[jurumal]

I'm curious to hear any comparisons to HD650 or Argon's.

 

[jurumal]

- The Fostex excels with well-recorded sources and 24-bit music. They sound good with everything I could throw at them, but really shine on jazz and acoustic music, and aren't too shabby on reggae.

I agree with the genre pairing. I found that classical music works well with these.

 

[slern]

Maybe the sound will open up with more burn-in.

Burn-in definitely helped with the muddiness for me.

 

[BWythani]

So... I can't compare them with HD650s, but I can compare them to HD580s.
I listened for several hours, in an A-B situation, using some cheap tubes (nobosound, etc) and an airhead solid state amp.

I hadn't listened to any headphones in a month or so.
I started with the TX-0, and thought they sounded good, but lacked impact.
I put the HD580s on to compare... and it was like a light turned on.

My best analogy is this. The TX-0 sounds like wearing a pair of foam earplugs compared to the HD580s!
The TX-0 has ABSOLUTELY ZERO impact during percussion instruments, string instruments, etc. With HD580s you can feel the reverberation, you can feel the drums....

The next thing I noticed about the TX-0s was a claustrophobic feeling. This was from them having muddy midrange, no impactful highs, and poor midbass (But good low bass extension!) aaand staging/imaging.
The TX-0 stages like a cheap set of earbuds. Mostly "in" your head, very little separation - vs the HD580 which comparatively has an immense sound stage.

My cheap taotronics bluetooth earbuds actually stage better and have more impactful sound.

Compare the intro to MIchael Jackson's speed demon for example. You hear it on the TX-0, and it sounds all right. But you experience it iwth HD580s...
I also compared them to Grado SR60s, and found I felt about the same way.

I'm going to break them in for a few days and see if I change my mind, but I tried literally every genre of music I like (and it's a lot of variety) and couldn't find a single one I'd prefer the TX-0s for.
For reference, I"ll use my Grados over my Sennheisers for, say, metallica.

The only thing that struck my as better with the TX-0 is low bass extension. It just sounded more natural compared to my other cans.

So, these are also the only planar headphones I've heard. I don't know if I don't like these specifically, or if I just don't like the planar sound.

Comfort wise? I LOOOOVE the ear cups. However, the poor clamping caused the band to be irritating... and I have a huge dome. It also doesn't stay adjusted.


*** EDITED TO ADD

A previous poster mentioned pushing the earcups closer to you ears sounded better. It's a dramatic improvement. Maybe the barrier keeping me from liking these is just some new ear pads.

 

[headhog]

The leather headband is stiff I can feel it after an hour of use.

 

[jurumal]

My best analogy is this. The TX-0 sounds like wearing a pair of foam earplugs compared to the HD580s!
The TX-0 has ABSOLUTELY ZERO impact during percussion instruments, string instruments, etc. With HD580s you can feel the reverberation, you can feel the drums....

I should clarify my last statement. It’s not percussion in general, but (the lower register) toms and the reverb coming off them that really stand out to me. But they generally are lacking impact.

My cheap taotronics bluetooth earbuds actually stage better and have more impactful sound.

Can confirm. My Jaybird X2 are waaaaay more bangin’ compared to these.

So, these are also the only planar headphones I've heard. I don't know if I don't like these specifically, or if I just don't like the planar sound.

Besides the bass extension, these are a good but not a great representation of planar sound. You want to listen to anything by Audeze or Hifiman if you wanna be blown away by planars. The Mk3 is a better place to start too.

Edit: I was being too harsh about the sound.

 

[murrmax]

Besides the bass extension, these are a good but not a great representation of planar sound. You want to listen to anything by Audeze or Hifiman if you wanna be blown away by planars. The Mk3 is a better place to start too.

Edit: I was being to harsh about the sound.[/QUOTE]

They need a decent amp, both my amps I would classify as neutral/lean/analytical and they sound dynamic enough to me. They are excellent paired with my Gilmrore Dynalo amp. These are most like Audeze being on the warmer darker side.
I've heard plenty of Hifiman and Audeze and like these just as much. They are all different of course.
They are not as 'open' sounding as open cans and have a more speaker like presentation which I personally prefer. I find most headphones a bit thin sounding and lacking body, I like some substance to my sound.

I tried them out of my Macbook pro and they sound pretty dull, lifeless and uninspiring.

I suspect how they sound depends a lot on the amp.

 

[boblauer]

Had mine a couple of days now, have not given them much head time but quick first impressions. Build quality is like a tank, comfort is ok, seem top heavy and clamping not quite tight enough.They seem ready to fall off at any time. Sound wise, mids are not the same clarity I am used to with HD650 and Grado profiles I have, but it's perfectly fine. I find some decent impact to them, low end just not that engaging. In leveraging on another comment it does seem if you press them closer the impact and engagement improves so I have chosen to wear them higher than my others mentioned. The cable and 3.5mm adapter suck, would love some recommendations on a different cable and the adapter makes any 3.5 input useless. I am running them thru a Cavalli LC2 so luckily I have 6.3 input. No wowing but not garbage and worth the $150 entry point. Like them with more vocal oriented, classic blues, acoustic jazz(read things like 10cc, Robert Johnson, Akio Sasajima, Amy Winehouse, Diana Krall, Sinatra) anymetal or hard rock I prefer the others hands down. Let them run in over the weekend and see if they change profiles any. Overall after a few hours I'm keeping them, completely different profile then anything I have, first foray into Planars and the price point was good for a start. Not a home run but decent.

 

[keuller]

At this price point, I personally wasn't expecting to be blown away. I'm very happy with the resulting cans and for a first foray away from my DT770's, these are a breath of fresh air.

Any recommendations for a headphone amp between the Magni 3 or the Vali 2? I've always been enamored by the idea of tubes, but even with their return policy, hesitant to commit.

 

[murrmax]

At this price point, I personally wasn't expecting to be blown away. I'm very happy with the resulting cans and for a first foray away from my DT770's, these are a breath of fresh air.

Any recommendations for a headphone amp between the Magni 3 or the Vali 2? I've always been enamored by the idea of tubes, but even with their return policy, hesitant to commit.

I'd choose the Magni 3 out of them based on spec, I don't know about this amp but if it's qualities are neutral/analytical & dynamic it should be a good match (avoid warm/smooth amps) I would recommend a Gilmore Dynalo - you want an amp that can put out 1w into 50ohm at a minimum to drive these properly imho.

 

[DrivenUnder]

A few more days into listening to the T-X0 and some revelations. First off, I'm a CD guy. I know...please no yelling. Vinyl is mastered differently and almost always sounds better as a result, but IMO this has nothing to do with the medium. Anyway, I pushed through some of the CDs I've been listening to most lately and while I was not thrilled with the sound, it was not too bad.

This weekend I dug out the FLAC files for some of my favorites, and much to my surprise, these things really opened up. Natalie Merchant's Tigerlily simply dazzles. More listening revealed more of the same.

Conclusion? I concur with some of the other reviewers that have rightly stated that these do NOT do well with poorly mastered\engineered sources. If your source has been compressed flat and loudnessed out the wazoo, it will sound like it is coming through a wet sock. I've never heard a set of cans react so negatively to bad material, and have such a dramatic contrast between well recorded sources and poor ones. It's kind of astonishing. They absolutely require dynamic range, and will reward your selection of material with a great listen, and will punish a poor selection with dull, lifeless, sucked-out sound.

 

[PinkyPowers]

Yesterday I started listening to these again, and quite liked the sound. They are not marvels of technicality, but tuning is spot-on enjoyable.

I also found, on less than ideal recordings, they can sound mushy. The mid-bass sometimes seems to be distorting on this music. But on better music, with full DR, the T-X0 is clean and smooth and very rich.

 

[LordBorg]

After 100 hours of burn-in and several amp/dac combinations, I found one that works out great for my ears: HRT Music Streamer II + DarkVoice 336SE. Soundstage is improved, sound is warm, bass is a bit tighter, and because I'm using DarkVoice, my expectation for detail is not as high as when using other amps. I see myself using this combination for musical enjoyment or while working (TX-0 are extremely comfortable for me) but not analytical listening.

 

[Harry Manback]

A few more days into listening to the T-X0 and some revelations. First off, I'm a CD guy. I know...please no yelling. Vinyl is mastered differently and almost always sounds better as a result, but IMO this has nothing to do with the medium. Anyway, I pushed through some of the CDs I've been listening to most lately and while I was not thrilled with the sound, it was not too bad.

This weekend I dug out the FLAC files for some of my favorites, and much to my surprise, these things really opened up. Natalie Merchant's Tigerlily simply dazzles. More listening revealed more of the same.

Conclusion? I concur with some of the other reviewers that have rightly stated that these do NOT do well with poorly mastered\engineered sources. If your source has been compressed flat and loudnessed out the wazoo, it will sound like it is coming through a wet sock. I've never heard a set of cans react so negatively to bad material, and have such a dramatic contrast between well recorded sources and poor ones. It's kind of astonishing. They absolutely require dynamic range, and will reward your selection of material with a great listen, and will punish a poor selection with dull, lifeless, sucked-out sound.

What were the flac files sourced from?

 

[XXhalberstramXX]

Update to say that I've tried the Shure 840 pads instead of the stock -- they were a beast to put on, but after 10 mins of wrestling, I got them on. The sounds changes dramatically with these pads: bass and mid-bass is boosted substantially (in fact a bit too much). I had originally performed all mayflower mods besides the cotton because that seemed to kill the bass. After adding the cotton back in, I think the headphones are sounding much more balanced all around. I may at some point test with/without the felt at the driver back, but I think I'll keep them as-is (Mayflower mods + shure 840 pads) for a week or so.