I think I have found some of the best headphones so far !!

[eggontoast]

I have been trying various brands of headphones for sometime now and have been constantly disappointed with them. So I decided to try a different approach and contacted Martins Custom Audio over in the states and commissioned a pair of black and white ebony cups. I also ordered some of his aluminium gimbals, a leather headband and a silver copper coated cable. They arrived and look fantastic. I needed a pair of drivers so I purchased a pair of Grado SR80i's then proceeded to liberate, vent and fit the drivers into the wooden cups. The result, a pair of cans which look fantastic but sounded........OKish, they still suffered from the SR80 nasalness. I went to symphonies in Canada and purchased a pair of Magnum V4 drivers. I've had them fitted in the wooden cups for a couple of weeks now and I have to admit they are are pretty darn good. Bass extension is good, treble is slightly rolled off but overall they make for a very pleasing listen. I tried bowls and flat pads and settled with a pair of bowls, the sound can be dramatically changed by using different pads. Overall though I'm pleased with these one off cans, they look great, sound great and are easily tweakable, very happy with them. I'd recommend for anyone looking for something a little different to give this route a try.

 

[eggontoast]

I probably should have mentioned I've been running them from an Audiolab m-dac, beyerdynamic A1 and my vintage setup and the sound great from all of them, my favourite is probably the vintage setup fed from the m-dac though.

 

[quadpatch]

Wow that's a pretty crazy setup. Can you post a photo of the headphones?

I'm curious which amp you prefer out of the M-DAC and A1. I have heard the M-DAC and it does sound nice but can it's internal amp compete with something like the Beyer A1?

 

[dalethorn]

Here are a few "different" items that would be worth checking out.

http://www.holmco.de/products/p/pd81.html

http://www.sennheiserusa.com/professional-audiometers-closed-dynamic-ear-protector-headphones_002994

http://docs-europe.electrocomponents.com/webdocs/0cfe/0900766b80cfe88f.pdf

 

[eggontoast]

Wow that's a pretty crazy setup. Can you post a photo of the headphones?

Will do but I pre warn you that I could have a £10k camera and it would still like the pictures were taken on an iPhone :rofl: In the mean time here's the pictures Marty took before sending them.

I'm curious which amp you prefer out of the M-DAC and A1. I have heard the M-DAC and it does sound nice but can it's internal amp compete with something like the Beyer A1?

In a short answer, no it can't. The A1 is an excellent amplifier which drives anything you connect to it well, I can't fault it. Is it worth the huge price tag, no I don't think so. You expect really good build quality and materials at this price, build quality is OK but the materials are distinctly average and it doesn't sound 'that' good. The M-Dac's headphone output I have been slightly disappointed with. It does a fairly good job of driving low impedance cans such as the Denon's and custom ones above but with my slightly higher impedance 80ohm DT770's it just doesn't do a very good job. I have a pair of 300 ohm Sennheisers which I keep meaning to take home from the office and try on it.

 

[quadpatch]

I pre warn you that I could have a £10k camera and it would still like the pictures were taken on an iPhone :rofl: In the mean time here's the pictures Marty took before sending them.

I think they look pretty, if you want to lend them to me for bit I could take some shots with my camera* and could try to get some nicer shots of it for your desktop background if you'd like 🙂.

* I thought my last headphone shots came out pretty ok... http://noblehifi.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/akg-k550-review.html

Thanks for the feedback on the amps too. Did you see the kickstarter project that I posted (SicPhones)?

 

[Jason36]

Haha told you the Magnum Drivers were something special didn't I Eggontoast?

I take it you are happy with them then?

 

[eggontoast]

Indeed you did mate, they are pretty darn good and I blame you entirely for making me spend all that money 🙂

I had to do something though as with the Grado drivers fitted they were getting no head time at all, looked pretty but sounded pretty awful. What do you think of the B&W ebony cups, turned out all right didn't they, took three months to get them though. How are you getting on with your woodies, I see from your sig that you've added a couple of new bits kit.

 

[Jason36]

Haha...you didn't take much encouraging mate.

Yep my MCA's just as good....the Magnum drivers just keep getting better and better

I like my modded sr80's as well in the Bocote cups....a different type of sound to the magnums.....but I still enjoy them.

The cups you have look pretty dam cool mate....excellent choice!!

I take it you are referring to the RSA and Modded iPod? A very nice portable unit and I must say sounds bloody excellent