Mad Dog

mlapgw

mlapgw

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Dec 2, 2005
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I have a pair of Audio Technica ATH-A700 cans I run off a Creative Titanium card. These are nice headphones (at least compared to anything I've had before). When I got these I could definitely tell a difference. I was blown away by all of the new sounds I was hearing in songs I had long enjoyed. If there is a complaint it would only be that after an hour or two of gaming my ears are hot and sweaty. This may just be something I have to deal with in order to have closed backs. I must have closed backs.
This upgrade was a very noticeable one for me. I am looking to try to do that again with a new sound card and new set of cans.

I am thinking of getting the Sound Blaster ZXR when it comes available. I thought it might be a nice time to get some new headphones too. The damn card is going to run about $250 so I think I need to stay below $300 on the headphones.

I have stumbled on these Mad Dog headphones. Does anyone have any experience with them? Any chance you have compared them to the ATH-A700s?
Any idea how they compare to other headphones in that price range?

I will use these for gaming (I play everything) and listening to music.

http://www.mrspeakers.com/Audiophile-fostex-t50rp-upgrades-mrspeakers-mad-dog/Mad-dog-Dog-Pad-Comfort-Strap-mrspeakers-headphone-dog-pad-fostex-t50rp
 
Buy a pair of Fostex T50rp's from B&H for $89 and spend ~$25 on modding materials to include some Shure 840 earpads and you'll basically have pretty much the same setup. There's a nice long thread as well as a guide on this over on Head-Fi.

Not knocking the Mad Dogs - they are nice, but you are paying someone ~$200 to modify a set of cans that you could easily do yourself for about $25. All depends if you like doing a little project (that's not really all that involved) or would rather pay to have someone else to do it for you.

As to sound, everyone seems to rave about these cans once modded. I went the do-it-yourself route. Just got the headphones from B&H and the plasticine and other needed materials just yesterday. Plan to do the mods myself next weekend and see how they sound.
 
Supercharged_Z06 said:
Buy a pair of Fostex T50rp's from B&H for $89 and spend ~$25 on modding materials to include some Shure 840 earpads and you'll basically have pretty much the same setup. There's a nice long thread as well as a guide on this over on Head-Fi.

Not knocking the Mad Dogs - they are nice, but you are paying someone ~$200 to modify a set of cans that you could easily do yourself for about $25. All depends if you like doing a little project (that's not really all that involved) or would rather pay to have someone else to do it for you.

As to sound, everyone seems to rave about these cans once modded. I went the do-it-yourself route. Just got the headphones from B&H and the plasticine and other needed materials just yesterday. Plan to do the mods myself next weekend and see how they sound.
Click to expand...


For $200 of labor basically , I'm sorry but that's a rip. Unless you simply have no patience or even the will to try .. I guess its a path but understand you are being reamed for it heavily.

And there was a comment on that page stating that the Mad Dog's sound almost as good as LCD-2's or 3's , that is completely inaccurate beyond any sense of reason. You can't compare a modded set of cans to Planar Magnetic cans like the LCD-2's or 3's.
 
Godmachine said:
And there was a comment on that page stating that the Mad Dog's sound almost as good as LCD-2's or 3's , that is completely inaccurate beyond any sense of reason. You can't compare a modded set of cans to Planar Magnetic cans like the LCD-2's or 3's.
Click to expand...

Well, the modded T50RP Orthos can definitely lean towards the LCD-2 at least. More so than any other headphone I've heard but I definitely wouldn't say that they suddenly compete.
 
Not to knock any opinions, but have either of you actually heard the mad dog's? I've heard both the Mad Dog's and The LCD-2's, and they're not as far apart as you might think. The LCD-2's are better, but they certainly aren't $700 better. I know diminishing returns apply, but for $300 you get a very good headphone that is consistently built. Yes you're paying someone to do the work, but you could spend lots of time even using guides and not get the same sound. You're not actually paying that much of a mark up when you think about it.

Base headphone : $90
Pads : $30-$40
Leather strap : maybe $10
Modding materials : $20-$30
So $150-$170 + labor & warranty/support

Doesn't sound so unreasonable now
 
If you have a BB near by you I would recommand to try A900X also Beyers DT770s(I don't think BB has this one though)
 
Godmachine said:
For $200 of labor basically , I'm sorry but that's a rip. Unless you simply have no patience or even the will to try .. I guess its a path but understand you are being reamed for it heavily.

And there was a comment on that page stating that the Mad Dog's sound almost as good as LCD-2's or 3's , that is completely inaccurate beyond any sense of reason. You can't compare a modded set of cans to Planar Magnetic cans like the LCD-2's or 3's.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that the T50RP was also a planar magnetic driver, but just in a really crappy housing/cups. It makes sense to me that a little bit of modding can give a lot of gains.
 
Sound stage on them is small. Not good for gaming. For music? VERY nice. I had a modded pair similar to the Mad Dog and Led Zeppelin sounded fantastic! Detail off the charts and impact, speed, whoa. Making me miss them. They were also very heavy and hot on my ears.

So no. Not for gaming.

If you are looking for the best all around headphone under $200-300, I would suggest the Sennheiser 558 or 598. They do it all well.
 
spaceman thanks for the info on the gaming issue for those maddog headphones.
I love music but I also love gaming so I'll need some good all arounders.

The Sennheisers are well regarded. I was also looking at the DT880s. I just don't know about moving to an open style headphone. I share my home office with my son who loves to sit on his headset and talk to his minecraft buddies. Hearing other people's conversations is annoying for me. Most of the day I am alone but in the evenings he's there yammering on and on.
For closed headphones I am looking at the Ultrasone 990s , Alpha Mad Dogs (but since reading spaceman, maybe not), and the Audio Tech A900X. I have a pair of A700s now so I know the ATs will fit ok on my massive cranium and that they can handle a few drops off of my desk. They heat up my ears though, something I really don't like.
 
The Ultra 900s have a V shaped sound signature so they would be fun but not the greatest in terms of balance. If it was me? I would go either AT A900X or Akg 550 for closed all arounders.

The Mad Dogs have incredible detail levels. Just think of them as concentrated sound. Less sound stage but super tight and fast response.
 
I loved my Ultrasone Pro 900s but I also sold them because they weren't a great all rounder for me personally. Realistically on paper, however, they are great at pretty much everything. They are fantastically detailed and have bass that is unrivaled, there are plenty of bass monsters but these are DETAIL bass monsters, and they have a great soundstage. The other side of the coin though is they also have a great deal of sibilance that you either have to get used to or EQ out of them though and they have a rather tight clamp so that takes some getting used to as well.

If I could get another deal on them for $250 I might grab another pair in the future but until then I'm not too sad I sold them.
 
mlapgw said:
spaceman thanks for the info on the gaming issue for those maddog headphones.
I love music but I also love gaming so I'll need some good all arounders.

The Sennheisers are well regarded. I was also looking at the DT880s. I just don't know about moving to an open style headphone. I share my home office with my son who loves to sit on his headset and talk to his minecraft buddies. Hearing other people's conversations is annoying for me. Most of the day I am alone but in the evenings he's there yammering on and on.
For closed headphones I am looking at the Ultrasone 990s , Alpha Mad Dogs (but since reading spaceman, maybe not), and the Audio Tech A900X. I have a pair of A700s now so I know the ATs will fit ok on my massive cranium and that they can handle a few drops off of my desk. They heat up my ears though, something I really don't like.
Click to expand...

If you're really serious about the Mad Dogs, you could always take advantage of the 15 day return policy. You can give them a good audition and see if they fit your needs.
 
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