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
Badmouthing somebody does not attract me much...Then I must be old...Learning is a process beginning in myself when I listen to someone, think about it, react and experiment myself if possible... I learned a lot on the audio forums, that suggest some new ideas to me to makes my dream comes true...

My dream was to have a real good musical system for low costs...I dont have big money...My amplifier is a vintage Sansui Au 7700 (100 bucks+100 bucks of repairs) dac (50 bucks) Speakers vintage Mission Cyrus 50 bucks) +some headphones...Nude and out of the box, without any tweaks, even if my choice of gear were very good indeed, I was not in love with my system... But after cleaning the vibrations and resonance, after treating my room, after cleaning some noise in the electrical grid, after creating my cabled stones grid enhanced by S.G. and some batteries, I must say that there is no comparison at all between before and after... Conclusion : buying good gear is not enough to gained heaven... Listening, thinking, tweaking is mandatory... Listening the experience of others was that gives me the impulse and direction some years ago...I create something of my own, that seems silly, but anyone who listen to my system think that I am an also a creative silly man … And writing to you I am listening marvellous music without thinking about sound... There is other way to improve my system but I love it now and I can wait and play with new tweaks without desesperation about the sound...

By the way listening to Geoffkait is (always) often  interesting... :)


This is my story...I beg your pardon to repeat myself...My best to you...
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You are too drastic sometimes Geoffkait ...I dont think mapman to be a trouble maker ...He express his opinion being polite...I appreciate that...For sure he does not listen to Geoffkait explanations with the same interest than me that’s all... His story is not like mine it seems...We are "olddogs" Geoffkait, he is probably much younger....Then we must be patient... :)

If I remember correctly he is a geologist, and in audio we need geologist also.... I like geology now.... :)
And frankly I dont want to be here the  only one  with you Geoffkait, we need polite and dynamic antagonism for an interesting discussion... Dont you think?
I was being polite. Until the troublemaker showed up. This conversation can serve no purpose any more.