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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
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mahgister OP
13,213 posts
 
* hacking little Jésus face under the 3 magus smiling face*

May all that you ask for everybody return to you thousand fold times...


Happy Christmas asvjerry….
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,213 posts
 
Under my amplifier the "golden" pyramid, upside down because the shungite side must face the gear belly, all copper tape covered except for the basis, where I glued some Herkimer diamond cable connected to my other stones, gives me an improved layerings of sound, evident after few minute listenings and more so after few hours... I put some photos in my "virtual systems" audiogon thread...


I had the same audible dividend, less spectacularly evident, with another "golden" pyramid placed the shungite basis on the power cord of my Panamax surge protector and power conditioner....


By the way, plate or pyramid, or cubical shungite, the geometrical form is without importance for the audio effect...Only the placement orientation of the shungite face, and the location of the "golden" shungite , mainly, on the breaker electrical panel, on my router-modem, on interconnectors or mains cable, on top or under my S.G. on power conditioner, on unused duplex wall plugs, and perhaps the windows( that I must try)...


Merry Christmas to you all , I wish to you celestial music experiences, awaked or in dreams... 
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,213 posts
 
The most difficult effect to gain for me was the improved dynamics, the natural timbre and the holographic layerings imaging soundstage the second elements....The dynamics being the first and easy to degrade....It seems the "golden" plates, help a lot for dynamics and not only for imaging...

My stone grid tweaks, S.G. tweaks, and vibration-resonance controls tweaks, help a lot for timbre, and imaging, less so for dynamics...The room treatment help tough... But the "golden" plates help on all counts dynamics included....
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mahgister OP
13,213 posts
 
For the last 2 years, all my modifications and tweaks were always cumulatively improving, except for the moment of normal trials and errors with each one of them… The success of my "golden" plates is manifesting on top of that...

It is impossible to perceive an effect coming from a tweak, or some modifications, at the same level, in a completely different environment and system...This is the reason why some people experiment little effect using a S.G. for example...

I will repeat myself here, but the only reason for my thread is giving hope to some who dreams about Hi-Fi without the money to afford it...

It is possible to give that to ourselves with relatively little money, if we think about what can be done and must be done...

The reason why is simple: an already good amplifier at low cost, used or vintage will gives you already a very high potential quality, ready to be tap into, at the necessary condition to optimize the audio environment, the electrical embeddings, and the acoustical atmosphere of the room, and the mechanical embeddings of the gear...We, most of us, even the poor one, owns already minimally good amplifier... Even good dac, and good speakers, relatively speaking...

Remember that the most important factor being not the gear by itself but the conditions of these triple different embeddings ….Remember that the upgrading moves must be directed to these 3 embeddings environment treatment more than buying the hype...

mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,213 posts
 
For sure in these 2 last years the improvements were there, but even if each one appears big to me at the times, in reality each change were small but very audible.. And always cumulative...

It is only now for the last 2 months, mostly with the "golden" plates that the improvement begins to be staggering...My musical files were no more bad, each one of them sounds now like 3-D music. And my taste are changing in the exploration direction, because I dont have to protect myself, being exposed to a flawed stereo system no more...It is the same low cost stereo system tough, flawed no more, the way it was... Then the gap between my stereo system and any high cost one is big indeed, but trust me, it is no more an abyss...Only a normal gap , if there is one.... Because some costly system makes precise sounds, not always  very good music indeed...And most of the times this costly gear potentials is very good ,musically, the triple embeddings of these system, unbeknownst to the owner, not always so much...        :)
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