The most underrated headphone you can buy

Q: In your opinion, what is the most underrated headphone you can buy?

A: Personally, I think the most underrated headphone today is the Fostex T50RP. I'll explain why.

First, they are planar magnetic headphones, and at $100 an incredible value at a time when most planars are priced at 8-10x as much (or more). Of course planars used to be super common in the 70s and early 80s, but today they occupy a more high-end niche.

Second, T50s can be modded to become something that is way beyond what the stock T50 is. It's like they are Tony Stark when they are stock -- lovable but with specific idiosyncrasies, and then you mod them and they become Iron Man - incredibly powerful and capable of delivering truly stellar sound.

Now I agree that most headphone mods are hit-or-miss, because they are described by amateurs (often badly), and variations in methods between one modder and another means that no 2 mods sound the same. So if someone does the Kramer mod on their Koss KSC75s and you try to emulate them, you will never get exactly the same sound that Kramer got, because Kramer never detailed where specifically to drill the damned holes to make the modded KSC75 sound the sweetest.

But there are some mods that can clearly be replicated, and everyone doing the mods will have exactly the same effects as the original modder intended. For example the Sennheiser HD555 foam mod (all you do is take out the foam pad, that's the same mod no matter who does it) or the AKG Q701 bass mod (ditto with the little circular tape thingy) but standardized mods aren't just for mid fi headphones, they exist even for endgame setups, for example the Anaxilus mod for the Sennheiser HD800 (which I would argue is almost mandatory if you own a HD800).

The T50 has the advantage that it has been extensively modded, so there is a lot of stuff out there on what various mods do. But until a dude called bluemonkeyflyer posted his mod, these were hit-or-miss (or trade secrets, for those folks who modded T50s for a living). What bluemonkeyflyer did was to quantify everything he did, from posting FR curves associated with each specific alteration, to objective evaluations of alternatives, and specific results. In short, he took the "art" of T50 modding and made it into a "science".

Which means that anyone can mod the T50RP in a consistent fashion. From the materials used to the amounts of stuff you have to use, everything is well described on the Internet. My T50 is the only headphones that I have modded that sound exactly like I want them to -- by using an iterative, step-wise approach to modding them I tuned them to fit my musical tastes like a glove -- but more importantly, so can you.

Keep in mind that commercial headphones like the Mad Dogs and Alpha Dogs are T50 mods, so you know what you can achieve if you mod your T50 well.

Plus, what a wonderful way to spend time, making small sequential changes in how a pair of headphones sound, listening, modding, listening, modding some more, tweaking the SQ to match your desire.

In Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind In The Willows", the Water Rat says: "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing—absolute nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

Just substitute "in boats" with "with headphones".

The coolest looking headphones

Q: What do you think the coolest looking headphones are?

A: From a "look ma, I'm in a sci-fi movie" perspective, the Sennheiser HD800, which is certainly the most distinctive headphone out there today.

from an "old world cool" perspective, the Audio Technica ATH-ESW9 has always reminded me of the New Yankee Workshop, except for headphones.

From a "wow that craftsmanship is incredible" perspective = the Fostex TH900. Unless you have seen it IRL you will not fully realize how awesome the urushi is.

But for sheer luxury, you have to go with the Ultrasone Edition 10, with its zebrano wood and lambskin it looks like something you would find in an art deco museum in Miami.

What are your top 3 headphones over $1000?

Q: What would you consider to be the top 3 headphones that cost over $1000?

A: Personally, I would consider the Sennheiser HD800, the Audeze LCD3 and the Fostex TH900 my top 3 (open, planar, closed). HD800 wins on design, TH900 wins on craftsmanship (urushi!) and LCD3 wins on its materials.

But there is a second tier of headphones that are cheaper and provide almost as much performance, so from a price-performance perspective these headphones make much more sense to aspire to than my top 3.

Two disclaimers: I'm not into electrostatic headphones, so haven't considered them in the ranking.

Second, I'm not going to rank headphones that cost well over $2000, because I wouldn't spend over $2000 on headphones. At that price point (and above) speakers reign supreme, and you will never get the best $2000 headphones to sound as good as above-average $2000 speakers, and the best $3000 speakers will end up blowing the best $3000 headphones away.

In sum, it doesn't make sense from a price performance perspective to spend over $2000 for headphones, since above that price point you are probably better off getting speakers.

Modding the Fostex T50RP

There is probably more out there about how to mod the T50 than any other headphone. Yes, if done right you will have an awesome sounding pair of headphones. Keep in mind that the mad dogs are in essence modded T50 RP, so you have a sense of what a good mod can achieve.

Many headphone mods are one-offs and hard to reproduce but IMO the T50 can be modded in a consistent way to sound good. All you need is time, patience, and a steady hand.

In essence the mods for the T50 consist of the following

1) mass load the baffles inside the cup with something like blu-tac (I used uhu-tac)

2) create a bass port by closing off the vent with something like electricians tape. The size of the bass port determines the level of bass you want from the T50s.

3) use sound baffling material to line the inside of the cups (I used acoustimat that I got from an auto repair place. How I got my hands on the stuff is an interesting story, but probably not for this post)

4) Fill the cups with cotton wool / fiberglass insulation etc just like a speaker (I used cotton wool. Be sure to weigh the wool and use the same amount for both cups!)

5) create a reflex dot for the driver with transpore or paper tape, or add layers of transpore over the driver to redirect sound (I used two layers, it worked best for me. Others have used more or less)

6) change the pads (I used shure 840 pads but there are other options)

A good place to start might be to search for " bluemonkeyflyer T50RP mod". Do your research, make incremental changes and tune your T50 to just the way you want it to sound like!

My T50 is the only headphones I have modded that sound exactly like I want them to. It took me a while to get there, and some steps were hit and miss and required undoing, but in the end it has turned out to be a fun and enjoyable activity.

What makes really expensive headphones so expensive?

Q: What makes really expensive headphones so expensive?

A: Essentially there are 4 aspects to the cost of any product [1] R&D [2] materials [3] manufacturing and [4] marketing. These costs may be either fixed (eg payroll) or variable (eg sourcing raw materials).

R&D is variable, so calculating the cost of R&D for an individual headphone model is difficult. Newer models still haven't seen a return on ROI costs, while older models (for example HD600) have probably recouped their R&D costs, and then some. R&D costs may be hard to figure out accurately because one technology may be used in multiple products, or may be responsible for the development of other innovations, for example the design of the HD580 enclosure and drivers directly influenced the design of the HD600 and 650 enclosures and drivers. Another great example is the Q701 -- it is in essence a K701 with modest changes. Most of the R&D cost was for the K701, and the Q701 reaped much of the benefit.

Material costs vary over time, often wildly, and are subject to supply and demand constraints. For example the price of copper, used in headphone voice coils and wires, has changed dramatically over the last few decades, and copper futures are still often volatile.

Production costs also vary, for example Q701s were made in Austria, but AKG wanted to save costs and moved production to China. But moving production to China does not necessarily make things cheaper, for example some Audio Gd amps probably cost more to make than equivalent Schiit amps, even though Schiit makes its stuff in the US and Audio Gd in China.

Many companies OEM some or all of production, which again affects costs depending on who they OEM to. And it's not just a case of folks using cheap Chinese OEMs -- some Denons for example were OEMd by Fostex, for example. And keep in mind that OEM companies typically conduct their own R&D, have their own design costs, have to retool equipment for specific products, etc, which changes cost calculations.

And finally marketing: some companies spend more on marketing (e.g. Apple, Nike, Beats) and make huge profits, while others spend very little on traditional marketing and still manage to do very well for themselves. One way to get around substantial marketing costs is to engage in direct marketing (eg Emotiva, Schiit) or to depend on word of mouth (like HiFiMan depends on HeadFi).

But eventually, keep in mind that companies will try to make as much profit as they can, so the price may be determined by what the market can support. For audiophile products, there may be a substantial markup in price just because companies know they can get away with it. A classical example of this is the Grado RA1, which has been substantially marked up when you take into account its design and materials/manufacturing cost.

[Review] Fostex HP-A4: The Little Black Box That Could

Preliminary impressions of the Fostex HP-A4 DAC/headphone amplifier

or

"The Little Black Box That Could"

Fostex? Who dat?

Fostex has been around for a while. In addition to manufacturing their own products, they OEM for other brands (think Denon headphones, for example). They are a subsidiary of the Japanese company Foster Electric (they merged with Foster in 2003). Foster has been around since the 1940s and is probably the biggest audio company you have never heard of.

History of the HPA4, or "The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow. How did it come to this?"

Earlier this year, Fostex upgraded their little HPA3 DAC/amp with an new design, the HPA4. There hasn't been much buzz or hype about this model, and I didn't know much about it until recently. That's when I got interested, initially because the HPA3 is a USB-powered amp/DAC that utilizes a DAC chip made by a company you don't commonly see -- Asahi Kasei's AK4390 chip, and I couldn't figure out what DAC the HPA4 was using.

But as I did my research, the HPA4 stood out for a bunch of reasons, and soon I realized I was obsessing about it all the time. When a product's webpage ends up as a Favorite on my browser, that's when I know I am screwed, and will probably end up buying said product. So sure enough, both logical arguments ("I need another DAC like I need another testicle") and emotional pleas ("USB powered amps don't have enough juice to even drive a Grado") failed miserably, and I ended up buying the HPA4.

What is it?

The HPA4 is a USB powered amp/DAC. It has USB and optical in, and can support up to 24 bit/192 kHz frequencies on PCM and SPDIF, and 2.8 and 5.6 MHz DSD.

It has a single 1/4 inch headphone jack that delivers 100 mw at 32 ohms, dropping to 20 mw at 300 ohms. It also has RCA out, so can act as a preamp for active speakers.

As usual, within a few hours of powering it up I had to open it up and take a look inside. It does not feature an Asahi Kasei DAC chip, instead settling for a more run-of-the-mill PCM1792A. There's a custom crystal oscillator to run asynchronous mode, the PCB design is efficient, and the build quality is excellent.

Most of the reviews I have read about the HPA4 claim that is the "little brother" of the acclaimed Fostex HPA8 DAC/amp, which is considered by some to be an endgame setup. From my look inside the HPA4, that description is, well, untrue. Different DAC, different architecture, different components -- IMO these are two entirely different DAC/amps that merely share the Fostex brand and a couple of common features. The hype train strikes again.

Features

I have four interesting features to report to you.

First, the HPA4 has optical out, so it can convert USB or optical in to a SPDIF optical out signal, which is useful if you want to daisy-chain another DAC with optical in.

Second, it has a gain switch that adds an extra 10 dB. This is very useful given that the HPA4 is USB powered.

Third, it has a filter switch. With a PCM source you can select between a slow and sharp roll-off digital filter, and with a DSD source you can choose a high cutoff (185 kHz with gain of -6.6 dB) or low cutoff (85 kHz with gain of -1.5 db).

And fourth, it has a microSD slot at the back. Unfortunately, this can't be used to play music, it is designed to allow easy firmware updates using a microSD card.

For those looking for button and connection pictures, here is the front end, and the back end.


Looks

It's small, but heavy. It comes with 4 rubber feet that you have to stick, and once they are on the unit is solid and does not slide. It has a sleek industrial black look similar to the HPA8 (but no display). It has a row of LEDs which are green and red, like Christmas all over again. The metal enclosure is a fingerprint magnet -- it attracts more fingerprints than Lindsay Lohan attracts DUIs.


Knobfeel

How can you have a device with a knob and not describe knobfeel in a review? Alas, the potentiometer does have a little friction -- it's not buttery smooth. No low end imbalance though, so I'm happy.


The sound

I read a a review a while ago (on Headphonia?) where the HPA4 was pitted against the Benchmark DAC1, and won.Ha ha, I said to myself, since the DAC1 is my gold standard. It takes challengers and breaks them like Gregor Clegane. So of course my first set of tests were against the DAC1.
The results? To paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen in his famous debate against Dan Quayle: "Senator, I served with the DAC1. I knew the DAC1. The DAC1 was a friend of mine. The HPA4 is no DAC1."

It comes close though, which I thought was surprising. Shocking, even, given the difference sin design and price points. The sound is detailed, if a little smooth. Treble is modestly accentuated, but not harsh at all. Bass is well represented, tight, and without artifacts or muddiness. There is zero noise floor, both in low as well as high gain.
I couldn't make out any difference between the slow and sharp PCM filter. Sorry. I convinced myself I heard a difference with the DSD filter, but that was probably a combination of expectation bias and the dB attenuation more than a real, tangible difference.

I used Fostex's own Audio Player to listen to DSD files. It is very bare-bones, but does the job. It utilizes custom ASIO drivers by default, and can decode DSD over PCM or native DSD. It also has a "load to RAM" feature for handling audio data, for which of course you need a decent amount of RAM. My gaming rig has 32GB of RAM, and although 16GB is taken up by a RAMdrive, the remaining 16GB does not struggle with running the Audio player in its Expanded RAM setting. DSD files sound great, of course, but that's more a function of the file type than the DAC.

I have been rotating headphones only over the last few days, so have not had time to go through my stable. Most of my testing was done with my modded T50RP, which I thought was only fitting since I was flying the Fostex flag. The HPA4 is IMO synergistic with the HD650 and LCD3, but struggles to power the high impedance 600 ohm Beyer DT990. The high gain mode helps, but is merely passable. Ah well, what did you expect from a USB powered amp?


In sum: The good

It's a compact, solidly built, convenient DAC/amp that does not require its own AC power line. It sounds remarkably good, with no sonic flaws. If you are looking to get into a futureproof DSD capable DAC, then this a a great deal from a price-performance perspective. Of course the Aune X1 is the bargain basement option in this category, but Aune QC is hit-or-miss, and Fostex build quality is impeccable.

It also has RCA and optical out, so you can connect it to another optical-in device and to active speakers. The pot on the HPA4 ramps the volume of the RCA-out signal, so it can be used to control active speaker volume.

For the price, it sounds really good. It doesn't quite beat the DAC1, but it comes close. The DAC1 retails for $1000+. The MSRP on the HAA4 is $400. So from the price-performance perspective, I recommend this product.

The bad

It struggles with high-impedance headphones. The filter switch might not be hooked up to the amp at all, for all I can tell. The LED lights are bright and the green-and-red combo is a tad cheesy.RCA and headphone gain levels are not independently controlled, so when you switch from RCA out to headphone jack, you have to make sure the potentiometer is dialed down or you may blast your headphones.

The enclosure isn't a fingerprint magnet in the normal sense, it attracts smudges with the magnetic field strength of a dozen MRI machines chained together. And oh yes, the potentiometer isn't buttery smooth. I know, that's nitpicking, but it is a big deal for me.

The ugly

There really isn't anything ugly about this little black box. Even the USB cable it comes with is well built.

The bottom line

What it is: This is a great portable DAC/amp. For folks who carry their gear from home to work and back again, this is a great choice. For folks looking to get into DSD on the cheap, this is a great choice. For folks looking for a compact bedside amp/dac unit without the usual spaghetti of wires sticking out the back, this is a great choice. For Fostex fanboys, this is a great choice.

What it isn't: It's not the "little brother of the HPA8". So if you are looking for HPA8 performance on a HPA4 budget, that aint going to happen. If you have high impedance headphones, pass on the HPA4. If you want to play music off your microSD card, this isn't the unit for you. If you are paranoid about fingerprints and smudges, stock up on non-abrasive neutral electronics-safe cleaner. By the gallon.