Drop Panda + THX Wireless Headphone PR

The PM-3 has arguably the best tonal balance of the Oppos. I'm not saying it sounds like a 650, but it is similar in tonal nature, but a bit sweeter in the upper midrange, and extended and fast in the bass. It's my G. O. A. T. closed back.

 

If the Panda earpads are the same size as my PM-3 those with large ears will find it uncomfortable. Noise isolation on the PM-3 is just OK nowhere close to a pair of CIEMS.

 

The PM3 sounded pretty damned good at it’s price point & for an ostensibly portable headphone. The positives outweighed the negatives, for me. I’m sure there’s more that can be milked out of that driver tech.

I have a lot of hope that these Pandas (I didn’t like the name at first, but I’m diggin’ it, now...pandas - funny looking bears who love bamboo, and treat procreation like Mennonites treat iPhones...amazing creatures) will be significantly above average. If they’re a solid closed headphone with good wireless capabilities, are comfortable, what seems like decent onboard electronics, tuned without DSP while capable of DSP implementation in future updates, and at a competitive price point...

F’ing ay, matey.

Anyone who shits on them before hearing them, or there’s a reliable group consensus, is the kind of person whose perspective I usually don’t rely on. I do look forward to some measurements & subjective opinions from people with enough experience whose opinions I value.

 

@CEE TEE: I know you are not at Massdrop. Can you tell us anything about this?

 

I was already interested but talk of this being a revived PM3 has me sold! Of the many mid-fi cans no long on the market the PM3 was one I wish I'd kept

 

Hey Friends, we're having a couple listening events for Panda, the first will be on January 16th. If you're in the bay or want to make your way over, reserve your slot here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/drop-thx-panda-headphones-listening-day-tickets-86610872451

 

Friends, we're putting together a loaner tour, unclear when we can kick it off, but it'll be sometime in the next month.

PM me if you wanna get your name on the list.

 

I'd be super curious if any part of the tour makes it up to Canada. I used to have the PM3 and remember wishing that there were a wireless version.

 

At the time of release PM3 was a solid closed back headphone, even more impressive as a non dynamic driver. No typical giga bass or crazy treble peaks. Having a tweaked version with bluetooth and DSP for minor corrections would be fantastic. I do hope the amp is silent as Mobius had issues in that regard.

 

Very interesting and positive news, I thought the withdrawal of Oppo from audio a great loss and although they only made a relative handful of products those they did make tended to be very good. I still use my Oppo PM-2 headphones, they are very "normal" for want of a better word) headphones, although not the lightest they're not too heavy and the dimensions are not too big. Some planar magnetic models sound great but are bulky, heavy and can need quite a strong amp to perform. For me the big news is Drop buying acquiring the Oppo headphone tech and further developing it, fantastic!

 

It's said to be BT without any DSP though. 'Passively' tuned. I wonder...

 

Looking forward to real impressions. Saw on Drop some Influencer "reviews" and went basically in one ear, out the other. Why they bother with this bullshit when it doesn't fool anyone kind of baffles me.

 

It fools plenty. Sadly.

 

I wonder if there will ever be the wireless PM2 equivalent so Audio Zenith can try his modding witchcraft on it.

 

I'm hoping for a wired version of the PM2 with Drop tweaks. Their take on a PMx2 if you will.

 

Yes please! Wireless is totally unnecessary for me.

 

Ugh. Launching on indiegogo. Why?

 

Some interesting points on build quality and ergonomics which he seems to sweep a bit too much under the rug but whatever. As for sound quality his descriptions were a bit too vague to me, needs trusted ears: