He said something to the effect of âit takes days to do,â but it sounded like hyperbole to me. Like saying, it takes for-ev-r.
Massdrop has prepared me for this! Iâm going to send in my Dekoni Blues someday. I think I waited 3 months for the initial run of 4XX. Also Mobius was 5 months I think.
I wish I didnât read through this discussion. Iâve been making bad decisions lately, (or good depending on how you look at it). I happened to catch an open box âvery goodâ T50RP MK3 for $100. I justified the purchase thinking I needed more ânon-open backsâ. Will pass it on for the Argon MK3 conversion as soon as I get it.
Mine to be finished by this weekend. Iâm at 10 weeks, and I got the balanced mod. Still within the expected wait time.
Now if only Massdrop would ship the 789 I ordered to drive balanced cans, Iâd be set!
1 Like
Z just said on his Twitch stream that he hasnât been in touch with Modhouse and that he wonât be getting the T60 Argons as of yetâŚ
Somebody PLEASE loan a pair to Z when you get yours.
2 Likes
I finally opened mine (just got back from vacation). After 30 minutes or so of listening to my familiar âtest tracksâ I am pleasantly surprised.
Take everything below with a grain (nay, a whole wintertime truckload) of salt. I DO NOT have the golden ears that many in this hobby have. Just a love of music a lot of familiarity with my âtest tracks.â
Of course I canât help but compare to my current favorite - a Focal Elex. in that comparison they lose in every way⌠of course. Entirely unfair to compare a $150 headphone, modded into a $260 headphone to a well regarded $700 headphone, right? But after discarding that comparison, Iâm very pleased. As Z said, it has âthe Wiiidddddthhâ- it is nicely wide and much wider than stock T50s. The width of the soundstage makes for mostly left and right imaging, with less center than other cans. This makes for some fun listening experiences. In the warm-up intro of Charlies Mingusâ II B.S. I could hear Mingus noodling his bass left front and Walter Perkins knocking the side of his snare and scratching the high hat over my right shoulder like I was sitting in for the session. Super fun.
The they are certainly warm and bass forward, but the bass was not nearly as exaggerated as expected. Highs are mostly clear and detailed. I was pleasantly surprised at the âfingers on guitar stringsâ level of detail in Steely Danâs Jack of Speed. I could also hear slight vocal fry (micro âcreakingâ in vocal chords) in Didoâs Hurricanes. These arenât to the level of detail of my Neumann NDH20s, but they have a surprising level of detail for what people call a âfun but not super accurateâ set of cans.
I was surprised at how little power they require after the talk of them being power hungry. My Atom ran these to unlistenably loud volume in low gain, and at max volume I could run them medium loud off my phone.
Overall, a fun set and entirely worth owning. If I was stuck on a desert island with only these I could be happy with these. If you made it to this point I admire your perseverance and thanks for reading!!
10 Likes
Yeah, I kinda agree that the power requirements are very overhyped, as you do need more power then most average headphones to sound great, but it doesnât need absurd power to sound correct, and can be driven off of most quality desktop headphone amps
1 Like
Since you have both, which would you say is better for metal, NDH 20 or Argon?
Dave, I never would have guessed you were a metal guy. 
With all the obligatory âYMMVsâ and âyour hearing is individual,â I will say that the Neumann is a superior headphone. Great build (no plastic at all), fantastic detail retrevial, what many people call a flat frequency response, and details for days. Did I say great detail?? The only place where the Argon has an edge is âwiiidddddth.â
That said, many might have a more pleasurable (if less accurate) experience on the Argons. Itâs a warmer sound, and certainly more âfun.â You run the risk of exposing the poor studio work of your favorite. band. Itâs also an unfair comparison. The Neumanns are nearly twice the price.
If I had to choose it would be the Neumanns 10 time out of 10. But others might be put off by their analytical profile.
1 Like
Good to know. I own NDH 20 and Dekoni Blue, and was considering sending them in to modhouse. Maybe I could save a few bucks.
What would they do to a NDH 20? I thought it was only T50RPâs?
Probably listen to them and send them back. 
Youâre right! Dekoni Blue is a T50 mod that can be Argonâd. Was thinking about sending those in.
Ah. Haha!! Thought I missed something!! A modded NDH20 would be cool!
I didnât mean to depricate the Argons. They are fantastic and worth owning. I just donât think they top the Neumann.
2 Likes
Well the argons vs the ndh 20 isnât an apples to apples comparison imo. They are tuned and aimed at different use cases 
2 Likes
It would be really interesting to see if Modhouse could do a NDH20 pad swap and keep the sound the same, while changing them to be able to do a balanced cable option.
Anyway, to stay on topic - week 10 for me so Iâm starting to get excited. Really looking forward to them!
I donât have the ndh 20 but I love listening to metal with the argons.
Yeah Iâve heard that they can be powered fine with a lot of amps, but do sound different when you go crazy with the wattage. Maybe thatâs why you heard less bass than you expected?
Howâs that? My current amp already pushes enough power to go louder than I can stand. A more powerful amp would still push the same wattage to attain the same volume. There would just be more headroom that Iâm not using.
Or maybe Iâm missing something? My electrical engineering isâŚwell, nonexistent . Ha. Fill me in!
Anyway, Iâll be able to experiment whenever Massdrop delivers the THX789 they sold me in May. My Argons are modded for a balanced connection so Iâll have watts (not miliwatts) to play with. Iâll be sure to report back!
1 Like
Dynamic range is the answer to my question! I went searching for the answer and the universe provided.
Thanks for pointing that out @zeroforconduct Iâll do a side by side when I get the 789 and report back.
1 Like