I'd love to see that link as well. I always have to talk myself out of buying the X00, and would like to see if this is a reasonable alternative.
Just seeing this post. TH-X00's vs Marantz MPH-2's is a fascinating subject to me. I still own & use the MPH-2's; owned the mahogany TH-X00's and sold very quickly.
Physically there's no contest: the Fostex is higher quality materials in every way, though at the time I bought mine, the 3M cord was not detachable (that sucked). The Fostex price-point is literally 10X that of the MPH-2's, and it shows. The only physical contest won by the MPH-2's IMO are the pads: they're non-angled and very comfortable, plush-feeling. The seal is easy to make very good. The Fostex pads looked quite handsome but weren't as pleasing on the ears as the MPH-2's, plus they were hard to get a good seal with.
Judged purely on sonic grounds, the Fostex had just 1 true superiority over the MPH-2's: sub-bass. The entire bass range of the Fostex hit quite hard, but the sub-bass was elevated. It was actually a bit weird to have deep/impactful bass at relatively normal levels, then have that semi-alarming rumble (song dependent) in the sub-bass.
I'll probably be crucified by the Fostex fans for saying this, but IMO, the lowly MPH-2's won the contest in every other part of the frequency range. Despite not having those pretty wooden cups (which do influence sound somewhat), they still manage to sound more even, more calm, and more accurate. In the treble the MPH-2's are typically competent--lots of detail/information, but zero brightness. By contrast, tthe treble was the big problem w/the Fostex...it was bright, grainy, very "jangly," the opposite of smooth. I sold the TH-X00's because of the treble, which hurt my ears
- In fairness to Fostex, the treble is said to sound somewhat different w/different woods. The ebony earcups in particular were said to have somewhat less spikey treble, and somewhat better bass than mahogany.
I was just listening the MPH-2's today (using them to monitor a new DAC that's burning in). They are very clear, quite spacious in sound despite being closed back, and no part of the frequency spectrum is hyped or spikey. The bass is somewhat elevated, but it's a shallow shelf vs a spike. I find the bass to sound very pleasing w/the MPH-2's.
I remain interested in just one headphone based on the Fostex TH-X00 frame: the E-MU Teak. That's a headphone I dream about (Massdrop, are you listening?).