Orthodynamic Roundup

[mypasswordis]

Thank you for cementing my plan to sell off most of my headphones and buy a ESP950. I look forward to your building a monster of an amp for them (I predict it is in your future).

I will attempt to follow suit.

The T50RPv2 will improve plenty with mods, especially the acoustic deadening ones. To see if it will eventually top my T40v1 still remains, but my T40 still needs further modding as well, and new pads. I will also apply sound deadening material to the T40.

 

[cetoole]

Yeah, dew eet! Seriously though, Walt may excommunicate me with a Papal cow for this, but these far and away blow all my orthos out of the water. I havnt heard the T40 or T50 yet, or any of the real special ones (T10, 30, old 50, YH100(0), donuts), but they are more detailed than even my probably slightly overdamped yh-3, while still sounding smoother, better soundstage, fast, but not bright or peaky, dont bother my ears at all (usually peaky upper mids), and are comfy to wear. I expect a few monster amps are in my future for these, though what exactly is yet TBD. Oh, and whoever said 'stat bass sucks or isnt nice and visceral hasnt heard the esp/950. O2 or HE series Senn either, for that matter, but I havnt had more than 10 minutes at a meet with any of those.

 

[smeggy]

Congrats Colin. The 950 is one I haven't heard yet, but I know I don't really like the 404, 303 or the Lambdas much so I hope it doesn't sound like them. I've been interested in those for a while but never had money at the right time.

Enjoy them

 

[cetoole]

I dont really know what the Lambdas sound like, and cant wait to hear mine. Pretty sure they wont make me this happy, though who knows. I only bought them because they were cheap. If you are ever in the area though, feel free to pop in for a listen. They are a real steal though, IMO, especially since you can get used good condition for $4-450 pretty often and easily, and brand new for ~$650 any day of the week. Hell, they even come with a bag and mini-RCA cable! How sweet is that?

 

[smeggy]

A set of the 950s was listed on Seattle Craigslist for $400 but I'd already spent my pennies for the month so I missed it. Great deal.

I hope you like the 404s. They're fast, detailed, airy, good extension, just not my cup of tea for whatever reason.

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ludoo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Time for a recable. If you want to send them this way I'll do it for you and give them a listen.

Not that the recable looks terribly difficult, but I also am not compleltely happy with the sound. Some sounds like drumsticks are too low compared to the HD580 and the HOK80. The HOK on the other hand, what an amazing can! On the one hand, the talk about this can sounding good was correct, but on the other hand, the talk about lacking bass or being next to impossible to drive is dead wrong (unless you are a complete basshead or need exceptionally low bass). All my opinion, of course.

 

[ludoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DefectiveAudioComponent /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not that the recable looks terribly difficult, but I also am not compleltely happy with the sound. Some sounds like drumsticks are too low compared to the HD580 and the HOK80. The HOK on the other hand, what an amazing can! On the one hand, the talk about this can sounding good was correct, but on the other hand, the talk about lacking bass or being next to impossible to drive is dead wrong (unless you are a complete basshead or need exceptionally low bass). All my opinion, of course.

If you want to send them this way, I will recable and try to damp them. You pay the cable and shpping here, I pay shipping back.

Or wait for the felts which should be there hopefully by the end of this week.

 

[scompton]

Just got my Fostex T10 and I'm listening to it now. They look brand new. Kind of muffled sounding and zero sound stage. It also clamps very hard, but at least the cups swivel so they're not too bad. It has the same headband as the T20v1. In fact, it looks like a baby T20v1. Too bad the T30 doesn't have this headband.

It came with a sales brochure for the T10, T20, and T30, which I'll scan tonight and post. A couple of interesting things from the brochure.

In the fine print at the bottom, it says "Apr. 1986 copyright Fostex" . If I'm reading this right and that the brochure is from 86, I didn't realize these headphones were made that late. It also says that the T30 is the top of the line, so at some point they stopped making the T50 but kept making the rest of the line.

 

[Faust2D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just got my Fostex T10 and I'm listening to it now. They look brand new. Kind of muffled sounding and zero sound stage. It also clamps very hard, but at least the cups swivel so they're not too bad. It has the same headband as the T20v1. In fact, it looks like a baby T20v1. Too bad the T30 doesn't have this headband. It came with a sales brochure for the T10, T20, and T30, which I'll scan tonight and post. A couple of interesting things from the brochure. In the fine print at the bottom, it says "Apr. 1986 copyright Fostex" . If I'm reading this right and that the brochure is from 86, I didn't realize these headphones were made that late. It also says that the T30 is the top of the line, so at some point they stopped making the T50 but kept making the rest of the line.

Yay, finally a brochure from Fostex. Thanks for much for scanning it. I will upload it to Wiki once you post it. Surprisingly I found a lot of Yamaha brochures but very little Fostex info, so this is good new. T30 does clamp, but headband is steel do you can bend it to clamp less.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cetoole /img/forum/go_quote.gif Bless me Father Wualta, for I have sinned... Ok guys, I have a confession to make. I was handed a set of ESP/950 today, and even though I am using the stock E/90 amplifier right now, it is kicking the bejeebus out of everything else I have, or have had here. Normally I dont like to make statements like this about headphones I havnt heard in a while, like the PS-1 which spent about a month here several years ago, or the HD650, with or without headphile woody cups, but as I had a strong preference for headphones I had both then and still own (HD580 over HD580 and PS-1), I feel reasonably secure in making this statement. I also have a pair of Grado HF-1, modified with deep woody cups, and driven balanced out of a balanced M³ amplifier sitting here, and while I was enjoying that rig earlier tonight, more than any other grado I have heard, none of it comes even close to this ESP/950. I havnt actually listened to my SR404 yet, having no suitable amp or even an adapter to the koss plug, and I have yet to fix the little headband issue. Still gonna buy a T50rp though. Whatever other orthos I can within my means too.

My APS un-dampened ESP950 with Stax PC-OCC cable running off my Woo GES allowed me to sell off my SR-Lambda Signature, my previous almost an HE60 headphone in my stable. So, just wait till you upgrade the amp!

Alas my E/90 has been sitting here with stax adapter and I have not yet bothered to try it out and compare. I do think my HD600 balanced out of Single Power Square Wave XL (2008 with Blackgates) is pretty darn close to many of my stats, which is an even bigger sin to commit than yours.

 

[mypasswordis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cetoole /img/forum/go_quote.gif I dont really know what the Lambdas sound like, and cant wait to hear mine. Pretty sure they wont make me this happy, though who knows. I only bought them because they were cheap. If you are ever in the area though, feel free to pop in for a listen. They are a real steal though, IMO, especially since you can get used good condition for $4-450 pretty often and easily, and brand new for ~$650 any day of the week. Hell, they even come with a bag and mini-RCA cable! How sweet is that?

If you wanted to restore the SR-404 to stock mint condition, you could order an arc assembly (headband) from Yama's for around 100 bucks.

I suspect the the ESP950 betters the Lambdas in impact, bass, and correctness of soundstage but the Lambdas may well better the ESP950 in certain other areas like delicacy. I don't know, I haven't ever heard one.

 

[cetoole]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mypasswordis /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you wanted to restore the SR-404 to stock mint condition, you could order an arc assembly (headband) from Yama's for around 100 bucks. I suspect the the ESP950 betters the Lambdas in impact, bass, and correctness of soundstage but the Lambdas may well better the ESP950 in certain other areas like delicacy. I don't know, I haven't ever heard one.

Yeah, I know that this route is a possibility, and that I will still have gotten a good deal, but as is, if I can just fix the minor problem, I will have a great deal. Heck, that $100 for the arc assembly is the same amount I paid for the whole headphone setup. You can see the problem here though, with the two tabs which got snapped off.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...staxhanger.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif My APS un-dampened ESP950 with Stax PC-OCC cable running off my Woo GES allowed me to sell off my SR-Lambda Signature, my previous almost an HE60 headphone in my stable. So, just wait till you upgrade the amp! Alas my E/90 has been sitting here with stax adapter and I have not yet bothered to try it out and compare. I do think my HD600 balanced out of Single Power Square Wave XL (2008 with Blackgates) is pretty darn close to many of my stats, which is an even bigger sin to commit than yours.

Hmm, it has actually been kinda in my mind to swap the PC-OCC cable on my SR404 for my stock ESP/950 cable, though I will probably end up leaving it be. Need to build a serious amp, though it would be nice to have an adapter to be able to try the Stax with this amp, though I guess the bias is a bit too high. Does anyone here know where to get the Koss sockets and plugs?

Gonna try balanced HD600 tonight, on the M³ rig (not mine).

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cetoole /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, I know that this route is a possibility, and that I will still have gotten a good deal, but as is, if I can just fix the minor problem, I will have a great deal. Heck, that $100 for the arc assembly is the same amount I paid for the whole headphone setup. You can see the problem here though, with the two tabs which got snapped off. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...staxhanger.jpg

I would just take a 1mm drill or slightly larger and insert some make shift metal pin through the plastic fork and some scrap plastic over it to get the desired thickness.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cetoole /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hmm, it has actually been kinda in my mind to swap the PC-OCC cable on my SR404 for my stock ESP/950 cable, though I will probably end up leaving it be. Need to build a serious amp, though it would be nice to have an adapter to be able to try the Stax with this amp, though I guess the bias is a bit too high. Does anyone here know where to get the Koss sockets and plugs? Gonna try balanced HD600 tonight, on the M³ rig (not mine).

That particular ESP/950 (used to mine) uses the standard PC-OCC cable and not the wide one used on the SR-404. The more expensive cable would be a pain to thread into the Koss housing but it can be done.

Don't worry about the slightly higher bias as it has no ill effect on Stax phones. To get the socket there is only one way, cut up a Koss extension plug.

 

[Faust2D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mypasswordis /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you wanted to restore the SR-404 to stock mint condition, you could order an arc assembly (headband) from Yama's for around 100 bucks. I suspect the the ESP950 betters the Lambdas in impact, bass, and correctness of soundstage but the Lambdas may well better the ESP950 in certain other areas like delicacy. I don't know, I haven't ever heard one.

ESP950 has more bass impact and a different more forward presentation with smaller fairly accurate soundstage. But Lambda Nove Signature (LNS), for example, has better soundstage positioning and ambient ques than Koss. Each of them has a strength. Ultimately, after several month I realized that I prefer LNS to ESP950 and SR-303. My stat ranking, based purely on memory and enjoyment, for the stats that I had, have now or listened to expansively would be as follows:

Stax SR-007
Stax SR-LNS / Stax SR-Sigma
Koss ESP-950
Stax SR-303 / Stax SR-Lambda
MB Peerless PMB500
Stax SR-001
Stax SR-Gamma
Magnavox 1A9217
Stax SR-X/Mk3

 

[mypasswordis]

Oh, nice, I didn't know the problem was so minor on the arc assembly. Definitely don't bother getting a new one, then. I wonder indeed how much a recable makes a difference, since the Koss cable doesn't look that bad.

Depending on where you live in Maryland, you could borrow my SRM-1/MkII and reterminate the Koss extension cable with a Stax jack if you want to use the ESP950.

Thanks for the rankings, Faust. I'm going to stick with either my normal bias or pro bias Lambda since LNS is too hard to find and I doubt I would find enough difference between Lambda frames to justify having both.