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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...
mahgister
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,802 posts
 
Somebody can say to me thinking that my audio system need an upgrading that it will be better to change my dac or amplifier or even the speakers....

My answers is this: 
Most of you, probably half of you readers, already owns pretty good system in all probability, and my experience and experiments allow me to assert that most of the sound quality of a system comes from not only of his inherent quality of design but also and mostly at the end from the treatment of the room and the house, the controls of resonance and vibrations, and the cleaning of the EMI and RFI, and from the tweaks decreasing the noise floor of the audio grid...Then upgrading only a link in my already good audio chain will be an illusory or a feeble upgrading compared to the cutting off the link between the audio system and the electrical grid...
mitch2
4,336 posts
 
@mahgister 
i am not alone in the craziness, Geoffkait is with me also...
True that....he is certainly showing you the path.  This thread makes my day....could only be bettered if you were to post your system with pictures of all the zip ties, pebbles, labels, Brazilian crystals, copper tape, etc! - Nicely done. Carry on, please...
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,802 posts
 
Thanks for your interest...I am very happy to make you happy....

People are in general very proud of the "appearence" of their gear... if you put some stones, and homemade tweaks on top of your gear that is already stocked tightly on your desk, amp+dac+speakers+computer screen, that dont make pretty and easy pictures...For me only count the final sound quality...I dont give a damn for the look...My audio system was my experiment in the making for the last years...I own the same dac for almost 2 years now, the same amplifier for the last 4 years, the speakers for the last 2 years, only the headphones (8) has been regularly "upgraded" without complete satisfaction, except for the last 2 :  particularly the orthodynamic Fostex T10...


Then the change I have gained with installing these many controls means, tweaks and methods, were way more impactful than changing an already good piece of gear if carefully choosen... This is the reason I started this thread... To partake ideas....To demystify the  conditioned reflex urging us to upgrade at all cost before even thinking to make our already good gear better with low cost tweaks... 
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,802 posts
 
One of my big surprize looking at photos of reviewers using many different gear, or just audiophiles, was the few indications in the photo about the care to isolate, damp, and controls, vibrations and resonance...More than that the carelessness about the electrical embedding of the audio grid, and the more evident carelessness about the acoustical embedding in the room, that is more important sometimes than the choice between 2 trademark speakers...And the absence of tweaks to improve sound is the last worry for these crowds...On many forum almost all discussion is about the merit of different trademark products...

My advice is : You already owned good gear most of the times, think about low cost methods to improve it ...



geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Agree. It’s called mass hypnosis. 😳 😳 😳 😳 Just check out any thread currently running on interconnects, fuses, directionality, isolation - anything that is more than one Sigma away from the what the average dude accepts as his belief system. Please, no agree emails, I’m not talking about religion. Deprogrammers are standing by.
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