How do I order a pair of your headphones?

1. Fill out my waiting list form to join my waiting list
2. When your name comes up on my waiting list, I will send you an email and if you are still interested, you send me your headphones or a brand new pair directly to me for modification.
3. Once I have finished modifying your headphones, I will send you an invoice that covers the modifications, any extras, and shipping.
4. Once this invoice is paid, I will ship you your headphones along with a receipt.
5. You listen to music in a state of bliss :)

  Why modifications?

Most if not all orthodynamic/planar magnetic headphones on the market today come with excellent, well designed drivers that are put into enclosures with acoustics that hinder the response and sound of the driver. I have spent over a decade researching how to best treat the acoustic environment of ortho headphones. Many of my methods have never been done before on any ortho headphone. Others are just a matter of finding the right acoustics to let the driver shine to its fullest potential. You would think that a stock headphone is the way it should sound, but the acoustics of orthodynamic headphones is extremely complicated and there is usually a lot to improve upon. My modded orthos are transformations of the original stock headphones.

  Will you modify a planar magnetic headphone that I already own?

Yes. You send me the headphones used or new (you can even buy a new pair and have them shipped directly to me), and I perform the modifications.

  Will you modify a headphone not listed on your headphone page?

I work with all the models shown on the headphones page, and am working on modifications for more models at the moment which I hope to have available soon. I may be willing to work on others as well. Contact me with what you have to discuss possibilities and a custom quote.

  How do I pay?

I accept PayPal, Venmo, Zelle and Bank Wire Transfer (mostly for international customer convenience). When your name comes up on my waiting list, you can send me your headphones or order a brand new pair and have them shipped directly to me. I will then perform the modifications and when they are done I will send you an invoice. When this invoice is paid, I will ship your new modified headphones to you. This way no one pays until their headphones are actually modified and ready to go back to them. There is no build up of orders that are paid for and no chance for me to get behind.

  Can you custom tune headphones to my desired frequency response ie bright, V curve or W curve, etc?

All of my modded orthos are tuned precisely to a neutral, natural response. The process of tuning orthos involves trying infinite ideas and seeing how they affect the response of the drivers and headphones. In this process, I wind up hearing them sound exceptional in various aspects. For example, one thing I do will bring out incredible vocals from the driver, something else I do willl bring out amazingly clear, clean treble. This teaches me what the drivers are capable of. My end goal in tuning them is to bring all these strengths together at once in one headphone. It's often a balancing act and it's sometimes impossible to get the best of everything, but I work hard to get the most out of the drivers as possible. So in this process, I have gone to great lengths to max out the potential of the drivers in every aspect. So I can't offer custom tuning because if I tried to add something, it would take away from something else. I could add "moar bass" for example, but it would compromise another aspect of the sound that is critical to me and my goals for the headphone. I would recommend trusting this process; that I am getting the best possible performance from all aspects of the driver and balancing them in the best way. Or look for a stock headphone that has boosted bass, like the Final D8000 Pro if that's what you are looking for. I definitely want you to be happy with my headphones.

  What kind of warranty do your headphones come with?

2 Year limited warranty on my modifications. Please click here to see my Warranty Policy

  What happens if the earrpads wear out?

All of my Audeze and my T50rp headphones come with an extra pair of earpads along with a ring of double sided adhesive for you to replace them if needed. And I can send instructions on how to do this. I will also have a stockpile of earpads available for the future, and if you need another pair I will have them available at low cost. However, I have found that the earpads I use are very well made and will last the test of time. I think 2 pairs will last you many, many years to come, possibly decades. If you want a third pair with your order I can offer that as well. My Hifiman headphones come with 3 different pairs of earpads, each giving the headphones a slightly different sound so you can find the sound that you like. I also send you links so that you can purchase extra pairs of your favorite earpads direct from the manufacturer.

  Do you ship internationally?

Yes I will ship anywhere. Buyers pays actual shipping costs.

  Why is an aftermarket cable recommended for some models?

The stock cables sold with some headphones are not the best and often have skewed frequency response or other problems. Audeze cables are pretty good and you should not feel that a Forza cable is necessary with my Audeze headphones, but rather an option if you want the best possible sound from them. The stock Audeze cable has the same tonality as the Forza cable, so you won't be getting a different tuning if you use the stock Audeze cable. The Forza cable simply adds clarity, resolution spaciousness and soundstage, Hifiman stock cables are not good, the stock HE6SE cable is very poor quality and made of silver which is the last thing the HE6SE needs as it already leans on the cold side tonally. So I recommend getting an occ copper cable for my Hifiman HE6SE headphone. But I offer both Forza and a much cheaper Lunashiops cable from Aliexpress. I can buy these cables for you and pass them along at cost, or you can buy them yourself. Or you can buy whatever other cable you prefer. Or just keep the stock cable. These are just my recommendations for the best sound.

Click here to see pictures of the cable I offer

Click here to learn more about Forza Audioworks OCC copper cables.

  Why Do You Call Them "Orthos" and not "Planars"? A Brief History of Orthos In This Hobby

The shorthand term “ortho” for describing planar magnetic headphones dates back to the “orthodynamic roundup” thread on head-fi before Audeze and Hifiman made their first planar magnetic headphones, the LCD-2 and HE-5. At this time only vintage orthos existed, and members of the “orthodynamic roundup” thread created by member wualta went to huge efforts to find vintage orthos by scouring used listings of vintage headphones and buying tons of them. Huge credit goes to members like wualta and Kabeer and dBel84 and Smeggy and others I am forgetting their usernames. But especially wualta is to my understanding basically solely responsible for discovering the hidden potential in the technology from the great drivers that were never put in proper acoustic environments and which could be made to sound really good with some simple modifications to damp the driver to get the diaphragm to move faster and damp the enclosure to stop cup resonance.

I learned the basics of modding orthos from this thread, but was unhappy with the “felt on the drivers/felt in the back of the cups” sound taught in this thread, though I heard great potential. I spent the next 10 years working on figuring out all my own materials and methods to get the sound I was looking for and then took on modern orthos which has led me to rhythmdevils audio.

The word “planar” in “planar magnetic” refers to a flat diaphragm, as opposed to the conical diaphragm in electrodynamics (“electrodynamic” is the the whole term for traditional “dynamics”. Planar magnetics and electrodynamics are both “dynamic” headphones by the way). Electrostatic headphones, planar magnetic headphones and I believe ribbon headphones are all “planar” headphones due to the flat drivers.

Electrtostats are not as popular now as they were then, and ribbon headphones are simply called “ribbons” now. So people have taken to the shorthand “planar” for “planar magnetic” headphones. But back in the orthodynamic roundup thread before modern orthos, using the term planar was clearly incorrect to everyone because it referred to many different driver technologies.

Yamaha literally just made up the word “orthodynamic” as a marketing term, likely instead of using the alternate and also correct term “isodynamic” which Wharfedale used on the first planar magnetic headphone, the ID-1 which literally used flexible fridge magnets.

So for those og vintage planar magnetic pioneers, the best shorthand became shortening the word “orthodynamic” to “orthos”. This was before I even discovered them or started participating in the thread. Everyone in that thread called them “orthos”, not “planars”.

So this is why I too call them “orthos” because I learned about them before any of the new planar magnetic headphones existed and I used the shorthand terms that these pioneers used.

So, you can call them planars if you want, but it is actually not a good shorthand because it refers to multiple driver technologies and just means “flat driver” and we should all revert to what these original pioneers called them, partly to be correct, and also partly to pay homage to them. Orthos.