Life as a whole is pretty much just one big gigantic freakin miracle and that goes double for recordings and hifi.
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 19 responses by mapman
They are not expensive if still around and worth finding. I also have multiple Sennheiser phones that I use a Chord Mojo portable DAC/amp with. The little jeweled AT phones are very close...no special amp/dac needed. Then I also have grado sr80e phones that I believe GK also owns and tweaks to sound their best. Not bad alone but they do benefit used with the Chord Mojo. |
Mahgister here is something of a headphone miracle you might appreciate. I have a pair of these Audio Technica on-ear headphones. https://www.google.com/search?q=athfw33&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS603US603&hl=en-US&prmd=mvin&... I cannot believe how good sounding they are even off a standard iphone dongle. How do they do it? Everything is crystal clear and the bass is extended and clean despite the small size. No headphone amp needed. I’m betting the unique crystal like faceted form of the enclosures help. |
No idea how this works but very cool. A picture is worth a thousand words. I think you’ve scared off GK who seems to be mostly just bluster, comedy and insults when it comes to actually offering any evidence that he he is not just lazily about all talk and callously selling other peoples junk for a premium to make a few bucks. |
I have a geology background and have actually taught mineralogy and petrology (also paleontology) labs as a university teaching assistant in a past life. So I am not an expert but know something about minerals and their crystal structure. Applications in audio, is not something taught anywhere TTBOMK. It’s mostly hearsay with little to substantiate claims. If you find something that works and can demonstrate and document it quantifying how and why, that would be something. Good luck! |
Oops....yes he was for a change......don’t mind me..... I wish they would have had classes on geologic applications in home audio back in school. Right down my alley.... I do have a lot of rock and mineral and fossil samples I’ve collected in the field over the years, even a large quartz crystal on display totally by chance in my listening room, not to mention my trusty old rock hammer still ready for action if needed. |
Well there is this application for quartz crystals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_synthesizer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_oscillator |
As I understand it the crystal must be subjected to physical stress like a vibration to release an electrical charge or vice versa. So if you are hearing something and that is not the case that would indicate what you are hearing is due to something other than piezoelectric characteristics of your crystals. Even if that were the case, how that would necessarily result in better sound is beyond me. I suppose if enough electric charge were released in proximity to a sensitive circuit, there would be some effect even if not audible. |
One possibility for a definite improvement, as opposed to just a change or nothing, is if the carbon or crystals provided some kind of shielding effect. That’s possible I suppose but if so there may be other more practical ways to achieve similar effect, mu metal for example. I use that with my low-level phono step-up transformer. Hum and noise induced from nearby appliance motors or other devices nearby is readily apparent otherwise. |
I can’t think of any reason or scenario where crystals would have a positive effect. Mucking with a signal is usually a bad thing unless mucked with in a very specific way for a very specific reason. One might perceive a positive effect due to expectation bias in any case no matter what the change. Crystals for example are cool and interesting (to a geologist anyway) so one wants to hear positive results? That’s not to say it can’t have some effect whenever new electric fields are present or teh material affects those already present. Any of the minerals mentioned might be capable of this in some cases, crystals due to piezo electricity and the mineral composed mostly of carbon in proximity MIGHT have some effect on the existing electromagnetic fields. Same true with external magnetic fields. We know what they can do to signals and its always bad ie add noise and distortion. Less noise/distortion is typically the desired outcome, not more. Noise/distortion is always public enemy #1 when it comes to good sound quality. Not to say in some cases adding noise/distortion might produce some perceived positive effect. An example would be adding random dither but that again is a very specific addition added in a very specific way for a very specific purpose. So the experiments are interesting but I personally do not see a clear scenario where the effects would be clearly positive. Interesting stuff though. |