[Joeybgood]

  They were first in production in 1975.
 
Original MSRP in Japan was 16,000 JPY, ~$133.50 USD in 1975. Factoring in inflation rates, that's almost $600 USD in today's money. These were the second most expensive headphone in the world at the time, the first being KOSS's ESP/10, which was <FAR> higher in cost (100,000 JPY)

wow!!! 100,00 JPY?? that's what? nearly $800 in 1974 $(or well over $3000 in todays $)? Does anyone on here own a pair of the Koss ESP/10??

 

[takato14]

 

 
They were first in production in 1975.

Original MSRP in Japan was 16,000 JPY, ~$133.50 USD in 1975. Factoring in inflation rates, that's almost $600 USD in today's money. These were the second most expensive headphone in the world at the time, the first being KOSS's ESP/10, which was higher in cost (100,000 JPY)

wow!!! 100,00 JPY?? that's what? nearly $800 in 1974 $(or well over $3000 in todays $)? Does anyone on here own a pair of the Koss ESP/10??

MuppetFace does. They're not as rare as you might expect. I don't think koss did much exporting (if at all) so that price might be higher than the cost in the USA.

They're pretty nice if you can find them cheap, but they're not comfortable and the ESP/950 is better overall. I want one myself but finding any vintage stat with the matching energizer is a PITA.

 

[Tinkerer]

Thought I'd post these one last time now that I finished recabling them with custom cables for my new dac/amp.

I used 16awg shielded 2 conductor silver-plated wire that I got cheap, paracord sleeving, etc. Terminates in a 4pin XLR that can hook up to the dual 3 pin Y-cable for the balanced amp or an unbalanced 1/4 stereo plug. Probably would use something quite a bit thinner the next time I do something like this, but it's the same gauge as the wires to the amp jacks inside the amp so it's consistent all the way through. I used thinner solid core copper on the stereo plug adaptor and only sleeved one pair so that would fit for the connections. Doesn't seem to affect the sound much but leaves options for if it's not hooked up to this specific amp.

Word of warning. If you need to remove the drivers to thread new wires into the housing, it's the left of the screw pair on the mount that holds them in. I accidentally undid them all and opened up the left driver on mine when I was going through the motions. I got it back together without a jig and it plays fine but it was a near thing.

I know this is a bit of a cry from where it started, and might be like hotrodding is to classic car guys, but I wouldn't have kept fooling with them if I didn't like them so much. Still would only take a couple minutes to tear it back down to original pads and padding if someone wanted the classic fit and sound. Anyway, hope it's worth a look for some.

 

[takato14]

Got those pads... holy f*k nick, these things are enormous, they're bigger than the cups >__________>
 

 
Trying them out, they're definitely more comfortable but they angle the cups out weirdly and make them look dorky. More headband padding would probably help. They actually do fit inside the lip of the cup where the pads go, which surprised me. 
 
Sound-wise, they sound similar to the stock pads, but with a tiny (maybe +2-3dB) increase in bass. Soundstage size increases slightly. Air and treble are knocked down a couple dB too.
 
Yeah no, stock is better. Something about the timbre and balance is just incredibly realistic and natural to my ears. I think I'm just gonna keep these stock. I'm sure Sansui tried way more configurations than I could, and there's a reason they chose this one. If I didn't know any better (awful hearing and whatnot) I'd say Tyll's graphs of these are going to be an almost completely flat line from bass to treble.
 
We'll see in a couple weeks. 

 

 

[nick n]

Damn.

So lowest profile possible is the key then for both fit and sound. How close is the opening to stock?
 Frustrating when the headband fit gets goofed slightly with slightly larger/taller things. That can be a deal breaker as imagine it is in this case ( and very irritating ) .
hopefully there is something you have you can use those pads on.
 
Some stuff I find even a few extra mm height screws with the sound in a bad way( just had this happen tonight swapping some ), whereas some are the opposite.
 
Has Mr. T  over at Innerfooldelity measured any of these yet?

 

[takato14]

  Damn.

So lowest profile possible is the key then for both fit and sound. How close is the opening to stock?
 Frustrating when the headband fit gets goofed slightly with slightly larger/taller things. That can be a deal breaker as imagine it is in this case ( and very irritating ) .
hopefully there is something you have you can use those pads on.
 
Some stuff I find even a few extra mm height screws with the sound in a bad way( just had this happen tonight swapping some ), whereas some are the opposite.
 
Has Mr. T  over at Innerfooldelity measured any of these yet?

The inner opening is identical in size. The pads are almost as thick as the cups, a solid 4-500% thicker than the stock pads, but my stock pads are flattened to hell. I didn't actually seal them to the baffle with tape; I assume this will increase bass and decrease treble even more. However, I am tempted to cut out the speaker cloth/foam on the inside of these, as it might be what's ruining the upper ranges. Maybe its worth it... but on the other hand they did sound nice on the Toshiba HR-810, much nicer than stock while being much more comfy. 
 
As for the measurements, he did finish batch number 2 of the vintage lot I've been sending over.
 
He just posted the May update on IF: http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/innerfidelity-may-2015-update
 
My headphones are the Sansui SS-35, Beyer DT48S 5 ohm, Toshiba HR-810, and Sterling TE-400. The circumaural SS-35 and the Beyers didn't seal on the dummy head, and the HR-810 freaked out at any gain setting but low (which sounds like ****) so over half of this batch is pretty much useless, but it's still pretty interesting.

 

[nick n]

He needs silicone spacers or something for that dummy to make up for the odd poor fitting ones

 

[Tinkerer]

Got those pads... holy f*k nick, these things are enormous, they're bigger than the cups >__________>

Trying them out, they're definitely more comfortable but they angle the cups out weirdly and make them look dorky. More headband padding would probably help. They actually do fit inside the lip of the cup where the pads go, which surprised me. 

Sound-wise, they sound similar to the stock pads, but with a tiny (maybe +2-3dB) increase in bass. Soundstage size increases slightly. Air and treble are knocked down a couple dB too.

Yeah no, stock is better. Something about the timbre and balance is just incredibly realistic and natural to my ears. I think I'm just gonna keep these stock. I'm sure Sansui tried way more configurations than I could, and there's a reason they chose this one. If I didn't know any better (awful hearing and whatnot) I'd say Tyll's graphs of these are going to be an almost completely flat line from bass to treble.

We'll see in a couple weeks.   

I had a similar experience with the Shure pads. The headband padding like I added fixes the angling problem, but you will notice higher clamping than stock. Worth trying a few different pads though. For me stock was better than Shure in some ways but Audeze was better than both. Could just be because I have big ears and the tips still brush the drivers with them on anyway

But then I think the stock bass is kinda weak for my taste.

 

[takato14]

But then I think the stock bass is kinda weak for my taste.

I could understand this. The stock bass is approximately neutral, and the large driver Fostex planars have absurd diaphragm control so there's not a lot of warmth or thickness to it. Couple that with zero isolation from how open these are and outside sounds cut through it like butter. These tend to sound thinner during the day, when the noise level in the house is higher, and you can forget about using them on-the-go... though the looks and comments you get from people are pretty entertaining.

 

[Tinkerer]

Slight update on my setup. Picked up this old Sansui R-303 receiver for $10 at a sale yesterday and wanted to give it a whirl. The headphone jack on it is actually directly-amped but the impedance difference bloats the bass a tiny bit. So I took my old T3 switch and converted it to 4 pin XLR balanced and used that connected to the speaker taps instead. Combined with my Pacolo DAC taken out of storage and feeding it, it sounds pretty much exactly like my balanced headroom dac/amp even if it's not truly balanced. Zero audible noise floor too which was a first for me with an old receiver.


Anyway, I thought it might be interesting for people just to see a Sansui powering a Sansui from the same era.

Sounds so close to my expensive setup, I might just permanently downgrade.


EDIT: Got tired of the makeshift pleather headband padding I'd added. The Chinese one I bought off ebay was even worse than that. Didn't want to deal that tea cozy or snap top looking stuff either. Just need a little more cushion. I had a couple of yards of real upholstery leather laying around so I thought I'd give something more permanent a shot. Gave it about double the padding and made it a little wider than the main headband. Attaches to the metal backs of the headband adjusters with double sided tape just like the old one did.

I wish it was black to match but I can't complain. It's kind of funny, every headphone I modify starts looking like an overstuffed couch eventually if I keep fooling with it.

 

[Synthax]

Still loving my custom SS100, and can't find any succesor even 1000$ range.

 

[GREQ]

  Still loving my custom SS100, and can't find any succesor even 1000$ range.

Have you ever owned a Fostex T50 or variant? (since they supposedly share identical drivers)

 

[Synthax]

Not yet. But I hope to have an opportunity to hear them. I'm curious why Fostex changed the size of T50rp drivers? Are they just cheaper? 

 

[GREQ]

I think that has a lot to do with it. Cheap mass production is just better business

 

[nick n]

Tighter tolerances, more magnetic flux pattern control and concentration with the plates, less issues with driver standing waves(?) so move to square type and more precision is my guess.