackle the YH-100s and T20s.
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Oh yeah, pics will follow later. I have them, just need to upload them tomorrow morning. Crashing for the night.
 

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