Modified Fostex T50Rps have been accepted in the Head-Fi community for a few years now, and has grown massively over the past 12 months, spouting two/three sellers that offer their own versions of the T50Rp headphones, ourselves included. All of these adaptations use the same Fostex driver, modified using a multitude of materials and hundreds of hours of fine tuning to produce a finished product available for purchasing. The Head-Fi DIY community also offer a vast array of modification explanations aswell as a combination of these modifications.
Aswell as the three main sellers of these headphones, there are individuals whom modify the Fostex headphones for their own liking and sell the headphones themselves, while they aren’t as polished as the bigger sellers, they offer a little charm and a listen into the previous owners sound preferences, I picked up this pair on Head-Fi, it is a Rastapants mod variation from the early days of Fostex modification.
It’s very clear from first glance and holding these headphones that a lot of love, care, attention and hard work have gone into them, from the finish of the cups, to the Viablue jack and splitter, the attention to detail gives a very professional finished product. The headphones use an un-modified Fostex headband, the cups have a glossy white finish, the cable is a mogami 2534 sleeved with techflex, with a Viablue 3.5mm jack. They’re are quite heavy, but not worryingly so, in-line with most other planar magnetic headphones but not quite as burdensome as the LCD-2 or HE-500.
The headphone can clearly be recognized as T50Rps from a distance, the headband and sliders are unchanged from the original design, the cups are modified with both a paint job and original 3.5mm jack removed, the cable now leaves from the bottom of both cups, different from the original single sided interchangeable design of the vanilla T50RPs. Build quality is identical to the original T50Rps, smooth, metal sliders for headphone adjustment, a large rubber headband with excellent flexibility. I’ve always been a believer of Fostex’s build quality, it is definitely up there with the best, and I’ve not had a Fostex fail on me yet!
The cable for me, is flawless, often I find the cable on headphones to be too large, stiff and unwieldly, I often resort to rolling it up and cable tying it into a spindle, I’m unsure where the market is for these behemoth cables that are common in retail headphones, but I’m certain some appreciate these mammoth cables, I however, appreciate a petite, well sized cable for desk use. The cable is 7 feet long, 5.5 feet of the cable is a stiff, thick (1.2cm) braid, not quite as flexible as I’d prefer however very rugged. The braid terminates in very sturdy, metal Viablue Y-splitter, and continues to the cups in a flexible helix rubber cord. The combination of rugged and flexible near the cups gives what I believe to be a perfect cable, but of-course, mileage may vary.
The STAX pads that finish the product is a cherry on the cake, the dark brown sheep leather give it a charm that’s hard to come by in most headphones, and seem to engulf the cups in their leathery goodness.
The headband doesn’t offer much in the way of padding, and isn’t very comfortable at all, most who modify the T50Rps tend to go for a suspension headband, or add padding. Overall the headphone is comfortable.
Isolation is above above average, not quite as closed as some of Beyerdynamic offerings, or an on-ear heavily clamping approach as seen on the Sennheiser HD-25s, however better than most closed designs I’ve tried. The STAX pads definitely help isolate from outside noise.
These modified T50Rps are some of the best I’ve heard, they’re in the HD600/DT-880 600 price category and yet hit way, way above their weight, The sound signature is very balanced with a warmness to it, a little low-end happy for my tastes but the mids are near-perfect, lush and accurate, as good as any other planar magnetic I’ve heard to date (LCD-2/HE-500), the bass is a little too full, as this modification uses a Rastapants variation (heavy on the low-end), it is expected. The treble rolls off quite steeply yet is presented very well in most recordings, if a little dry sounding due to the low-end emphasis, not quite as full as the bass, or as lush at the mids, but fairly well displayed.
The soundstage is extremely well extended in all ways, not extremely wide but very deep, one of the best I’ve heard in any headphone, I attribute this to the Stax pads which offer a very large depth distance and are slanted. The sound is very airy as with most modified Fostex, and gives an open presentation while being closed. Seperation is ample, I never felt any part of the recordings I listened to mushed into another, and if they did it was true to the recording, I’ve not heard a planar magnetic to have poor seperation which stands true to this day. Sibilance is non-existant, resonance can be heard in some recordings but is very uncommon.
The sound isn’t as refined compared to other Fostex modifications, but overall the sound is very pleasing, it does just about everything right other than the ecstatic low-end, transparent and engaging, while being comfortable and offering a well isolated experience.
People often compare these modded orthodynamics to the LCD-2, and I feel that that is a bit cliché, but I’ll go ahead and agree with that statement, it’s difficult to digest when someone compares a headphone costing close to the HD600s, yet delivering sound close to $1,000 planar magnetic headphones, and modified Fostexs don’t do everything quite as good as its bigger brothers, the bass while being full and isn’t quite as good as high-end planar magnetics, and the treble roll off is a little less elegant too, but surprisingly it does some things better (soundstage being most notable).
Audible Bond 