[meltdown117]

Quote:

 
 
I get that this was a response to your question, but making a blanket statement like that takes it beyond the scope of the question.  Same thing in the Ed8 thread, bunch of people saying they're the best closed cans available - personally I feel that's a bit of a disservice to the community unless you've had experience with both.
 
 

Bobeau, I sincerely apologize if I have offended you.
 
What I meant to say was that I literally cannot comment on the SQ of E8 because I have not listened to it. Nothing more, nothing less.
I have never said ANYTHING about it being overpriced. I just said it was out of my price range as I am a mere college student.
IMHO, if anything can justify its cost with performance, than it deserves such price.
I do want the best, and if E8 is one of the best closed cans, hell, I would buy it.
I just don't have the $$$ to do so.
 
That is one of the many reasons I want to go to meets, but because I don't have a car (because I don't have enough money to buy and maintain one), I can't do that either.
In fact, there are so many headphones I want to try (D7000, T1, LCD2, HD800, PS1000, MarkL D5000, Thunderpants, etc. etc. etc.), but simply cannot because I don't own them (and doesn't know anyone from whom I can borrow a pair from).
 
M

 

[bobeau]

 
Quote:

 
I made no blanket statement that they were the "best closed cans available", which I agree would have been inappropriate. 

You said -  "The TP1s aren't perfect (nothing is), but, in my opinion, they're about as close to it as you're going to get for a library-type environment. I'm just not aware of anything out there that both isolates as well and can compete on SQ."  
 
Sorry, just a bit sensitive to what seems like Ed8 owners having blinders on to TPs and vise versa, you barely see mention of each in their respective threads.  
 

 

[bobeau]

 
Quote:

Bobeau, I sincerely apologize if I have offended you.

 
No, no, no offense at all 

  I didn't mean your statement, sorry for the ambiguity.
 
And I don't mean to offend either - it's just a bit of frustration and it's not really aimed at anyone specific.  It's the whole history of this thread, do a search, next to nothing on the ultrasones, same if you go to the big Ed8 threads, TPs only mentioned recently.  Personally as someone who has to have a closed can, I really wish I had known the TPs were much more than heavily modified $100 headphones (which it appears they clearly are).  But I went for over 6 months not knowing this as no one in that thread ever brought them up.  Radiohead mentioned he preferred them, I did a double-take, then watched Jude's video and did a triple-take and got right in on the group buy.
 
To draw an analogy imagine folks in the LCD-3 thread not discussing the SR-009.  But people are discussing them, quite a bit, because they're trying to suss out what are the best cans out there.  Similar relative price differential.
 
Same thing but to a lesser degree.  But these two really appear to be the best closed cans out there right now, and perhaps I am trying to stir some stuff up to invite comparisons, that's all.  

 

[Infoseeker]

^ There are also the JVC HP DX1000, (or the labled HA DX1000)

 

[bobeau]

    Quote:

^ There are also the JVC HP DX1000, (or the labled HA DX1000)

They're definitely in that tier, as well the very popular D7000s.  I guess the thing is I've seen these three in detailed comparisons, and generally speaking, my gut feeling is the Ed8s come out on top, esp. from the more sr. head-fiers who've owned them all.  
 
Not to be a detractor - I've gone whole hog and gotten ziricote and stax pads on my TPs and am hoping to be blown away.  And I really love my Ed8s, only complaint is somewhat small headstage.  Some people allude to the TPs being like a closed cousin of the LCD-2 and I say bring it 

 

 

[Radio_head]

I think the reason some call the ED8 the best closed can is that Fostex doesn't manufacture Thunderpants.  You have to contact Smeggy and work out the details and wait for a moderately long time or a substantially long time depending on his backlog - or if you have decent DIY skills, some time and money make them yourself.  They're not really a production headphone.  And until recently, with the blitz of Jude's Head-fi TV episode, (which seems to be taken as gospel by many newer members and guests), features on Gizmodo and other tech sites, Thunderpants were not in the spotlight on Head-fi.  I'm hearing that He has 40+ orders on his plate right now, so when there's an influx of new Thunderpants users here we can expect much more comparisons, about 1% of which will be useful.  ("With the Denon's it was like I was in the middle of the symphony hall, but with the Grados I was in the front row of the rock concert.  With the Thunderpants I was third table from the back left in a smoky Jazz club, and with the S-Logic of the Ultrasones I didn't know where the hell I was.")
 
 

 

[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

("With the Denon's it was like I was in the middle of the symphony hall, but with the Grados I was in the front row of the rock concert.  With the Thunderpants I was third table from the back left in a smoky Jazz club, and with the S-Logic of the Ultrasones I didn't know where the hell I was.")
 
 

Hahaha I always laugh at these kinds of statements too.  Makes no sense to me.  On the other hand descriptors that a lot of people here laugh at like "dry" make perfect sense to me. 

 

[Radio_head]

Quote:

Hahaha I always laugh at these kinds of statements too.  Makes no sense to me.  On the other hand descriptors that a lot of people here laugh at like "dry" make perfect sense to me. 

Even the example I gave (within reason) appeals to certain people.  The same way some people learn and memorize through their visual sense, some the auditory, some kinesthetic, that's how they primarily experience the world around them.  Even when describing sound, some find it easiest to verbalize it with visual descriptors, and there is nothing wrong with that.  But I've found two truisms with this:
 
1) If you belong to one group it can be hard to grasp the descriptions of another group as concretely as others within the same group.
2) No matter which group the describer belongs to, they are often wrong.  So do your own listening and come to your own conclusions.  
 

 

[Prospero424]

Quote:

 
...do a search, next to nothing on the ultrasones, same if you go to the big Ed8 threads, TPs only mentioned recently.  Personally as someone who has to have a closed can, I really wish I had known the TPs were much more than heavily modified $100 headphones (which it appears they clearly are).  But I went for over 6 months not knowing this as no one in that thread ever brought them up.

That's a good point, and I certainly grant it.  I've had trouble getting people to outline alternatives in other threads, as well.  It's just that I think it's inevitable when a thread like this is called "Thunderpants!" rather than something like "Closed cans!"  Nothing that can be done about that.
 
I'm glad you brought up the Ultrasones.  I'm also interested in hearing subjective direct comparisons.
 
In fact, that's how I got turned on to the Thunderpants in the first place: I was soliciting advice on a new pair of 'phones after I had an unfortunate incident with my latest Senns, and I mentioned that I was ready for a change and that I was really interested in something with good SQ and a neutral, accurate presentation.  Some of the most experienced members I've seen on these boards pointed me towards the Audio Technica ATH M50, which I almost bought as an intermediate set.  I had made it clear that something like those Ultrasones were way outside of my price range. Then these same folks mentioned the stock Fostex T-50RPs as an alternative.  And from there I decided that I was going all out and get Smeggy to handle the modding for me. I didn't see the Head-Fi TV or Gizmodo pieces until the purchase was already made back in August. So I never would have gone down this road if people hadn't been willing to point out reasonable alternatives!
 
I know, "cool story, bro". Lol.  Anyway, it dovetails into this conversation nicely.

 

[Moostrkraaft]

Quote:

Even the example I gave (within reason) appeals to certain people.  The same way some people learn and memorize through their visual sense, some the auditory, some kinesthetic, that's how they primarily experience the world around them.  Even when describing sound, some find it easiest to verbalize it with visual descriptors, and there is nothing wrong with that.  But I've found two truisms with this:
 
1) If you belong to one group it can be hard to grasp the descriptions of another group as concretely as others within the same group.
2) No matter which group the describer belongs to, they are often wrong.  So do your own listening and come to your own conclusions.  
 

Looks like we have a neuro-linguistic programmer amongst us. It's true some people most of the time say, "I see what you're saying", others "I hear ya", and the rest "I feel ya", indicating the primary way the observer perceives reality. It would be interesting to know the percentage of Head-fiers who lean toward each sense. I have always thought everyone so devoted to audio would be primarily committed to, and understand the world primarily through, his or her auditory experience. Of course, this appears to be short-sighted.
 

 

[Radio_head]

Prospero, with regards to the whole closed cans thing:
 
The whole search for the "perfect closed cans" is like trying to find the best most breathable burka.  The nature of the item is contradicted by the qualification - the best we can hope for is still just a compromise.  

 

[Prospero424]

Oh, absolutely. If you're expecting or demanding perfection, you might as well be riding off with Sancho Panza to confront the giants.  You have to be happy with finding the best of what's available for your needs at your price point.
 
That being said, I don't agree with comparing closed cans to something like a burka and its associated imagery of restriction and inhibition.  I happen to like the sensation of the music coming from inside your head that you get from a good set of closed cans. It's almost like a psychedelic experience at times. I also like the more natural sound of a good set of open cans. Depends on the music, the equipment, and my mood. But that's an in-depth argument for another thread.  I don't want to get too far away from the topic.

 

[milowatch]

 
My original plan was to buy a set of Thuderpants from SMEGGY, however he never responded to my request but I was so eager to try out wood cups on the Fostex.  Becasue of work I have access to workshops with CNC routing machines and 3D modelling, so I set forth a new route.  Instead of turning round cups like Thunderpants and then have to replace the hinges with DIY stuff, cutting the drivers; etc.. I set about doing a drop in replacement of the plastic housing cup and retaining the original plastic piece that mounts the ortho driver.
 
So my end result was an oval cup in the overall external shape as the original cups but with a dome.  To finish it off, I went to another of my work contact to get the head band done with one side in brown Nappa leather and the underside in beige NUBUCK leather. 
 
Now the listening
 
I put everything together with little anticipation of much changes becasue of my previous experience of buying a AUNE headphone amp hoping to get much better sound than my IPHONE.  Which ended up with no big improvements.
 
But to my surprise these new woodies really made miracles.  What was best out of the Fostex, clear mid-range, sharp imaging were all retained.  But something is new; mid low bass, that was never a strength in the original is now present.  I have not even put in the mods that all of the forum is suggesting, only some blu tack on the driver side.
 
I cannot say it is bass heavy, it is definitely not deep bass rock stuff, but now this set of woody cans are now much more balanced to my liking of light Jazz and vocals.
 
 
Overall I spent USD150 for the set of CUPs and USD20 for the headband.  This is an one off project but I anticipate if more is made the price will come down.  So I am considering making a few more sets for my friends for Thanksgiving this year
 
 
Grateful that I am joining the Fostex mod club
 
 
Milowatch

 

[mmayer167]

Excellent bit of craftsmanship there milowatch! 
 
M

 

[200poundsofamp]

Yeah, those look amazing, really nice work. Awesome leather headband too.