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Miracles in Audio, by luck, by good choices,by design or by tweaking...

I owned a low cost headphone for many years, the Fostex TH7B, first version( a new one close version exist Fostex TH7BK), semi-open headphone...I was never completely satisfied by any headphones I ever owned: Hifiman 400, Stax basic lamda, Stax 5 gold,Akg 340,Akg 701, beyerdynamic 990, and T150... Because in each of them with all their qualities I never listen to at the same times, a confortable headphone with natural timbre and voicing, with a good imaging and a realistic soundstage(not too close to my ears)...


For the last days I tweaked this Fostex, to damp his internal resonance I used sorbothane, I put some shungite stones at the exterior part of the cups and I use some Herkimer diamond in the interior pads( 3 at 120 degree) … Now this low cost headphones crush all my others if I sum all his qualities... For example his mids and voicing cannot beat the AKG 340 but among all my other headphones it is the best that is near that mids and it is more confortable, and with longer cable than the 340...His imaging is better and more realistic than the 340 etc etc...It is the same if I compare with the others...


His most important qualities is natural timbre and clear imaging,very precise pinned point accuracy and natural, so clear it crush for that ALL the others to dust...In the French audio circle the reviews were more than very positive few years ago...Diapason d’or and choc Classica...I am not the only one impressed buy the ratio quality/price... But remember that thesae reviewers dont tweak their headphone...The difference between before and after the tweaks are staggering...


Yes Miracles happens in Audio: cost is under 100 American dollars... Few years ago they cost me 50 bucks new... I never dreamed that I will go back to headphones...


I will enjoy your miracles stories of any kind ….My best to all...
128x128mahgister
bemused
121 posts
 
Very interesting discussion here. 
May I just throw in the idea of resonance. Resonating signals is an interesting phenomenon, audio signals included whether acoustic or electronic.
Imo a great tweak, and a fair value for the price are the early QRT Quantum products as well as the current ADD-Powr ElectraClear and Symphony field generators made by Coherence Systems. 
Talk about resonance these gizmos really do a sweet number to my system!
Even they can be tweaked by the crystals, ferrite materials, etc.
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,043 posts
 
bemused thanks my friend for your interesting remarks.... Can you gives us more details about your experience and these products? For example the models you owns, the change they provide, the improvement in some counts? The price/ ratio quality for you? How do you tweaked them? Thanks for your time and participation... My best to you...


I am really interested by the electraclear because of the low price (75 dollars) and their idea if I understand is original and ring a bell in my head it seems so....

The description of how his product works ring a bell in my head, because perhaps the crystals and stones coupled to a Schumann Generator that is linked to my stones grid work like that it seems: inducing a resonance that affect the different coupled electro-magnetic fields of the room which enhanced by the crystals and stones improves the imaging ,timbre, etc.. Like I already said I am not a scientist at all, my intuitive stance is only a way to convey a possibility of an explanation, not an actual explanation...
bemused
121 posts
 
I own a couple Symphony Pros and several ElectraClears. The change is such that the openness in the sound stage is remarkable. The sound is fuller more rounded. When removed the sound simply collapses as if the air went out of the balloon.
The ElectraClears really clarify the lows to mids and some, whereas the Symphony units open up the mids to the highs. They are modest in manufacture perhaps, but still are attractive enough and worthy of sharing a space in a rack or on a nearby shelf. I've placed some tourmaline and shungite in a baggies near the power cord or on the ElectraClears.
A little goes a long way, as too much might lower noise but kind of emphasize the bass frequencies.




 
bemused
121 posts
 
I spent about $800-850 to procure the above.
It is cumulative in that, yes, more than one adds more realism to the sound. You can hear such detail and even ambiance in the room where the recording was made becomes very apparent.
The recordings sound believable, very authentic, because now the harmonic details have emerged which were always there but were not readily perceivable. I attribute this because of resonance applied by way of low frequency field "tuning", if you will, the audio signal in the system.

mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,043 posts
 
Some examples of my experiments:

Tourmaline will clarify the frequencies (i work mainly with the black varieties because of lowest price)...

Chrysocolla will open the imaging....Kambaba jasper also but in a more subtle manner...

Shungite will gives body to the sound but too much can be detrimental and generally shungite works best near power source, power cord, cables … Do not put shungite on top of the gear..

Nephrite add a gentle velvet texture to the sound...It is difficult sometimes to describe with words these effect of stones.

Herkimer diamond work in enhancing the effect of  any stones or crystals and clarify also the frequencies but work really best coupled to another stones...

Agate and amethyst are also good but less powerful in the working than most of the stones i already mentioned...
Banded Agate and Madagascar agate touch the body of the sound, amethyst work more his hues colored timbre...


Varieties of quartz works powerfully but better coupled with other stones...They work from the high frequencies toward lows...(agate works more from lows to mids on the coloration timbre)

Lava beads are very powerful and works always  with the main power source if this source is very noisy ( lava are not so good on the gear)...But lava works better coupled with another stones to mitigate his powerful bleaching effect, for example with shungite or with agate...
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