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
Oups! You answer perfectly  now to my other unasked question... Thanks and my best....
I had covered another chunk of shungite with copper ...Another "golden" pyramid this times, connected to my other stones, only the basis exposed without copper... I place  the shungite basis toward the amplifier belly... The "golden" pyramid being under the amplifier, near the transformer... Improvement on imaging, better timbre etc... I place an Herkimer diamond in the center of the shungite basis connected with a cable to my stones grid...


It seems that my audio system increasing quality is amazing thanks to the plates...
Its good mahgister that you figured out what a waste of time he is. Many think its harmless fun. But its not. Malevolent word-salad jokers like him make it easy to dismiss and hard to take seriously when sincere audio investigators like you come along. Which I know, because it happened to me. Thought for a long time you were just another nut job. Well this site has more than its fair share of them, for sure. So many I hardly ever come back to a thread after posting. Even scanning post after post of nonsense and dreck is just too soul-sapping.

But I tried one of your ideas. Put my hand around the speaker cable and the amount of vibration was shocking! Was playing a demagnetizing sweep track and the vibration dies out quick above the mid-bass but the way it was shaking below about 100 Hz was unbelievable! Never would have imagined....

Haven't had time and not that keen on getting tape stuck all over my expensive Synergistic CTS but your idea has been on my mind. SR Atmosphere interconnects have ground wires. When connected to ground they really lower the noise floor. Which got me to thinking....

Got some hookup wire. Very thin gauge wire with very thin insulator, very much like the wire used in transformer windings. Wrapped around the cable it should help control vibration. Being wire it would also conduct, and connected to ground might even work like the SR ground.

What do you think? Have you done anything like this?
I think yes that cables crossings, power cord with interconnects for example generates a lot of noise...I have not tried all possibilities about cables but I experiment a little and they generates noise if not isolated and in contact with floor or one another....
But there is more to add to that tweak, try my "golden" plates, they are cheap to buy, easy to made, and you will be pleased by the impactfull effect on the noise level... especially on the central breaker panels, behind the speakers  rear face and with thin and small plate on top of interconnect...

 Merry Christmas to you and your family...


My best to you and to all, like always and forever...