[kothganesh]

  I was thinking I could opt for simpler life, sell my other headphones and get the TH900. My music library consists mostly of rock & metal, with some pop and electronic music in the mix; most of them are 320kbs mp3 and some FLACs.
My goal setup would be HRT MSII+ > Lovely Cube DIY amp > TH900, and for portable use Astell & Kern AK100 > TH900. Is there any sense in this?

Don't know about the desktop amps but your choice of TH900 as the only HP makes eminent sense, especially with those genres.

 

[kurochin]

The TH900 is currently my only* headphone, as a matter of fact. Sold off my other flagships before moving to my current country of residence. To me, all headphones come with their fair share of annoyances, and the Fostex had the least so that's what I decided to keep. It's different for each person, though. Only way is to judge for yourself after having tried as many headphones as you can, but if you don't have the opportunity to do so then I think the TH900 is one of the better compromises you can make with regards to having one headphone to do it all**, especially with the genres you listed.

* I did get a TH600 for the office a few months ago, but that's basically the same signature as the TH900, only less refined.

** Personally, I think top-end custom in-ear monitors would be a more attractive (and practical) proposition if you're looking at one set for both desktop and portable application (flagship full-size headphones aren't very robust), but realize that not everyone agrees with the presentation of an in-ear monitor vs over-ear headphones.

 

[kothganesh]

The TH900 is currently my only* headphone, as a matter of fact. Sold off my other flagships before moving to my current country of residence. .............

Out of curiosity, what flagships didn't pass muster with you?

 

[Zojokkeli]

Thanks for the replies! I won't be upgrading for the time being as I'm operating with a student budget, but hopefully I'll graduate next year and can fork up some cash to make the jump. I'll definitely keep my Fidelio S2's for portable use, and maybe the Momentums for travelling, but TH900 would seem to be the perfect can for home-use and getting lost to music.

 

[kurochin]

  Out of curiosity, what flagships didn't pass muster with you?

 
T1, HD800, D7000, LCD-2.2
It's not that they didn't cut the mustard sonically. I liked all of them, but they all had drawbacks as well. TH-900 was the least irritating in that regard, though it isn't perfect either. Even newer headphones that I tried after that (LCD-3, LCD-XC, T5p) didn't quite do it for me once I weighed their positive traits against the negative ones. Would rather just spend what little money I have refining my chain to suit the TH-900 instead.

 

[GL1TCH3D]

Like kurochin I also have gone between many flagships including the stax sr007mk2, hd800, hd700, lcd2r1, HE6 and t5p as well as having heard the T1, LCD3 and others at one time or another.
Overall the th900 is one of the best I've tried when you consider isolation and aesthetics.
For pure sound the stax were the best but they required a hefty amp that cost more than the headphones themselves which wasn't in my budget.
Definitely enjoying the sound of the th900 (except that it's a bit more bassy than I'm used to/enjoy)
Right now since I'm branching off to other hobbies and this means my already limited budget is split up even more, would you say the Fiio X5 would be an appropriate mid level system for the TH900?
I plan to use it as my portable player as well which is why I chose it.

 

[Shini44]

I sold my two weeks old TH600 and bought a two weeks old TH900 , how lucky, 1215$ with shipping from USA to UAE, and it took around 4 days to have it, it will be here less than one hour ^^  i used to have the old batch TH900, with wire stand, glad to be back here
 
I used to have WA7 + EH Tubes with TH900 and the sound was nice , even the Treble, not to forget the mids, the WA7 with EH tubes is the best mix between a tube and a SS amp, still i like my Treble more from a SS amp, i did even compare the UM Mentor CIEM from the Pico Power amp and WA7 + EH tubes and the Treble/Bass were way more fun on it, but as i said the WA7 is like a Hybrid it won't act like SS 100%, still good enough to listen with depend on the mood, sadly i sold the WA7 , Treble head <-- thats why.
 
Now i am using X-Sabre DAC and Meier Classic amp, yet won't change this amp because i mainly listen to J-pop all the time, i sold my Audio-gd Master 9 since it was TOO revealing and made my collection sound wrong, will see how does amp act with the TH900 and update here soon. 
 

 

[GL1TCH3D]

I sold my two weeks old TH600 and bought a two weeks old TH900 , how lucky, 1215$ with shipping from USA to UAE, and it took around 4 days to have it, it will be here less than one hour ^^  i used to have the old batch TH900, with wire stand, glad to be back here

I used to have WA7 + EH Tubes with TH900 and the sound was nice , even the Treble, not to forget the mids, the WA7 with EH tubes is the best mix between a tube and a SS amp, still i like my Treble more from a SS amp, i did even compare the UM Mentor CIEM from the Pico Power amp and WA7 + EH tubes and the Treble/Bass were way more fun on it, but as i said the WA7 is like a Hybrid it won't act like SS 100%, still good enough to listen with depend on the mood, sadly i sold the WA7 , Treble head <-- thats why.

Now i am using X-Sabre DAC and Meier Classic amp, yet won't change this amp because i mainly listen to J-pop all the time, i sold my Audio-gd Master 9 since it was TOO revealing and made my collection sound wrong, will see how does amp act with the TH900 and update here soon. 

 

Interested in hearing about your new setup!
I don't know about the EH tubes but I know the stuck wa7 sounded awful for me in the treble. It was super harsh
I should be receiving my fiio x5 today

 

[joshuachew]

My TH900's should be arriving today.
I was thinking if sending them to be modded by Lawton.
Does anyone have impressions if the before and after? Does it really help with the recessed mids and improve the bass slam and tightness?
And another thing is should we remvable the TH900 or are the cables used with the TH900 matched and tuned to be used together and we shouldn't change that?

 

[Audio Jester]

My TH900's should be arriving today.
I was thinking if sending them to be modded by Lawton.
Does anyone have impressions if the before and after? Does it really help with the recessed mids and improve the bass slam and tightness?
And another thing is should we remvable the TH900 or are the cables used with the TH900 matched and tuned to be used together and we shouldn't change that?

if you read through this thread there has been heaps of discussion about this.

 

[joshuachew]

if you read through this thread there has been heaps of discussion about this.

What do I search for? And the cable issue has also been discussed?
But it would really help if someone could summarise the previous discussions here.

 

[Audio Jester]

What do I search for? And the cable issue has also been discussed?
But it would really help if someone could summarise the previous discussions here.

if you go back around 10 pages or so and read forward you should find some discussion about cables and dampening mods. I don't think the lawton mod has been very common, but I think a few have chosen some of his mods.

 

[joshuachew]

if you go back around 10 pages or so and read forward you should find some discussion about cables and dampening mods. I don't think the lawton mod has been very common, but I think a few have chosen some of his mods.

Found the posts. Thanks! )

 

[kugino]

My TH900's should be arriving today.
I was thinking if sending them to be modded by Lawton.
Does anyone have impressions if the before and after? Does it really help with the recessed mids and improve the bass slam and tightness?
And another thing is should we remvable the TH900 or are the cables used with the TH900 matched and tuned to be used together and we shouldn't change that?

my 2 cents is that changing pads and maybe adding some dampening material might be fun to play around with. any/all other destructive mods seem silly to me.
 
and the cable is very good. it's the same cable on the denon d7000, which is 7N OCC...some say the cable is a weakness of the fostex/denon. i say they're full of it. few after-market cables are going to be as high quality as the stock th900 cable. now, if you're looking for a shorter cable, lighter cable, a different plug on the end, or want a different look, then go ahead. if all you're looking for is "better" sound, i wouldn't touch the cable. again, this is my 2 cents.

 

[joshuachew]

my 2 cents is that changing pads and maybe adding some dampening material might be fun to play around with. any/all other destructive mods seem silly to me.

and the cable is very good. it's the same cable on the denon d7000, which is 7N OCC...some say the cable is a weakness of the fostex/denon. i say they're full of it. few after-market cables are going to be as high quality as the stock th900 cable. now, if you're looking for a shorter cable, lighter cable, a different plug on the end, or want a different look, then go ahead. if all you're looking for is "better" sound, i wouldn't touch the cable. again, this is my 2 cents.

By destructive mods what are you referring to specifically? Would you consider the dampening mods to be an improvement? Or as you said, something that is just played around with?