[AppleheadMay]

@AnakChan and @BournePerfect
 
Any chance one of you has access to both the HP-A8 and Zana?
A comparison of these two driving the TH900 would surely make my day!

 

[Audiowood]

Just ordered these from Todd. Shout out to his great communication and helpfulness with my first transaction with him! Hope to have these before New Years.

-Daniel

I'm looking forward to hear your impression with the ZDSE. Me on the other hand just ordered a ZDSE from Craig for driving my TH900, I hope this combination works out well for both of us!

Congratulation on your purchase. I felt happy for u guys.

 

[BournePerfect]

@AnakChan and @BournePerfect

Any chance one of you has access to both the HP-A8 and Zana?
A comparison of these two driving the TH900 would surely make my day!

Nope. Thought about trying an A8 but I'm pretty confident my Eximus would beat in soundly in most areas. I'm sure it's a synergistic pairing though, but on paper the ZDSE and DP1 are too.

- Daniel

 

[BoBDylan]

Quote:

 
I've not used the HP-P1 for well over a year as such I can't comment on using it with the TH-900. However I have used the TH-900 with portable amps such as ALO Audio Rx Mk3 or RSA SR-71B and the TH-900 is quite easy to drive. If we're talking about these kinds of portable amp, it's not a matter of whether they're better than a desktop but more like which sound do you prefer.
 
Personally I think my greatest concern for your proposed setup is that it seems to imply you want it for portable use and I think this is where the TH-900 doesn't do very well for at least 2 reasons :-
 
1) the TH-900 doesn't isolate well (although I'm tempted to consider Lawton's new earpads for the TH-900 to see if they improve isolation but not deteriorate SQ - those pads are only $100).
2) the TH-900 is quite fragile - my earcups have broken twice, once on the plane, and another at the recent Tokyo headphone festival. This headphone is too expensive to risk breaking/damaging. I just happened to be lucky to live in Tokyo and know the Fostex chaps who have been extremely generous in repairing my TH-900s under warranty despite clearly being user initiated.
 
 
I must say I'm rather curious myself in addition to MorbidToaster's comment about the the Cavalli Liquid Glass. That's not to say I'm not happy with my HP-A8 as it's performing very well, especially in it's DoP (SACD/DSD/DSF over USB) capability

Oh My.... I  just saw the photo. Those joint really made from plastic ? 

    
I think its failed design with angled-earcub ,  strained by its own weight  all the time.   
 
Almost 1 yr since the first release nothing durable-upgrade from Fostex ???? 

   

 

[songmic]

@AnakChan and @BournePerfect

Any chance one of you has access to both the HP-A8 and Zana?
A comparison of these two driving the TH900 would surely make my day!

I have heard the TH900 with the HP-A8 and I'll soon have the Zana. I'll share my impressions then.

 

[dukeskd]

Anak, how did you manage to break the ear cups off? Is it the same problem as in the D7000s?

 

[AnakChan]

Quote:

Anak, how did you manage to break the ear cups off? Is it the same problem as in the D7000s?

 
Back in July (see linky for pix), during a flight. Then the other cup broke when a head-fier member was taking it off his head in late October. Luckily this was at a show where Fostex chaps were just 2 floors below.

 

[the wizard of oz]

Quote:

Any huge gap between
Fostex TH900 + HP-P1   --> computer source
             vs.     
Fostex TH900  + HP-A8  ---> computer source  ?
 
 Does its really  worth to sacrifice portablility for the better A8 ?  How huge in % ? 
 
 

Dare I remind you that the HP-P1 only works with iDevices? It differs from the more recent CLAS -dB, PHA-1 & Go-DAP X in that respect.

 

[AnakChan]

Quote:

Nope. Thought about trying an A8 but I'm pretty confident my Eximus would beat in soundly in most areas. I'm sure it's a synergistic pairing though, but on paper the ZDSE and DP1 are too.
- Daniel

 
I think if you combine the DP1 DAC + ZDSE, you'll have an awesome combination. The other DAC/Amp which I was keen on but somewhat expensive is the Invicta.
 
Quote:

Oh My.... I  just saw the photo. Those joint really made from plastic ? 

    
I think its failed design with angled-earcub ,  strained by its own weight  all the time.   
 
Almost 1 yr since the first release nothing durable-upgrade from Fostex ???? 

   

 
They're not plastic. It's a casted screw with a spring. Unfortunately that casted screw is not that durable. But at least when it breaks, it's merely a screw that needs to be replaced by Fostex.
 
Quote:

I have heard the TH900 with the HP-A8 and I'll soon have the Zana. I'll share my impressions then.

 
I'd love to hear your impressions. make sure the HP-A8's been upgraded to the latest firmware (even the beta one - I'm on 2.01b now).

 

[songmic]

Quote:

I'd love to hear your impressions. make sure the HP-A8's been upgraded to the latest firmware (even the beta one - I'm on 2.01b now).

 
The HP-A8 wasn't mine, I had it only for a couple weeks so I'm not sure if it was the latest firmware. But I agree with you that the Eximus DP1 sounds better with the TH900 than Fostex's own HP-A8. When the ZDSE arrives, I'll compare it with the DP1 and Soloist too.

 

[Audio Jester]

Anyone heard the TH900 with a B22?  That is where my sights are aimed currently... 

 

[AnakChan]

Quote:

 
The HP-A8 wasn't mine, I had it only for a couple weeks so I'm not sure if it was the latest firmware. But I agree with you that the Eximus DP1 sounds better with the TH900 than Fostex's own HP-A8. When the ZDSE arrives, I'll compare it with the DP1 and Soloist too.

 
I've sorta concluded that I'm happy enough with my HP-A8 that I can't justify the price difference for the DP1. At least in Japan the DP1 could easily cost 2x the cost of the HP-A8. I think if I'm going to get an upgrade I'd like to get a significant jump up in improvement - this may be the DP1+ZDSE combo (or Invicta+ZDSE) rather than just the DP1 alone.

 

[BoBDylan]

Alrdy  gaveup for portable th-900 its too zetsubou****a ! 
 
Since im completely noob to desk-amp , can someone gimme a hint about good  accessories (Cables , Transformer , etc )  to Max HP-A8 's potential ? Need UPS ?  ( macbook as source )   

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Anyone heard the TH900 with a B22?  That is where my sights are aimed currently... 

 
I've been listening to Anakchan's pair out of my Audio-gd Phoenix, which is a "wire with gain" type amp and liking the results, so I'd be surprised if the B22 was other than a great amp for them. I tended to like the Denon range out of similar gear too.

 

[Audio Jester]

Thanks Currawong, all this talk of the ZDSE is starting to cast doubt on my mind.