TH-900 Fostex EZ-Simple Mods and other Fostex Dynamic Variants X00...Denon..More Bass ? Mid ? Soundstage ? Smooth trebles ?

[Daze513]

Little update after a day or so of listening: I managed several swaps of the Stock and Lawton pads. I'm actually keeping the Lawton pads on.

Yes there is a bit of decrease in bass, but it's more of the boominess that is inherent in some edm tracks. In reality, listening to a broader range of music, the Lawton pads sounds more coherent, the frequencies are delivered together better. I think it's because the driver is placed a bit further, and more angled. Also I get what seems like a better seal around my ears. Also what I said about separation in my previous post continues to be true. Listening to the Star Wars soundtrack I can tell difference between the pads. Clearly.

The stock pads are great, but I just think that the Lawton kinda bring things together better inside the space between driver and ear. Hip hop sounds just as good between them both. And only on certain deep bass EDM tracks I hear a slight difference in sub bass. If I had to give a number of say 1-2 db lower. Where I really hear a difference is in recorded music. Driver positioning is the reason I'm sticking to.

Hope this helps.

 

[katulu]

Little update after a day or so of listening: I managed several swaps of the Stock and Lawton pads. I'm actually keeping the Lawton pads on.

Yes there is a bit of decrease in bass, but it's more of the boominess that is inherent in some edm tracks. In reality, listening to a broader range of music, the Lawton pads sounds more coherent, the frequencies are delivered together better. I think it's because the driver is placed a bit further, and more angled. Also I get what seems like a better seal around my ears. Also what I said about separation in my previous post continues to be true. Listening to the Star Wars soundtrack I can tell difference between the pads. Clearly.

The stock pads are great, but I just think that the Lawton kinda bring things together better inside the space between driver and ear. Hip hop sounds just as good between them both. And only on certain deep bass EDM tracks I hear a slight difference in sub bass. If I had to give a number of say 1-2 db lower. Where I really hear a difference is in recorded music. Driver positioning is the reason I'm sticking to.

Hope this helps.

 
I did the Lawton vs stock pad comparison and it was no contest for me.  Stock all the way.  The subbass loss was immediately noticeable to me with Lawton pads, also did not like the overall sound with them on. But, to each their own!  I also did not know of OP's mods at the time.

 

[Daze513]

I agree with the decrease in sub bass with the Lawton pads, in fully stock mode with no damping disk mod or anything.

But actually with the Lawton mod and the disk in position 3, the decrease is not as severe. It's still there but it's a softer drop in bass.

Another thing is the comfort. To my head the Lawton pads are more comfortable. I'm still going to be getting a second set of the pad mounting rings, so that I can swap in an instant.

 

[TWerk]

I find the stock pads very comfortable. Especially when you get some wear on them, and they soften up and break in.
 
These EZ mods are awesome. The gray pad shifting is really a nice thing to tweak the sound to your liking. I still find with my lawton dampened TH900's, stock+ sounds really fantastic. Sounds awesome combined with the pad mod. Relaxes the harsh bits of treble down and the bass is wonderful. Then, tweak it when you want something a bit different for fun. 
 
I will also add - the headphone sounds a little different depending on the headband's clamp force. I found when I bent it (in) for a little while (to get more clamping force) I have noticed improved sound. Probably the tighter clamp forms a more airtight seal around my ears and it brings the bass up. It also seemed to relax treble a little.
 
I think the drivers being too far from the ears can accentuate trebles.
 
Absolutely great thread for TH900 owners! Many thanks to Whitigir for sharing his findings!

 

[Daze513]

I agree with the clamping force. In my case the thicker Lawton pads have increased the clamping force, and I think that's why the bass decrease was not too severe.

I'd have to look into the driver distance and the treble response. I did find more sound separation. I tried the stock pads again last night and they do seem a bit softer since they are more broken in. The pads are at different levels of softness so it's hard to directly compare them.

 

[zolkis]

AFAIK the Lawton pads work best together with the Lawton cups that are larger and they seem to be designed together. So I'd take either the basic Lawton mod, or the full Lawton mod, but nothing in between.
 
My biggest concern is that the midrange dips (at 500, 2000, 4500 Hz) caused by the drivers loading and internal cups reflections are not cured by the Lawton pads, actually quite the contrary, so with most music I would not recommend the Lawton pads + stock everything else. I noticed with my mods that the midrange dips are helped by shallower pads with carbon foam filling, and felt dampers, but won't go away completely. Compared with linear e-stat headphones (modded Stax 007 and 009) the difference in midrange (and treble) quality is staggering, but then the TH900 has better bass slam (downwards tilting bass FR instead of linear one).
 
If you want to have a hint on the potential of the Fostex drivers, take off the cups and listen to them as open headphones. There used to be a Denon D5000 or D7000 mod that transformed them into open headphones by cutting out the flat portion of the cups and replace it with a metallic grill a la Grado, but I won't destroy the Fostex cups to have yet another open headphone and lose the best closed one.
 
The first (mahagony) TH-X00 measures most linearly (but apparently the later massdrop versions are less good on this). But that has the lesser TH600 driver, and based on subjective reports, sounds a bit overdamped when compared with the TH900.

 

[Whitigir]

The Brainwavz pads will also provide better clamping forces and thicker leather on the base will provide better noise isolation as well. Never had the chance to try Lawton pads, but I can tell the Brainwavz angled pads provide better comfort, and even improve the sound a bit as well. I did my basic pad mods on it, and it is awesome

It is so hard to trim them correctly, because they are oval by nature

Link for USA Amazon. There are 2 kinds, the angled one, and normal one. The normal one fit better but only is thicker than stock by a bit. However, I recommend the angled one. Even though it is tighter and need a lot of stretching. Once you got it on, it is just...on . Once you have a perfect fit, trim them just similar to the stock pad mods. I think you will love it.

http://www.amazon.com/Brainwavz-Angled-Memory-Foam-Earpad/dp/B00ZY8PGJI?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

 

[Daze513]

Good to know. I'll keep swapping around until I find the right combo for me. Right now I'm on Lawton Tune up kit, damping disk at position 3 and Lawton pads.

I'm going to play around with swapping pads, and damping disk until I get to a good setup, then maybe later do wood cups when budget allows.

 

[zolkis]

Cool! My shallower Brainwavz pads arrive in 2 days, and my Fostex pads perhaps in a week. Hardly waiting for modding the TH900 again!

 

[Whitigir]

Cool! My shallower Brainwavz pads arrive in 2 days, and my Fostex pads perhaps in a week. Hardly waiting for modding the TH900 again!

you will be surprised by how much trimming the pads can bring ....like a perfect blend of upper mid and lower trebles, virtually eliminating the spikes that Fostex are famous for . I tried many times, and even this Brainwavz I recently bought, and it all nets the same result upon trimming. Oh, the bass .....! Mouth watering bass!

 

[zolkis]

you will be surprised by how much trimming the pads can bring

....like a perfect blend of upper mid and lower trebles, virtually eliminating the spikes that Fostex are famous for

. I tried many times, and even this Brainwavz I recently bought, and it all nets the same result upon trimming. Oh, the bass

.....! Mouth watering bass!

 
Actually I could try the trimming part later today (though my TH900 has gone through all different mods), will report. And will redo the same with the stock pads when they arrive. A lot of measurements to be done on the stock unit and all the different mod steps and eventually combinations.

 

[Whitigir]

Actually I could try the trimming part later today (though my TH900 has gone through all different mods), will report. And will redo the same with the stock pads when they arrive. A lot of measurements to be done on the stock unit and all the different mod steps and eventually combinations.

Oooh!Exciting . Can't wait to see what you find out

 

[Daze513]

Any ideas if I place the white baffling back in to my current setup, what effect it will have in the sound? Just wondering before I remove everything again

 

[Whitigir]

Any ideas if I place the white baffling back in to my current setup, what effect it will have in the sound? Just wondering before I remove everything again

Increased in lower trebles and upper mids, may bring back the trebles spikes. Bass may lose some energies. You can check the first post for the effects, or just try it yourself

 

[zolkis]

Pad mods: trim around the pads to expose these lock holes more opened. Take out the pads, but leave it on the plastic plate, and then trim around but by bit using a good scissors......do it slow....Do Not Overtrim it...you will render the pads useless.

*** Basically, the pads mod will allow your TH-900 to "breathes" the way it supposed to be, and it brings about the improvements of more detailed lower-mid, and deeper bass with bigger bass slam and most importantly, the linearity of the whole mid spectrum will improve, which brings about more soundstage and the 3rd dimensional***

*****Do Not Trim Your Lawton Pads*****!!!


 

 
Is it needed to trim the pads flaps in all circumference, or would it be enough to cut out the portions around the holes? I'd assume the latter, but I guess I'd never know the exact answer if I didn't try...
 
So I hope that you have first tried cutting out only the 4 parts, and in the end concluded that cutting around the whole inner circumference is better. Any advice on that?
 
Otherwise I'd prefer leaving more material to be grasped by the white holder, to avoid leaks on the side. Or is it actually supposed to (very slightly) leak on the side?