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
It seems that the too darker tone of my T10 was caused mainly by the original old very microphonic cable of the headphone... I had treated the jack already with 5 different crystals and stones with success... But this noisy cable was cleaned by adding 6 inches of Chrysocolla beads(4mm),one beads after one glued by magic nano tape, all along the first 6 inches beginning with the jack end of the cable... Results: a bigger soundstage and a less noisy cable with a greater clarity... Incredible power of the Chrysocolla...My love story goes on...
Quick interrupt! Some tips on crystals. Crystals have a memory. They work better when their memory is cleared. So, always wash your crystals in running tap water. You can also demagnetize them with a demagnetizer. Finally, lie crystals out in the sun for 4 hours. Now you’re ready to rock and roll. 
Thanks Geoff, I think I was a bit negligent about that....It is an important fact for us of all to remember before introducing a new crystals in the system...
I dont know for the others, but I am in no need to go to auditorium, or theater, or symphony hall to listen to a real orchestra to compare it to my stereo system...I dont say that this is not a unique experience, it is, each times I go to one...But for an audiophile, when he listen to his audio system and hear a beautiful 3-d presence of each instrument with his natural timbre in his own space, that is an unmistakable experience...There is indeed "after"and "before"... There is always place for improvement, but "after" we gained this level of accuracy this is only minors improvements...And the feeling of this experience does not need any warrenty, or proof hearing with the real thing: a real concert to compared to...The 2 experience are totally different, but each one convey his "own reality" … No need to compare...


I live trough this moment of truth with my new headphones, that takes many, many modifications and tweaks, but for the first time (after nine headphones that I never loved) I live this truly enlightened hearing experience, when you realized all you had missed " before"...And in this moment only exist music, no more the sound frequencies in itself or for itself, only music, « the real presence of the lived atmosphere of the room» where the musician were playing and the musician themselves there only for you...


The good news is that it takes not so much money to live it, only precautions about vibrations, and treatment for the noise level of the gear, of the room, and of the house...For sure the luck to buy TOTL headphone or speakers for peanuts, and the patience to modify them toward their true potential, correcting defects, for example in the case of my orthodynamic headphone Fostex T10: the horrible microphonic cable that unbeknownst to me was elevating the noise level very high...But after that mods, this is for the first time heaven, only music that i cannot stop to listen to and that I NEVER listen to EVER, even if I own the cd for decades in the past....It takes me 7 years to attain this goal...The Fostex T10 is a TOTL headphone, unknown to most, rare for sure, but priced peanuts if you know his true potential and modify it a little bit...This headphone sound now in league with the priciest headphone in the market or just under, in term of quality level...I am very lucky.... I wishes some luck to you all... We all deserve that...
Tonight I did some more experimenting with shungite. I listening to a track without the shungite and became familiar with it and had it fresh in my mind. I then placed a shungite pyramid on the outside of the breaker box, with the point facing away and the base facing towards where the two hot mains enter the panel. The base of the pyramid is about 3” square and roughly 3” tall. I’m not sure if the shape matters but I included the description here for completeness. I went back to the listening room and listened to the same song. A change in the music was readily apparent. What I noticed most was a change in the midrange frequencies, like they were a bit louder or brought more forward in the soundstage. I went and removed the shungite and listened to the same track again and the sound changed to like before the experiment began. Interesting. In this experiment, I slightly preferred the setup with no shungite. This doesn’t surprise me since I have no clue what I’m doing as far as the following factors are concerned: placement in system, mass of crystal, distance from the cables, number of crystals, etc. At this point I’m not exactly trying to fix or improve something specific in my system; I’m just tinkering. The fact that I could use shungite to seemingly alter the midrange frequencies and/or affect the “forward-ness” of the presentation makes me believe that if one knew what they were doing they could use crystals to tweak their system to achieve a certain sound. Mahgister seems to have done a lot of research here and a few others but overall, crystal applications in audio systems like what’s been discussed in this thread seems like a frontier that needs a lot more research and experimentation.