Topic: Alpha Dogs Measurements (Read 14016 times)

Hands · « **Reply #30 on:** November 08, 2013, 03:38:08 AM »

Quote from: Azteca X on November 08, 2013, 02:58:30 AM

Quote from: hans030390 on November 08, 2013, 02:12:18 AM
Got the tour AD in today. Only real complaint from a very brief listen is that they do indeed sound a bit harsh. EQing down around 5.5-6KHz and 10KHz based on these measurements and the ones Dan released really seems to help.

I listen to a good amount of aggressive music so this gives me some pause.
Have you heard the Paradox or Slant? Are those more agreeable in that region?

It's been a while since I had a Paradox, and it was an earlier unit (socks held the pads on). I've almost always EQed the Paradox and Mad Dog...hell, most T50RPs, really. I find myself having to EQ the AD more, but it's not an issue if you don't mind that.

I'm not sure what sort of progressive music you're referring to. If it's something like Opeth, Dream Theater, BTBAM, Porcupine Tree...the heavier sections can be a bit hard to listen to without EQ, assuming you listen fairly loudly like I do.

I have not heard the Slant, though I am interested in it.

Hands · « **Reply #31 on:** November 08, 2013, 07:00:17 AM »

I'm listening to these more, and the treble problems are unfortunate because they sound really good with a bit of EQ and are a bit too harsh for my ears otherwise. But for anyone that doesn't mind using EQ, I think I would recommend them.

jerg · « **Reply #32 on:** November 08, 2013, 07:09:31 AM »

Quote from: hans030390 on November 08, 2013, 02:12:18 AM

Got the tour AD in today. Only real complaint from a very brief listen is that they do indeed sound a bit harsh. EQing down around 5.5-6KHz and 10KHz based on these measurements and the ones Dan released really seems to help.

I think most people would not have an issue with it, and most of my listening material isn't exactly what I'd call smooth (metal).

The HE-500 with Jergpads has similar problems around 8-10KHz, though to a lesser extent. Not a huge deal for either headphone, really. With a bit of EQ, the AD really does sound quite good.

Sorry but I gotta ask, which revision of Jergpad are you equipping the HE500s with? It's just that there has been a ton of iterations done on the mod itself over the past many months and I think the resulting sound has changed (hopefully for the better) since the early days of this mod.

Hands · « **Reply #33 on:** November 08, 2013, 07:17:37 AM »

Quote from: jerg on November 08, 2013, 07:09:31 AM

Quote from: hans030390 on November 08, 2013, 02:12:18 AM
Got the tour AD in today. Only real complaint from a very brief listen is that they do indeed sound a bit harsh. EQing down around 5.5-6KHz and 10KHz based on these measurements and the ones Dan released really seems to help.

I think most people would not have an issue with it, and most of my listening material isn't exactly what I'd call smooth (metal).

The HE-500 with Jergpads has similar problems around 8-10KHz, though to a lesser extent. Not a huge deal for either headphone, really. With a bit of EQ, the AD really does sound quite good.

Sorry but I gotta ask, which revision of Jergpad are you equipping the HE500s with? It's just that there has been a ton of iterations done on the mod itself over the past many months and I think the resulting sound has changed (hopefully for the better) since the early days of this mod.

Everything except holes on the outside of the pad. Don't Marv's measurement's show a spike around there relative to the mids before? Probably not an issue for most, but stuff like that bothers me. (I'd probably like the LCD-2 if I heard it.)

jerg · « **Reply #34 on:** November 08, 2013, 07:31:35 AM »

Quote from: hans030390 on November 08, 2013, 07:17:37 AM

Quote from: jerg on November 08, 2013, 07:09:31 AM
Quote from: hans030390 on November 08, 2013, 02:12:18 AM
Got the tour AD in today. Only real complaint from a very brief listen is that they do indeed sound a bit harsh. EQing down around 5.5-6KHz and 10KHz based on these measurements and the ones Dan released really seems to help.

I think most people would not have an issue with it, and most of my listening material isn't exactly what I'd call smooth (metal).

The HE-500 with Jergpads has similar problems around 8-10KHz, though to a lesser extent. Not a huge deal for either headphone, really. With a bit of EQ, the AD really does sound quite good.

Sorry but I gotta ask, which revision of Jergpad are you equipping the HE500s with? It's just that there has been a ton of iterations done on the mod itself over the past many months and I think the resulting sound has changed (hopefully for the better) since the early days of this mod.

Everything except holes on the outside of the pad. Don't Marv's measurement's show a spike around there relative to the mids before? Probably not an issue for most, but stuff like that bothers me. (I'd probably like the LCD-2 if I heard it.)

If you really don't like the slight treble emphasis relative to upper mids, you could do the felt-disc mod. Just get a thin felt disc, cut it out to be the exact same diameter as the driver, cut in holes where the screws secure the drivers, and then just sandwich it in between the drivers and the plastic ring/screw assembly between earpads and drivers. Conveniently HE300s have this foam disc, so someone with both the 300 and 500 could just transfer the disc over.

It simply pushes down the entire treble range by quite a bit, but bass and mids don't seem affected at all. Might take a hit on airiness and upper treble detail extraction but it might be the tonal balance you are looking for.

I used the foam disc mod + jergpads for quite a while actually, really loved the sound. But in the end I was thirsty for airiness so I popped the discs out. Might put em back in in the future when I want the dark treble again.

Hands · « **Reply #35 on:** November 08, 2013, 07:36:21 AM »

Do you know of a good material that would work? While I do have foam discs (a common mod I do to headphones), they are all too small. When I put them "in" the pad, as in it was on top of the pad's mesh lining and the foam edges would go under the pads, the ones I tried stifled the sound too much. The treble was partially tamed, but the bass and mids also sounded softer as well. Your method of sandwiching it under the pads might work better, and/or your material might be better.

jerg · « **Reply #36 on:** November 08, 2013, 08:04:32 AM »

Quote from: hans030390 on November 08, 2013, 07:36:21 AM

Do you know of a good material that would work? While I do have foam discs (a common mod I do to headphones), they are all too small. When I put them "in" the pad, as in it was on top of the pad's mesh lining and the foam edges would go under the pads, the ones I tried stifled the sound too much. The treble was partially tamed, but the bass and mids also sounded softer as well. Your method of sandwiching it under the pads might work better, and/or your material might be better.

https://www.google.ca/search?newwindow=1&espv=210&es_sm=122&biw=1920&bih=955&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=felt+material&oq=felt+material&gs_l=img.3..0l3j0i5j0i24l6.19157.19865.0.20077.8.7.0.0.0.0.184.739.3j4.7.0....0...1c.1.31.img..4.4.421.WfBWJzc8RsY

You can just buy a bunch of thicknesses, easily cut out a bunch of them at once with a template, and do some tests to find whichever that attenuated the treble the most suitably for you. I just took the shortcut and used the pre-made felt discs in my HE300s.

Edit: you made me curious again and I just installed the felt discs back in. So now it's open grills + jergpads + HE300 felt discs (with a little slit cut out in the middle to accommodate for the steel strut of HE500 drivers). Sounds as good as I remembered actually, and surprisingly not too negatively affected in the airiness department.

Edit2: went back to no felt disc. There seems to be too much lower treble suppression with these particular discs that causes treble to sound hollowed out.

Edit3: went back to the discs again...after checking with a ton more music, the treble change does not bother me much anymore. On the other hand, I noted a pretty dramatic improvement to bass, specifically how tight/growl-y it becomes with the felt. I don't really know how the felt could do this...some sort of diffusing effect? damping of backwaves in the closed face/driver space?

munch · « **Reply #37 on:** November 10, 2013, 02:06:49 AM »

just got to hear the alpha doges - they're great.
not sure if pair was vastly different or anything but it didn't have such weird channel imbalance this pair. something about the upper mids but that's kind of nitpicking. awesome closed headphones.

good detail level, good imaging, pretty good balance, not perfect but very impressive overall.
good seal makes a pretty big difference I noticed though.

Hands · « **Reply #38 on:** November 10, 2013, 11:01:22 AM »

Quote from: jerg on November 08, 2013, 08:04:32 AM

Edit3: went back to the discs again...after checking with a ton more music, the treble change does not bother me much anymore. On the other hand, I noted a pretty dramatic improvement to bass, specifically how tight/growl-y it becomes with the felt. I don't really know how the felt could do this...some sort of diffusing effect? damping of backwaves in the closed face/driver space?

Haha, I like the back and forth! I can also vouch for felt changing bass in positive ways (including what you mentioned) when placed in front of the driver. Hell, front driver damping, even with just felt, can do a whole lot more than you'd expect.

Hands · « **Reply #39 on:** November 11, 2013, 12:56:16 PM »

FWIW, I posted my lengthy thoughts on the Alpha Dog in that big thread in the land of the Fi-Heads. Main points:

- Seems to have a smoother, flatter response up till 1KHz or so than the Mad Dog. Could be wrong, but it's no worse at the very least. Does seem to have better clarity and control, most noticeably in the bass for me. For example, the bass drum had a stronger, more defined kick to it and the bass guitar was easier to pick out of the music (a tad fuzzy sounding on the Mad Dog).

- The emphasized points around 5.5-6KHz and 10KHz just did not sit well with me. I find the Mad Dog is actually very close in line with my tastes. It doesn't actually sound too laid-back to me, but I'm on the somewhat younger side of the spectrum and have never been too fond of uneven and/or emphasized treble. It took me a few years to figure out that was one of the aspects of certain headphones I didn't like but otherwise couldn't explain why (lots of thanks to this site for helping with that). But, realistically, I think the Alpha Dog should have been tuned right in between the Mad Dog 3.2 and what the AD actually is.

- EQ does wonders for the Alpha Dog. I really, really enjoyed listening to them like that, but otherwise it's just too much (makes it a bit useless for games and, say, online music streaming services, as I found it hard to tolerate without EQ).

- The overall look and finish of the Alpha Dog was really nice. Felt like a premium product for the most part. I liked the included extras and didn't mind that the stand required one to remove the cables and lower the headband height.

Very close, but just not quite there. I know Dan said he didn't plan to revise the Alpha Dog, but we'll see...(hoping he does because I liked everything else about it so well)

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Author Topic: Alpha Dogs Measurements (Read 14016 times)