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 think yes that cables crossings, power cord with interconnects for example generates a lot of noise...I have not tried all possibilities about cables but I experiment a little and they generates noise if not isolated and in contact with floor or one another....
But there is more to add to that tweak, try my "golden" plates, they are cheap to buy, easy to made, and you will be pleased by the impactfull effect on the noise level... especially on the central breaker panels, behind the speakers  rear face and with thin and small plate on top of interconnect...

 Merry Christmas to you and your family...


My best to you and to all, like always and forever...
The " golden" plates behind speakers add not only separation imaging to the sound... I already got that in an increasing way with all improvement I got from the beginning...


But behind the speakers the plates added some " 3-d many layerings " to the sound, a more perfect separation… And a biggest sound stage in near listening field.... In regular listening also... When you have it going back is no more an option...
Merry Christmas and best wishes for a Happy New Year to you and yours, Mahgister.

Thanks for your postings about various tweaks and especially use of Shungite.  I appreciate having another potential path to "perfection".
Your kind words are very appreciated.... I wish you the best now and forever... And if possible report here some of your experiments.... Merry Christmas to you ...