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
I admit it’s hard to tell sometimes. Just don’t tell me tomorrow you took the one remaining Golden shungite off the Black SR and you got even more detail. 🤗
Dont beat me it is your idea that I had try … I never double before the "golden" plate anywhere for the simple reason that it was not possible to try that with my speakers, my central breaker box, nor my cheap S.G.... And on the interconnects I never sandwiche my connection with a double plates... I only wanted to try your idea with the new thin S.G. and find that it is better with one plate...


But if I think about that, your system is off the grid and without speakers... And all connections are internal to your walkman then I think that only one thin plate will be ok then the cost is very low (few bucks)....Not necessary to buy a lot of shungite… :)


I was doing about five tweaks simultaneously. My bad. Happy Gnu Year 🐃
Thank you G.   I wish you  also all the best for this  "gnu" year, (indeed a new beast to add to the Chinese horoscope).  :)