this is the first miracle on this thread...:)
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...
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...
Showing 50 responses by mahgister
Thanks whostolethebatmobile I note that... By the way our experiments are different, we use stones and crystals, mine natural, yours artificial, it is interesting for me to learn about your experiments... Just a word about my use of stones,rocks, and crystals... I put them all along the way from my gear to the electrical central panel of my house...(for example tiles of shungite on top of the electrical central panel of my house made miracles to the sound) each rocks act his own way, I listen to decide which is his way... The minerals that are on my gear or near them are connected by cables with one another with thin copper cable (hairlike), all is linked to magnets placed on 6 volts or 1.5 volts batteries (A dozen). This grid change the image and sound to my liking, ...I treated all my room at low cost by trials and errors with my ears, and added many Helmholtz bottles and 4 Schuman Generator tweaked with minerals, and cabled with some home made antennas...I use my ears and modify my gear in a process that gave to me more and more quality...The minerals are the costly parts...If I add all costs...The last result is so shokingly good I dont believe it myself...It is the tweaks I made on my cheapest headphone that is now the best I ever heard... Fostex TH-7B...I decide to post this miracle and wait for some others to describe to me their own miracle...I thank you for that...The experience of one inspire all... |
Remember that cabling the stones augment their compensating mutual influence and power (the thinner the cable the better with some battery) If I take off my stones my soundspace decrease between my speakers without any depth...In nearfield listening or normal listening...In my headphone or in my speakers the effect is the same and audible ... |
The 3 more potent stones I know are in order : Shungite( may damage sound if too much near some gear but act more on the environment of the sound), Herkimer (enhancer and clarifier of sound), Tourmaline (clarity of sound)...They are useful in audio, and without them really my actual system does not please me... Some other stones are interesting and I use them...varieties of Quartz, pink, lemurian etc they all have their particularities...Audible... Agathe of Madagascar and amethyst are good also but way less potent act more on timbre …. I like the effect of Kambaba Jasper, this kind of stone had an effect very special on the imaging of the sound in space... Jade or his cousin nephrite also but more tenderly...I love nephrite... |
I listen now a files that I listened to the last time 45 years ago on a turntable with Tannoy speakers....David Munrow medieval music Art of the Netherlands....And the effect is speaker- like in my headphone cheap Fostex with Herkimer and each cup damped with sorbothane and the headband also damped for negative resonance; for sure also with shungite on each of the cup... … I remember each sound of this marvellous interpretation like yesterday because the sound from my Fostex now is the same that from my speakers at these times... In my other headphone that does not sound so much like 45 years ago with this astounding bass voice behind....The most important factor for me in music listening is the naturalness of the timbre and after that imaging... |
Wikipedia :«Goethe also had the largest private collection of minerals in all of Europe. By the time of his death, in order to gain a comprehensive view in geology, he had collected 17,800 rock samples.» Wikipedia text: « Novalis, himself a geologist and mining engineer, expressed the opinion that Goethe was the first physicist of his time and ’epoch-making in the history of physics’, writing that Goethe’s studies of light, of the metamorphosis of plants and of insects were indications and proofs ’that the perfect educational lecture belongs in the artist’s sphere of work’; and that Goethe would be surpassed ’but only in the way in which the ancients can be surpassed, in inner content and force, in variety and depth—as an artist actually not, or only very little, for his rightness and intensity are perhaps already more exemplary than it would seem’» Younger I read all Novalis, geologist and poet with an unsurpassed intuition and dead before 30... |
Stumbling on an unexpected opportunity,for example the relatively unknown dac I discover by chance and reading on EBAY is what I call luck...This dac I bid for it 20 bucks is irreplaceable by ratio quality/price, really irrepleacable...That is a part of my audio history and this is really luck... Dac of the highest quality cost are really high, it is very difficult to own an endgame at a cheap price... Nearly impossible ...Without luck and some search for sure... |
You know the story of Napoleon? One day some women ask him how he choose his marshalls...He smile when the ladies speak of force, strength, skill, strategy, intelligence, horsemanship, he smile a while and say :«My ladies a marshall is useful for a long time only if he has luck»...Luck is one of the decisive factor in life... Without luck the other factors are not so useful...And without any other things luck can make someone go a long marvellous way...Konwledge is very importand and study, but luck is a factor also... |
I had the same idea some years ago ! wow! Minus some differences :) My platform isolation sandwiches: (1) quartz pieces for the Woodpecker head bone that serve me as feet for the gear (yes the pecker is on his head!) (2) Bamboo and cork for his brain tissue (3)granite plate+sorbothane for is regular bones and ligaments |
I use Fo.Q TA-32 tape once for my headphone Fostex to damp the resonance with success, the tape enhance the highs frequencies audibly better... I use also sorbothane like I have already said... I think that the Fo.Q tape use micro crystals...I am not sure... https://www.lotusgroupusa.com/foq.html |
Whostolethebatmobile, you made me think about all the problems of making that powder :) Perhaps I will try that and buy you some after.... This is my china site for that : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1792459432.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.71d34c4dD41PzR |
geoffkait I apologize totally if I put some words in your mouth, sometimes I react swiftly and your humor is not for low IQ like mine... :) |
Geoff are you serious? The 2 methods are different and the 2 had probably some advantage... First I know firsthand that plain rocks had an effect, in solo or in group at some location, that I know firsthand like you... But I know also that the effect even if it is there, audible, may be subtle to discern...It is the reason why, if the effect is there but faint or small, that I decide to cabled the stones, that’s works ,and that’s works more with batteries... But using the powder rocks or crystals powder that is not news; the first times I read about that, I bought a tuning Fo.Q tape to try... That’s works also... Then alive or dead (crushed) the stones and crystals rocks anyway... Give it a try an "humbly" ask for a samplers to test, science first, EGO second.... |
Precisely that, I read it like a serious opinion then I give my take on it, without prejudice, for me plain solid rocks works, and powder reduced one too in different application like on cable... By the way I added some Fo.Q tape 2 days ago on my Fostex headphone, they already have some of this tape on them dated from 2 years ago, with success... The Fostex TH 7 B is a TOTL headphone unbeknown to almost all reviewer at cheap cost (less than 100 bucks new) , a miracle wonder, but plagued by heavy resonace all across the spectrum because of his plastic made cups...Damping them with sorbothane but mostly Fo.Q tape transform them in the better headphone I ever listen to...Herkimer stones in the inside cups achieve the job and they are spealer-like now with natural timbre and organic imaging...For 50 bucks new at the times I receive them, I underestimated them for years, because of their price and bad resonance...After I tweak them WOW, upgrading them is impossible at a cheap cost... This Fo.Q tape is composed of powder reduced crystals of some kind...Like you already know crystals are efficient for damping also... |
Elizabeth I am glad that shungite works for you,but now if you want to compensate a bit and improve you can try a black tourmaline chunk near the shungite + an Herkimer diamond to enhance the 2 stones, try to put the Herkimer on top of the shungite or on top of the tourmaline with blutak and see what works for you... |
We ever underestimated the negative impact of resonance and negative mechanical vibrations on the gear...Even those like us that are conscious of the fact... I added sorbothane (compressed with tapes because sorb must be compressed to works better) to separate more the 2 cups linked by the headband... After adding band of sorb along the plastic arms that pivot on the cups by 2 points, the results are more 3-d holographically organic imaging...I was amazed already by these cheap Fostex TH 7 , I am more amazed...This low cost Fostex are the best headphone ever relatively to the ratio quality/price...i will not upgrade this... The akg 701 dont have an organic 3-d imaging... Only an incoherent big soundstage, and mids frequencies more artificial than the Fostex… The Akg 340 is better for the mids frequencies, almost king there among most of the headphone, but his good imaging are more artificial than the Fostex, his soundstage smaller on all count...And this AKG is too unconfortable for long use...The Hifiman 400 is no match nor the Stax i owns for naturalness of the timbre musical or voice except the Stax SR5 very good on this count but less amazing in the imaging and soundstage...Fostex TH7, semi-open; the last version is completely closed, improved, but is the fantastic imaging the same? I will buy one for sure this year... For me except the imperative necessity of the natural voicing of the timbre, the most important feature of an headphone is his capacity to mimic speakers, for that the sound must not be only around the brain, but must seems to come from at least outside the head with an atmospheric distance between instruments (imaging)...Almost all headphones lacks these 2, and those that posess the first quality 9like the AKG 340 or the Stax SR5) lack the second (many headphone like the AKG 701 are a compromise between these 2 qualities but they excel at none)...It is the reason that i try many headphones, and after all these trials conclude that headphones are not from me...I decide then to try at last the cheaper one, with many modifications, and the results is there : they sound better now, on par, but differently than my speakers...I enjoy headphones now very much... Is there better headphone than this Fostex ? Hell yes ! But probably over 500 bucks is my guess, perhaps more, because natural mids frequencies coupled with perfect organic imaging is probably linked to the TOTL line of headphone...Dont forget that new they sell them now 100 bucks at most... |