I think the Open Alpha-mod (by MrSpeakers/Dan Clark Audio) to the Fostex T20rp-and-adjacent-numbers have been emphatically well-received by parts of the community. They are more of a DIY-project than purchasable these days. I am sure there are competitors who also sell repurposed drivers in their own 3d-printed shell.

I have the donor-headphones and the printed parts, but I have not had the time to do the mod yet.

Tl;Dr - Yes, this is an excellent price for them. If this is your budget and your living situation can bear an open-designed headphone, these are the ones to get.

Their sound is well-received and praised. I personally didn’t enjoy it. Fair-to-Good timbre. I found the bass monotonous, and thus “disappeared” in music - kind of how you never really notice your nose even though you see it all the time. In movies or music where they use bass sparingly, this is far less of an issue. Quite sibiliant indeed to my ears - splashy drummers were annoying me.

Comfort while wearing is excellent for me. Clamp is on the high side, but the pads distribute it well so it normally is not an issue. Definitely the headphone I can wear for the longest in my stable. Pads and headband collect dust, hair and skin flakes. If you have pets, give up on the idea of keeping them clean. Cable is microphonic. They creak when you move. Easy to drive.

I bought them for movie watching in bed during depression days because I liked the X3, and they did the job excellently. For music, I prefer to keep the X3 for their niche, but I would suggest that the X2HR is a better all-purpose headphone.

To me, this post sounds like you got a product that universally matches widely existing documentation about them, and you are disappointed and saying you got something that didn’t match your expectations.

A higher price tag does not mean “what I already have, but better”, especially if it is trying to do something completely different.

It is fine to be disappointed or underwhelmed with a product. But I think doing proper research into finding the product that matches your preferred sound will serve you better than picking a product based on other people’s preference.

Return them and get something else for your money - or spend some time learning to appreciate a different aspect or approach to music than you had before. Up to yo.

Tl;Dr - no. Buy a new cable if you want to spend money on altering it aesthetically or functionally (eg termination), not for sound quality.

Up to a certain point, headphone cables no longer matter. That point is easily reached, material-wise, with copper. Most headphones come with copper cables already, making any “upgrade” a sidegrade or placebo at best

The exceptions are far and few between. The HD25 comes with a steel cable, for instance. Even then, the difference to copper isn’t enough to worry about.

Yep. It’s good enough that you don’t need to worry about it. As long as you uncheck the option for volume normalisation, you will be good to go.

If you later down the line will want to experiment, you can start experimenting with higher end source material.

In my experience, which master was being sent out for which media/streaming service matters far more than a higher bit-rate number than Spotify can provide.

They are yours. You bought them. You use them however you feel like using them. If this makes you happy, do it! You honestly don’t need our validation for that. :)

(I do have about an ~11 dB bass boost on my Audeze-headphones. But this is compensation because my amp is borked and pulls waaay brighter than neutral. Even with that shelf, kind of bass light. Really need a new amp that doesn’t regularly short itself)

Hello.

Planars respond well to EQ. You seem to have volume headroom left over. Bump up the frequencies through trial and error.

Not EQ? While I don’t have these specific headphones, I have a sibling, the T20rp. These are the vented headphone in the family (meaning it’s semi-open). Due to having vented cups, they have a bigger bass response. This is the only difference between the following models: T20rp https://www.stereophile.com/images/ifmeasure/FostexT20RPMk3.pdf T50rp https://www.stereophile.com/images/ifmeasure/FostexT50RPMk3.pdf

What you could do, if you would be comfortable doing it, is modify them by opening a hole in them. While you have the anniversary model, same thing should apply.

This is not a recommendation. But it is presented to give you an understanding that there are options for mechanically modifying the sound, if you for some reason prefer this over EQ.

Side-note: the quantity of bass is hilarious on the stock T20rp. Think of a “fun” headphone, but exaggerated. Both in a good way, and not. But absolutely hilarious experience. Do recommend. (I am planning to modify them to Open Alpha given enough time. Already done the 3d printing steps)