It is not the bass monster that some claim, but the bass is elevated. It is deep, fast and tightly controlled; not loose or flabby at all. Good impact, too. Older, bass-shy recordings will benefit. I wouldn't want these to be my only headphones, but they do need to be part of the collection. A lot of my older recordings sound their best on these.
As far as euphoric (did you mean euphonic?) or clinical, I'm not sure. A slightly recessed midrange takes it away from the warm euphonic side, but with a slightly bright high end, I wouldn't call it clinically neutral, either.
Another plus with these is that they are extremely lightweight and comfortable; you can wear them for hours.
Oh definitely euphoric. This is one HP, IMO, that brings the fun back into music. I have the HD 800 as well and let me tell you, I can lose myself in the details. Hence I think a direct comparison is rather unfair and one should select based one one's preferences.
I had my first listening experience of the TH900 at the so-cal head-fi meet, with a Marantz amp, and I really loved them. I thought they would be totally closed, but, they felt
like they were kind of open to me, I guess "semi-open" or "semi-closed", that surprised me. They were super comfortable. I own Sennheiser HD 598 and HD 650, I like the sound signature
of those, and I wonder if the Fostex would be a good choice for a "closed" headphone for me. I feel I'd rather pay money to buy the Fostex TH900, instead of the HD800. I'm curious now what a
Fostex TH600 sound is like compared, I'm sure there's a thread in here comparing them.
But, basically, from the So-Cal meet...and as a newbie audiophile, I left with an impression from the TH900, and the Stax SR009 (with the blue hawaii)...(which everyone loved).
TH900 does everything just a little better than the TH600. Not twice as good but noticeably better. If you have not heard the TH900 then you would be fine but it is hard to go the other way - but the TH600 is a great sounding HP in its class. The only thing that bothered me was a little sibilance on some recordings.
The HD800 are not dry or grainy, don't get me wrong here, but on a spectrum of glassy/liquid/shiny to dry/grainy/detailed, the TH900s tend to the former, the HD800s to the latter.
But both work very well in their own way.
Funny, but the closest similar sonics to the TH900 I have heard IMHO is the Sony R10 (I used to own bass light pairs, but the TH900 has stronger bass).
The HD800 are not dry or grainy, don't get me wrong here, but on a spectrum of glassy/liquid/shiny to dry/grainy/detailed, the TH900s tend to the former, the HD800s to the latter.
But both work very well in their own way.
Funny, but the closest similar sonics to the TH900 I have heard IMHO is the Sony R10 (I used to own bass light pairs, but the TH900 has stronger bass).
It is not the bass monster that some claim, but the bass is elevated. It is deep, fast and tightly controlled; not loose or flabby at all. Good impact, too. Older, bass-shy recordings will benefit. I wouldn't want these to be my only headphones, but they do need to be part of the collection. A lot of my older recordings sound their best on these.
As far as euphoric (did you mean euphonic?) or clinical, I'm not sure. A slightly recessed midrange takes it away from the warm euphonic side, but with a slightly bright high end, I wouldn't call it clinically neutral, either.
Another plus with these is that they are extremely lightweight and comfortable; you can wear them for hours.
I think it's quite simple....for anyone who hasn't heard these phones.....for their particular signature, they are the best headphones available....no other headphone puts such a smile on your face for grabbing the dynamics of a more electronic based modern track, driving a deep bass, separating the sounds and articulating it all as a whole. If this isn't what you want, look elsewhere...if it is, stop looking
So recall back about a month ago when I sent my TH900's to Mark Lawton for his damping...............there was nothing "wrong" with the stock (well, it did have a Q French silk cable on it) unit, but I just wanted to see if we could coax a little more out of it. Maybe a little tighter bass. Maybe a little deeper.
Mission accomplished. Mark's process works on these too.
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