Everyone loves it because it's a cheap ortho and it sounds amazing for its price. All you really need is a more comfortable set of ear pads and it's magic.
Thanks for recommending the Denon pads. I bought a pair for my t50rp MKIII's and stretched the pads over the vents giving them better bass. I didn't like the Brainwavz hybrid pads because they set the drivers too far away from the ear making it sound a bit distant but the Denon pads are thinner which makes them perfect.
So, I got these, and I got to trying out other Pads I have lying around. The thing I noticed is that the stock pads are as flat as they are because they need to, in order for a good sound out of these you want to be relatively close to the driver. With a pair of Shure HPAEC1540, you can achieve that while also increasing the comfort a lot. The 1640 are memory foam and they are really soft, so they "crush" when putting them on your head, moving your ears closer to the driver.
I was under the impression that 'planar' referred to the isodynamic fields that interact with the diaphragm and the subsequent 'planar' sound that is created. Think polarised sunglasses; all light that passes through a polarised filter is unidirectional (so instead of a bunch of XTYXY shaped light you get IIIIIII shaped light). The sharp pointy ends of all that sound attacking in the same direction is what makes your face melt when you put these headphones on.
I’m sure I’m not the only one to point this out since this was made 4 years ago but the center of the dynamic driver he was pointing to is nothing but a dust cap over the voice coil and does vibrate as part of the soundwave. The rubbery sides are actually vibrating and moving over the musical signal.
Hey Lachlan, Good vid but want to touch some technical nitpicks. You contrasted T50rp driver to a standard 3-4" woofer. While a dynamic headphone driver and such a woofer share the same drive mechanism (moving coil), the diaphragm represents some significant differences that need not be ignored. With a few exceptions (new TOTL Focals, B&W P7 come to mind), most dynamic headphone drivers do not have a cone, surround, or dustcap anything like the woofer you had on hand. They look more like a domed tweeter as far as diaphragms go. For anyone interested, google the HD600 driver and you should get a clear idea. Because of the small domed design and the nature of the voice coil physically acting on a diaphragm that is not much bigger than the voice coil, they won't really demonstrate the sort of cone-breakup at high frequencies that you would see on a large woofer. Indeed, we often see dynamic drivers with much smoother raw response than your average planar magnetic structure. Other thing to note is that while woofer cones need to have higher mass to be mechanically rigid, standard headphone drivers are essentially made out of the same plastic film, mylar, or some other composite. So a planar magnetic diaphragm is not necessarily any lighter or "faster". Looping back around, planar magnetic drivers have the massive disadvantage of having to use a magnetic structure which is acoustically significant and gives rise to all sorts of diffraction issues in the uppermids and treble (wherever the size of the impediment becomes acoustically large with relation to the wavelength). We've seen some single-sided magnetic designs attempt to tackle this issue with debatable success. There's also a lot to be said about planar damping (front and back) and how it can alter performance significantly. You might want to save that discussion for another video on the specifics of T50rp/ortho modding -OJ
Thanks for adding to the discussion OJ! You're right, I've definitely glossed over and simplified various things for the sake of brevity. Little headphone drivers are structurally very different from the woofer in the video, but its sort of easier to see the different elements on video compared to a dome tweeter. I'd be curious to see what the break up patterns are for headphone driver domes. I assume a similar kind of anti-phase break up occurs between the dome portion and the radial 'ring' around the dome, as depicted in this Pioneer SE-Master1 graphic: i.imgur.com/SqIh0Wx.jpg I think fundamentally the appeal of the T50RP lies in the fact that it's an exotic driver design, even if it may not be the most effective demonstration of that design. As far as I can tell, this is the reason behind the snowball of T50RP modding. I would love to do a video about T50RP modding in the future but it's not really in my wheelhouse, so I'll have to reach out to other peeps for it. What do you feel is the most well designed planar magnetic driver to date?
Hey Ojeng-kun, Good comment but I dare to touch on some technical nitpicks. You made the statement that with a few exceptions (Elear/Utopia, P7, etc.) most dynamic headphone drivers do not have a cone, surround nor dustcap. However they do. Infact every single one of them. On most headphone drivers the surround, cone and dome are made out of one single piece of film for cost saving measures. The common dynamic headphone driver is a fullrange system, therefore it combines a cone and a dome for optimal reproduction of low, mid and high frequencies. The principle is always the same and they do show breakup in a similar fashion as their bigger representatives. Throughout the years there have been developments in this regard to a point where I would say that such a single piece construction is no longer inferior to the traditional way. Going over to the mass subject I would make the comment that the diaphragm itself is not only comparable in mass but due to the stator having an acoustic impedance moving mass overall has a potential to be higher than on most dynamics. Planars also suffer from being short travel ie excursion is limited by the stator which makes the bass response suffer. To counteract this the radiating surface has to be made bigger which in case of planars is problematic due to weight. Or you can lower needed excursion by decreasing the volume which is why most planars and estats use sealed padding. This however is problematic due to enforcing standing waves. I'd go as far as to say that traditional planar magnetics are a waste of time and effort.
With regard to your first point, that's quite a leap to say that the single film diaphragm constitutes all of those components. There is certainly nothing that resembles a cone in such a design. Are you going to tell me that a soft-dome tweeter is also a "cone"? Google that word and tell me what shape you see. As far as a surround goes, I suppose you could say that the part of the diaphragm that connects to the fixed edge is functionally a surround. Quite the nitpick, although the purpose with the original statement was to distinguish there is no discrete element that bears the name. To say otherwise is just willfully ignoring the accepted definition of what a "surround" is. W.r.t. the dustcap there obviously nothing of the sort. Obviously a domed headphone driver doesn't need a dustcap any more than an equivalent domed tweeter. More willful ignorance of obvious definitions. My data on dynamic headphone drivers that I have tested tend to show fairly flat response absent of anything that could be interpreted as breakup nodes. Pull an HD600 or HD800 driver out of its chassis and measure the response free field. You'll find very flat response. This stuff could double as a dedicated tweeter if it had the power handling. It's a simple matter of dimensions and the corresponding geometries here. Smaller and smaller woofers show breakup higher and higher up due to their correspondingly shorter wavelengths. It doesn't get much smaller than a headphone driver so the tweeter analogy is apt. That's not to say dynamic headphones can't have nasty peaks, but that's usually a function of the surrounding baffle, pads, etc. I should have noted that the physical mass of an ortho diaphragm is probably lower on average than your average dynamic. That's because I forgot to mention that the voicecoil is attached to a dynamic diaphragm which will probably make up a significant portion of that effective mass. IIRC, Sennheiser has opted for higher impedance coils because they want thinner and lighter wires to bring down the effective mass. I know that certain ortho manufacturers are attempting to make their diaphragms thinner and thinner and correspondingly, making the traces on those diaphragms thinner and thinner. I don't have hard data here on what those figures look like, and I'm not sure how the acoustic impedance of the stators/magnets would influence that. I'll have to take you at your word. I will say that we agree that planar magnetics are a waste of time. The T50rp modding fetishization has always confounded me. It is obvious that the driver IS the limitation past a certain point, and I think modders efforts would be best channeled with alternate drivers :)
Given the price, I like the Tascam TH02 and some of Sennheiser cheaper options as modding candidates that will scale. Admitted I was thinking mostly towards higher end headphones (HD800, Audeze, HFM) as headphones that have better technicalities but also still scale big time with mods.
got the 20's and can't stand the bass; solution? got rid of the foam thingys, now more natural bass and can better appreciate mids and highs; soundstage isn't affected by the change, not so wide to begin with.
I'd love to see how the Fostex driver would sound in the Pro 80 cups. The Pro 80 has a very well built and dampened cup design. Would be interesting to 3D print a baffle to interchange with the stock drivers.
That sub-base performance really depends on what kind of Amp you use, and how powerful it is. Once I connected my T40's to a pure class A tube amp, the sub base came out better than I've ever heard from an Audio Technica headphone. Powerful, impactful, deep, but maybe a bit less textured than I'd have liked, on the tube amp. On a 3 watt IC powered amp, I can get really textured sub base. However, on any of the portable amps, these headphones really don't shine at all. I actually prefer not to listen to them at all if I only have a FIIO DAP or Amp available.
Oh ok. Thanks for the reply! I actually recently brought the STAX SRS3100 system. What special care should I be worried about? Is it temperature (0-35 C), humidity (
I find that size of driver still has a large impact on planar magnetics. with a dynamic you can generally get a similar sound from around 40-45mm and up. the senn hd700 has just 40mm drivers yet sounds a big in its staging and frequency range as the 70mm Sony's. Yet the tiny fostex drivers always pale imo compared to a larger hifiman or audeze driver. I have a pair of alpha dogs and have gone through a few hifimans and stopped at an audeze lcd 2 and found even with a bunch of modding the alpha dog always sounds thinner and smaller in it's sound. I imagine the way that the whole diaphram can move more equally on a planar means that a larger driver can simply make a bigger sound even when close to the ear. whereas dynamics are more restrained by their proximity to the ear and rely more on acoustics inside the housing to generate a bigger sound. My t1 gen2 sounds amazingly large in its soundstage, and I bet it's to do with the drivers being angled at the front of the cups, with a large, dampened chamber between the driver and my ears. Take a look at the insides of a t1, the drivers are so rediculously far to the front of the cups with so much space behind them, must have taken engineers ages to decide that was the best position for them.
Hard as fuck to drive, they don't ease up over time at all. You're gonna need a pretty high power portable amp to power it sufficiently, something like the fiio e18 Kunlun is my personal dac/amp to use with the mk3
My T50mk2 drives from practically anything. I wonder why everyone keeps saying they hard to drive. You need roughly 30% more volume than your average 32 ohm headphones.
Yes they are. My S7 needs close to max volume to get alright volume (heavily modded). My MDR-10s need about 3/4, and my Porta-Pros basically need nothing. But don't be discouraged. They will run fine on anything. Just sound a bit richer the more power you have, ie something like that fiio e12
Hello, could you please let me know how removing the film behind the driver affected the sound? Did you end up running them without any film on the back?
Stretching pads over Fostex is nothing new and no secret trick, people did this way before on Inner-fidelity and head-fi, editions of Massdrop, Mad Dog had a stretched over pads, Talos I think changed/modded the housing to not have that gap. Mega cans for the price and so capable with mods.
Thanks for this informative video! - I've been considering the T50 for a while and have always been put off by the many remarks across the board that it has a severe low-end roll-off. I mean, I don't need like a subwoofer on my head, but I like it to be pretty flat or at least have all the information there for analytical purposes. - I also found that there's the Beyerdynamic DT 880, which is also semi-open and similarly priced. I haven't looked up anything about it, but I wonder how it compares to this one. - It might have more conventional drivers and be a little less exceptional, I don't know, but it might as well just be better stock.
T50RP Mk3's I think is like the planar equivalent of Sony's iconic MDR-7506. Bought ZMF thick lambskin pads - not really a good idea with music.. for watching movies it's ok.
True, Mk3's one of the most sensitive with change in audio characteristics when switching with aftermarket ear pads. Good thing I can still use ZMF with Mk3 on occasions and with my other headphones.
The t50rp in lacking in sub bass where the m50x shine in, not neutral but in my opinion better than the 50x. Treble is decent on both of them, some may consider the t50 too bright but the m50x sound a little V shaped so it's similar. The t50s need a little more amping.
+AudioReviews For whatever reason my browser doesn't let me actually do that +whateveryournamehappenstobe thing. IDK. Anyway, I'm not asking for generic description of the differences between these headphones. I'm asking about, specifically, between the m50x stock and the Fostex t40rp with the mkII cushions pulled over the folds, as Lachlan describes. Honsetly, I'm looking to hear back from Lachlan. If I need to do my own review, I will and I'll probably get 30k views based off of my analysis alone, although I'll get a shit ton of dislikes because I'm opinionated as fuck! It's good to be convicted in your opinions so long as you back it up with science. This video has the science. it's lacking the harsh opinions that result from the science. DON'T HOLD BACK!!! I'm talking to Lachlan directly. Be honest, and I mean brutally. You'll get the criticism from people that don't know what they're talking about. I'm TERRIBLE with dealing with trolls. You're so good at it because I"ve trolled you in the past and you dealt with me so expertly. I would advise you to be as opinionated as possible. Don't sugar coat anything. Be, in your view, the Donald Trump of headphone reviews. That's an exaggeration of my suggestion, because Trump is ridiculous with his extreme expressions of opinions, but I'm trying to push you in that direction. Display exceptional confidence in your opinions as if contradicting opinions were a bit mentally abstract / insane/ weirdos who have no understanding of how headphones should sound.
Hmm, no I would not necessarily say it was *better*. Neither the DT770 or the M50X does what the T50RP does with mids. At the same time the DT770 is a real monster down in the low end with recessed mids, and the m50x has that shimmery treble. I think in terms of easy listening the T50 is better, but it's not as 'tight' as either of the others.
***** Okay, thank you. I guess I'll hold off on getting the t40rp then. I don't really like the m50x treble as much as you. I think it sounds a bit unnatural. But the m50x bass is perfectly well-balanced to my ears. Basically, if the m50x treble was toned down a bit, it would be the closed version of the Fideiio X2, which I really really enjoy. But I use the HM5 pads with my m50x which actually gives the headphone some soundstage, allowing you to appreciate the excellent imaging of the m50x. With the stock pads, there is no soundstage so you cannot tell that the m50x drivers are capable of very excellent imaging. It's sad. I wish Audio-Technica would have sold the m50x with slightly thicker pads. The HM5 pads are a bit too thick unfortunately.
my Situation is i am not from USA im in Pakistan (Asia), but my cousin is coming from USA this week. so i only have few days to decide what DAC+AMP and Studio Open Back headphone to buy. for now my choices are SMSL M6 and AKG 612 Pro... can you recommend any other better Open-Back Refrence headphone under USD $180?? thank you awaiting your response my purpose is Pure Colorless audio for Music and Video editing..
RizHail Salaam, I'm sure you've already picked your choice, but I'd get low impedance headphones that are easy to drive, you can save that money and go a tier above your looking for.
RizHail I really love the Phillips Fidelo x2. They're super fun and have the best bass of any open back. I love using them and they're easy to drive. The Shp 9500 are only $60, 6280 rupee. They are like the hd 600's but cheap and actually have Bass
Shahzad Khan where can i get these in Pakistan (Islamabad/Rawalpindi) ?? my cousin couldn't bring anything with him because of carriage carrying weight over the limit.
+Teiichi what? Absolutely not. I own modded Mk3's. I have also demoed PM-3's. The stock T50's don't sound good. Sub-bass recessed to oblivion, mid-bass super flabby, mids are nice and forward but highs are sibilant and harsh. After a week of tweaking I'm finally happy with the way they sound. Sound signature got warmer with bass being evened out, mids are lush and highs are more controlled. But they still don't match the speed and overall detail retrieval of the PM-3. Their driver is much superior.
both are so different you cannot really compare them. One is nearly impossible to drive (t50rp) and non-portable, while the other is very portable and easy to drive (PM3). Both have a vERY different sound signature. For what purpose would you be using either one? I own both so let me know and I can help :)
Bought the T40RP Mk3, didn't like them. Sounded very closed in and hollow. So I removed the ventilation cover, which made the bass just ridiculously boomy and loose but the soundstage was much improved. I added LOTS of cotton in the cup, to tame the bass and some clay to the baffle to reduce resonance and it sounds so much fuller and I'm enjoying the much improved sound stage.
i just got these headphones, love them. I love bass and all these reviews talk about how the planar magnetic are lacking in this area but totally not the case with the T40RP. more bass then I would ever want, you can increase the bass if you willing to not listen to a flat eq output. bass is super super clean and sharp and crisp. just amazing low end with these headphones. Of couse all frequencies are very good, very flat and clean. I just had to comment because of how awesome they are for me. I use these headphones all day at work with original pads. I suspect this is where people are going wrong. stick with originals, they are perfectly comfortable and dont cause you to loose out on low end. Also audio leak isnt too bad even at extreme volumes so this keeps coworkers happy. I should also mention that you really should use a preamp with these headphones cus they gobble up power. I am using the M-Audio with bass boost turned all the way up. cheap preamp with zero noise floor, love it. Also it was super cheap. Hope this helps people choose.
Magni 2 will do the job. Or an O2 should be fine. Power wise (RMS), the M3, the E10K & Origen+ are all too weak for hungry planars. Although the E10K as a dedicated dac is pretty freakin' good.
Naruto Uzumaki The DT 990 250 ohm has a sensitivity of 96 dB/mW. So power wise you should be fine but FiiO recommends headphones only up to 150 ohms on their website. 250 ohms is a bit more impedance and than can somewhat weaken the amp but it's not that big of a deal. You have some decent gear.
Double sided planars (like HE-400 or HE-500... and HE-6 I think?) sound way better than single sided planars (HE-400i & HE-560 yuck...), in my opinion. Especially bass-wise! And sub bass too.
310/5000 great explanation! could you do a review of modhouse argons? everyone agrees that they are the best modified version of the fostex t50, I concluded that they are the kings of closed headphones in a range of 500 dollars after doing a lot of research on the internet and I plan to buy them
You should find some SONY APM Accurate Pistonic Motion square driver speakers :) I have some bookshelf APM speakers connected to a subwoofer. Sound quite nice.
Hey Lachlan. I am a huge fan of your videos. You're very informative as in this video. If I may suggest something and this has nothing to do with headphones, you might want to consider having a manicure if you are going to take close up of your hands. They need it.
I'll be honest, I don't like these headphones, I don't think they sound great at all. In fact, I'm really at a loss as to what it is people like about this headphone.... ?? Only thing I can think is that they must be listening very loud, they seem to play loud without distorting. But I personally don't listen loud so, maybe that's the difference?
no amp needed, fiio x1, use the line out instead of headphone function, to me great result. got 40 mk3 plus hm5 velour pads . maybe case of music -taste. fiio dragonfly-copy dac is useless. ..
brother you are a natural teacher...is that a down unda accent???...been hittin the aussie accent a lot lately watching some old school k-1 with sam greco and the netflix series glitch is aussie style...of course you could be from the land of the long white cloud one place in the top position on my bucket list...hot air balloon over cantebury plains where lord of rings was filmed yes please...anyway thanks brother...
SE-MASTER1High-resolution stereo headphones for the discerning audiophileFrequency response from 5 Hz to 85,000 HzDual 50 mm neodymium magnet speakersAluminum diaphragm with ceramic coatingBalanced XLR Cable ----------------------------GUYS CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF THIS PIONNER headphones are powerfull and the best for gaming high res audio MOVIES,GAMING AND MUSIC?????/?????
Please refrain from caps and question marks. I will answer you disregarding the troll. "Resolution" in headphones mean nothing. All headphones and speakers ARE analog no matter what manufacturers say. Its just electricity, powering a magnet. Resolution is down to what is powering them. The money you spend goes to how well the headphones can reproduce the music. That is 100% up to you. Some people like bass, some like it flat. High end headphones are just better.
The moment he said m50x I stopped watching fuck m50x and it’s weird ass mid bass m40x and m60x is much better and m50x is horse shit compare to any generation of t50rp is better than m50x
Everyone loves it because it's a cheap ortho and it sounds amazing for its price. All you really need is a more comfortable set of ear pads and it's magic.
And the amp?
And a bloody 7 watt amp... thats all..
@@shilmardepedro7229 Zeos told you that didn't he?
@@bradbeck6158 Z reviews aware.
Finally have mk2 modded and they need POWER. More than anything ive ever used
@@shilmardepedro7229 Wait till you try mk3's mods.
Thanks for recommending the Denon pads. I bought a pair for my t50rp MKIII's and stretched the pads over the vents giving them better bass. I didn't like the Brainwavz hybrid pads because they set the drivers too far away from the ear making it sound a bit distant but the Denon pads are thinner which makes them perfect.
So, I got these, and I got to trying out other Pads I have lying around.
The thing I noticed is that the stock pads are as flat as they are because they need to, in order for a good sound out of these you want to be relatively close to the driver.
With a pair of Shure HPAEC1540, you can achieve that while also increasing the comfort a lot.
The 1640 are memory foam and they are really soft, so they "crush" when putting them on your head, moving your ears closer to the driver.
He deserves so many more views his videos are educational and high quality
I was under the impression that 'planar' referred to the isodynamic fields that interact with the diaphragm and the subsequent 'planar' sound that is created.
Think polarised sunglasses; all light that passes through a polarised filter is unidirectional (so instead of a bunch of XTYXY shaped light you get IIIIIII shaped light). The sharp pointy ends of all that sound attacking in the same direction is what makes your face melt when you put these headphones on.
I’m sure I’m not the only one to point this out since this was made 4 years ago but the center of the dynamic driver he was pointing to is nothing but a dust cap over the voice coil and does vibrate as part of the soundwave. The rubbery sides are actually vibrating and moving over the musical signal.
Lachlan has to be the most well spoken, clear/concise/accurate reviewer of headphones.
Hey Lachlan,
Good vid but want to touch some technical nitpicks. You contrasted T50rp driver to a standard 3-4" woofer. While a dynamic headphone driver and such a woofer share the same drive mechanism (moving coil), the diaphragm represents some significant differences that need not be ignored. With a few exceptions (new TOTL Focals, B&W P7 come to mind), most dynamic headphone drivers do not have a cone, surround, or dustcap anything like the woofer you had on hand. They look more like a domed tweeter as far as diaphragms go. For anyone interested, google the HD600 driver and you should get a clear idea. Because of the small domed design and the nature of the voice coil physically acting on a diaphragm that is not much bigger than the voice coil, they won't really demonstrate the sort of cone-breakup at high frequencies that you would see on a large woofer. Indeed, we often see dynamic drivers with much smoother raw response than your average planar magnetic structure.
Other thing to note is that while woofer cones need to have higher mass to be mechanically rigid, standard headphone drivers are essentially made out of the same plastic film, mylar, or some other composite. So a planar magnetic diaphragm is not necessarily any lighter or "faster".
Looping back around, planar magnetic drivers have the massive disadvantage of having to use a magnetic structure which is acoustically significant and gives rise to all sorts of diffraction issues in the uppermids and treble (wherever the size of the impediment becomes acoustically large with relation to the wavelength). We've seen some single-sided magnetic designs attempt to tackle this issue with debatable success. There's also a lot to be said about planar damping (front and back) and how it can alter performance significantly. You might want to save that discussion for another video on the specifics of T50rp/ortho modding
-OJ
Thanks for adding to the discussion OJ! You're right, I've definitely glossed over and simplified various things for the sake of brevity. Little headphone drivers are structurally very different from the woofer in the video, but its sort of easier to see the different elements on video compared to a dome tweeter. I'd be curious to see what the break up patterns are for headphone driver domes. I assume a similar kind of anti-phase break up occurs between the dome portion and the radial 'ring' around the dome, as depicted in this Pioneer SE-Master1 graphic: i.imgur.com/SqIh0Wx.jpg
I think fundamentally the appeal of the T50RP lies in the fact that it's an exotic driver design, even if it may not be the most effective demonstration of that design. As far as I can tell, this is the reason behind the snowball of T50RP modding. I would love to do a video about T50RP modding in the future but it's not really in my wheelhouse, so I'll have to reach out to other peeps for it. What do you feel is the most well designed planar magnetic driver to date?
Hey Ojeng-kun,
Good comment but I dare to touch on some technical nitpicks.
You made the statement that with a few exceptions (Elear/Utopia, P7, etc.) most dynamic headphone drivers do not have a cone, surround nor dustcap.
However they do. Infact every single one of them.
On most headphone drivers the surround, cone and dome are made out of one single piece of film for cost saving measures.
The common dynamic headphone driver is a fullrange system, therefore it combines a cone and a dome for optimal reproduction of low, mid and high frequencies. The principle is always the same and they do show breakup in a similar fashion as their bigger representatives.
Throughout the years there have been developments in this regard to a point where I would say that such a single piece construction is no longer inferior to the traditional way.
Going over to the mass subject I would make the comment that the diaphragm itself is not only comparable in mass but due to the stator having an acoustic impedance moving mass overall has a potential to be higher than on most dynamics.
Planars also suffer from being short travel ie excursion is limited by the stator which makes the bass response suffer.
To counteract this the radiating surface has to be made bigger which in case of planars is problematic due to weight.
Or you can lower needed excursion by decreasing the volume which is why most planars and estats use sealed padding. This however is problematic due to enforcing standing waves.
I'd go as far as to say that traditional planar magnetics are a waste of time and effort.
With regard to your first point, that's quite a leap to say that the single film diaphragm constitutes all of those components. There is certainly nothing that resembles a cone in such a design. Are you going to tell me that a soft-dome tweeter is also a "cone"? Google that word and tell me what shape you see. As far as a surround goes, I suppose you could say that the part of the diaphragm that connects to the fixed edge is functionally a surround. Quite the nitpick, although the purpose with the original statement was to distinguish there is no discrete element that bears the name. To say otherwise is just willfully ignoring the accepted definition of what a "surround" is. W.r.t. the dustcap there obviously nothing of the sort. Obviously a domed headphone driver doesn't need a dustcap any more than an equivalent domed tweeter. More willful ignorance of obvious definitions.
My data on dynamic headphone drivers that I have tested tend to show fairly flat response absent of anything that could be interpreted as breakup nodes. Pull an HD600 or HD800 driver out of its chassis and measure the response free field. You'll find very flat response. This stuff could double as a dedicated tweeter if it had the power handling. It's a simple matter of dimensions and the corresponding geometries here. Smaller and smaller woofers show breakup higher and higher up due to their correspondingly shorter wavelengths. It doesn't get much smaller than a headphone driver so the tweeter analogy is apt. That's not to say dynamic headphones can't have nasty peaks, but that's usually a function of the surrounding baffle, pads, etc.
I should have noted that the physical mass of an ortho diaphragm is probably lower on average than your average dynamic. That's because I forgot to mention that the voicecoil is attached to a dynamic diaphragm which will probably make up a significant portion of that effective mass. IIRC, Sennheiser has opted for higher impedance coils because they want thinner and lighter wires to bring down the effective mass. I know that certain ortho manufacturers are attempting to make their diaphragms thinner and thinner and correspondingly, making the traces on those diaphragms thinner and thinner. I don't have hard data here on what those figures look like, and I'm not sure how the acoustic impedance of the stators/magnets would influence that. I'll have to take you at your word.
I will say that we agree that planar magnetics are a waste of time. The T50rp modding fetishization has always confounded me. It is obvious that the driver IS the limitation past a certain point, and I think modders efforts would be best channeled with alternate drivers :)
+ONEGAudio I'm curious, what driver do you think is a better candidate for modding given the price?
Given the price, I like the Tascam TH02 and some of Sennheiser cheaper options as
modding candidates that will scale. Admitted I was thinking mostly towards
higher end headphones (HD800, Audeze, HFM) as headphones that have better
technicalities but also still scale big time with mods.
got the 20's and can't stand the bass; solution? got rid of the foam thingys, now more natural bass and can better appreciate mids and highs; soundstage isn't affected by the change, not so wide to begin with.
I'd love to see how the Fostex driver would sound in the Pro 80 cups. The Pro 80 has a very well built and dampened cup design. Would be interesting to 3D print a baffle to interchange with the stock drivers.
I think I thought about this once. The cups might be a little small though. I could try it out...
Splendid video!
That sub-base performance really depends on what kind of Amp you use, and how powerful it is. Once I connected my T40's to a pure class A tube amp, the sub base came out better than I've ever heard from an Audio Technica headphone. Powerful, impactful, deep, but maybe a bit less textured than I'd have liked, on the tube amp. On a 3 watt IC powered amp, I can get really textured sub base. However, on any of the portable amps, these headphones really don't shine at all. I actually prefer not to listen to them at all if I only have a FIIO DAP or Amp available.
Which version do you like the best, open, semi-open, or closed? Is Mk3 your favorite?
Stretch a pair of xenon sheepskin pads over the vents. The bass with the xenon pads is out of this world xD
How the hell do the modhouse argons have so much base and sound stage? I been trying to figure this out it seems like magic to me
you've been posting quality content lately. Keep it up! Please don't succumb to half-assed content like so many youtubers lately
Hey Lachlan! Have you listened to electrostatic headphones before? Specifically the Stax lambda series?
Only very briefly! I've thought about buying a pair but concerned about the care you need to take with them.
Oh ok. Thanks for the reply! I actually recently brought the STAX SRS3100 system. What special care should I be worried about? Is it temperature (0-35 C), humidity (
I have a 600 ohm dt880... Dont know if I should buy those
I find that size of driver still has a large impact on planar magnetics.
with a dynamic you can generally get a similar sound from around 40-45mm and up. the senn hd700 has just 40mm drivers yet sounds a big in its staging and frequency range as the 70mm Sony's.
Yet the tiny fostex drivers always pale imo compared to a larger hifiman or audeze driver. I have a pair of alpha dogs and have gone through a few hifimans and stopped at an audeze lcd 2 and found even with a bunch of modding the alpha dog always sounds thinner and smaller in it's sound.
I imagine the way that the whole diaphram can move more equally on a planar means that a larger driver can simply make a bigger sound even when close to the ear.
whereas dynamics are more restrained by their proximity to the ear and rely more on acoustics inside the housing to generate a bigger sound.
My t1 gen2 sounds amazingly large in its soundstage, and I bet it's to do with the drivers being angled at the front of the cups, with a large, dampened chamber between the driver and my ears.
Take a look at the insides of a t1, the drivers are so rediculously far to the front of the cups with so much space behind them, must have taken engineers ages to decide that was the best position for them.
so this means the mdr -z7 are very bad vs this t50rp?
Considering the price difference, I'd go for the t50RP's
Do these absolutely need an amp? Would get these if they didn't. Or is there a mini amp that is top notch?
is t50rp hard to drive? i'm thinking of portable player + portable amp( fiio e12a) setup
the mk3s get easier to drive over time. it's hit and miss though.
Hard as fuck to drive, they don't ease up over time at all. You're gonna need a pretty high power portable amp to power it sufficiently, something like the fiio e18 Kunlun is my personal dac/amp to use with the mk3
Graham Leslie I'm picking up a now discontinued smsl sap Vi
My T50mk2 drives from practically anything. I wonder why everyone keeps saying they hard to drive. You need roughly 30% more volume than your average 32 ohm headphones.
Yes they are. My S7 needs close to max volume to get alright volume (heavily modded). My MDR-10s need about 3/4, and my Porta-Pros basically need nothing. But don't be discouraged. They will run fine on anything. Just sound a bit richer the more power you have, ie something like that fiio e12
Hello, could you please let me know how removing the film behind the driver affected the sound? Did you end up running them without any film on the back?
Stretching pads over Fostex is nothing new and no secret trick, people did this way before on Inner-fidelity and head-fi, editions of Massdrop, Mad Dog had a stretched over pads, Talos I think changed/modded the housing to not have that gap. Mega cans for the price and so capable with mods.
Someone knows if the T20RP has the same driver than this one?
From what I've heard the t20rp the Base is quite strong, the vocals are a bit hollow, but the more open these are the stronger the Base.
All the models have the same driver but different housing and filter paper. That is why T20rp costs the same as T50rp.
Ritwik Anand not quite in most places the t50 is more expensive since there is more demand for it
taief miah I am talking about MRP. Fostex priced them same coz they are mostly similar.
Thanks for this informative video! - I've been considering the T50 for a while and have always been put off by the many remarks across the board that it has a severe low-end roll-off. I mean, I don't need like a subwoofer on my head, but I like it to be pretty flat or at least have all the information there for analytical purposes. - I also found that there's the Beyerdynamic DT 880, which is also semi-open and similarly priced. I haven't looked up anything about it, but I wonder how it compares to this one. - It might have more conventional drivers and be a little less exceptional, I don't know, but it might as well just be better stock.
T50RP Mk3's I think is like the planar equivalent of Sony's iconic MDR-7506.
Bought ZMF thick lambskin pads - not really a good idea with music.. for watching movies it's ok.
yh the mk3s get more treble peaky with distance. the t20s and t40s react a bit differently
True, Mk3's one of the most sensitive with change in audio characteristics when switching with aftermarket ear pads. Good thing I can still use ZMF with Mk3 on occasions and with my other headphones.
im on the quest of modding a t50rp myself, would you happen to still have the files or link for the baffle you 3d printed?
Very informative I love your videos
with the pads mounted around the rim, closing it off, is the t50rp better than the dt770 and m50x, in your opinion.
The t50rp in lacking in sub bass where the m50x shine in, not neutral but in my opinion better than the 50x. Treble is decent on both of them, some may consider the t50 too bright but the m50x sound a little V shaped so it's similar. The t50s need a little more amping.
+AudioReviews correction: I meant to say "the bass is better on the m50x"
+AudioReviews
For whatever reason my browser doesn't let me actually do that +whateveryournamehappenstobe thing. IDK.
Anyway, I'm not asking for generic description of the differences between these headphones. I'm asking about, specifically, between the m50x stock and the Fostex t40rp with the mkII cushions pulled over the folds, as Lachlan describes.
Honsetly, I'm looking to hear back from Lachlan. If I need to do my own review, I will and I'll probably get 30k views based off of my analysis alone, although I'll get a shit ton of dislikes because I'm opinionated as fuck! It's good to be convicted in your opinions so long as you back it up with science.
This video has the science. it's lacking the harsh opinions that result from the science. DON'T HOLD BACK!!! I'm talking to Lachlan directly. Be honest, and I mean brutally. You'll get the criticism from people that don't know what they're talking about. I'm TERRIBLE with dealing with trolls. You're so good at it because I"ve trolled you in the past and you dealt with me so expertly. I would advise you to be as opinionated as possible. Don't sugar coat anything. Be, in your view, the Donald Trump of headphone reviews. That's an exaggeration of my suggestion, because Trump is ridiculous with his extreme expressions of opinions, but I'm trying to push you in that direction. Display exceptional confidence in your opinions as if contradicting opinions were a bit mentally abstract / insane/ weirdos who have no understanding of how headphones should sound.
Hmm, no I would not necessarily say it was *better*. Neither the DT770 or the M50X does what the T50RP does with mids. At the same time the DT770 is a real monster down in the low end with recessed mids, and the m50x has that shimmery treble. I think in terms of easy listening the T50 is better, but it's not as 'tight' as either of the others.
***** Okay, thank you. I guess I'll hold off on getting the t40rp then. I don't really like the m50x treble as much as you. I think it sounds a bit unnatural. But the m50x bass is perfectly well-balanced to my ears. Basically, if the m50x treble was toned down a bit, it would be the closed version of the Fideiio X2, which I really really enjoy. But I use the HM5 pads with my m50x which actually gives the headphone some soundstage, allowing you to appreciate the excellent imaging of the m50x. With the stock pads, there is no soundstage so you cannot tell that the m50x drivers are capable of very excellent imaging. It's sad. I wish Audio-Technica would have sold the m50x with slightly thicker pads. The HM5 pads are a bit too thick unfortunately.
Great video. I don't suppose you have an electrostatic set around you could pull apart for us, do you?
Can you turn the 50's into the 40's by taping a plastic sheet or really, really thick felt on the vents?
Not quite, sealing the vents at the front will do different things from sealing it at the back.
***** Oops, I mean sealing it from the back.
Sweet video!
LOL Dude... I just learned about these headphones yesterday. Now I want a pair to play around with. Interesting video. Thanks!
my Situation is i am not from USA im in Pakistan (Asia), but my cousin is coming from USA this week. so i only have few days to decide what DAC+AMP and Studio Open Back headphone to buy.
for now my choices are SMSL M6 and AKG 612 Pro... can you recommend any other better Open-Back Refrence headphone under USD $180??
thank you awaiting your response
my purpose is Pure Colorless audio for Music and Video editing..
Grado, but they're highs are wonky. Sennheiser HD 518s are on amazon are nice I guess for their price.
beyerdynamic dt 990
RizHail Salaam, I'm sure you've already picked your choice, but I'd get low impedance headphones that are easy to drive, you can save that money and go a tier above your looking for.
RizHail I really love the Phillips Fidelo x2. They're super fun and have the best bass of any open back. I love using them and they're easy to drive. The Shp 9500 are only $60, 6280 rupee. They are like the hd 600's but cheap and actually have Bass
Shahzad Khan where can i get these in Pakistan (Islamabad/Rawalpindi) ?? my cousin couldn't bring anything with him because of carriage carrying weight over the limit.
T50 mk3 or OPPO Pm3? I wonder
MK3 stock even wins. Modded destroys. Modded Mark 2 stands true.
I have not heard the T50s yet but the OPPO PM3 where pretty amazing when I hear them in a store a while ago...
Ni De I have the Mad Dogs which are a MK2 mod. They outclass the PM3s in every way.
+Teiichi what? Absolutely not.
I own modded Mk3's. I have also demoed PM-3's. The stock T50's don't sound good. Sub-bass recessed to oblivion, mid-bass super flabby, mids are nice and forward but highs are sibilant and harsh. After a week of tweaking I'm finally happy with the way they sound. Sound signature got warmer with bass being evened out, mids are lush and highs are more controlled. But they still don't match the speed and overall detail retrieval of the PM-3. Their driver is much superior.
both are so different you cannot really compare them. One is nearly impossible to drive (t50rp) and non-portable, while the other is very portable and easy to drive (PM3). Both have a vERY different sound signature.
For what purpose would you be using either one? I own both so let me know and I can help :)
Z Reviews said that the 'open' t-20rp mk3 has the most bass of the three variants. Have you tried them?
+Ian Tester yes, I mention them in my first impressions video. Flabby mid-bass, did not like them at all.
Ah, ok. I want to wait to see what the modder community can do with the mk3's. Hopefully they can sort out these remaining issues.
I think you might enjoy the t20rp mk3. I think those would have the bass you're looking fot
+Moeyz69 I really didn't like them actually. Mid-bass bloom, sub-bass drop out.
+lachlanlikesathing so I should stick to buying t50rp and just modding them? I'm so torn on which I should get
Bought the T40RP Mk3, didn't like them. Sounded very closed in and hollow. So I removed the ventilation cover, which made the bass just ridiculously boomy and loose but the soundstage was much improved.
I added LOTS of cotton in the cup, to tame the bass and some clay to the baffle to reduce resonance and it sounds so much fuller and I'm enjoying the much improved sound stage.
Lachlanlikesathing, wich headphone is better in your opinion, the sony mdr xb950bt, or beats solo 2 wireless???
Sonys. The comfort is 20x better, trust me
I read it fotsex, internet ruined me :(
i just got these headphones, love them. I love bass and all these reviews talk about how the planar magnetic are lacking in this area but totally not the case with the T40RP. more bass then I would ever want, you can increase the bass if you willing to not listen to a flat eq output. bass is super super clean and sharp and crisp. just amazing low end with these headphones. Of couse all frequencies are very good, very flat and clean. I just had to comment because of how awesome they are for me. I use these headphones all day at work with original pads. I suspect this is where people are going wrong. stick with originals, they are perfectly comfortable and dont cause you to loose out on low end. Also audio leak isnt too bad even at extreme volumes so this keeps coworkers happy. I should also mention that you really should use a preamp with these headphones cus they gobble up power. I am using the M-Audio with bass boost turned all the way up. cheap preamp with zero noise floor, love it. Also it was super cheap. Hope this helps people choose.
would FiiO E10K be able to push this headphones?
I have an SMSL M3, It's a direct competitor to the E10k. It does not drive my T20's well enough.
a micca origen+ will be able to push these (it's about $100-110 just so you know)
Magni 2 will do the job. Or an O2 should be fine.
Power wise (RMS), the M3, the E10K & Origen+ are all too weak for hungry planars. Although the E10K as a dedicated dac is pretty freakin' good.
woopygoman yea too late i already bought the dt 990 250 ohm with a e10k >_>.... did notice that 250 ohm are easy to drive though
Naruto Uzumaki The DT 990 250 ohm has a sensitivity of 96 dB/mW. So power wise you should be fine but FiiO recommends headphones only up to 150 ohms on their website. 250 ohms is a bit more impedance and than can somewhat weaken the amp but it's not that big of a deal. You have some decent gear.
I own these and although their detailed I found them odd sounding or over analytical.
Has anyone tried out the Kennerton's ECL-02 lambskin pads on the T50RP?
3:50 so u showed how planar it is, but u never showed how magnetic it is. im shaking crying rn
Double sided planars (like HE-400 or HE-500... and HE-6 I think?) sound way better than single sided planars (HE-400i & HE-560 yuck...), in my opinion. Especially bass-wise! And sub bass too.
What is the size of the driver for the t50rp because I am building a custom headphone with this driver.
Thanks in advance.
hey Lachlan love the channel keep making great videos man which would you recommend the r70x are the HG 600 / 6:50
4:04 that would def go viral.
At 5:28 you have assembled the film in the wrong way.
I learned so much from this video! thanks lachlan :)
310/5000
great explanation! could you do a review of modhouse argons? everyone agrees that they are the best modified version of the fostex t50, I concluded that they are the kings of closed headphones in a range of 500 dollars after doing a lot of research on the internet and I plan to buy them
you can try stax
You should find some SONY APM Accurate Pistonic Motion square driver speakers :)
I have some bookshelf APM speakers connected to a subwoofer. Sound quite nice.
We had some old TDK speakers like that! They were turfed out though :
Was the driver an actual square? These supposedly use 4x the copper, I know nothing about them really, they play sound and I enjoy it.
+Mickice yeah they were flat and square. I always thought they were a bit odd. A flat driver like that might not be very rigid though.
Hey Lachlan. I am a huge fan of your videos. You're very informative as in this video. If I may suggest something and this has nothing to do with headphones, you might want to consider having a manicure if you are going to take close up of your hands. They need it.
благодарю за видео позновательно ) смотрел ток с субтитрами )
Hey!! I think you should review the ZTE Axon 7. As an audiophile, I'd like to *hear* your take on it, hehe...
Charles Stevenson I have one and a fulla schiit. fulla beats it when paired to a nad viso hp50
I'll be honest, I don't like these headphones, I don't think they sound great at all. In fact, I'm really at a loss as to what it is people like about this headphone.... ?? Only thing I can think is that they must be listening very loud, they seem to play loud without distorting. But I personally don't listen loud so, maybe that's the difference?
no amp needed, fiio x1, use the line out instead of headphone function, to me great result.
got 40 mk3 plus hm5 velour pads . maybe case of music -taste. fiio dragonfly-copy dac is useless. ..
што он лыбица как щесливый медный чайник ??
Hey Lachlan. I am a huge fan of your videos! You should review the AKG K7xx from massdrop. :)
Fostex does make more expensive amazing headphones they just aren't planar.
you might end up spending more on a amp/dac than the headphones
Fantastic video! really educational. KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!
vry cool ! thx
brother you are a natural teacher...is that a down unda accent???...been hittin the aussie accent a lot lately watching some old school k-1 with sam greco and the netflix series glitch is aussie style...of course you could be from the land of the long white cloud one place in the top position on my bucket list...hot air balloon over cantebury plains where lord of rings was filmed yes please...anyway thanks brother...
Get the T20RP, they have awesome sub bass performance.
planar magnetic stuff should be used more, more simple and better design.
One year of missing, comes with a comeback video?
SE-MASTER1High-resolution stereo headphones for the discerning audiophileFrequency response from 5 Hz to 85,000 HzDual 50 mm neodymium magnet speakersAluminum diaphragm with ceramic coatingBalanced XLR Cable ----------------------------GUYS CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF THIS PIONNER headphones are powerfull and the best for gaming high res audio MOVIES,GAMING AND MUSIC?????/?????
Please refrain from caps and question marks. I will answer you disregarding the troll. "Resolution" in headphones mean nothing. All headphones and speakers ARE analog no matter what manufacturers say. Its just electricity, powering a magnet. Resolution is down to what is powering them. The money you spend goes to how well the headphones can reproduce the music. That is 100% up to you. Some people like bass, some like it flat. High end headphones are just better.
nice thank you so much
Япона мама....
You speak really slowly... thank god for the youtube speed up function
It took about 3 minutes and 50 seconds for you to say the driver was planar magnetic
Okay this entire video was fucking useless
The way you touch it and rub it on your desk annoys me.
The moment he said m50x I stopped watching fuck m50x and it’s weird ass mid bass m40x and m60x is much better and m50x is horse shit compare to any generation of t50rp is better than m50x
does it sound good though? :D