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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
13,871 posts
 
It seems Akiko company, an audiophile brand, has reserve and not so much enthusiasm with the use of shungite...You can read that somewhere in the middle of the review...

https://6moons.com/audioreviews2/akiko/1.html

«At the Akiko laboratory many materials were tested and found wanting for the intended task. Shungite, a material with a positive reputation in the alternative health movement for electro smog removal, didn’t work at all. So the search continued... »  Akiko
 

This contradict my own experience, but is this company using the shungite with the copper and with the Herkimer diamond? I bet no... That explain all for me...


Like I already said in my preceding post shungite is powerful but very delicate to use....
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Is is possible what you’re hearing is only the copper foil? And the shungite is only a placebo. 😬 One also wonders if the adhesive on the back of the shungite plates is conductive.

mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,871 posts
 
No :)

(Not only placebo for sure, even if the placebo effect play a role in all audio this effect does not explain all audio and Geoffkait know that for sure)


The shungite, it is one of my first experience, act powerfully, positively but at the same time particularly negatively in proximity with the gear....

But observing the powerful impact , I decide to put it far from the gear, on the breaker central panel, the router of the house computers, on the wall plugs, etc... There, even without copper or H.D. (Herkimer diamond) the impact was more positive than negative...


After that I added the copper and the H. D., I experience NO more negative impact, only positive, and the greatest positive impact I ever experience … But remember that coupled with the S.G. these "golden" plates has no negative effect for my ears now....


If it is placebo I wanted to buy more … :)



I will repeat my words :

«The SHUNGITE IN GENERAL IS DELICATE TO USE with only audio positive effect and nothing else... The shungite can add some negative trade-off in some place and use but that it is easy to compensate keeping only the positive impact...

For this compensation the copper tape act like some polarization of the shungite action, and the Herkimer diamond added some balancing effect on all frequencies without erasing the impactful force of the shungite cleaning noise action....

A word of caution :These posts are only words to convey my experience and not science at all.... »

mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,871 posts
 
By the way the S.G. without these "golden" plate +H.D. dont work so powerfully...

My experience with the S.G. is positive but particularly if the S.G. are modified with stones near them...And even the cheap one work audibly in the good direction... I tested that by disconnecting some...
mahgister's avatar
mahgister OP
13,871 posts
 
I only bought 2 audiophile products: Alan Maher plug and Bybee plate...

The 2 work but the impact was not so great compared with my plates... The impact was positive but not at the same level of my homemade solutions....And the used price for these 2 products exeed the price of almost all my plates... 


I wish I can buy other products to test but  I dont have this possibility....I am very happy with my simple medicine...
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