Fostex TH900 Impressions & Discussion Thread

[qua2k]

Nice!!

Thanks! I have been unofficially looking for the Emerald version for quite a while. Finally was able to pick one up.

The seller also included the elusive Russian piano black cups, so I can switch out if I want to. These pitch black cups are so nice in person.

 

[Alboxhen]

Fantastic! Double bonus. Those black cups are sick. They remind me of a fancy piano, and the emerald look really beautiful too

 

[Alboxhen]

Check out the song Kronos by Hi-lo (extended mix) start at the 2 minute mark

 

[Shungite Trillionaire]

Fantastic! Double bonus. Those black cups are sick. They remind me of a fancy piano, and the emerald look really beautiful too

Sorry for the spam but as a fan of moderate to darker green I have to step in here and concur. If green weren't so rare and I hadn't received the reds for a good deal I would've gone for emerald, especially since they have the OG tuning.

 

[Markolav]

I am happy to say a 900 is back in my collection. The bass, oh the lovely bass

I might do the ZMF Crescent Band headband switch as the stock headband is a little worn.

Does it really sound different than the original red one?

 

[qua2k]

Does it really sound different than the original red one?

The Emeralds sound the same as the original red MK1s and red MK2s as it has the original non-Anniversary tuning. The updated tuning include the Blue, White, Purples, and the new Onyx. The original tuning is more 'fun' than the Anniversary pairs as the original tuning is noticed to have more bass and scales back the mids and treble. I prefer the original tuning a lot more personally.

 

[Alboxhen]

So.. I just learned about what a balanced cable actually is.. I was about to buy a cable made specifically for TH900 but then I did some more digging and it appears that the connectors are the same as on Sennheiser headphones? Is that right? If anyone could shed some light on what type of balanced cable I could buy, it would be greatly appreciated! I'm going to start with lower cost option, I just have the stock cable but want to hear what kind of a difference balanced cable makes plugged into a balanced amp. I have monolith 124559 dac amp and fio k7 dac amp

 

[Whazzzup]

Balanced cable needs a 4 pin balanced amp and or balanced dac if no balanced amp. The cable would have to replace th900 cable, either hardwired in the original or mk2 connectors if that series of th900. I have no idea who supplies those type of connectors. The advantage of balanced is more power to hp, regardless of the engineering marvel of separating left and right channel including power so neither will touch eachother from beginning to end. Th900 is so efficient I doubt one needs balanced but if your system is tweaked to balanced, you’ll have to do more digging. Good luck. As far as quality balanced hp cables, it’s your choice from cheap to ultra expensive, the bigger question is the hp connector types and process.

 

[waveSounds]

So.. I just learned about what a balanced cable actually is.. I was about to buy a cable made specifically for TH900 but then I did some more digging and it appears that the connectors are the same as on Sennheiser headphones? Is that right? If anyone could shed some light on what type of balanced cable I could buy, it would be greatly appreciated! I'm going to start with lower cost option, I just have the stock cable but want to hear what kind of a difference balanced cable makes plugged into a balanced amp. I have monolith 124559 dac amp and fio k7 dac amp

They look the same but the pins are reversed, so you'd either have a choice of plugging the connectors in to the opposite cups and reversing the channels, or risk forcing the large pin in to the small hole. Basically, don't buy Sennheiser cables for the TH900.

 

[Alboxhen]

Thank you!

 

[Alboxhen]

Thanks all. I have a monolith 124459 dac amp and fiio k7 both of which I am 99% sure are balanced or have that capability. There’s a seller on Etsy that makes th900 cables. Audio ninja or something to that effect

 

[qua2k]

So.. I just learned about what a balanced cable actually is.. I was about to buy a cable made specifically for TH900 but then I did some more digging and it appears that the connectors are the same as on Sennheiser headphones? Is that right? If anyone could shed some light on what type of balanced cable I could buy, it would be greatly appreciated! I'm going to start with lower cost option, I just have the stock cable but want to hear what kind of a difference balanced cable makes plugged into a balanced amp. I have monolith 124559 dac amp and fio k7 dac amp

I would highly discourage anyone to use the Sennheiser connectors for the TH900. First, the polarities are switched, so you need to reverse the Sennheiser pins to insert them into the headphone which is a pain to remember. Second, they do not 'click in' as well as the genuine Fostex black connectors which leads me.to believe the actual pins are not exact to the headphone.. which would have me worried about stripping in the long run. Lastly, they look like crap compared to the all black matching of the genuine ones (obviously).

If you need a custom cable for the TH900, whatever plug, I would recommend reaching out to your cable manufacturer of choice and inquire if they can get a hold of or already have the genuine Fostex connectors. They can be purchased on eBay or AliExpress. One manufacturer of choice that I like is Forza Audio Works. They do use genuine Fostex connectors, you just have to reach out to them beforehand.

 

[Fegefeuer]

Or just get a TH900mk1 and have the inputs modded to 3.5mm.

 

[Alboxhen]

Or just get a TH900mk1 and have the inputs modded to 3.5mm.

Yes that sounds like a very practical solution, thank you.

 

[Alboxhen]

I ordered a 4.4 balanced cable from audiophile ninja, I'll give that a go!! I inquired at a local store and they quoted otherwise $500 CAD for a balanced XLR directly from fostex; I paid about 1/5 of that through ninja