Fostex X Massdrop TH-X00

@Ice-man I'm referring to the leahter HM5 pads. I haven't tried them with the velour yet.

@Tze088 I prefer the HD650 to the TH-X00 in general. If you need some isolation, though, the TH-X00 is an excellent choice.

 

Bigger magnet = more linear excursion = lower distortion in bass.

Look at bass distortion curve in TH600 vs. THx00 and that will (likely) give us our answer

 

If that was the case TH600 would have bigger magnet unless I'm going full retard atm. :/

 

Do we have a side-by-side of the two on the same measurement rig?

 

We do not, however HD650 measures lower bass distortion than TH-x00 on Purrins measurements yet HD650 has far more bass distortion on innerfidelity's measurements than TH-X00. The differences are very substancial and I would be surprised if TH-X00 comes out on top (regarding bass distortion) when they get measured on the same rig.

edit: This is the one thing that makes me question buying this the second the drop goes live. But it is a quite significant "one thing".

 

Would this be equivalent to a sub bass boosted HD650? I overlayed the graphs and saw that from about 500Hz downward there is a ~4dB reduction with the TH-X00 and then some lower treble reduction in the 4,5,6kHz range. The graph also shows more extended treble above 10kHz. Do the TH-X00 sound like what the graph shows in comparison to the HD650 or is there something I'm missing?

 

Sorry for actually remember somewhat incorrectly (initially compared those quite late at night, poor excuse) regardless my main conclusion was still correctish. The bass distortion is quite similar to that of HD650 while TH-600 performs significantly better. In fact HD650 still does better when it comes to low volume bass distortion.

P.S I appreciate the change to percentages.

 

Fostex won't give me information on the cables cause they don't recommend aftermarket modification. Guess I'll wait for someone with more money and experience to cut up the cables and post pics. Anyone else reterminating the 1/4th jack with 4 pin XLR? I'm gonna have to do that to get the full power from the Carbon, and I don't quite trust myself to do it since the last time I soldered and stuff was in 8th grade. Alternatively, anyone else do retermination/recabling for this sort of thing?

 

I've opened up and recabled a couple D2000s, a D5000, and a TH900, and if Fostex has remained consistent, you shouldn't have a problem balancing the cable. I can't remember if the wires were enameled, though. That makes it a little more irritating. I'd be willing to mod cables for people in exchange for a few extra days of listening to the headphones.

 

You goddamn monster! You can separate an audiophile from his money but not his headphones!

 

If you can't find someone to balance your cable, I had this guy balance mine:

https://www.etsy.com/people/PLAudio?

 

Anyone know if it's possible to obtain a pair of TH600/900 pads to swap with these? Those might be my favorite of any headphone ever. I really loved how much space they had. It's kind of disappoints me to see they closed up the earpads, because I've always felt more space inside the earpads give the sound more room to breathe thus opening up the soundstage, not to mention the comfort benefits.

 

Lawton Audio sells stock pads. Out of stock now but he'll likely get more in at some point.

 

I own the HD650, HD800, HE6, and K7XX. These still seem tempting for their unique "color." I also have always wanted to try out the Fostex sound. Please, someone, convince me not to buy this tomorrow .

 

You don't need a closed phone or you'd have some already and THx00 isn't even portable. Several other closed phones in this general price range are more neutral and a 9 dB bass boost is unappealing. You had rather spend your money upgrading your rig instead to get more from what you already own. Cheers!

 

Do you still prefer the HD650 over the x00 in general?

 

+1. Interested to know too.