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
Congratulations! You are the first to verify this simple experiment I propose to test the audible impact of stones and crystals...

Tourmaline is piezoelectric under the stress of heat, shungite is a carbon based minerals non piezoelectric...

I will return with more...My best to you...
One possibility for a definite improvement, as opposed to just a change or nothing, is if the carbon or crystals provided some kind of shielding effect. That’s possible I suppose but if so there may be other more practical ways to achieve similar effect, mu metal for example. I use that with my low-level phono step-up transformer. Hum and noise induced from nearby appliance motors or other devices nearby is readily apparent otherwise.
Mapman I think you are right... Shielding is one aspect that explain certainly in part the audible effect but not all I think... Remember my stones are connected in a grid, if i disconnect some cables the effect is audible for each stones and connection with a degree of impact that is variable but observable...My best to you...
Mapman I understand your point but you forget one important thing :

The process of using crystals is not simple indecomposable one act or gesture....It is a set of experiments each time conducted with the feed back of your ears...Each crystals and stones had his proper effect very different of one another... The experiment consist in trying each stone to improve the sound and when, imaging is better, soundstage is better, instrumental timbre better etc etc Bingo it is it...But sometimes we must try a few because one stone or crystal can accentuate a set of frequencies at the expanse of other frequencies in an individuated particular audio system embedded in a particular electrical grid... The idea to connect with cables my stones comes after I observed that certain stones act better if I located them together, because one compensate for the action of the other with positive results...( I even go further adding not only batteries but Shumann Generator that enhance the stones grid being connected to it) 

After that I decide to connect with a very thin hair-like cable some duos of stones, located at different spots in my audio system and that was great, because they all compensate for one another...I added batteries that enhance the stones grid...

Then your objection is only valid virtually, in reality and concretely i use different stones to correct exaggerated effects...The final results is not distorsions "per se" but better music...

A stone is like a tube inserted in an audio system, the distorsion introduced can be favorable or detrimental...We must choose each tubes correctly... Samething with stones that act collectively if connected...


Tourmaline , Chrysocolla or malachite, jade or nephrite, lava beads, kambaba jasper, Madagascar agate, varieties of quartz (lemurian or pink etc) ataxite, shungite, and many others all had a proper effect that you can pinpoint...

For example I recommend to the gentleman MKGUS that observe the effect on his electrical central panel 2 stones to begin with at this spot :

It is not an accident if I say so...Tourmaline added always like a filtering effect, some clarification of the sound frequencies... And shungite gives body to the sound among others effects and act always good in connector or power strip etc... Shungite is a powerful shielding stone that act synergetically with crystals... The 2 together must generally at this spot act positively...

Like MKGUS said : «For one, the imaging seemed all over the place so much so that it sounded like a new track I’m not familiar with »

This seems to me the beginning of a positive effect... The rest of the story is only refinement with trials and errors...Like I myself play with, experimenting many dozen of stones for the last years...My system dont only "distort" the signals like a bad tube amplifier but makes music better like a good tube amplifier, in one case the distortion is perveived like a noise, in another case the distortion is perceived like music... … This is a fact...
I must say one important thing now... The experiment I give to MKGUS is only a beginning...

One must before playing with the idea of a grid of stones,

FIRST treat his system against mechanical vibrations and resonance...Most audiophile underestimated completely the plague of resonance in his negative effect on the sound trough ALL pieces of gear even the power strip etc...

SECOND, treat his room because the sound of the speakers is makes BY the room TO the ears, even in nearfield listening...


THIRD and only third you can begin to treat the electro-magnetic grid of the house, and of the audio system (it is not the samething) The stones can help there, because they will act like some filters and will lower the general noise level of the electrical grid and also inserted in the audio grid they will lower the noise level around the connectors, cables and each pieces of gear...