[Mad Lust Envy]

Many thanks for this detailed review.
It was a pleasure to scroll through and read your experience with the Panda.

Is there any comp with the PM-3?

Unfortunately, I never got a chance to try Oppo's headphones.

 

[king conan]

Hi there, I would like to say it will be my second special Drop headphones. My current HD58X are my favorite and absolute "endgame" for my needs.

Panda look great for versatility, and for those moments with family members around being closed back is an advantage.

I would like to say that I think a "semi passive mode" might be considered.

For example if we want to use the headphone jack of a computer (or gamepad) to eliminate lag from Bluetooth, but we may want to add the power of the headphone amp... Or if finally is included a usb mode to get digital audio without Bluetooth or we have a DAC for fancy high res codecs (MQA for example) and we want to use the internal amp of the headphones.

Just some ideas, but I guess those ideas are or were heavily discussed during the development.

In any case, congratulations for the success of the campaign.

 

[aliquis]

For example if we want to use the headphone jack of a computer (or gamepad) to eliminate lag from Bluetooth, but we may want to add the power of the headphone amp... Or if finally is included a usb mode to get digital audio without Bluetooth or we have a DAC for fancy high res codecs (MQA for example) and we want to use the internal amp of the headphones.

Just some ideas, but I guess those ideas are or were heavily discussed during the development.

I too wished for it but I've seen comments before which have made it seem to me like they actually do work as USB audio device too.

Actually knowing that is one of those things which would had helped convince me to order.
Also knowing whatever you could set the volume to more levels than what some phones do use would had helped convince me too.
Making the adjustment settings for the headband longer and making it more padded would also had helped. Though the former I would probably not have had a problem with and with the later I've actually thought about using a cap/hat underneat it to get around it a bit, though not optimal!

 

[Mark Up]

Sounds like you'd get along with the Alara quite nicely. Not a bad headphone either.

How is the sub bass response on those? From the looks of it the pad openings seemed small and the headband as well. So they are sized for long heads?

 

[Mhog55]

How is the sub bass response on those? From the looks of it the pad openings seemed small and the headband as well. So they are sized for long heads?

Definitely for large heads. I had to wear them on the smallest setting, and I believe I have an average size melon. Sub bass response is good, definitely above neutral. What I really liked about these was that they had some dynamic driver qualities. They aren't as sterile sounding as the other planars I've heard. Somewhat like a hybrid sounding driver, but still more so on the planar side than dynamic.

 

[raoultrifan]

If you can't see the embedded video above, please click here.

Drop x THX Panda Headphones - Review, Measurements, Will Bright - Head-Fi TV

What happens when a lifelong Head-Fi'er has the resources to develop a wireless headphone for other Head-Fi'ers? The Drop x THX Panda. It's a wireless headphone with high-resolution Bluetooth codecs and a built-in THX-AAA amplifier. Will Bright from Drop stopped by Head-Fi HQ to talk about the Panda and to measure it (with measurements included in the video).

Drop x THX Panda Headphones - Review, Measurements, Will Bright - Head-Fi TV - Produced by Brian Murphy and Jude Mansilla
​

The Drop x THX Panda can be ordered now through Indiegogo at the following link:

​

---

The measurements in this post were made using:

• GRAS 45CAHeadphone Test Fixture, with:
  • GRAS RA0401 High Resolution Ear Simulators
  • GRAS KB5010/KB5011 Anthropometric Pinnae for 45CA (video)
• Audio Precision APx555 Audio Analyzer
• THX AAA-888 audio measurement headphone amplifier (custom-built by THX for Head-Fi)
• Herzan custom-designed acoustic & vibration isolation enclosure

---

Lovely video indeed, hope everyone here will watch it, but still the measurements need to be a bit more visible in this thread (hope @jude's OK with my screenshots below):

THD up to 10KHz bandwidth at an SPL of @90dB at 1KHz

Frequency response across audible range and THD up to 10KHz bandwidth at an SPL of @90dB at 1KHz

​

Very low THD indeed, with its 0.1% THD @30Hz is probably one of the lowest THD for a wireless headphone.

 

[showme99]

Every time I see the name of this headphone, this is all I can think of :



Enjoy!

 

[project86]

Alright, I think I figured out why I wasn't finding any issues with the headband hitting the "hot spot" on the top of my big head... I was inadvertently using the clamping force to hold the headphones up just a tiny a bit, so the band was making contact but not putting its full weight on me. After using them for a while the clamping force has relaxed a little so I now wear them very slightly lower on the ears. And now the band presses more into my noggin and after a while it becomes bothersome.

I can still get them to ride a bit higher if I try, and that's more comfortable, but it's no longer the natural/default way the go onto my head. They really could stand to have some padding added in the production units.

Anyone with the Pandas do me a favor and test some frequencies while in aptx codec? The unit I have has some pretty severe grain distortion past 6khz. It's only audible during frequency sweeps and not under normal playback. Trying these in SBC or AAC (LDAC isn't yet implemented until next firmware) didn't cause the same issue. It's only aptX. Tested with a few phones, different frequency programs and files, as well as Windows 10 (which seems to default to AptX by the sound of it).

Finally got to try this. I don't hear anything I'd call severe, though aptX does have a distinct noise pattern which I hear between roughly 7kHz and 11kHz. I'd describe it as a sort of static for lack of a better word; very faint but it's certainly there if you listen closely. AAC and SBC have their own unique distortions which feel more like a part of the frequency sweep tone, where the aptX is cleaner but then has that separate background static. If that makes any sense.

 

[aoaaron]

Soundstage is nothing special. Very nice separation, but soundstage size itself is about average for a closed back.

As for frequency response, it's a very linearly balanced, aside from some obviously warmth in the bass that falls a little towards the lower midrange. So it's a warm headphone with some excellent balance after the bass. Not subdued or veiled either.

Its definitely leaning towards people who like some bass, so you may like it.

I have never heard a headphone this balanced midrange to treble from recent memory. Like literally no real major audible dips or peaks once you get past the broad hump in the low end.

amazing review.

would it pair well with a PSP/nintendo switch (aka no amp in passive mode for pesky devices which dont have bluetooth but are portable?)

 

[GabriLP]

Hi all! I have two question for those who have already tried this headphones: how do you compare Panda on sound quality with others headphones like HD 6XX, HE-4XX, K7XX?
Knowing that drivers are different etc, I'd like to know if it can perform as good as wired headphones on same budget.

My second question is: after the recent update about the usb audio, the third point of the "big takeaways" is:
"You can use the Panda wired while still taking advantage of the AAA amp"
By this sentence, does it mean that i can use the amp while wiring the headphones on PC or just by using USB-C connection?

I apologize for any grammar error, thanks in advance.

 

[Chris Kaoss]

Knowing that drivers are different etc, I'd like to know if it can perform as good as wired headphones on same budget.

From the graphs and own the PM-3s, the Panda can, and will be.
Especially on that "low price point" with regards of being a bluetooth device with exceptionell wired abilities.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

amazing review.

would it pair well with a PSP/nintendo switch (aka no amp in passive mode for pesky devices which dont have bluetooth but are portable?)

I think you might have to manage expectations of volume loudness, but I don't see why not. I have a Switch myself and practically every headphone I use barely gets to moderate volume on it. I didn't test the Panda with it, but I'm sure as long as you don't expect a loud and super dynamic sound off the headphone jack, it'll be fine.

The PSP is more questionable. That system has a very weak amp.

 

[Infoseeker]

I use my earbuds with the Nintendo Switch, the Simphonio Dragon 2+. Gets loud and sounds great and not held back dynamic-wise, but that is an easy to drive earbud. Plus has a great soundstage for games.

 

[Warder45]

Will there be production samples at the CanJam in NYC here in a couple weeks?

 

[aliquis]

SBC have their own unique distortions

But SBC support a lot of different codecs and bitrates right? I'd assume they not all sound the same.

"You can use the Panda wired while still taking advantage of the AAA amp"
By this sentence, does it mean that i can use the amp while wiring the headphones on PC or just by using USB-C connection?

I totally doubt the amp is used if you use the analog connection but I assume that you can hook them up over USB and then (if that's a possible way of getting audio from it) it's used.