Massdrop / Fostex TH-X00 Ebony Measurements

Discussion in 'Headphone Measurements' started by purr1n, Jul 13, 2016.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,777
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Quick subjective impressions:

    Less of a resonance play than Purpleheart. The wood seems more solid and doesn't add color. The least colored among the different cups. More refined and more dampened than Purpleheart or Mahogany cups. Wonder if this is the effect of the denser Ebony? Noticeably smoother lower treble. Doesn't have that slight sharpness of Mahogany and to a smaller extent the Purpleheart. Small sharp peak past 10kHz. Adds a bit of definition and increases audibility of noise such as tape hiss, but this seems preferable. Overall still a member of the X00 family.

    Some history of this headphone: http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...-measurements-and-subjective-impressions.623/
    How to understand FR measurements: https://www.massdrop.com/talk/236/understanding-headphone-reviews?mode=guest_open
    Recipient of GS award (NSFW!): http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...erbaf-best-of-2015-golden-schlong-awards.760/

    Massdrop / Fostex TH-X00 Ebony Frequency Response (0db line = 100db SPL)
    X00 Ebony FR.png

    Measures flatter overall with smoother transitions compared to the others, but I don't want to make a hard call. Measurement is really tricky with these because of pads there can be significant differences if one is not careful with exact placement on the measurement rig.

    Massdrop / Fostex TH-X00 Ebony CSDs
    TH-X00 E L.jpg
    TH-X00 E R.jpg


    I tend to have more confidence in CSD measurements. They focus on the upper mids and treble where I see less variability to bass (which can vary depending upon seal - getting just the right about of seal can be tricky). Compared to Mahogany or Purpleheart, definitely smoother. I like what @CEE TEE said to me on it sounding more refined.

    Massdrop / Fostex TH-X00 Ebony Distortion (at same levels as FR)
    TH-X00 E L HD.jpg
    TH-X00 E R HD.jpg

    Measurements of other cups to compare (Mahogany and Purpleheart):
    http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...-measurements-and-subjective-impressions.623/
    http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...eart-measurements-and-quick-impressions.1681/
     
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2016
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,777
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    CSDs and Dist OTW.
     
  3. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

    Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,999
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Tempe, Arizona
    Wow! My Mahogany cups are going in the wood chipper. JK. But seriously great job to Fostex and Massdrop for not sitting on your hands but instead continuing to improve on an already great sounding headphone.
     
  4. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,777
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    All measurements uploaded.
     
  5. Dr. Higgs

    Dr. Higgs Boson - Member

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 4, 2015
    Likes Received:
    781
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Roswell, GA
    Ugh, I'm going to have a forest of th-x00s if this trend keeps up, but I guess that's what they were going for :)

    Thank you for the measurements!

    What's next, bog oak?
     
  6. ibzrg1570

    ibzrg1570 Facebook Friend

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2016
    Likes Received:
    200
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    This is going to be the last variant of the TH-X00.
     
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,777
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Ebony is definitely the least colored. Purpleheart has the most interesting resonance play with the good and that. Mahogany is somewhere in between, but closer to Purpleheart. Collect them all. Haha.
     
  8. CEE TEE

    CEE TEE MOT: NITSCH

    Pyrate IEMW
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,724
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    California Bay Area
    Home Page:
    Thanks for the measurements and impressions, Marv!
     
  9. ibzrg1570

    ibzrg1570 Facebook Friend

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2016
    Likes Received:
    200
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    Posted this question in the drop thread on MD but I figure I'll ask here too in case anyone else is wondering: Are you going to have all three variants at the Wikia meet this Saturday? It'd be great if we could do a direct comparison (and also get a preview of the PH I have on order).
     
  10. CEE TEE

    CEE TEE MOT: NITSCH

    Pyrate IEMW
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,724
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    California Bay Area
    Home Page:
    Yep! We'll have them...
     
  11. RiddleyWalker

    RiddleyWalker Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Nov 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    310
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    Cincinnati
    These comments pique my interest. I haven't yet heard an TH-X00 - the mentions of some sibilance (or "sparkle" as some may say) in some reviews scared me away from ordering and I haven't been to a meet that had a pair. Can you comment on subjective impressions of the Ebony in comparison with, say, HD650, HE-K, or any other reference for those of us that haven't heard the other TH-X00 models? :bow:
     
  12. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

    Staff Member Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2015
    Likes Received:
    8,960
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Irvine CA
    Awesome!
     
  13. Will

    Will Massdrop

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    238
    Trophy Points:
    33
    To clarify, our statements have all been "last wood variant". This is because if some time in the future, we find some amazing special material that does a better job than wood, we aren't stuck because we said "never again".

    From a product development perspective, Christian has a lot more irons in the fire and while the TH-X00 is great, with the release of Ebony we feel the line is complete and it's time to move forward with other Fostex projects.
     
  14. TMRaven

    TMRaven Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    621
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Fostex TH-9xx please. I'm willing to bet the majority of the cost of that headphone comes from the Japanese labor making the wooden cups. Get that out of the way to drop costs and use the TH-900 driver, with some returning, and we got a winner.
     
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2016
  15. ibzrg1570

    ibzrg1570 Facebook Friend

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2016
    Likes Received:
    200
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    Oh man... so much juiciness to read into in this one post.
     
  16. exime

    exime New

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2016
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    3
    The other thing I heard about Ebony is that it has a 30hz sub-bass peak and the Purpleheart has a 50hz sub-bass peak so Ebony has a deeper Bass extension.
     
  17. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,777
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Indeed. The measurments here seem to bare this out. Not a big difference, but a bit more extension on the ebony.

    Could be even a partial mm shaved from the inside of the denser ebony cups causing this. Or perhaps a more solid coupling lowering Fs. Just guessing.
     
  18. kevnin

    kevnin #facetweeting - Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    366
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Location:
    San Diego
    Subjectively does the bass sound any cleaner or tighter than the Mahogany?

    The measurement posted on massdrop show lower bass distortion, though not by a lot.
     
  19. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,777
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    There wasn't anything that made me feel the bass was significantly different form listening to it, although I didn't have very much time before I had to sent them off.

    From a measurement perspective, the Purpleheart has the highest distortion. I believe the drivers are the same, so the logical conclusion is that the purpleheart wood is resonating.
    PH L HD.jpg

    Here is the mahogany.
    TH-X00 L HD.jpg

    Here is the Ebony. More or less the same (it's difficult to reproduce distortion measurements exactly) as the Mahogany, but with the exception that higher order distortion is much less on the ebony. Again, probably a property of the woods. From measurements very early back of Grado cups, I know mahogany will tend to resonate at many different places. So these findings are not out of the ordinary.
    [​IMG]

    What would be most interesting would be full spectrum plots for specific frequencies excited (35Hz, 70Hz, 1kHz, 3kHz, etc.). The wood does make a difference and it is measurable (with the right measurements). I think @Will was trying to explain this to people: that the wood does make a difference and it's not color or dye or placebo. It's pretty real.
     
  20. swamp

    swamp Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2016
    Likes Received:
    52
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Oh my... those are stunningly beautiful. That all black look is just so slick. The November 15th ship date seems about average for Massdrop, but this will give me ample time to hype myself up for these.
     

Share This Page