Interesting transplant phone?

[Kabeer]

Haha at ortho wierdo's comment .

I think this could be a good frame for the multiple driver experiments. Otherwise i dont picture it that grat for anything else due to the closed nature...

Maybe if someone really wanted a closed Audeze.

[swt61]

Otherwise i dont picture it that grat for anything else due to the closed nature...

It won't be closed for long.

Steve, that foaming wall filler may work - the pores are pretty dense but perhaps not dense enough?

Hmmm, you may be onto something there. I think I may be able to use a combo of that and wood to accomplish the task. Thanks!

[wualta]

Steve, you're going to open them up like JazZ's woodie Lambdas? Interesting.

Aren't there a bunch of unwanted T30s floating around in the orthoweirdo community? A couple of those drivers per side, and a well designed bass aperture... yasss...

I'm waiting for one of you enterprising types to make a headphone entirely out of foaming wall filler.

However it turns out, open or closed, do keep us keenly-interested types posted on the Hammacher-Schlemmer dual-driver job. A socalled bass lens may be necessary, but that's just a hunch based earlier attempts at multi-driver setups.

* * * * * *

"I'd Love To Be A Head-Case Ortho Weirdo" sung to the tune of the Oscar Mayer wiener song-- lyrics under contruction.

[faust3d]

Steve, you're going to open them up like JazZ's woodie Lambdas? Interesting.

Aren't there a bunch of unwanted T30s floating around in the orthoweirdo community? A couple of those drivers per side, and a well designed bass aperture... yasss...

I was thinking T50RP driver might be a good choice, no?

[Sherwood]

"I'd Love To Be A Head-Case Ortho Weirdo" sung to the tune of the Oscar Mayer wiener song-- lyrics under contruction.

Lets do this thing.

[Dusty Chalk]

I'd love to be a Headcase Ortho Weirdo

That is what I'd truly love to be-ee-ee

Because if I was a Headcase Ortho Weirdo

...

I should start a poll:

...everyone would loan their phones to me-ee-ee?

...then Smeg would transplant them into a woody-ee-ee?

(slightly rushed)

...then they'd no longer resemble what they were originally-ee-ee?

Others?

[mypasswordis]

I was thinking T50RP driver might be a good choice, no?

Would you cut out the baffle like Smeggy did with his transplants? I don't see how you could only transplant the drivers.

[faust3d]

Would you cut out the baffle like Smeggy did with his transplants? I don't see how you could only transplant the drivers.

Yeah, basically shape the baffle to this cup. But I am thinking something like HP-50 driver might work here as well. Just need to port the cups with two small holes. Lets see what other ortho folks will do with these

[Hopstretch]

I'd love to be a Headcase Ortho Weirdo

That is what I'd truly love to be-ee-ee

Because if I was a Headcase Ortho Weirdo

...

My penis would only be used to pee-ee-ee?

The only thing cheaper than me-ee-ee, would ... be ... FREEEEEEEEE?*

(* Big finish. Down on one knee-ee-ee. Bow. Curtain.)

[swt61]

They arrived today.

Let me start by saying that I was pleasantly surprised upon opening the cardboard box...

The wooden box was an unexpected touch. They feel pretty solid, and the quality isn't half bad. I'll definitely be buffing the name off of the cups, but other than that I'm fairly impressed with the look and feel of these headphones. The leather is decent. The headframe is not as cheesy as the pics led us to think, and the Black piece that attaches the forks to the band has a nice rubber coated feel. Even the cable has a nice thickness to it, though it's a bit stiff ATM.

Now I know some of you are going to ask me how it sounds...well keep in mind that I don't have a headphone amp with me ATM. But I was curious myself, so I used the headphone output of my Denon AVR, with the Oppo as a CD source.

I've only listened for a few minutes, and the gear chain is mid-fi at best, but I will say that they're not crap. Had I spent $200.00 I may be a bit disappointed, but at $60.00 they're pretty damn good. They have a forward character, with slightly rolled off treble, decent bass response and an overall fun flavor. Somewhat reminiscent of the Goldring DR-150.

I think I may actually keep these stock until the Beta22 is back home, just to see how these might scale.

The site described these as having Zebrawood cups. I'm not sure that's accurate. They look more like Pearwood to me, but Zebrawood does vary a lot from tree to tree. I happen to like the look more than Zebrawood, so either way...

Edited September 14, 2009 by swt61

[Smeggy]

nice, thanks for the pics. I might get some of these for 'later'.

[spritzer]

That box looks quite a bit like the Jade unit, same latch and internal cover...

[Dusty Chalk]

The latch looks "pirate-y". In a good way.

[Sherwood]

I thought about buying this just for the box. Look what this place has done to me.

[Hopstretch]

The latch looks "pirate-y". In a good way.

Prince Albert?

[wualta]

DC, I like what you've done with this Ortho Weirdo thing, sweetheart. Now, we're just waiting to get Mike, Peter, Davy and Micky to ink this thing and hand it off to Don Kirshner to punch it up and sweeten it a little and we're off to the races-- oh, Harry, could you get your friend Tipton to arrange this? Harry?... [runs down hallway, knocks over Sir George Martin, killing him instantly]

Hey, that Hamhocker Schlepper looks pretty good! I don't know that I'd put the T50RP drivers in there, since they don't start out with a great surplus of bass. A couple of NAD orthos that someone's given up on, maybe..

[HeadphoneAddict]

Mine will be here tomorrow.

[Dusty Chalk]

Prince Albert?

I was just thinking Captain Sparrow with the frills and the iron and all, but your mind just had to go that way, did it?

[HeadphoneAddict]

Mine have smoothed out a bit after 75 hours of break-in, and I think they are definitely worth the $60 sale price or maybe even $100. I am not sure if I would have been happy to pay the $199 original price. Probably not, as the HD25-1 II have a better frequency response for $99 if you find a good deal on them. Like the HD25-1 or Ultrasone HFI-780, they have a 1/8" plug with a 1/4" adapter that screws onto threads built into the 1/8" plug.

There is a little bit of that "closed" lower mids echoey coloration. Detail is not bad, and guitars seem sharp enough and not blurred. Bass is not lacking or overdone, and not muddy, but it's not as powerful as the Denons. Mids are a little forward and not recessed. There is no sibilance like the HFI-780, but the HFI-780 was still a more exciting or fun phone. Soundstage is not much better than my HD25-1 despite being circumaural, because the inside of the ear cups is so small that my ears barely fit inside and the drivers are still very close to my ears. After 20 minutes my ears already feel hot.

So far I have only tried them out of the mini-DAC headphone out (CD5001 transport) and my iBasso D10 out of the Macbook Pro during burn-in. The sound signature pairs up better with my Apogee than the D10 which makes them sound a little darker (but the D10 is tuned to sound best with my custom IEMs).

I'll report back later if I can.

[HeadphoneAddict]

I want to add that they were congested and muddy out of the box, with a little edge/roughness in the highs - I put them in the box and ran music through them for 3 - 3.5 days straight before posting initial impressions. They don't get a good seal without holding them on, so I may have to bend the headband a little to get the cups at the correct angle. They definitely sound better when I press the ear cups onto my head tighter/closer.

So far in addition to comparing to the HD25-1 which are better, my son's Alessandro MS-1 and my UF-30 also sound more open than the Zebra Wood phones after 100 hours. But, the zebra wood phones don't suck, they just sound different. The $60 is not wasted, but the other 3 phones can be had for $80-100 and sound better so far. So I would say that the original $199 price was not worth it. With better closed cans to listen to (LA7000, ESW10JPN, HD25-1 and HFI-700DVD) I'm not sure these will get much use. My son wanted some closed cans, so I'm going to pass these on to him after I put another 100 hours on them and see if that helps. I gave away my last set of 120 ohm SFI drivers towards Alex Cavalli's appreciation gifts (along with cable, 1/8" plug and felt), so I'm not making a fosterfone right now.

[mypasswordis]

Yeah, I wouldn't expect much out of the stock headphone. I'd say I wouldn't expect much out of a $60 headphone but good orthos were had for that price at some point, that is... not now, anymore.