[Thenewbie76]

TH900 Red is exactly what comes to my mind when someone says "fun headphone."

They are also perfectly suited for a collection of cans, as they are more specialist than all rounder.

Go for it!

Good to know people still consider them fun in 2023 considering all the new headphones that came out.
Would you say the bass has more oomph, more of an impact/slam?

I am trying to gauge how it compares to the Sony MDR-1ZR. I've seen a review stating both of these headphones are similar in bass experience.

Also, I heard the treble is quite rough, do people here just EQ that issue?

 

[Bret Halford]

Good to know people still consider them fun in 2023 considering all the new headphones that came out.
Would you say the bass has more oomph, more of an impact/slam?

I am trying to gauge how it compares to the Sony MDR-1ZR. I've seen a review stating both of these headphones are similar in bass experience.

Also, I heard the treble is quite rough, do people here just EQ that issue?

Z1R bass extension is very flat/neutral, I'd say it's closer to the 900 annis. The 500 Hz null on the 900 Red gives it a ton of proper good slam.

I don't have issues with 900 treble at my listening levels, YMMV. The biodyna diaphragm has the technical performance to exactly follow whatever EQ you want to give it, distortion is sub-basement low.

 

[Thenewbie76]

Z1R bass extension is very flat/neutral, I'd say it's closer to the 900 annis. The 500 Hz null on the 900 Red gives it a ton of proper good slam.

I don't have issues with 900 treble at my listening levels, YMMV. The biodyna diaphragm has the technical performance to exactly follow whatever EQ you want to give it, distortion is sub-basement low.

I'm not a technical audiophile, I don't know what you meant by those frequencies, I just like to have fun and enjoy music. But, I will take your word for it, that there is good bass slam.

I also don't know what you mean by 900 annis but ok. Worst comes to worst, if I don't enjoy the TH-900 MK2 for any reason, it'll look nice on my desk. I don't have any wood headphones yet.

 

[Bret Halford]

I'm not a technical audiophile, I don't know what you meant by those frequencies, I just like to have fun and enjoy music. But, I will take your word for it, that there is good bass slam.

I also don't know what you mean by 900 annis but ok. Worst comes to worst, if I don't enjoy the TH-900 MK2 for any reason, it'll look nice on my desk. I don't have any wood headphones yet.

There's a minimum around 500 Hz (lower mids), this makes the already sizable amplitude of the bass to be perceived as louder than it otherwise would. You may have heard of 'V' shaped tuning? Well the 900's V bottom is at 500 Hz.

Sorry, Annis = anniversary model (Blue, White, Purple etc), they have a flatter bass extension and less of that 500 Hz null than the Reds. They are a little more neutral but less fun, and to my memory are more comparable in the lows to the Z1R.

 

[Thenewbie76]

There's a minimum around 500 Hz (lower mids), this makes the already sizable amplitude of the bass to be perceived as louder than it otherwise would. You may have heard of 'V' shaped tuning? Well the 900's V bottom is at 500 Hz.

Sorry, Annis = anniversary model (Blue, White, Purple etc), they have a flatter bass extension and less of that 500 Hz null than the Reds. They are a little more neutral but less fun, and to my memory are more comparable in the lows to the Z1R.

Thank you for the explanation, you learn something new every day I guess.

 

[MasterHead]

Z1R bass extension is very flat/neutral

Hmm not sure if you can define it like that. Z1R amount of bass is rather off-neutral. For sure is very powerful

And th900 is also a master of powerful bass, but it is bit faster, more dense and goes lower.

Both headphones are fun and give a lot of joy, although they have a different style of playing. The stage size of the TH900 is larger, although the Z1R also has a lot of space. It's definitely worth having both pairs. These are classics HP and even though there are a lot of new headphones, it's hard to replace them because they have their own style of sound signature.,
If you like this style, then you are among the lucky ones because there are few such "old" headphones still available.

 

[-Darkstar-]

Hey fellow headfiers,

I have to ask for an advice for a DAC or a DAC/amp for the TH900MK2s within 1500 euros (used devices included).

My source is a MacBook Pro 2015 (Apple Music lossless as well as lossless and lossy files from a hard drive). I mostly listen to electronic, classic rock, soul, and jazz, and sometimes classical music. I used to have a Luxman DA-100 DAC/amp and loved it for its smooth, analogue-like sound and genre versatility. Recently, I have auditioned a Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M, which was not bad, but lacked the smoothness of the Luxman.

Are there any devices that have Luxman-like sound signature and are decent pairs for the TH900s? I have been considering the RME ADI-2 DAC, Woo Audio WA-7, Schiit, Lehmannaudio Linear (D), even a tube Brocksieper amp, but I do not have an opportunity to test drive any of them, so I am left confused.

If you have any experience listening to any of these DAC/amps with the TH900s or if you have an idea of a device that offers the sound signature I am loooking for in 2023, please share your thoughts.

I've been using mine with a Woo Audio WA7 Gen2 for the last few months and found it to be a great pairing. I think the midrange bloom of a tube amp a good match with the V shape sound of the 900. The WA7 is fairly neutral and the bass is quite good for tubes.

 

[Whazzzup]

No, knock against tubes, but is there a hp that sounds bad on tubes? Just like is there a hp that sounds bad on a good ss. I’m thinking preference is a factor and that good dac amps make every hp better. Th900 is easy to drive opens up the choices emmensly. Imo.

 

[MasterHead]

Yes preferences, but th900 is only 25ohm so for example on Feliks Audio Elise you have sound distortion and they sound weird, because Elise is 32-300ohm.

 

[Sandkabir]

I own a tr-x00 as well as th900, have tested them in balanced and unbalanced, and they show significant improvement in balanced cable

 

[Bret Halford]

I own a tr-x00 as well as th900, have tested them in balanced and unbalanced, and they show significant improvement in balanced cable

I roll balanced on my tr-x00 Ebony, TH900 Red, PW and TH909.

It's a shame Fostex seem to be dropping their own headphone amp line. I absolutely love my HPA-4BL for these headphones. It's very tricky to find a clean XLR output for the Fostex Bios, they are so sensitive and detailed to pickup any noise present.

 

[Sandkabir]

I roll balanced on my tr-x00 Ebony, TH900 Red, PW and TH909.

It's a shame Fostex seem to be dropping their own headphone amp line. I absolutely love my HPA-4BL for these headphones. It's very tricky to find a clean XLR output for the Fostex Bios, they are so sensitive and detailed to pickup any noise present.

I use them on my modded burson soloist grand tourer, with sparkos ss2590s and Sonic Imagery Labs 994 op amps , the detailing and warmth I get along with the thumping bass is amazing

 

[temples]

Not sure about Luxman sound signature, but I have RME ADI-2 DAC and its perfect dac/amp for th900. Its amazing neutral dac for many headphones. And th900 have their own style of sound, so neutral dac is perfect match. Of course in my opinion.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I hope I will be able to find an opportunity to listen to the RME so that I can decide for myself.

Luxman is pretty neutral, too. What attracts me in it is its analogue-like sound. It does not use a top DAC chip, but I do not find it a downside.
And I am not sure if RME is capable of the same.

 

[temples]

I've been using mine with a Woo Audio WA7 Gen2 for the last few months and found it to be a great pairing. I think the midrange bloom of a tube amp a good match with the V shape sound of the 900. The WA7 is fairly neutral and the bass is quite good for tubes.

Interesting. What puts me off the WA7 is its high output impedance of around 30 Ohms. It should affect the frequency response in a bad way.

 

[bagwell359]

I own a tr-x00 as well as th900, have tested them in balanced and unbalanced, and they show significant improvement in balanced cable

The cable? Does the amp perform the same with both SE and Balanced? If it's the "burson soloist grand tourer", the Balanced puts out more power. I've been using balanced only since 1995 for several reasons, but, in this case, the amp owns most/nearly all of it.