[shnukms]

Since the announcement of these cans my psyche's been having some internal struggles if I should get these or not.
I've been hearing the term 'endgame' thrown around so one option I've been debating is selling some of my other cans that this would effectively replace.
I've since purchased a Bluetooth receiver for my headphones and am waiting for the FiiO UTWS1 for my IEMs, just to hold off the urge.
Anybody have an opinion if I am fighting a losing battle or if I'm on the right track with trying out these workarounds for now?

 

[Lolito]

400$ bluetooth headphones... with no replaceable battery, this is again bluetooth planned obsolescence. I would rather get a Fiio BTR5 and use it with a regular headphones... cheaper, more practical and longer lasting.

Realistically if there's any audible difference between AAC on iPhone and LDAC on Android with these headphones it's likely to be pretty small, if it exists at all. Apples AAC implantation is pretty good and probably pretty close to transparent in many circumstances

Pretty small means nothing. What's the bandwith of those standards? how much worse than cd quality are each? LDAC way better, and certainly audible difference.

 

[HipHopScribe]

Pretty small means nothing. What's the bandwith of those standards? how much worse than cd quality are each? LDAC way better, and certainly audible difference.

LDAC allows for a higher bitrate sure, but that doesn't necessarily means you can always hear a difference. Past a certain point AAC should be transparent for a lot of circumstances

 

[Lolito]

LDAC allows for a higher bitrate sure, but that doesn't necessarily means you can always hear a difference. Past a certain point AAC should be transparent for a lot of circumstances

Of course, not necessarily at all, lot of 80 year old people will not hear any difference. My deaf grandma will not hear any difference. But bluetooth standard bandwidths, for people in this forum, should get ten times bigger not to notice a difference. So maybe in 2050 you will not notice a difference.

Now, if you are streaming crap mp3's, or anything under cd quality, then yes. For reproducing crap, you will certainly hear no difference indeed; they will sound like crap with any of those standards you mention, no difference at all indeed. They will both sound like the exact same piece of crap, zero difference.

 

[HipHopScribe]

Of course, not necessarily at all, lot of 80 year old people will not hear any difference. My deaf grandma will not hear any difference. But bluetooth standard bandwidths, for people in this forum, should get ten times bigger not to notice a difference. So maybe in 2050 you will not notice a difference.

Now, if you are streaming crap mp3's, or anything under cd quality, then yes. For reproducing crap, you will certainly hear no difference indeed; they will sound like crap with any of those standards you mention, no difference at all indeed. They will both sound like the exact same piece of crap, zero difference.

Lol okay golden ears. Most audiophiles still can't reliably differentiate between lossless and high bitrate lossy in a blind test but maybe you're an exception

 

[AlwaysForward]

@WillBright per the above, let’s say it’s 3 years down the line and the battery is giving way on the THX portable cans. It would be really nice if we could send them back for a pretty nominal battery fee. Alternatively, if that’s too much an operational load, maybe have authorized electronic device repair shops available. Or even posting I fix it style tools and videos if that could work too.

it would be great to know about a plan for power after the first battery dies on the portable thx System though

 

[Lolito]

Lol okay golden ears. Most audiophiles still can't reliably differentiate between lossless and high bitrate lossy in a blind test but maybe you're an exception

Again, lossless means nothing, and "high" bitrate means nothing. Like very cold or very hot, means nothing. That is why bitrate and degrees centigrade /or farenheit) was invented mate, you talk empty words.

I can tell between a cd quality file of 1411kbs and any mp3 file, 320, 192 or 128, or 256, easily. And anyone can, if you listen.


NUMBERS!!!

 

[WillBright]

@WillBright per the above, let’s say it’s 3 years down the line and the battery is giving way on the THX portable cans. It would be really nice if we could send them back for a pretty nominal battery fee. Alternatively, if that’s too much an operational load, maybe have authorized electronic device repair shops available. Or even posting I fix it style tools and videos if that could work too.

it would be great to know about a plan for power after the first battery dies on the portable thx System though

Hey, everything we do is based on requests, so if we have a ton of folks coming back to us, after ~40,000 hrs of listening (roughly the battery lifetime), and want replacement batteries, we'll create a solution. Battery replacement for a small fee, designating an authorized repair center, or posting DIY guides are all good examples.

I'd love nothing more than to replace thousands of batteries on gen1 Pandas because it's still the best wireless headphone in 2025 and nobody wants to upgrade... but let's take a step back and think about the wireless audio industry for a minute.

In the five+ years between now and when Panda batteries start to die, wireless technology will have gone through 5-8 generations, and there will be a host of desirable new features. How many wireless products have you upgraded through in the last five years? Panda is still going to be an outstanding BT headphone in five years, but there will be better technology that we can't anticipate today. Checkout WISA if you want an interesting example, it's a wireless audio transfer standard with lag measured in micro seconds and bandwidth to support 24bit/192khz.

Panda comes with a two year warranty and uses an off-the-shelf battery that you can access by taking apart the right earcup. There's no removable panel, that would have made the acoustic design pretty impossible, but if you've got a screw driver and some patience, you can replace the battery. Replacement batteries can be purchased from most electronic component suppliers. Mouser, digikey, etc.

So to summarize:

1. I'd love to see a pile of battery replacement requests and we'll work with customers if we do get those requests after our two year warranty period, either directly or via authorized repair shops.
   
   
2. I doubt the electronic components of Panda will still be dominant in 2025, there will be updated wireless standards with exciting new features that the community will want. Rather than deal with batteries, I expect most people will sell Gen 1 units as passive headphones for $200 on the secondary market (it's basically a PM-3 with better tuning at that point and stock PM-3's fetch between $400-$600 these day) and put those funds toward Panda 2 (or whatever is the best wireless headphone in 2025).
   
   
3. If you want to replace the battery yourself, you can, by taking apart the right earcup and buying a replacement battery from digikey (or any other retail component supplier). If this becomes popular, we can post assets to help.
   

 

[AlwaysForward]

Freaking awesome @WillBright ! Thank you so much for the constant engagement within this community and the customer experience it brings. I feel great about your response!

 

[elira]

Hey, everything we do is based on requests, so if we have a ton of folks coming back to us, after ~40,000 hrs of listening (roughly the battery lifetime), and want replacement batteries, we'll create a solution. Battery replacement for a small fee, designating an authorized repair center, or posting DIY guides are all good examples.

I'd love nothing more than to replace thousands of batteries on gen1 Pandas because it's still the best wireless headphone in 2025 and nobody wants to upgrade... but let's take a step back and think about the wireless audio industry for a minute.

In the five+ years between now and when Panda batteries start to die, wireless technology will have gone through 5-8 generations, and there will be a host of desirable new features. How many wireless products have you upgraded through in the last five years? Panda is still going to be an outstanding BT headphone in five years, but there will be better technology that we can't anticipate today. Checkout WISA if you want an interesting example, it's a wireless audio transfer standard with lag measured in micro seconds and bandwidth to support 24bit/192khz.

Panda comes with a two year warranty and uses an off-the-shelf battery that you can access by taking apart the right earcup. There's no removable panel, that would have made the acoustic design pretty impossible, but if you've got a screw driver and some patience, you can replace the battery. Replacement batteries can be purchased from most electronic component suppliers. Mouser, digikey, etc.

So to summarize:

1. I'd love to see a pile of battery replacement requests and we'll work with customers if we do get those requests after our two year warranty period, either directly or via authorized repair shops.
   
   
2. I doubt the electronic components of Panda will still be dominant in 2025, there will be updated wireless standards with exciting new features that the community will want. Rather than deal with batteries, I expect most people will sell Gen 1 units as passive headphones for $200 on the secondary market (it's basically a PM-3 with better tuning at that point and stock PM-3's fetch between $400-$600 these day) and put those funds toward Panda 2 (or whatever is the best wireless headphone in 2025).
   
   
3. If you want to replace the battery yourself, you can, by taking apart the right earcup and buying a replacement battery from digikey (or any other retail component supplier). If this becomes popular, we can post assets to help.

The ideal solution would be if in 5 years you offered a refresh service that included a new battery and new electronics. But I also think there will be improved wireless headphones by that time, I hope more manufacturers start doing acoustic tuning instead of using tons of DSP correction. I'm not sure how Pandas are going to age, but some headphones are still relevant after 20+ years.

 

[Lolito]

Hey, everything we do is based on requests, so if we have a ton of folks coming back to us, after ~40,000 hrs of listening (roughly the battery lifetime), and want replacement batteries, we'll create a solution. Battery replacement for a small fee, designating an authorized repair center, or posting DIY guides are all good examples.

I'd love nothing more than to replace thousands of batteries on gen1 Pandas because it's still the best wireless headphone in 2025 and nobody wants to upgrade... but let's take a step back and think about the wireless audio industry for a minute.

In the five+ years between now and when Panda batteries start to die, wireless technology will have gone through 5-8 generations, and there will be a host of desirable new features. How many wireless products have you upgraded through in the last five years? Panda is still going to be an outstanding BT headphone in five years, but there will be better technology that we can't anticipate today. Checkout WISA if you want an interesting example, it's a wireless audio transfer standard with lag measured in micro seconds and bandwidth to support 24bit/192khz.

Panda comes with a two year warranty and uses an off-the-shelf battery that you can access by taking apart the right earcup. There's no removable panel, that would have made the acoustic design pretty impossible, but if you've got a screw driver and some patience, you can replace the battery. Replacement batteries can be purchased from most electronic component suppliers. Mouser, digikey, etc.

So to summarize:

1. I'd love to see a pile of battery replacement requests and we'll work with customers if we do get those requests after our two year warranty period, either directly or via authorized repair shops.
   
   
2. I doubt the electronic components of Panda will still be dominant in 2025, there will be updated wireless standards with exciting new features that the community will want. Rather than deal with batteries, I expect most people will sell Gen 1 units as passive headphones for $200 on the secondary market (it's basically a PM-3 with better tuning at that point and stock PM-3's fetch between $400-$600 these day) and put those funds toward Panda 2 (or whatever is the best wireless headphone in 2025).
   
   
3. If you want to replace the battery yourself, you can, by taking apart the right earcup and buying a replacement battery from digikey (or any other retail component supplier). If this becomes popular, we can post assets to help.

Thanks for the input. I think the issues with bluetooth are general for that kind of headphones, not to blame on this Panda. Still, if this is for audiophiles for real, would be great if the actual bandwidth numbers are published, under what protocol, with mac, with windows, with android and with ios devices. Would also be nice if you guys recommend bluetooth dongles and or specific drivers to get max bandwidth on each system. For sure neither is even real CD quality 1411kbs, not to mention real 24bit/192Khz. Which makes me wonder if this is really a hi-standard headphones, or just another whatever. Numbers matter. Bluetooth headsets hardly ever reach 900kbs, 600kbs in real situations if you are lucky. I do use bluetooth headsets everyday, love them, don't get me wrong, all have the same issues, it's bluetooth limitations. But more transparency in this sector/communities gives more sales I think.

 

[HipHopScribe]

Realistically people who want bit-perfect will simply use USB-C. While Drop can list the theoretical maximum bandwidth of different Bluetooth codecs, and the signal range of their hardware in lab conditions with standard equipment, they only control one side of the equation, the receiving device. There are thousands of different Bluetooth devices that people can use to transmit to these headphones, any of which might perform differently, and beyond that a multitude of differing environmental conditions that affect the performance of Bluetooth, so the real world performance is gonna be pretty variable no matter what Drop does

 

[Warder45]

Apologies if this has already been asked. For PS4 gaming, will I be able to use BT for audio and plug the boom mic into the controller for mic?

 

[XooX]

Hey, everything we do is based on requests, so if we have a ton of folks coming back to us, after ~40,000 hrs of listening (roughly the battery lifetime), and want replacement batteries, we'll create a solution. Battery replacement for a small fee, designating an authorized repair center, or posting DIY guides are all good examples.

I'd love nothing more than to replace thousands of batteries on gen1 Pandas because it's still the best wireless headphone in 2025 and nobody wants to upgrade... but let's take a step back and think about the wireless audio industry for a minute.

In the five+ years between now and when Panda batteries start to die, wireless technology will have gone through 5-8 generations, and there will be a host of desirable new features. How many wireless products have you upgraded through in the last five years? Panda is still going to be an outstanding BT headphone in five years, but there will be better technology that we can't anticipate today. Checkout WISA if you want an interesting example, it's a wireless audio transfer standard with lag measured in micro seconds and bandwidth to support 24bit/192khz.

Panda comes with a two year warranty and uses an off-the-shelf battery that you can access by taking apart the right earcup. There's no removable panel, that would have made the acoustic design pretty impossible, but if you've got a screw driver and some patience, you can replace the battery. Replacement batteries can be purchased from most electronic component suppliers. Mouser, digikey, etc.

So to summarize:

1. I'd love to see a pile of battery replacement requests and we'll work with customers if we do get those requests after our two year warranty period, either directly or via authorized repair shops.
   
   
2. I doubt the electronic components of Panda will still be dominant in 2025, there will be updated wireless standards with exciting new features that the community will want. Rather than deal with batteries, I expect most people will sell Gen 1 units as passive headphones for $200 on the secondary market (it's basically a PM-3 with better tuning at that point and stock PM-3's fetch between $400-$600 these day) and put those funds toward Panda 2 (or whatever is the best wireless headphone in 2025).
   
   
3. If you want to replace the battery yourself, you can, by taking apart the right earcup and buying a replacement battery from digikey (or any other retail component supplier). If this becomes popular, we can post assets to help.

Hi Will, just wanted to check with you is it possible to incorporate payment for Panda THX with paypal? I tried 5 different debit cards and payment is always flagged i guess indiegogo is not favoured by Lithuanian banks (actually we have only Scandinavian) , i contacted Drop but solution was not reached, have you heard any similar issues of payment?

 

[project86]

In case anyone is interested, I finally wrote up my thoughts on the Panda. HERE is a link.