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
I gave up on that topic when somebody helpfully pointed out that electrons don’t flow. And I was told that graphene is only graphite and you can’t paint it on. And anyway it's all snake oil so why bother?
I’m shocked that there is so much disinformation and misinformation in the audio hobby. 🙄
Well I would hate to contribute to any more of that. But graphene does seem to know what you want it to do. Or maybe it just does what it wants. Funny thing is, it takes its time. Like linking segments, or spreading tentacles or something. Please don't try to prove or disprove that technically. And I do think it facilitates signal transfer (safer than mentioning electrons) in metal conductors, merely by being in close proximity.
Graphite, carbon black, shungite and even activated charcoal (face cleanser), all work as a poor man's substitute for graphene. Shungite is by far the best of them. In addition they can act as an organic filler within a polymer, for vibration control via intercalation of the carbon and polymer molecules.
Among other things graphene is an excellent rf shield. The very best on a per weight basis.  Make sense?