I made my own Speaker-Headphones

[SoyotaTupra]

My third go-around with these. First were some old bose cube speaker drivers which opened my eyes, second was SB Acoustics 2.5", and now the latest version 10 years after V2:

Setup:

• Markaudio Alpair-5 Gen.3 3" full-range speakers - Magnesium/Aluminum alloy cone - no intermediary suspension to absorb microdetail like in typical speakers, square voice coil for maximum efficiency and even magnetic force. Perfect specimen for headphone testing.
  • My theory is a large speaker driver backed behind a powerful magnet system should minimize movement while delivering low THD at louder volumes. With no suspension between the cone and voice coil, minute movements common in headphone environments should translate very well with these. The cone is definitely overbuilt for a headphone environment, so rigidity and maintaing proper geometry is a non-issue. With the completely open design, there is pretty much nothing in the way of hampering soundstage capabilities.
• Handmade wood baffle to screw the speakers to. It was some kind of pine wood at 3/8' thick. 4 1/8' OD, 2 3/4' ID (hole saw sizes) to make the rings. Drill 4 small holes, countersink on earpad size for flush fitment. M3 screws through wood ring + speakers secured with M3 washers + nuts on the backside
• Hifiman headband. I've had it for years, but I can't remember what it came off of. Good clamping force and wide band for even weight distrubution - needed for this chungus
• Beyerdynamic Gel Earpads - my all-time favs. I didn't feel like dremeling a ring around the circumference of the wood to slip them in, and the wood is pretty fragile, so gorilla tape to the rescue.
• EqualizerAPO + PEACE EQ to dial them in. Unlistenable otherwise.

Sound- like driving a 1000hp car at 45mph lmao. Never have to worry about sub-bass THD screwing stuff up. Massive soundstage.
I have a bit more finessing to do with the EQ, but it's pretty much the signature I like. Basshead + Soundstage head's delight. Very smooth and layered sound.
The most powerful sounding headphone I've ever heard. The force these things have is so effortless like it's not even breaking a sweat.

Rig-
Schiit Modius for now
Swissonic Preamp
2x Topping B-100 low gain. Zero noise and able to handle massive preamp holes while having plenty of power on tap. Tested at -21dB gain and max volume was still extremely loud. Currently at -12dB gain with my current EQ setup which won't really change much from that.
Waiting on DX5 II to see if I can run these off the 4-pin/4.4mm, but otherwise this is all the amp I'll ever need for these and future projects.

 

[Flaesh]

​

European Triode Festival 2015 Report
Setups: Joachim Gerhard
Joachim presented his hat-phone with real fullrange speakers playing. This had really a powerful sound. Please note, you must have an appropriate equalisation for the fullrange speakers.