Markl Mods

[Fungi]

I was approached by someone else asking me permission to start offering the mod for a fee. So, now I had a dilemma-- let someone else profit from all my hard work, expense, and time, or do it myself. What would you have done?

Let the d-bag sell a "service" to idiots who would pay cash for a simple mod that requires little toolery and parts. It still looks like a case of "I want my money, all mine" to me.

[markl]

Let the d-bag sell a "service" to idiots who would pay cash for a simple mod that requires little toolery and parts. It still looks like a case of "I want my money, all mine" to me.

Dude, I GAVE AWAY THE MOD FOR FREE with detailed photos and description. The mod as-is in the Head-Fi forums will provide ANYONE (even you) with the same mod that made me sell my R10. Anyone can do it. Are you informed or just mad for the sake of being mad?

[swt61]

Go over to the ortho thread and see this done every day. The materials are different and so is the execution but the principle is the same.

Amen! I've learned more about headphones from that thread, than I've learned anywhere else.

[Fungi]

I'm not talking about the mods, I'm talking about your decision to charge money for your modding service because someone else might have filled that position. And I'm not mad. In fact, I'm rather happy right now because I've got something in the mail for me.

[swt61]

The rules are I can no longer review headphones or cables for headphones. I am free to contribute reviews of everything else.

Shit! That must mean I can no longer review headphone stands.

And I had a big shootout all typed up!

I have to agree with markl that he did give the mods away for free to anyone wishing to do their own labor. If someone would rather pay him to do the labor, what's the difference in that and having a flat tire fixed instead of doing it yourself. I can't fault the man for that.

I haven't heard a modded D 5000 0r a stock D 5000, so I won't comment on the mods, but I think his business practices are in line. Some people would just rather pay to have something done, no conspiracy there as far as I can see.

[markl]

I'm not talking about the mods, I'm talking about your decision to charge money for your modding service because someone else might have filled that position.

I assume that like many headphone folks you must be a younger guy, probably in college. Unless you are some kind of purist communist or something (do they still make those today?), you will be shocked, shocked to learn that money makes the world go round. Maybe your parents still pay for everything for you, and you may have grown up in an era where you could steal everything for free on the internet, so you think nothing has value, but you'd best pray when you graduate (if you want a decent job) somebody somewhere is protecting intellectual property rights so you you can have a job doing something other than slinging hash in a burger joint. Sorry to rag on you, but I'm using you as an example of some of the attitude exhibited here in this thread, for all I know, if you and I met off-line we'd be buds.

Next time you invest over a thousand bucks in raw materials and countless hours to develop something, and then give it away for nothing (which I have done), you let me know. Til then, quit yer bitchin'.

[Duggeh]

It's a shame I no longer have the gushing PMs of praise from mister Duggeh complimenting my review skills and contributuions to head-Fi. I love how some people have one face on Head-Fi and another over here. Kind of depressing, actually. One of the chief reasons I seldom come here.

You can have my gushing praise about how I enjoy reading your material when a review is like the far better stuff you've written in the past. The PS Audio review just wasn't as good as stuff you've written before, like the three closed portable headphones review.

[Fungi]

You're pretty much spot on with your descriptions of me except I do realize that money makes the world go round. But after having invested so much in figuring out the mods, it seems kind of contradictory that you'd be in it for the money at this point.

[swt61]

Yeah Duggeh calls 'em as he sees 'em. It's quite refreshing really for a man of his years to be so unbiased. You can't win 'em over all the time markl.

[markl]

You can have my gushing praise about how I enjoy reading your material when a review is like the far better stuff you've written in the past. The PS Audio review just wasn't as good as stuff you've written before, like the three closed portable headphones review.

I stand by my review, I wrote exactly what I wanted to say about that product. I feel great about it. Not sorry at all if it doesn't meet whatever standard you have in your mind for a review. Are there "rules" for writing a review? I must have missed that.

I have, though, noted how many TakeT owners have now commented about its utter lack of low bass despite being billed by you as the ultimate bass monster headphone. But I haven't called you any names over that or criticized your abilities as a reviewer. We all have our own opinions and I'm sure you duly reported what you heard yourself (regardless if anyone else hears it that way).

The PS Audio Power Plant has no real signature, so there's not much to describe, outside of it "sounds" like your system sounds late at night when the power is relatively clean, which is essentially what I said. It makes your hear shine and sound more like itself, operating at its best.

Why don't you get one, and let's see how many ways and how many paragraphs you can spend describing the sound of "nothing". How many ways can you rhapsodize about the "blackness" of the background, or the "cleanliness" of the signal. I'd like to read all 10 volumes of that.

Yeah Duggeh calls 'em as he sees 'em. It's quite refreshing really for a man of his years to be so unbiased. You can't win 'em over all the time markl.

Doesn't mean he's right (see above re: TakeT). You haven't read many of my reviews I take it. Take a look at the new *sshole I tore the Qualia, or how I critiqued the Ray Samuels Raptor as being lacking in power long before this site existed or anyone else noticewd that (I know you guys hate RS), or how I've critiqued many audio cables, the Singlepower little solid state amp and on and on.

[swt61]

I stand by my review, I wrote exactly what I wanted to say about that product. I feel great about it. Not sorry at all if it doesn't meet whatever standard you have in your mind for a review. Are there "rules" for writing a review? I must have missed that.

I have, though, noted how many TakeT owners have now commented about its utter lack of low bass despite being billed by you as the ultimate bass monster headphone. But I haven't called you any names over that. We all have our own opinions and I'm sure you duly reported what you heard yourself (regardless if anyone else hears it that way).

The PS Audio power Plant has no signature, so there's not much to describe, outside of it "sounds" like your system sounds late at night when the power is relatively clean, which is essentially what I said.

Why don't you get one, and let's see how many ways and how many paragraphs you can spend describing the sound of "nothing". How many ways can you rhapsodize about the "blackness" of the background, or the "cleanliness" of the signal. I'd like to read all 10 volumes of that.

Doesn't mean he's right (see above re: TakeT). You haven't read many of my reviews I take it. Take a look at the new *sshole I tore the Qualia, or how I critiqued the Ray Samuels Raptor as being lacking in power long before this site existed or anyone else noticewd that (I know you guys hate RS), or how I've critiqued many audio cables, the Singlepower little solid state amp and on and on.

I agree with some of your points.

However Duggeh didn't say you broke any rules, he just simply found the review to be fluff. He has a right to that opinion, and he wasn't calling your Grandmother names or anything.

You didn't win him over on that one, call it a day and move on. Your loosing ground trying to make him out a bad guy.

[aerius]

Howdy,

Been a while since I've been to the dark side. Not sure what the rules are over here, what I can or can't say. I'll try to respond to a few things, and we'll see what's verboten.

This is not Head-fi, let loose, say what you really feel, you can even use fucking swear words.

I was approached by someone else asking me permission to start offering the mod for a fee. So, now I had a dilemma-- let someone else profit from all my hard work, expense, and time, or do it myself. What would you have done? Me, I decided to offer my services.

That's a dilema? Let's see, you're a well respected long time member on Head-fi, if some schmuck wanted to rip off your mods and do them for a fee, all you need to do is start a thread saying "that fucking assclown is ripping off my hard work, don't do business with the cocksucking dipshit", and people will listen. You can slime him so hard that he'll get death threats and angry calls & emails at all hours. If someone wanted to profit off your work as you claim, you could've fucked him, but you didn't. I find it hard to believe that this course of action never crossed your mind.

By the way, I've been in your exact same position when I was dicking around with mods on my K340. The thread is still there on Head-fi, I still have all my saved PM's of people asking me to do the mods for them, and offering to pay me for it. I have PMs from people asking me who can do the mods for them. I could be around $2000 richer right now just from those PMs. I told'em I don't do mods, I refered them to others who had successfully done the mods, as well as commercial modders such as Headphile. I've spent close to two years dicking around and improving my K340, and every last thing I've done is available to the public for free. I don't give a shit about "owning" the mods, I don't care that Headphile does a simpler version of them and charges a crapload of money for it.

It ain't important to me, it's not some earth shattering invention, it's just common sense stuff that anyone with half a brain could come up with given enough spare time and that's why I don't care if others are making a crapload of money off it. If I didn't come up with the idea, someone else would've, and it's not like my idea was original in any way since many others have applied similar principles to other headphones. I just happened to be the first to adapt prior art to a K340, and you're the first to adapt what has been learned in the past to a Denon. I ain't special, and neither are you, both of us are just adapting ideas which have been around for decades, and which have been used for ages in speakers & headphones.

[n_maher]

No interest in what's going on here but Mark, feel free to say whatever you want. We're not much for moderation here.

[markl]

I like Duggeh (or at least the Duggeh I see on Head-Fi). I've complimented him on private in his reviews and writing style. I do find it depressing and distressing that the Duggeh I see on Head-Fi and the one that shows up here seem to be two different guys.

That's my basic beef with this site. I'm the same guy here who will say the exact same things here as I will on Head-Fi. What you see is what you get. That doesn't seem to be the case for the majority of folks here from what I can see. I will not say things to people that I wouldn't dare say to their faces, which is sort of the ruff-and-tumble stock in trade over here.

Yeah, I get that this site evolved for banned Head-Fiers to yell "fuck" and all that, but i still find it disappointing that some people who seem to be decent folks on Head-Fi seem to turn into assholes over here. Just because you have a site that will let be insulting or rough, doesn't mean you should be.

[aerius]

Next time you invest over a thousand bucks in raw materials and countless hours to develop something, and then give it away for nothing (which I have done), you let me know. Til then, quit yer bitchin'.

You know what's funny? That happens every single day, multiple times a day on DIYaudio. It's not a big deal. Nobody cares about giving away years of knowledge that was learned the hard & expensive way.

[markl]

That's a dilema?

So, I guess all the folks who want the mod but don't want to do it themselves should not be served? No matter how many "attacks" or "critiques" I may get over here, you're just going to be disappointed that it doesn't upset me, there is absolutely NOTHING to bother the conscience in what I'm doing; on the contrary, I'm just meeting a demand. It turns out there's a market for me to perform mods, and people are very happy with the results so far. They win, I win, everyone is happy. Welcome to capitalism and the USA.

Given my schedule, I'm limited to 2 (maybe 3) mods per week (it's a 4 hour process, not counting all the time spent dealing with customer inquiries, packaging the headphone, and going to the PO to send them back), so I'm not getting rich. My fee is reasonable given parts, time and other costs. In reality (and I know many cynical folks here will just laugh, but that's on you, not me), the truth is, the biggest reward is the feedback I'm getting back from customers who are enjoying their mod-ed phones. That is gratifying to me. So sue me.

[deepak]

I agree with swt61, it's nice to offer the service to those that don't want to do it themselves and keep the information free.

[markl]

I agree with swt61, it's nice to offer the service to those that don't want to do it themselves and keep the information free.

Again, dude, the bulk of the mod has been GIVEN AWAY FOR FREE. People are replying without all the facts.

[swt61]

I like Duggeh (or at least the Duggeh I see on Head-Fi). I've complimented him on private in his reviews and writing style. I do find it depressing and distressing that the Duggeh I see on Head-Fi and the one that shows up here seem to be two different guys.

That's my basic beef with this site. I'm the same guy here who will say the exact same things here as I will on Head-Fi. What you see is what you get. That doesn't seem to be the case for the majority of folks here from what I can see. I will not say things to people that I wouldn't dare say to their faces, which is sort of the ruff-and-tumble stock in trade over here.

Yeah, I get that this site evolved for banned Head-Fiers to yell "fuck" and all that, but i still find it disappointing that some people who seem to be decent folks on Head-Fi seem to turn into assholes over here. Just because you have a site that will let be insulting or rough, doesn't mean you should be.

I've never been banned on Head-Fi, and yet I still love this site, hmmm?

I'm not so sure that people are different over here, it's more that they're allowed to be who they really are over here without the censorship and childproofing. I still like Head-Fi, but this is where you can be an adult and say the shit that's been on your mind for better or worse.

I think if you gave it half a chance you'd find that people are actually more genuine here than there, and most of them are great people. I have more fun with this crowd than I've had in this hobby in a long time. Yeah some people like to spar a bit, but it's harmless.

[deepak]

Again, dude, the bulk of the mod has been GIVEN AWAY FOR FREE. People are replying without all the facts.

I was agreeing with his point, not arguing against anything you did.

I have to agree with markl that he did give the mods away for free to anyone wishing to do their own labor. If someone would rather pay him to do the labor, what's the difference in that and having a flat tire fixed instead of doing it yourself. I can't fault the man for that.

I haven't heard a modded D 5000 0r a stock D 5000, so I won't comment on the mods, but I think his business practices are in line. Some people would just rather pay to have something done, no conspiracy there as far as I can see.

[swt61]

Again, dude, the bulk of the mod has been GIVEN AWAY FOR FREE. People are replying without all the facts.

He's agreeing with me, and I'm agreeing with you. Re-read his post.

Or go back and re-read mine.

[kevin gilmore]

KG, you really do come across as such such a bitter man. If the day came when I wrote a nice review about one of *your* products, I bet your attitude toward me would change, suddenly I'd be a sage. Of course, I haven't ever heard one, but I have been considering a GS-X as I might go balanced. For now, yeah, I like Rudi's gear, and no, amazingly, I don't care if you approve or not.

Not bitter. Not even the slightest bit. Well maybe some bitters as part of passover.

They are not my products. They are my designs, and a justin has done an unbelievable

job of execution and selection of parts.Trust me you will never get to hear the stuff i

have built for myself and you are unlikely to touch the stuff i have built for friends.

If you like or hate the GS-X it will make no difference to me.

My opinion of you will not change.

If you really don't know the difference between a sine wave and a square wave then

you really should not be reviewing power products as clearly thd would be meaningless

for a square wave. Shows how stupid you really are.

[Duggeh]

I'm the same person on both sites, the thing is that its horses for courses, there is a different atmosphere of context on HF and HC. Those who have met me in person can testify to the fact that I am ranting raving lunatic with a love for very dry, very black, very acerbic humour.

The context of head-fi (and indeed of the internet in general) means that you have to show restraint, or to tone down that sort of personality otherwise you can end up with the typical thread wars, trolling and animosity. It's also much easier to throw a really bad ball on the internet with that sort of thing than it is in person over a pint. I learned that lesson pretty hard recently when I did my rail against Terry Pratchett.

HC is pretty close knit, with far less of a stranger danger factor and those who are here, have, mostly, a comparable vein of plain speech. Its therefore if not more suitable, then much safer, to say whatever trips off the tongue (keyboard) at ones whim.

To draw some kind of analogy, HF is like a high school classroom, you know the majority of the many people in the class and theres a teacher lookign over everything. You can do a lot of productive stuff, and a lot of procrastination, but start throwing open crap about and you'll risk pissing off one of those classmates you don't know so well, or the teacher will stomp on you. HC is like a uni tutorial group. You know the people you're studying with much more closely, theres less of you, and theres a good chance that you'll shoot pool with the tutor after buying them a pint, all the while mocking their choice of tie.

[markl]

I think if you gave it half a chance you'd find that people are actually more genuine here than there,

Hey man, maybe that's one way of looking at it. For me, I don't like talking behind people's back, or showing one face when we meet in person and another when I'm away.

I get that I go waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the headphone world. To some extent, by virtue of the amount of involvement I've had in the community, and the amount of influence I can sometimes wield (which I don't take for granted, believe me), to some I may look like "the Man" or an "institution" that needs to be rebelled against (yeah, I do find that absurd, and wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen some of the comments here). But the reality is I'm just a fan and music lover like any other. No one can buy my opinion. I'm not rich, but I don't need any paltry kick-backs from some manufacturer to pimp their gear. That is utterly repugnant to me, and what's more, I've never ever even been approached by anyone to write something I couldn't stand by 100%, let alone been paid off for my review.

Yes, I do get sent gear for to me to review. That is the result of having been around a while in this community and being a voice that is trusted by many. No, that is not a privelege offered to every single headphone nut, so I get the resentment. I can tell you, whether you want to believe it or not, I have never ever written a single syllable that I did not mean. There have been occasions (not many) when I received a product that I didn't find worked for me in my system that I simply sent back and did not comment on. Just because it didn't work for me in my system doesn't mean someone else might not find the very same product the ultimate NIRVANA they'd ever heard. In general, if it's some Mom&Pop outfit, I don't have time to sit there and slam their product and try to wreck their business (if it's some huge company like Sony, as you have seen, the gloves are off). I have instead tried to focus on those products I've found to be outstanding and that I want to alert my friends to.

I was recently added as the resident headphone review monkey for Positive Feedback online, based on my reputation and past work. Here, I was going to be paid for my contributions (a nominal amount), but more importantly, I got the prestige of being a "real reviewer" for a much-read site. This was a significant feather in my cap as it would be for anyone.

I had 3 reviews in the pipe-line for PF, but the moment I become a MOT for Head-Fi, I wrote management and resigned as there is no way I could possibly be their headphone reviewer when I sell a modified product I like better than the phones I would be reviewing.

The point is, no matter what you may think, I am an honest guy, and no one buys my opinion, and I'm not some evil shill for any brand or product.

Mark

[kevin gilmore]

thread derailment, sure why not.

I thought that the colour of magic movie was absolutely splendid.

I got to see it in full high-definition.

I want to see more of the disc world stuff turned into more movies.