Mad Dog Fostex Ortho-dynamic planar headphone

Frank I · « **on:** 8 Jun 2013, 12:51 pm »

For anyone interested.
http://dagogo.com/mrspeakers-mad-dog-fostex-t50rp-headphones-review

DS-21 · « **Reply #1 on:** 8 Jun 2013, 03:01 pm »

FWIW, I think I like my Mad Dogs better than my Denon D2000s or Senn 580s. They don't move as much air down low as the Denons, but very refined with surprising (to me) dynamics from a small planar driver.

FireGuy · « **Reply #2 on:** 8 Jun 2013, 03:24 pm »

Got Beyer DT-880's coming in next weekend. If there is a scary level of disappointment I'll seriously consider these. However given the the awesome pedigree from Beyer's DT-990 & T1 (have heard both) we should be good. But no guarantee.

Frank I · « **Reply #3 on:** 8 Jun 2013, 05:12 pm »

The Mad Dogs are very transparent for the price. The 880 are great headphones and open cans. If you in the market for a closed headphone the Mad Dog is great for the price

Douger · « **Reply #4 on:** 8 Jun 2013, 09:27 pm »

I got my pair of Mad Dogs a little over a week ago... Thanks again Frank! I am very happy with them and they continue to break in, they are a huge value!
Very comfortable and true orthodynamic presentation.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #5 on:** 8 Jun 2013, 09:58 pm »

ooks like I juuust missed a promotional price of $50 dollars off their new balanced option.

jdavies · « **Reply #6 on:** 9 Jun 2013, 01:24 am »

Curious to know how these do with classical music. I'm searching for some closed cans while the AC runs non-stop this summer!

Frank I · « **Reply #7 on:** 9 Jun 2013, 01:31 am »

Quote from: roscoeiii on 8 Jun 2013, 09:58 pm

ooks like I juuust missed a promotional price of $50 dollars off their new balanced option.

Glad you like them

Frank I · « **Reply #8 on:** 9 Jun 2013, 01:33 am »

Quote from: Frank I on 9 Jun 2013, 01:31 am

Glad you like them

The sound stage is not very wide or deep so it is bette rfor other genres but small chamber music would work well. Violin sonatas and other smaller ensemble pieces also

jdavies · « **Reply #9 on:** 9 Jun 2013, 01:51 am »

Good to know - thanks for your impressions.

Frank I · « **Reply #10 on:** 9 Jun 2013, 01:52 am »

your welcome

DS-21 · « **Reply #11 on:** 10 Jun 2013, 02:17 am »

Quote from: jdavies on 9 Jun 2013, 01:24 am

Curious to know how these do with classical music. I'm searching for some closed cans while the AC runs non-stop this summer!

I've listened to more "heavy metal" orchestral music (DSCH, Mahler, Sibelius, Bruckner, that kind of thing) on mine, and I'm amazed at how well those little planar drivers hold up. Sounded pretty good on a friend's solo oboe playing as well. Otherwise, I don't really listen to lighter classical music.

As for "soundstage," IMO ALL headphones need a crossfeed circuit to get anything like imaging. Even the old AKG K1000s.

jdavies · « **Reply #12 on:** 11 Jun 2013, 03:09 am »

Interesting - I recall some comments from Head-fi indicating that these do well with complex orchestral pieces. Have also read complaints that they sound too congested.

Any experiences with organ music?

Chops · « **Reply #13 on:** 22 Jun 2013, 04:41 am »

Quote from: jdavies on 11 Jun 2013, 03:09 am

Interesting - I recall some comments from Head-fi indicating that these do well with complex orchestral pieces. Have also read complaints that they sound too congested.

Any experiences with organ music?

I say it's all in the amp.

I've had my Mad Dogs for about 8 months now, and they are well broken in. I listen to loads of classical, orchestra, pipe organ, and both, as well as classic jazz, blues, 60's through early 90's rock and pop. These cans do it all perfectly fine. They dig deep in the bass, are not congested at all, have excellent natural mids, and open, airy and smooth highs.

Here shortly, I'm going to be placing an order for the latest and greatest ear pads, the Alpha Pads to replace the leather Dog Pads.

The "amp" I'm powering them with is a mint, fully recapped Sansui G-7000 receiver. It's rated at 85 watts per channel at 8 ohms, which supplies the Mad Dogs a healthy 3 watts of power at their 50 ohms.

neobop · « **Reply #14 on:** 26 Jul 2013, 02:05 pm »

Interested parties might like to see this thread on Karma - more user opinions.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=533817

neo

Russtafarian · « **Reply #15 on:** 26 Jul 2013, 05:20 pm »

I picked up a pair of 3.2 Mad Dogs at the L.A. Head-Fi meet last weekend. I brought my laptop and Benchmark DAC and was able to plug a lot of different phones into my rig and listen to my music. What a great way to audition headphones! I was knocked out by the synergy of the Mad Dogs with the Benchmark.

Aside from how good they sound, they seal very tightly without pressure spots. I'm going to try them at my next live sound gig on Sunday to see how they work in that context. It's tough to track bass guitar over headphones in a live music environment unless you get a really tight seal for bass response and isolation. I have a hunch the Mad Dogs will do much better at this than the Ultrasone Pro 650s I normally use.

Russ

dB Cooper · « **Reply #16 on:** 28 Jul 2013, 04:51 pm »

Heard Mad Dog modded T50's at CAF this weekend and was very impressed, even in direct comparison to the Audezes. However, as with most sealed phones, my ears started feeling sweaty after a very short time. Reminded me of my long-ago Koss Pro-4AA's in that regard. With fabric earpads (if such exist) it might be different.

Russtafarian · « **Reply #17 on:** 29 Jul 2013, 05:19 pm »

Follow up: The Mad Dogs are the best live mixing headphones I've ever used. I was hearing a whole new level of clarity when punching up submixes and dialing in vocal blends. Pretty stoked to be able to use these on mixing gigs going forward.

Russ

brother love · « **Reply #18 on:** 31 Jul 2013, 04:28 pm »

Don't know if this has be posted yet, but Srajan Ebaen has a 6 moons May 2013 review of the Mad Dog Fostex T50RP's. Let's just say that he is impressed:

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/maddog/1.html

The more I research cans in my budget, the more these are moving up "with a bullet" to the top.

funkmonkey · « **Reply #19 on:** 11 Aug 2013, 06:21 am »

I've been bouncing back and forth about getting a pair of these MadDogs, or a pair of HD650... other than one closed (or semi open) and one open, can any of you guys comment or compare the two?