Maybe someone will mod the modded headphones lol. "___(insert username)"mod for Alpha Dogs.

Fostex T50RP drivers are simply fantastic. I am not kidding, these deserve true admiration. I can attest that once you get rid of those ridiculous cups, put these drivers into well damped (wood) cups and get hold of some Alpha pads, you will be able to reach audiophile level.

I did own and sell some HE-500s and Paradox, but I will ALWAYS hold on to my Fostex Alpha Woodies. It seems such a nondescript driver, but it is able to produce world-class audio bliss at a price that everyone can afford.

Oi! Pics pretty please.

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Glad you enjoyed, they truly are my favorite closed headphones, and the Paradox did not quite hold its own against them as you heard for yourself the other day. I also agree that seal is tremendously important for its performance. I've not noticed any channel imbalance whereas I did with my past HE500's two years back.

yeah, thanks for stopping by! will be trying to hear them on a better amp - the M^3 we used is still a bit of a WIP. I think they should have better imaging/soundstage/whatever with a better amp, right?

The T50RP in general seems to scale really well, so it's very possible you could get more out of them, munch.

Also, in regards to channel imbalance, I did not have an issue if the pads were sealed correctly. Getting the pads to seal correctly was a different story, but they were a bit deformed and squished from being in the box after shipment. With a good seal, I found the FR to be much more in line with what ultrabike's right channel measurements show - less bass roll-off, harsher treble.

While the measurement environment was not ideal, I don't think that what were are seeing here is a result of that. Consider the FR results of the right driver from the HE-6 also at the same meet, and taken at different times and re-couplings:



The measurement coupling is flat, which allows for more repeatable measurements. Also note that the HE-6s are open and therefore isolate less from non-ideal meet conditions.

I feel the main culprit is that the Alpha Dogs cans are fairly position sensitive. This has been hinted before. This may be partly a result of the pads used by these cans which are not designed for sound absorption, but for seal.

Here is a second set of measurements with the drivers aligned differently relative to the mic:



The null at the right channel remains. However, the mic is probably closer to one edge of the pads which might account for the upper-mids null's frequency change to a higher frequency (shorter wavelength - distance to pads). The position change also seems to have an effect on the left driver. However, for some reason the left driver does not seem to develop as deep a null as the right driver. To further illustrate, here is a comparison of the measurements for each individual driver with the different mic/driver orientations

Right channel



Left channel



Again, IMO these measurements show that the AD are perhaps fairly positional sensitive relative to other cans. In regards to comments about square wave response during the meet, they are a function of the frequency response. Based on what I've seen, 30 Hz square waves might look great. However, 300 Hz square waves from these cans would probably be a little more distorted.

All these said, I don't think these are bad headphones at all. The factory tuning is relatively neutral, though perhaps a little tilted to the treble, which did not bother me at all.