[Blueshound24]

  Yes, I meant recessed mid indeed.
 
The TH600 is not as muddy as the Denon for sure,
In fact it is known to have a extremely great clarity.
All the characteristics you are looking for are the strengths of the TH600 indeed!
You should definitely go and test out the TH-600,
I am sure you will love it!!

 
Thanks rogue. That is just what I wanted to know

 

[Blueshound24]

  After acquiring the JVC HP-DX1000 in a trade, it has made me even more curious what the Fostex TH-600 would sound like with a good wooden cup. I realize I'm not going to get as much of a wood sound out of the Fostex (the JVC is directly mounted to the wood), but good lord is it pleasant. The Fostex is a little more fun sounding, but the JVC can be listened to forever and is absolutely sublime on some tracks. They also isolate well.
 
My wife wants me to sell one of them--and I can't decide which to sell--but I want to keep both.
 
@Blueshound24 Wish I could give you useful information. I did research myself and I'm a basshead who also loves clarity and ended up with the Fostex TH-600, in part because there were a lot of criticisms about the Pandora's comfort (earpad size and weight). I have tall/big ears and if other people have comfort issues, they would have been unwearable for me. For what it's worth, the Fostex as generally better-regarded than the Pandora.

 
luckbad, sorry, I didn't see your input until now. For what it's worth, I am trialing some Oppo PM-3's through the Oppo loaner program and I have issues with the smaller size earpads. I definitely prefer larger over the ear pads myself as well. I may have to give the TH600's a try

 

[Luckbad]

@Blueshound24
 
If you try the TH600, the standard pads are actually very comfortable for most people. I have very tall ears, so they touch a little bit and aren't perfectly comfortable. I grabbed Lawton pads which solved the issue but also slightly reduced the vibration you get with crazy sub-bass EQ (I'm a basshead and I hike sub-bass by 15dB to shake my skull).
 
I see you enjoy blues. I'm listening to B.B. King "Live at the Regal" right now on the AudioQuest Nighthawk. It sounds quite excellent on them, but they aren't sparkly like you're looking for. Ultra clear and smooth, though. The Fostex cans certainly sparkle.
 
I also find my recently-acquired JVC HP-DX1000 to do extremely well with blues, jazz, and classical. I'm honestly very torn between selling the JVC or Fostex right now. I should sell one, but don't want to get rid of either one (I generally prefer both to the Nighthawk, which I have in house for a review right now). The DX1000s are about as close as I've heard to a closed version of the Sennheiser HD650 (newer driver version, not the old dark ones. I listen to these a lot at home)--no fatigue with a beautiful clarity about them.
 
Edit: If you're that into the blues, do you play guitar? One great thing about the Fostex for me is with the low impedance, my POD HD has no trouble driving them when I play late at night and can't wake the family on my Strat. This isn't mine, but it's the same kind as I have:
 

 

[mkygod]

  @Blueshound24
 
If you try the TH600, the standard pads are actually very comfortable for most people. I have very tall ears, so they touch a little bit and aren't perfectly comfortable.

The pads feel good, but i think the Denon pads were a bit softer and the foam was more squishy instead of open-cell foamy. Problem is after 2 months, there's already some fine strands of fiber showing through the earpads, which means the pleather is probably wearing out. I'm eventually going to have to find some replacement pads that are comparable in comfort.

 

[Oregonian]

  The pads feel good, but i think the Denon pads were a bit softer and the foam was more squishy instead of open-cell foamy. Problem is after 2 months, there's already some fine strands of fiber showing through the earpads, which means the pleather is probably wearing out. I'm eventually going to have to find some replacement pads that are comparable in comfort.

I'd give the Lawton angles a try ($100) or the Stax 007 pads ($160 - have them on my LA7000) or maybe the Audeze Vegans or Lambskin leather ($80) - love them on my HE-400 and previously on my HE-6. 

 

[derbigpr]

 
definitely a quality product, they are a work of art in their own right

 
 
It takes 5 minutes (+ putting the varnish and lacquer on) to make one of those cups on the lathe, they're worth 30-40 dollars tops, material and work, ask any woodworker who makes furniture and he will tell you that. Just saying, people think wood is much more expensive than it is, and think it's much harder to work with it than it actually is.  In fact, nowadays if you have a CNC machine for wood (which every modern woodworker has) you can produce them like popcorn. It's an extremely simple and quick product to manufacture for anyone with semi-advanced woodworking skills and FAR easier than it is to produce furniture for instance. Just as an example, someone here thinks that paying 500 dollars for a pair of small ear cups is worth every penny and it's a work of art, but the same person wouldn't consider a piece of 500 dollar furniture to be work of art (even if it takes infinitely more skill, time, material, effort to build).  Just saying, don't lose common sense like most audiophiles do when they start talking about audio products, just because this is an ear cup for a headphone, doesn't mean it's worth 200,300,400 or 500 dollars. If it was a...let's say a cup for serving food, or a plate (which are extremely similar in ways of production and material to an earcup) you wouldn't pay more than 20, 30 dollars for it, no matter how nicely it was finished. In fact, again, go to any woodworkers shop, and you'll find stuff like this that they make for fun out of scrap materials and then sell for cheap. And that's exactly what wooden ear cups for headphones are, they're that simple. The issue is most people think that with these wood headphone cups there's a lot of engineering going on...no there isn't. The only thing you play with is the shape and thickness of the wood, very simple, much, much simpler than making an earcup out of plastics. Takes 5 minutes to make a design in any CAD program and a few minutes to carve it out with a CNC machine. The rest of  the process it takes to get it look pretty basically take minimal skill (relative to what woodworkers usually do), just time. Sorry to bust the myth of wooden ear cups and their extremely overblown prices, but as an engineer it kind of bothers me that people would think a piece of wood that just took some simple carving into a very simple and generic shape (it's a cup, not a violin) is worth far more than developing an ear cup out of an artificial material that was actually engineered and took hundreds or thousands of hours of work to perfect, and can be tuned to have EXACTLY those properties that engineers wanted. That's why for example in my mind the HD800 ear cups are worth far more than say any of the Audio Technica, Fostex or Denon woodies, because it took far more knowledge and skill to develop it.  Sure, some wood has positive effects on the sound for some people, but that doesn't make it worth as much as people are paying.

 

[Luckbad]

I pulled my listing for the Lawton pads. They've become more comfortable with use, and they really do sound outstanding. I'm just going to pump up my EQ or swap to stock pads if I want my ears to shake more with bass impact.

 

[roguepp88]

deleted

 

[Oregonian]

I pulled my listing for the Lawton pads. They've become more comfortable with use, and they really do sound outstanding. I'm just going to pump up my EQ or swap to stock pads if I want my ears to shake more with bass impact.

They will continue to get better and softer...............have two pairs (one on a MD2000 and one on a MD5000) and love them. 

 

[davisman]

These fostex th headphones are fantastic. I personally own the th900 and they have completely changed my perspective on headphones. They get so many things correct and still have fun bass you usually don't get in reference headphones. If anybody is on the fence I'd say at their current retail price you can't go wrong.

 

[Uberclocked]

  [snip]

Not that I know anything about wood or anything, but wouldn't rarer and higher grade blocks of wood also be more expensive?

 

[Sweetmeat]

   
 
...someone here thinks that paying 500 dollars for a pair of small ear cups is worth every penny and it's a work of art, but the same person wouldn't consider a piece of 500 dollar furniture to be work of art (even if it takes infinitely more skill, time, material, effort to build).

 If you're trying to make me feel bad about buying the Lawton chambers, you can't. I just love the sweet aroma, the amazing grain detail, the impeccable finish, and the deep red color of that Camphor Burl wood. It really did change my whole headphone experience, I wish I'd done it sooner.
 
If you're worried that I'm spending too much, don't. I appreciate your concern, however, that's very thoughtful. I can afford it, really.
 
If you're ranting about the high cost of audio gear in general, I'm with you all the way dude. Most of us on this thread have plunked down at least $500 on our TH600. It's a burden we all accepted when we decided to get into this hobby, but 10 years ago I never dreamed I would spend $2000 on my LCD3s.

 

[sp3llv3xit]

 
A loaner from a friend.  Very beautiful sounding closed-backs.  Adding this to my year-end holidays' wishlist.

 

[DavidA]

@sp3llv3xit, you might want to start looking for TH-600 now, some say that it has been discontinued, its not listed on the Fostex site anymore under the "consumer headhphones"

 

[sp3llv3xit]

  @sp3llv3xit, you might want to start looking for TH-600 now, some say that it has been discontinued, its not listed on the Fostex site anymore under the "consumer headhphones"

 
 
Thanks for the heads up, @DavidA