[bosiemoncrieff]

None of the above! Fun and energetic for sure. Maybe relaxing and weightless if you're listening to ambient soundscapes (haven't yet, but I'll give it a try tonight), but it makes actual music sound very dynamic and alive. Would not recommend them for soft jazz, light classical, calm vocals, etc. though. Too recessed in the mids for those.

Would you recommend it for "heavy classical"? What about solo keyboard?

 

[analog'd]

dare i share my impressions of a stock th900 vers 1 with 110 hours tops on it? when i've only listened for less than two hours? these were  texted to the seller who asked for my initial impressions:

 
1st impression. under the bill evans moonbeams. very good. everything i've heard is true, including that they are not neutral by any means and therefore not "reference". BUT i think not neutral if refined enough are another flavor or view of reference. these MAY be that, but they don't touch the hd800 for reference, perfection in a jazz recording. fine as that's not news and NOT what i bought them for. just had to use my "system testing" cuts first.
these are the PERFECT replacement for Beyer T1 gen2. because to my ear these get the highs right, at least the guitar (acoustic and electric) on zep I cut two sound like they ought to (45 rpm singles box pressing by classic records).  doesn't have the added sweetness that grados and some others add by inflating the mids. some people say the mids are recessed on these. i dunno.  can eq and play i suppose. i don't normally.
maybe best i've ever heard "you shook me" zep 1 on a headphone. lcd-3 were too unexciting for my taste, though certainly more refined.
damn
 
and here come my mids (in plants voice, cut wo babe i'm gonna leave you. ). imaging is a gas!
the burson soloist likes these cans. 

babe i'm gonna leave you. on the hd800 unmodded gen 1 (i'm a/bing with a pair) it's pure in the studio with the band, on the fostex yer in the hall (i mean concert hall)

no. ya canne have em back.
 
if i could have only one can between these and the senns it would be the 800's because i play so much acoustic jazz and so much classical, but the th900 kick ass with rock more intensely. some say the 800 is "diffuse" and imposes huge stage where there ain't really one. ?
they are a little, not "tizzy" like the t1, but "thin". (that may be the mids being recessed? everything effects evreything else.) only just a tiny bit. it may also be a product of this speaker technology.

they are awesome. i am splitting hairs.
 
drums are fantastic. high hat and it's relation to the bass being played simultaneously is to DIE FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
if the senns sound like my kef 105.2 speakers (and they do) these sound like a KILLER pair of the highest end JBLs from the 60's, or a dcm time window on steroids. (jbl's they were humongous. used to fill music halls (no pa required.)) very ballsy as are these. these are super refined for a speaker/hp with those charecteristics.
thas all.
 
these are the best combo of guts and refinement i've ever heard in a headphone i think. ( althoutgh the grado ps1 that you can buy used for 2800 usd were up there, but too heavy for me to keep). yes, the hd800 is considerably more refined, but as such it's very polite. these aint'!!!! maybe i needed to hear a fazored lcd-3, but they were too uncomfortable for me.

my new love for a rock can, as the grado rs1's were for 20 years.

i eat my hat. re acoustic stuff. track The Well on Jennifer Warnes The Hunter sounds considerably better than i've ever heard on a speaker or headphone.  
so, sue me.

 

[zolkis]

And yeah, I was talking about stock.

 
I'd like to note here that even stock TH900's may (and do) sound different due to the slight variations in the grey foam dampers and variations in the pads. The dampers can actually make a big difference, based on 3 pairs I have tried. The newer dampers tend to sound more muffled (perhaps there is some change over time, but not in a year or so). So when we talk about "stock TH900", while they do sound similar and measure even more similar, there is no established reference really. Just keep in mind there are so many variables in the tuning of the TH900 that it would be extremely hard to guarantee same sound over pairs produced over time.
 
When it comes to bass, if we take the Focal Utopia and the Stax 009 for neutral references, based on direct comparisons my TH900 has similar level midbass and considerably more subbass (25-30 Hz and below), with a quite colored sound signature. I'd say the Z1R has emphasized midbass and sound colored in a different way than the TH900. However, the TH900 has great potential to be fine-tuned to someone's preference, especially in the bass.

 

[TWerk]

How would you mod to get more mid/upper bass punch like Z1R? Are you talking just EQ mods?

 

[zolkis]

  How would you mod to get more mid/upper bass punch like Z1R? Are you talking just EQ mods?

 
Check the mods thread. I don't know what do you mean by EQ mods, but I guess yes, these just change the bass level/slope on the FR.
 
As far as I am aware there is no way to mod the TH900 to sound like the Z1R. It will always sound like a TH900, albeit with more mids/presence, better bass/treble and better stage. You need to decide whether you like one of them more than the other .

 

[227qed]

So dry,

You would consider them to have more bass punch/impact than your dt1770? Also your old he400 and sennheiser hd 25? Have any in your collection past or present given you as good impact, in your opinion?

Thank you.

I wanna chime in. TH900 is ranked second on the extreme bass club page. These rankings are based on what the cans can do, not what they do in stock trim. There is only one headphone right now that's been verified to beat the th900 for bass impact, rumble, etc. When you drive up the bass eq and give it enough power (> 1.5 W preferred) it will produce a subbass and midbass impact that are nearly unrivaled. I run my thx00 at 400 mW and it only brushes the surface of true bass, but it serves sustainable basshead listening well enough. The jvc sz2000 (king of bass) sounds like **** everywhere else though, making the th900 the ultimate audiophile basshead can, aside from the z1r which has not officially been evaluated yet, but is showing serious promise for taking the number two spot. Don't take my word for it, head over to the extreme bass club page and watch the th900 move paper. That's slam, impact, and rumble all rolled into one massive and awesome bass experience. Whoever says the th900 doesn't have bass might be correct in saying say about an unamped, uneq'd state. But if you want real bass in audiophile form, the Fostex line (th900, th600, thx00 etc) and sony z1r are the only headphones I'd consider.

So go get yourself the 900's and if you're not satisfied with the stock bass, eq the subbass or midbass to preference, feed her some power, and prepare to have a quality AND quantity bass experience like no other headphone (except maybe z1r) can produce.

 

[TWerk]

Ill have to try eqing them, might as well considering I own a pair and have a very powerful amp too.
 
I enjoy them stock very much, though, which I why I tend not to EQ.

 

[warrior1975]

With the right eq, they absolutely rumble. I love the bass on the Th900.

 

[TWerk]

Yeah, they rumble well even without eq. The sub bass extension is simply fantastic.
 
Absolutely love it with movies, especially horror movies, sounds like I'm in a theatre with a THX certified sound system!

 

[Kyle 491]

So go get yourself the 900's and if you're not satisfied with the stock bass, eq the subbass or midbass to preference, feed her some power, and prepare to have a bass experience like no other headphone (except z1r) can produce.

 
 
I know I'm not the only one getting tired of the effusive praise being bestowed on the mediocre Sony flagship, but I'd like to challenge this perception anyway that the Sony is comparable to the TH900 in bass; after comparing them head to head for a month, the Sony is a joke in terms of bass impact, tightness and overall power next to the TH900. TH900 has a much cleaner sub-bass and is more visceral & dynamic. It didn't even take 2 songs for me to see this, and some of the distortion measurements posted on other sites back this view up. If anyone has these two headphones, try listening to Massive Attack- Angel,  Telarc 1812 Overture (cannonfire section), Elderscrolls Skyrim Main theme where its easily audible.
 
Frankly the Sony has mediocre technicalities overall, inferior to the TH900. When I read in a few review that the Z1R midrange is superior to the TH900, I find it hard not to roll my eyes. Z1R midrange is MORE recessed than the TH900 when you listen to any massed vocals and has a truly ugly upper mid-range ringing characteristic that makes electric guitars sound very odd on occasion and ruins complex vocal harmonies. Female vocals are frankly a bore on this headphone, it has the honour of making me actually fall asleep while listening to Loreena McKennit- Live at the Alhambra, so uninvolving and subdued the presentation.
 
About the only genre I'd take the Sony over the TH900 is heavily processed pop music with close-miked, male-heavy vocals, where its lower midrange richness relative to TH900 is an advantage, and its disproportionately wide-yet-shallow headstage has no bearing on the non-existent imaging in this music. Ah, thats another thing the TH900 does much better than the Sony, the staging is much more proportionate in height, depth and width next to the lop-sided mess of the Sony, which takes the oft-mentioned HD800 bugbear of having a "too wide" soundstage and owns it outright.

 

[TWerk]

I enjoyed reading that comparison, kyle. Have you tried the elear? I also found them overrated and over hyped personally, especially when you have something like the hd650 which sound quite similar for so much less money.

 

[227qed]

I know I'm not the only one getting tired of the effusive praise being bestowed on the mediocre Sony flagship, but I'd like to challenge this perception anyway that the Sony is comparable to the TH900 in bass; after comparing them head to head for a month, the Sony is a joke in terms of bass impact, tightness and overall power next to the TH900. TH900 has a much cleaner sub-bass and is more visceral & dynamic. It didn't even take 2 songs for me to see this, and some of the distortion measurements posted on other sites back this view up. If anyone has these two headphones, try listening to Massive Attack- Angel,  Telarc 1812 Overture (cannonfire section), Elderscrolls Skyrim Main theme where its easily audible.

Frankly the Sony has mediocre technicalities overall, inferior to the TH900. When I read in a few review that the Z1R midrange is superior to the TH900, I find it hard not to roll my eyes. Z1R midrange is MORE recessed than the TH900 when you listen to any massed vocals and has a truly ugly upper mid-range ringing characteristic that makes electric guitars sound very odd on occasion and ruins complex vocal harmonies. Female vocals are frankly a bore on this headphone, it has the honour of making me actually fall asleep while listening to Loreena McKennit- Live at the Alhambra, so uninvolving and subdued the presentation.

About the only genre I'd take the Sony over the TH900 is heavily processed pop music with close-miked, male-heavy vocals, where its lower midrange richness relative to TH900 is an advantage, and its disproportionately wide-yet-shallow headstage has no bearing on the non-existent imaging in this music. Ah, thats another thing the TH900 does much better than the Sony, the staging is much more proportionate in height, depth and width next to the lop-sided mess of the Sony, which takes the oft-mentioned HD800 bugbear of having a "too wide" soundstage and owns it outright.

Like I said, for bass, it's not about what the cans do, it's about what the cans can do. Don't take my word for it, proof of the z1r being a bass monster on comparable levels to the th900 is here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=y828rvS5YXs

You get distortion when the cans are underpowered. This vid was done with max bass eq and a 4 W amp.

I won't comment on the rest because I never gave the z1r praise anywhere else. I just said these two are among the best audiophile cans for bass impact, rumble, etc. The proof is in the paper.

Don't get me wrong though, I understand your possible frustration with all the hype about the z1r and appreciate some negative feedback on it for a change. These are big purchasing decisions for many, and when people rarely talk about flaws and over exaggerate strengths, it increases the likelihood that people will be disappointed 2k later.

 

[Kyle 491]

Yes, overrated, but much better than the Sony. Its a decent headphone and you can blow your money on many worse pairs. I do prefer the HD650 similarly to it, because it has a more natural mid-range without upper mid suckout. Elear is very dynamic and impactful sounding for an open headphone, but lacks versatility of the HD650.

 

[TWerk]

I like it more because it's more comfortable, similar sound signature, but most importantly a quarter of the price. That sound signature to begin with isn't my favorite, it's a little too thick for my tastes, so I am happy going with the cheaper way to own a similar sound signature.

 

[TWerk]

Interesting Kyle, we both own TH900, HE-500 and HD650's. Great minds think alike, all excellent headphones.