Fostex TH-X00 Measurements and Subjective Impressions

LOL -- I knew you would, you miggety miggety miggety mack.

Next changstar meet should be themed where everyone dresses as our their heroes. We can both wear our jeans backward.

LFF wears a porkpie hat, OJ goes shirtless+trucker hat, shipsupt rocks the Angus short suit, and Marv bears the cone bra. Best meet ever.

 

My take on your take:

If you're a basshead, yes, buy it.
Even if you are not a basshead, buy it. I'm not a basshead, yet I absolutely love the TH-X00 (and the old Denon line).

If you like to collect headphones with shiny wood cups, buy it.
Definitely

If you used to have the D2000/5000/7000 and want to recapture those fond memories with less brightness, the TH-X00 is perfect. Having had the D2000 a while back, the TH-X00 brings back lots of feels and less pain from treble.
I have a pair of D2000s at hand and they are not much more brighter than the Fostex.

If the HD650 is as bassy as you're willing to go, don't buy these.
The HD650 is mid-bass bassy, while the Fostex is sub-bass bassy. I consider both to be bassy headphones with different types of bass emphasis.


If your ideal sound is a stock HD800 and you prefer it over the HD650, maybe just stick with the HD800.
My ideal sound is my stock HD800...and I love my Denon and my TH-X00. Man does not live by bread alone.


If you don't find the TH-X00 bassy enough, I don't know what to tell you other than you need some serious re-calibration.
Haha. True!!!

 

So......how about these compared to ZMF Blackwood? Thank you for the measurements Hands!

 

I call not the dead one.

 

I've had this dream. It was amazing as you can imagine. The best part was Marv went out and brought JT on stage. Then some song about how haters are gonna hate, hate, hate.

 

Received mine and absolutely can not understand the hype. In a stock form I can see these work well in a noisy environment such as construction sites, airports or busy streets (not sure how many will use them that way ;-).

Figured that one can simply bend the headband so it barely clamps the head. Such bending should result in headphones initially wiggling around your ears a bit but few minutes later when pleather warms up earpads will sit more secure. This would of course create quite a bit of leakage which defeats the main purpose of closed back design but sound becomes more in line with reality. Beautiful wooden cups at a decent value and Denon memories sweeten the deal.

Looking forward to all the mods.

 

LOL - you know it's hard for me to keep up. I just learned how to read not too long ago!

 

Ha! I was just reading through the thread, thinking about making some terrible head-fi-y post about my new Denon DX00s and then decided to save everyone from having to read my drivel. Now it's on...

 

I'm also waiting for this comparison, as the Blackwood's bass is my reference for what I prefer (not too much mid-bass, good extension and "slam").

Comparing purrin's measurement of the stock HD650 and the Blackwood, the 650 looses about 6dB from 100Hz to 20Hz to the BW.
http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/sennheiser-hd650-love.44/
http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/zmf-blackwood-measurements.691/

Hands' comparison of the TH-X00 and modded HD650 shows the X00 is 10dB up on the 650 from 100Hz to 20Hz.
http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...ifferences-between-headphones.803/#post-21188

This very rough extrapolation would suggest that the TH-X00 is 4dB up on the Blackwood at 20Hz. That might be too much sub-bass extension for me. I have no idea what they would sound like side-by-side, so I'm just throwing this out there. Maybe someone who's heard both can comment?

 

I've been lurking a bit the past month or so.
I have the D5000, Fidelio X2 and now the X00.
I listen mainly to vocal trance, techno, tech, ambient, some alternative and a small amount of classical.
I usually use female vocals to get a "cleanness" and male vocals to get a "weight".
Instrumental or glitchy music can help me get a sense of blackness.
Comparing the X00 to the D5000 and X2 on the JDS labs O2/ODAC Combo was fun. I have a few impressions so far:

• There's an upper treble spike that the X00 impose (I'm guessing its the 11khz one identified earlier in this thread?). A few tracks really pick it up, which is unfortunate as I am pretty sensitive to treble.
• I expected vocals on the X00 to carry a good amount of weight, I don't think they get vocals quite right.
• The Denon D5000s do have a less present mid than the X00, I think the mids that do exist are somehow better rendered by the D5000s.
• The Denons can get sibilant based on the song.
• I've not heard the X00s get sibilant... yet.
• The X2s do vocals the best (Just IMO) from the group of cans I have. I would really like to hear the HD650 but I enjoy sub bass.
• The bass on the X00 sounds papery compared to the D5000s almost liquidy rumble. I'm assuming the midbass is more in line with the sub bass, then lowered on the X00s.
• The X2s have a small spike around 4-5khz that makes some songs sound hard, this is its biggest flaw.
• I wish the X2s sub bass didn't roll off as quick... still really fun for an open can.

For me X2>D5000>X00

These are just very early impressions.

 

So these are impressions with music not including rock/pop/jazz, real instruments (apart from minimal classical), right?

Different strokes for different folks for sure, but this is all counter to what I've read about these Golden Schlong 'phones. Really need to hear a pair.

 

Story time

This headphone was off to a bad start. I un-boxed them and admired the cups for only a couple seconds before... Man, f**k this cable. My D2000 had this cable. This exact-same heavy, stiff, easily tangled, ridiculously long cable. And the 1/4" plug on the end? I could beat someone to death with this thing, I'm not kidding. They wrapped a cable that was already dense with solid metal. I suppose having an extra weapon in the house is never a bad thing...? PTSD aside, I finally decided I could re-cable them if need be (like I did to my D2000's, since I couldn't handle it). I ended up plugging this into my Valhalla 2 for the first listen.

Verdict? Yikes. Seriously, yikes. My curious mind went back to the early impressions of this headphone. Didn't I read people comment on "fixed" treble issues from other Fostex/Denon headphones? Yup, I did. Here they are. WTF is wrong with this people? I've said it before and I'll say it again: Sibilance City. Sure, there was bass, but it was not as forward as the crazy treble coming from the Valhalla 2 (stock tubes). I couldn't give these headphones an honest effort in this condition.

I came back to the headphones with my iPad. I stuck the near 10 foot plug and adapter into my iPad headphone jack, effectively making the iPad twice as wide, and gave them another listen. Whoa. Now this is what I'm talking about. Nice punchy bass, clean mids, clean treble. Wait, clean treble? Maybe my iPad can't render treble? I wasn't sure. Luckily my hope was restored just in time for the very next day when the Vali 2 was announced. Uh, yeah, obviously I need that. Thanks, Jason, you bastard.

I forced myself to ignore these glorious wooden cupped headphones until the Vali 2 showed up. I reverse engineered that Schiit box like a boss and got to listening. I legitimately didn't understand this headphone's praise until I had the Vali 2 show me. This little amp is killer, but that's for a different thread (I guess you aren't really a bastard, Jason).


Sound

These are truly an enjoyable treat. As said above I find these to be very source dependent. If you find the right match, I don't doubt that these will be the best closed headphones you've ever heard.

The bass goes so low and it's so effortless. This is pretty characteristic of all the Denons and Fostex of this type. While I've only listened to the D2000 and TH-900, I can say that this headphone is certainly more balanced than both. I hate reiterating what's already been said, but the bass really doesn't cloud the mids on the TH-X00. They go so low and make vocals sound amazing simultaneously. Listening to Purity Ring, for example, is incredibly seductive.

The midrange, while not being clouded or noticeably recessed, is the least forward part of this headphone. While I don't feel I'm missing out on electric guitars, they just don't have the bite that they should. Usually this is an upper-mid thing. Perhaps the "w-shaped" FR is what's giving the e-guitar less bite. The treble and bass make the sound so engaging that this isn't a huge deal for me. I have other headphones for really rockin' out. In general, I find myself very engaged with this headphone's midrange presentation.

The treble is spotty. I'm lucky the Vali 2 ended up being a good match, 'cause this treble can easily be a deal-breaker. But, if you get it just right, it's forward but not aggressive. The treble can make these headphones sound more open than closed. Yes, even under "perfect" conditions the shitty recordings will sound extra shitty. Sibilant recordings are not without sibilance. Just try not listening to shit.

Overall, I've been really enjoying these headphones to sit down and lose myself in the music. I love their sound, I love that they're closed, and I love that they look sweet even though only my cats can see them.

This cable though... f**k this cable.


Measurements



Left:


Right:


Left:


Right:



Notes With Measurements

Nothing too crazy or out of the ordinary here. My measurements make the region between 600 and 3kHz seem extra boosted but I don't notice this. Maybe this boost is what's making the upper midrange sound a little duller in comparison (giving the e-guitar less bite). Otherwise, my measurements are not too far off from the others seen here.

Maybe I'll get to pad rolling after the holiday.

[Seal is way important with these. The pads themselves are angled but not flat either. They sort of grip the front and back of your ear (i.e. looking at the pad profile from top to bottom looks like they'd make a better seal on a cylinder, if that makes sense). The FR plot below shows the difference between measurements when I make a better seal by adding a tiny bit of pressure on the outside of the cup. I don't believe these have an ergonomic issue with a human head so these flat plate measurements might not be the best example.]

FR with added seal:

 

Late to the game. Ya I know.

Was on a tear buying gear this year, and I drew the line at buying these; and did not cross that line.

All discussions I had on Massdrop and Head-fi could not convince me otherwise. This thread has!

Just posting to say thanx to all that did measurements and gave detailed opinions. Looks like I really will be happy with this one added to my stable.

 

Sounds like Head-fi should do some more censoring of negative impression!

 

Lol, was on the receiving end of that just the other day....

 

Hands - do you still have the diy butte? If so, I was wondering how the pairing is with th-x00's? Very tempted to pick up a vali 2, or if I were to really splurge a torpedo 3, but from the description on IF, a low gain butte sounds like it might also pair quite well?