Fostex TH900 Impressions & Discussion Thread - Page 233

I was going to go with the Concero till about 2 weeks ago when I saw the X Sabre pop up. I am happy to hear how great the Concero stacked up against some stiff conpetition last weekend, just validates project86's great humble reviews. But I just think the extra money is worth it for the X Sabre, plus I really want to go balanced from dac to V200, I heard that was the way to go to get the most out of the v200. To get back to the GS-X, I also want to see what the Solid State Schiit Statement looks like compared to the mk2. By that time I will be settled down and hopefully know what I'm keeping and what I need to get rid of, especially my hardly used LCD 2 and D7000.

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Originally Posted by Maxvla 

I will probably be able to have both GS-X and Schiit Statement to compare when it releases this summer. Money sure gets tight when you are comparing top level gear, though, so we'll see

Dam you are goin hard lol. I wish. Stupid saving for a house plan, gets me everytime..

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Originally Posted by jronan2 

Dam you are goin hard lol. I wish. Stupid saving for a house plan, gets me everytime..

Well, when you look at houses, make sure the floorplan has a listening room 

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Originally Posted by jronan2 

 no need to get crazy all at once. I'm enjoying what I have for now. 

 

By these 2 statement, I believe you got everything right!

-by not going crazy all at once, is appreciation at its finest level. Start from crappiest to the finest..very slowly

- I am enjoying what I have for now - is contentment at its very best.

I try to live by these 2 wisdom everyday but sometimes I cave in and kneel down before headfi.... .

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Originally Posted by MacedonianHero 

 

Match my thoughts as well. For closed headphones, I have yet to hear any better.

 

I've wanted to compare the TH900 with the W3000ANV and I remember you sold your W3000ANV's after picking up the TH900.  What are the differences and improvements that you found?  

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Originally Posted by daigo 

 

I've wanted to compare the TH900 with the W3000ANV and I remember you sold your W3000ANV's after picking up the TH900.  What are the differences and improvements that you found?  

I still love the W3000ANVs and hold them in very high regard. But when I heard the TH900s, I was smitten with the wider sound stage, more LCD-3 type bass presentation (the W3000s are more in line with the HD800s). Overall, I prefer the TH900s, but could very happily live with the W3000ANVs too. Neither headphone had me feeling like I was sacrificing sound quality to listen to closed headphones.

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Originally Posted by daigo 

 

I've wanted to compare the TH900 with the W3000ANV and I remember you sold your W3000ANV's after picking up the TH900.  What are the differences and improvements that you found?  

TH900: Assertive and a bit punchy with high impact, but somehow not in a fatiguing way, just exciting; TH900s will not put you to sleep; bass is prominent but natural sounding and not pushy in the bass in an overwhelming way like JVC 1000s can be or Grado PS1000s or even Denon D7000s. Vocals and instruments are realistic but not hyper detailed but are close up.

W3000ANV: silky, liquid, but still detailed and rounded natural vocals and other mids, and a natural deep and satisfying bass, but slightly suppressed highs that make them non-fatiguing but can be a little light on impact over a long listening period. Very easy to listen to and refined in the mids. Wing-support system can take some getting used to, where they feel like they are drooping on the ears and a rubber band may be needed to tighten the wing system to move them closer together. Try and get return privileges to make sure you can deal with the wings. Reminds me of Quad speaker tonality.

I own both, like them both a great deal, but they sound quite different, and these comments are just my unedited informal impressions.

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Originally Posted by rgs9200m 

TH900: Assertive and a bit punchy with high impact, but somehow not in a fatiguing way, just exciting; TH900s will not put you to sleep; bass is prominent but natural sounding and not pushy in the bass in an overwhelming way like JVC 1000s can be or Grado PS1000s or even Denon D7000s. Vocals and instruments are realistic but not hyper detailed but are close up.

 

W3000ANV: silky, liquid, but still detailed and rounded natural vocals and other mids, and a natural deep and satisfying bass, but slightly suppressed highs that make them non-fatiguing but can be a little light on impact over a long listening period. Very easy to listen to and refined in the mids. Wing-support system can take some getting used to, where they feel like they are drooping on the ears and a rubber band may be needed to tighten the wing system to move them closer together. Try and get return privileges to make sure you can deal with the wings. Reminds me of Quad speaker tonality.

 

I own both, like them both a great deal, but they sound quite different, and these comments are just my unedited informal impressions.

Agreed. I wanted to mention that while the measurements show the TH900s as having a lot of bass, they don't have as much as the JVC DX1000s or Denon D7000s. But still very satisfying and they don't interfere with the mids (like the other two headphones I mentioned).

EDIT: Listening to the new Hendrix release (People, Hell and Angels); who knew he was releasing new music?  Sounds incredibly satisfying with the TH900s!

Cool, thanks for your thoughts, MacedonianHero and rgs9200m.  Really interested in trying the TH900 now, but not quite ready to take the personal plunge.  

Thanks MacHero!

Rich

Anyone else have their TH-900's re-terminated or re-cabled balanced? I'm interested to see some more impressions on SE vs Balanced, whether they benefit much from doing so.

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Originally Posted by Greed 
Anyone else have their TH-900's re-terminated or re-cabled balanced? I'm interested to see some more impressions on SE vs Balanced, whether they benefit much from doing so.

No offense but I'm going to flat-out recommend that TH900 owners shouldn't try to re-terminate/re-cable to balanced.

I've heard a lot of low-impedance, high-sensitivity headphones that were re-cabled to balanced, mostly Audio-Technica and Grado models, and none of them really benefitted from it. I repeat: none. While there were marginal differences with a few like the AT W5000 and Grado HP1000, overall none of them benefitted from it. Even my former Sony Qualia 010 didn't really benefit from balanced either (it was only a marginal difference). So I'd suggest to any TH900 owners thinking about it: just don't do it and avoid doing something dumb. Because once you do it, you can't easily go back. Based on my past experience with balanced low-impedance high-sensitivity headphones, I highly recommend leaving the TH900 as-is. I predict that it wouldn't sound much different when balanced, if at all. Although anyone is free to correct me if they really want to go ahead and do it.

Speaking from my own experience, ever since I had my Audio-Technica AD2K re-cabled to balanced, I've regretted it because it made absolutely no difference. It was a total waste of time & money. And the TH900's specs aren't too far off from the AD2K's.