[jsmiller58]

For the Android users here, what works better for you Sound ID or Wavelet?

Haven’t tried Sound ID yet. Need to have some time to go through the whole process and just haven’t found it yet (probably also a little intimidating)... Wavelet works great so far.

 

[Currawong]

Sound ID worked better than expected for me. The firmware upgrade and tuning seemed to fix my dislike of the mid-range when playing some music. Here's my review of them:

 

[ejacobsen]

I've neglected my Pandas since about a week after I bought them when they were first introduced. I'm not a fan of the mid-range tuning and the internal amp is not up the challenge of delivering the authority and impact I love. So, I put them back in their case and put them back on the shelf... until today.

Today, I pulled them out, ignored the internal amp, connected the 3.5mm cord and plugged them into my Emotiva BasX A-100, EQ'd to taste (which for me is dropping the upper bass/lower mids about 4db, low Q, centered around 400hz) and cranked them up.

With the muscle of the Emo driving them and my EQ tweak, they're a completely different headphone. Extraordinary impact and power handling. I never play music loud for long, but, like a muscle car, it's fun to do short term acceleration runs like on-ramps to see what they're capable of. For me, once I've dialed in the FR, it's about the ability to deliver authoritative lowe end impact without distortion or breakup. Most headphones can't take it and either compress (Sennheiser) or XMax out (Focal). Some can take it and deliver full frequency SPL without failing.

The surprisingly small driver in the Panda is a marvel. I had no idea it could deliver what I asked of it today. If DROP offered an analog-only version of the Panda for $199 and bundled or suggested a powerful single ended amp, they'd please another segment of happy customers. I don't know how big that segment is, but it has at least 1 member.

 

[Chris Kaoss]

I've neglected my Pandas since about a week after I bought them when they were first introduced. I'm not a fan of the mid-range tuning and the internal amp is not up the challenge of delivering the authority and impact I love. So, I put them back in their case and put them back on the shelf... until today.

Today, I pulled them out, ignored the internal amp, connected the 3.5mm cord and plugged them into my Emotiva BasX A-100, EQ'd to taste (which for me is dropping the upper bass/lower mids about 4db, low Q, centered around 400hz) and cranked them up.

With the muscle of the Emo driving them and my EQ tweak, they're a completely different headphone. Extraordinary impact and power handling. I never play music loud for long, but, like a muscle car, it's fun to do short term acceleration runs like on-ramps to see what they're capable of. For me, once I've dialed in the FR, it's about the ability to deliver authoritative lowe end impact without distortion or breakup. Most headphones can't take it and either compress (Sennheiser) or XMax out (Focal). Some can take it and deliver full frequency SPL without failing.

The surprisingly small driver in the Panda is a marvel. I had no idea it could deliver what I asked of it today. If DROP offered an analog-only version of the Panda for $199 and bundled or suggested a powerful single ended amp, they'd please another segment of happy customers. I don't know how big that segment is, but it has at least 1 member.

I'm curious how this will bring the Panda closer to the PM-3.

Never heard the Panda, but PM-3 is still in my staple.

 

[HipHopScribe]

It would be wonderful if they'd just remake the PM-3 with the exact same design (with better quality pleather) and compatible with the Panda pads they offer now to tune the sound for $199

 

[Chris Kaoss]

It would be wonderful if they'd just remake the PM-3 with the exact same design (with better quality pleather) and compatible with the Panda pads they offer now to tune the sound for $199

Yes, it would.
But when you consider the formerly sales price of the PM-3, it'll be hardly near $199, i guess.

Did you think that the pads of the Panda are that much different to the PM-3 ones?
For me, they're looking equal.

 

[HipHopScribe]

Yes, it would.
But when you consider the formerly sales price of the PM-3, it'll be hardly near $199, i guess.

Did you think that the pads of the Panda are that much different to the PM-3 ones?
For me, they're looking equal.

The stock pads are probably pretty similar, I haven't compared directly, but Drop now offers a range of pads with different materials for the Panda. It would be interesting to see a new PM-3 that can use those pad options directly from Drop. As for price, I'd bet Drop could turn a profit at less than the original retail price for the PM-3, but $199 might be a stretch unless they really cheaped out on materials. Still, a wired-only PM-3/Panda at $299 from Drop would also be enticing and that seems like a doable price point if they can hit $399 for the Panda with all the wireless equipment built in

 

[Chris Kaoss]

The stock pads are probably pretty similar, I haven't compared directly, but Drop now offers a range of pads with different materials for the Panda. It would be interesting to see a new PM-3 that can use those pad options directly from Drop. As for price, I'd bet Drop could turn a profit at less than the original retail price for the PM-3, but $199 might be a stretch unless they really cheaped out on materials. Still, a wired-only PM-3/Panda at $299 from Drop would also be enticing and that seems like a doable price point if they can hit $399 for the Panda with all the wireless equipment built in

Thank you.
Didn't have the different pad choices on my radar.
Nice to know there're possible improvements to get from.

I'd agree with your thoughts about the future pricing.
Hopefully there'll be a successor of the Panda, or maybe a new "PM-3.

 

[Mightygrey]

Anyone else's Panda completely bricked, unable to turn on/off (I don't even know if it's on or off at this stage), with a slow blinking white light? It's unresponsive to charging, the reset instructions, and cannot be seen by usb or Bluetooth.

 

[fuhransahis]

Anyone else's Panda completely bricked, unable to turn on/off (I don't even know if it's on or off at this stage), with a slow blinking white light? It's unresponsive to charging, the reset instructions, and cannot be seen by usb or Bluetooth.

I had a similar situation and just left it charging and forgot about it for a few hrs. Came back and it worked again.

But then it happened again a few days later. And again.

I was also losing connection via Bluetooth and it turned off while still being fully charged.

Ended up having to get them replaced, which they did at no cost. Has been good since then.

 

[timwillhack]

I have a suggestion to the drop team, please consider making an open back version of the panda. I love everything about mine except the soundstage and they seem a little veiled to me compared to like hifiman planars, maybe due to being closed and being a ribbon planar rather than open flat one. You probably would be able to use all your tooling and manufacturing molds but just have to make a different back and do whatever you need to do inside to flesh out the sound profile. I'm not sure if you can do open back with the ribbon drivers, like if it would actually open them up, or if it would just kill the bass and let in outside noise rather than having really good passive noise isolation. Someone on here probably has a better idea of whether this would work.

 

[HipHopScribe]

I have a suggestion to the drop team, please consider making an open back version of the panda. I love everything about mine except the soundstage and they seem a little veiled to me compared to like hifiman planars, maybe due to being closed and being a ribbon planar rather than open flat one. You probably would be able to use all your tooling and manufacturing molds but just have to make a different back and do whatever you need to do inside to flesh out the sound profile. I'm not sure if you can do open back with the ribbon drivers, like if it would actually open them up, or if it would just kill the bass and let in outside noise rather than having really good passive noise isolation. Someone on here probably has a better idea of whether this would work.

Drop bought the driver tech in these headphones from Oppo and Oppo made open headphones with it, so it's certainly possible to make good open headphones with these drivers.

 

[tinyman392]

I have a suggestion to the drop team, please consider making an open back version of the panda. I love everything about mine except the soundstage and they seem a little veiled to me compared to like hifiman planars, maybe due to being closed and being a ribbon planar rather than open flat one. You probably would be able to use all your tooling and manufacturing molds but just have to make a different back and do whatever you need to do inside to flesh out the sound profile. I'm not sure if you can do open back with the ribbon drivers, like if it would actually open them up, or if it would just kill the bass and let in outside noise rather than having really good passive noise isolation. Someone on here probably has a better idea of whether this would work.

Might be a good idea to post this one the Drop product page too. I'm not sure how often a Drop representative *ahem* drops by here...

 

[WaveTheory]

I posted a Panda review here: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/drop-x-thx-panda-wireless-headphones.24246/reviews

 

[cpu235]

Hi everyone, I wanted to ask is it worth it to get a Panda if it only has AUX? My friend has one and I could get it for cheap. I don't mind if it doesn't have Bluetooth since I just wanted to get a close back planar. Thanks.