[Tachyon88]

Are you asking about the TH900s? I haven't heard the HD 598s.

The Fostex are not really closed and because of that they have a more open sound than something like a closed pair of Beyers.

Yes, I was just telling you that the only closed back I have heard is the one I mentioned, but we both have the HD6series and HD8series and I consider those to sound like HIFI headphones. I know they are open, but that is something we both have heard and since you own the TH900 I was wondering if you if you consider them to be HIFI in general too ?

 

[Adamtl]

I find them to be great except the bass has that empty cup sound I don’t like, I tried the same damping mod as my denons and they responded favourably, bass is way better. Empty cup sound is gone. It’s just a piece of speaker damping and then the white fuzzy square went back on top I just removed half the thickness to compensate for the 3mm damping square I put in.

 

[Tachyon88]

I find them to be great except the bass has that empty cup sound I don’t like, I tried the same damping mod as my denons and they responded favourably, bass is way better. Empty cup sound is gone. It’s just a piece of speaker damping and then the white fuzzy square went back on top I just removed half the thickness to compensate for the 3mm damping square I put in.

Empty cup...so like a hollow sound ? Have you played around with EQ any too ? Everyone says it has hot treble, so I'm going to tame that and if I perceive bass bloat I'll tamp that down too and raise the sub bass. I'm hoping after that the bass is authoritative and the mids are present while the treble gives me detail without stabbing me.

 

[Blasterinn]

I'm upgrading my setup to a Topping D70s and Singxer SA-1. I'll let you know how it sounds. I need the guys at Moon Audio to also re-terminate my black dragon cable to a 4 pin XLR, so it might be a week or two before I can give my impressions

Same here. Receiving my set tomorrow. Mighty interested in your opinions with the cans you have since some of those are on my list.

 

[Adamtl]

Empty cup...so like a hollow sound ? Have you played around with EQ any too ? Everyone says it has hot treble, so I'm going to tame that and if I precieve bass bloat I'll tamp that down too and raise the sub bass. I'm hoping after that the bass is authrotiative and the mids are present while the treble gives me detail without stabbing me.

I have a set of 1266 tc so when I say hollow cup sound I’m hearing the bass resonating and it does sound like it’s bass in an empty wood cup when compared. Now it’s well damped like club bass or like a proper sub with dampening inside and not just a hollow wood box with white fuzz
I don’t eq.

 

[up late]

i haven't noticed an 'empty cup' quality to the th900's bass. while the th900 has an open presentation and provides little isolation from outside noise, it is definitely a closed headphone. there are no vents for example.

 

[Adamtl]

The space around the cups between the rim of the cup and the black enclosure is the vent. I never really noticed it either until I got the 1266’s that’s when I heard well dampened bass and was able to notice the difference. I really like how it changed
I guess there’s a reason people do the Lawton mod, it helps the bass quality, I just used my own material instead of paying for theirs.. I don’t see a point doing the other ones in the kit, that one damping square in the cup is enough IMO.

 

[up late]

not according to @zolkis who has posted extensively about modifying the th900

 

[Adamtl]

Everyone has an opinion and I’m sure his mods are fantastic, I loved the sound and overdamping is not something I personally want to do. To each their own

 

[up late]

his opinion that the th900 is not vented is based on his extensive modding of it. he corrected me about it once. anyway, here is a link to the thread that he started for those who may be interested: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fostex-th900-mods.763965/

 

[Adamtl]

I took them apart, there are holes covered by thin white acoustic material in front of drivers, a foam disk blocks sound from entering into the front of the headphones but there’s a cavity that’s formed. Instead of making the mounts flush for the cups to mate to the frame they added an extension post of a couple mm to allow it to breathe. The back waves have to pass through the back into the cup and then it relieves pressure by escaping through the holes with that thin white acoustic material and out of the gap between the rim of the cup and the enclosure.
not sure why he feels otherwise

 

[jmills8]

I have a set of 1266 tc so when I say hollow cup sound I’m hearing the bass resonating and it does sound like it’s bass in an empty wood cup when compared. Now it’s well damped like club bass or like a proper sub with dampening inside and not just a hollow wood box with white fuzz
I don’t eq.

You dont eq , too bad your ocd gets triggered. Guess better spend another 1,000 usd inorder to eq it. I had the Abyss and have Final Audio D8000 Pro , which is better and all requires some eq. Ive been a music engineer for 15 years and I know each recording is eq differently.

 

[up late]

I took them apart, there are holes covered by thin white acoustic material in front of drivers, a foam disk blocks sound from entering into the front of the headphones but there’s a cavity that’s formed. Instead of making the mounts flush for the cups to mate to the frame they added an extension post of a couple mm to allow it to breathe. The back waves have to pass through the back into the cup and then it relieves pressure by escaping through the holes with that thin white acoustic material and out of the gap between the rim of the cup and the enclosure.
not sure why he feels otherwise

well "everyone has an opinion" as you say and it appears that yours differs from @zolkis's

 

[Adamtl]

You dont eq , too bad your ocd gets triggered. Guess better spend another 1,000 usd inorder to eq it. I had the Abyss and have Final Audio D8000 Pro , which is better and all requires some eq. Ive been a music engineer for 15 years and I know each recording is eq differently.

I loved the d8000 pro but the pads were shallow and one of my stupid ears touched the inside and I felt vibration/tickling. I looked for deeper pads but couldn’t find any so I settled on 1266 with the deepest pads on earth! I have a chord Dave for analytical listening, a Meitner dac for musical listening and others dacs, luxman amp wa33 etc.. I’m truly not trying to show off I just wanted to make the point that I prefer to use different combos of gear and headphones instead of eq. It’s more fun for me. My fav of all time is a rebuilt k1000 using a speaker amp. Ooooof

 

[Delta9K]

I don't believe there is a right, or wrong way to listen to content. However, I prefer to have multiple source chains and phones so that I can mix an match to suite my moods, or the content I am wanting to listen to. Sometimes, I just switch up for no particular reason and I find myself listening to an old favorite track or album, and it's like it is all new to me.