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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
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Two guys are sitting next to each other on a commercial jet. One guy turns to the other and says, “Those people down there look just like ants.” The other guy responds, “They are ants. We haven’t left the ground yet.”
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,113 posts
 
All is relative for sure G.K. alias Tom Cruise... This is a good anecdote and a deep one indeed... But our feeling are absolute when we feel them and in musical experience that’s all that is important...My fundamental audiophile test on the subjective side and diminishing returns law on the objective side control all the parameters of this/ your relative perspectival field ... :)
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mahgister OP
13,113 posts
 
By the way Geoff I know where I came from... My actual system (a mid-fi good one at least carefully choosen) is Top mission speakers and one of the top Sansui amplifier with a very good Dac… I know what that system sound before my tweaking adventure... And trust me that was a sound incomparable to what is the sound now, after all tweaks...

Then most people are like me with an already good system most of the times but without knowing nor listening to the true potential of their actual audio system like I was in the beginning... That is my point not boosting with superlative about my own system...The superlative reflect my amazement not a contempt toward other system or other people at all... For me most audio system carefully choosen are already good, the only lacking factor is the necessary tweaks to transform them in an almost TOTL audio system...Nevermind the marketing or engineering justification for new costly products, most very good amplifiers and speakers of the past years are very good, and it is absolutely not necessary to upgrade them most of the times, but it is necessary to clean, controls, tweaks them, yes...

Listen to your own past or vintage gear for the first time, this is my motto...
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,113 posts
 
Geoff in few words, I can assure you that I see small people now not ants...Or put simply: my plane fly...Perhaps not in highest possible altitude but I fly man !... :)
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,113 posts
 
There is not one day passing without improvement with the lowering of the noise level that makes me conscious of this problem... Perhaps the only big problem for audiophile...

On other forums and thread if I read I discover at which point this noise level problem is underestimated...In my own system today, my wife decide to clean the windows, I had to disconnect something only to discover a bad connection unbeknownst to me and reconnecting the stones discovering a very audible improvement...I place also another shungite tile on the central electrical panel, the fifth one, with an audible improvement also...

In my headphones, the amazing fact of the evening after using the micro crystals was the discovery of the impact of the Herkimer diamonds that I place near the micro crystals in the earpads... What an evening! The Fostex were really holographic 3 d imaging after that like I NEVER listening to in any of my other headphones... This cheap Fostex are now for me high end cans... Their sound and imaging is on par with my speakers...

On this audio journey I am baffled...Dont buy the hype about new products , what you own is ptobably already good enough, rather enter in the battle against noise...Noise is the wall between you and music heaven, and not so much the deficiencies you think your actual audio system seems to have in his courant state... The problem reside entirely in the non treated embeddings of your audio system...Dont buy anything, think about that and read about noise level and room treatment and resonance controls also...
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