Fostex TE-02n "Final+1": Mod yourself a pair of killer IEMs!

I guess that after the modification the increased energy in the bass and lower midrange will - to some degree - mask that lively treble, thus making them sound smoother and more forgiving. Treble seems more or less unaffected by the mod (without the micropore filter), but of course everything below 1.5 is raised (nicely, to my ears at least) and as a result the whole balance is changed.

 

Agreed, and I would imagine that if we were to listen to them side by side, we'd likely volume match the midrange (vocals), and as a result treble on the modded unit would sound a little quieter than on the stock one.

Btw, do you have any thoughts on the observed difference in distortion measurements?

 

Not really, and I have never experienced anything dramatic like that before. Different modifications have had SOME beneficial effect on distortion, but nothing like the one I noticed here! Most problably piercing that membrane might cause it.
Stock distortion measurement is not much different from Marv's measurements, will see how your modded set will perform. I do not want to mod my other stock set to find out if it is the modification that does the trick or I just happen to have bought a 'perfect' set in the first place.

 

Hook me up with one

 

A little comparison, measurement-wise, all sets measured at same SPL, all sets using the same silicone tip.

Yellow: unmodded, but no front metal filter, no micropore
Green: Strato modded, otherwise like above
Magenta: Modded by @james444, with micropore filter


Initial impressions of @james444's version. Smooth, nice bass and midrange, treble ironed out but still detailed. Nice work, I don't find a single fault with this set, Obviously he put a lot of effort into this modification, making an already great sounding iem sound even better/smoother.
0bviously I pierced the membrane of my set a little more energetically ;-) Mine is fuller/warmer sounding, applying the micropore filter kills too much of the treble sparkle. Mine needs the open nozzle to counteract the raised low end.

Distortion of @james444 mod:

 

Sorry, they're all gone / reserved by now. You can only hope that someone who receives a pair for evaluation doesn't want to keep it.

Oh, I know what you're talking about, some of my earlier attempts turned out like this. I like to call it the "commuter's mod" ;-)

Thanks a lot for these graphs, @stratocaster. I worked this out just by ear, and seeing the result in measurement is very much appreciated!

 

So I accidentally pierced the membrane of my stock set with a VERY thin needle, trying to get some holes into the micropore filter.
This was the result:

Yellow: @james444-mod (including micropore filter)
Green: 'piercing accident' - without micropore filter

 

Ha! How about distortion?

 

More 3rd Harmonic. Don't like it. Too warm, too much bass fror my liking, masks the highs in a detrimental way. Much prefer @james444's version.

 

Of course this happened to me too at some point. Hence the warning in my instructions...

Agreed!

 

Did some 'surgery' and 'repaired' one of my bassy sets. I removed the driver, removed the pierced membrane and transplanted some old Sennheiser damping paper as a replacement. Glued back the driver. This mod is not easy, you can easily destroy the driver during the process.



Comparison to @james44's set (magenta) below.

 

Hats off, great job! Personally, I prefer minimally invasive surgery to open heart, but in this case you had no choice.

 

I received my modded pair from James yesterday, and put it through some of its paces. First, the stock medium tips were too small, I didn't get a proper seal. I switched to large Spiral Dots and did get a good seal, but something about the canal of the tip made things sound fuzzy and distant. The large stock tip worked best, although I'm open to suggestions on other tips to try for even better performance.

Second, this sounds pretty good straight out of an iPhone. No OI wonkiness like the Andromeda (I have the iPhone 7 and it uses the very low OI lightning->3.5mm adapter). And these things LOVE power. The ZX2 wasn't nearly enough to handle them, I had to plug that into my ALO Rx Mk III-B, a particularly noisy portable amp, and even then I still only heard a faint hiss from the ALO with no music playing, even on high gain (although I ended up using medium gain for more headroom). I suspect the Vali 2 would kick ass with these.

As for the IEMs themselves, the first things that jumped out at me were the warm-leaning neutral tone, the accurate timbre, and the taut, controlled bass. Staging and coherency were excellent as well, as it was easy to pick out individual instruments but not lose the sense of the whole band. In comparison, the Andro has more air, more separation, and puts you further back from the front of the stage. Two very different presentations. I'd say that the Fostex beats the Andro for coherency though, as everything felt very locked in.

The thing that slowly revealed itself to me was the sheer musicality of these IEMs. These reminded me of the HD650 in the way they were able to communicate the emotional feeling that the best music gives me. Multiple times last night I felt goosebumps as I would hear particular favorite passages from songs I love. Vocals in particular have excellent weight to them. The coherency helps in this area, as I often felt like I was listening to the full band really performing in the moment on albums where the whole band was recorded in the same room. Listening to songs from The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St, particularly something like "Sweet Virginia", I could hear and feel the interplay of the band and how each element contributed to the whole.

These aren't perfect though, aside from their sheer inefficiency, on certain tracks I detected splashy and/or hot treble, although from what I read here that's one of the bigger issues with the stock IEMs and has been greatly reduced here. Any recording that was already sibilant did not get any help from the Fostex, something like Pulp's "I Spy" was pretty grating on the ear due to the production and the way the Fostex reproduced it. These don't have as much subbass as the Andromedas, but I think that's more a testament to how well Ken was able to get BA drivers to handle bass than it is a serious deficiency of these IEMs.

I would say these likely sound best on music that's not already hot in the treble and is a recording of a live group of musicians in a room together. These IEMs will bring out all the musical qualities of those recordings. The Andromedas I will keep as they make all recordings sound at least listenable (I wouldn't say they mask bad recordings but they I've never felt like a particular track or album was a bad match for the Andromedas), but paired with the right recordings these modded Fostex IEMs are simply magical. So much so that I when I started testing them in earnest last night at midnight, I expected to test them for 30-40 minutes and call it a night. I got the biggest case of "one more song"-itis I've ever had, and by the time I finally reluctantly put them down, it was 3 AM. That's a win in my book, and more than I can say of many headphones costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

Oh, and Andromeda smokes these in terms of speed, but for some genres the slower speed gives things a greater sense of swing.

 

Got my set of Fostex TE-02N’s in the mail recently and have been listening to them quite a lot, and enjoying them a lot as well! Here are some preliminary observations.


First thing I noticed was that they’re definitely not efficient – as I have to run almost full volume on my Sony NW-WM1Z (115/120 on high output from SE). Not a huge deal for me, but many might find them not driven to the volume they might prefer with their portable gear. Regarding fit, luckily the included tips (believe they’re mediums) fit me fine and provided a good enough seal to allow the bass to come through. As for the build quality, it’s good for IEMs of this price, but not sure how much I’d expect them to last if they get beat about a good bit. These are plastic housings with wires that might risk wearing out after a while, but hey- they also cost less than just about anything I’ve bought in this hobby for a while, including the remote for my Sony 1Z.


As for the sound, this is where they shine. Really good on acoustic music and classical pieces. David Elias’s DSD sampler is quite stunning, with some really impactful bass and the strings of the acoustic guitars really come across in a highly engaging manner. It’s the type of acoustic performance where you feel you could think about what it was like being there. And Merrick nailed it, these are indeed highly coherent IEMs.


To me they’re a bit warm, but I like it. Also agree as others have said that they’re not that fast, but again, in this package it works. And are they hyper-accurate? No, but that can lead to IEMs being overly analytical. To me the Fostex’s are quite musical and fun to listen to, and you can wrap yourself up with them like an old comfy blanket to just relax with.


What I didn’t like the Fostex’s on as much was higher energy, more highly produced music (e.g. pop). The higher frequencies are not as smooth and can be a bit grating. I didn’t get a lot of sibilance, but it just wasn’t as comfortable and wasn’t something I wanted to listen to for long periods or get myself lost in. These are more Eiji Oue’s Reveries than Lady Gaga’s ArtPop.


I listen to music a lot while I’m working – and it’s not critical listening, and I can see myself using these in that manner quite enjoyably, especially for acoustic and classical music. However, the isolation isn’t great. Better than earbuds, but still not great for use in places with louder backgrounds, especially if you’re listening to quieter music (e.g. classical). This is compounded by the TE-02N’s inefficiency, as it’s harder to run them louder.


So James, your money is on its way via PayPal my friend – I’m keeping the modified TE-02N’s. Well done with the mod and thanks for adding this amazing deal to our stable of IEMs. Now if Fostex can just start making them again so more members of the community can benefit from this crazy-good bargain in a hobby that hasn't had many recently…

 

I thought I'd have a look around and see if I could still find Fostex TE-02N available inexpensively.

I tried Ebay, Amazon USA, Canada, UK, Germany and Spain. $60 - $80. (I didn't try out the price with shipping nor with VAT subtracted.) Amazon Japan would not let me log in with my regular account so I did not pursue there. I also tried the usual online stores in the US - Out of Stock.

Amazon Italy has them for 40 Euros shipped to Europe. They won't ship to the USA, but some of our European friends might want to try these.
https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B00GBMFZP6/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A15K9I03EOZP5V&psc=1

(I only spent about 10 minutes on this so I could have overlooked deals.)

 

Big thanks to all of you who are actually taking the time to write up detailed impressions. You guys rock!

@Merrick: as for tips, I believe @shotgunshane recommends Ortofon tips for these. Your comments on sibilance make me think that there may be room for improvement for you regarding tips / fit.

With very few exceptions, I believe any BA IEMs will smoke any DD IEMs in terms of speed. In comparison to other DDs though, I think the Fostex are actually quite snappy.

Nice coincidence that you would mention they're good with acoustic music and classical, 'cause these are the genres I mostly listen to. I guess some of that preference found its impression in the tuning.

@Dino: your dedication to finding the last few remaining Fostex 02n units on earth is awesome!

Unfortunately, this particular market place seller doesn't even ship outside of Italy. All is not lost though... a few days ago, I stumbled upon new budget IEMs that might have what it takes to become worthy Fostex 02n successors. Don't want to go out on a limb atm, other than saying "they might". But things are looking pretty good imho...

 

I was talking to Shane earlier about the Ortofon tips. I definitely want to give those a try!

As for speed, I have to admit the only other DD IEM I've heard at length is the CA Vega and those drivers are almost as fast as BAs, so my reference is likely skewed. I certainly don't think the Fostex is unreasonably slow, just noticeably slower than the Andromeda, but as you say that's a difference in driver tech.

 

Ha! And my reference is the Vega, so again, likely not a fair comparison. Cheers