Fostex x Massdrop TH-X00 Review
Dec 7, 2015 at 3:29 PM Post #1,816 of 12,070
Mine too says stuck en route to distribution centre since 4 Dec. What is going on with DHL. So annoying ... Surely it can't take that long to get there. They are a courier company and its their job to get things to people quickly ... :/
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 3:32 PM Post #1,817 of 12,070
First Impressions…this is straight from the hip comments with no break in time. Feel free to stop reading here if you believe burn in and don't want to have preconceived notions about my right out of the box judgements.  I reserve the right to change my opinion at any time should this headphone make a change for the better, or worse, with break in.
 
*The cups are as gorgeous in person as they are in the pics. Fostex knows how to make beautiful wood cups. 
 
*The build quality of the can itself seems pretty good. Parts and pieces fit well together and everything seems “tight.” The only issue that I have right off the bat is the pads.  The pads look and feel “cheap” for lack of a better term.  My $20 hm5 pads look and feel much more luxurious than the stock pads here. Putting the headphones on my head with everything adjusted, they are comfortable enough but the pad quality is letting me down.  They feels more like plastic than leather.  A few minutes with the headphones on and my ears are hot and a little sweaty.  My thought at this point is, “if I’m going to keep these I would have to change out the pads.” I will say that my ears are slightly cramped by the small opening in the pads but for my medium ears, they are fine.
 
*My closed reference headphones are Ether C. My closed portable can is the Momentum 2 over ears.  Hd650 is a regular everyday can for vocal music. I’m using Gumby balanced to the Liquid Carbon. I listen to a lot of vocal centric music…jazz, newer folk.  And then there is to a lesser degree pop, edm and classical.  I owned the d2k for a year and the d5k for two years. I have heard the th600/900 at meets but I’m not nearly familiar enough with them to make comparisons. If I haven’t owned it and listened to it with my gear and my music then I’d rather not comment on it.
 
*How do they sound?
 
                -Bass is a little loose and blooms a bit. Not a lot of texture to sub bass notes.  It sounds elevated by about 4 to 6 db.  The bass on the d5k was more impressive in my memory.  It had a little more slam and was more natural.  The lcd2.2 pre-fazor is quite possibly my favorite of all time for sub bass. The th-x00 is nowhere near that level of performance.  
 
                -Mids are decent. They are nothing special but maybe not quite as recessed as the d5k. In terms of tone the hd650 mids are leagues above the th-x00.
 
                -Treble is fairly close to neutral. Nothing real splashy or spikey from what I hear so far. Treble is definitely tamed from the d5k and much more neutral.
 
                -Imaging is pretty decent and a little better than I expected.  This quality is better than my Momentum 2 but Ether C is ahead by a large margin. The height of the sound stage is decent but width and depth seem a little cramped to me.
 
                -Isolation is a little better than expected. With the tv on and kids making usual racket, I'm able to block out enough of that ambient noise with the th-x00 to enjoy that music. 
 
 
 
So far without break in, the th-x00 seems that it might make a good match for pop and EDM. Some jazz would be okay also but less so for vocal centered jazz.
How do I feel about the th-x00 out of the box? Honestly, I need to give it some time to cook and settled to where it will. My personal philosophy is that this type of headphones particularly with the type of driver material used has a high potential to change with break in. So IMO it’s too early to make a judgement and declaration about this headphone. 
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 3:36 PM Post #1,819 of 12,070
Well, UPS actually changed scheduled delivery again and my headphones are actually arriving today (again).  At first I was kinda curious what serial I'm getting, but I'm now much more curious what the grain will look like.  And the sound of course.  >_>
 
 
PS - Will, can you pass along your methods to the keyboard part of MD?  They really should have followed your lead about reaching out to the community when it came to that aluminum HHKB case.  Would have saved wasted effort/money.
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 3:37 PM Post #1,820 of 12,070
  Well, UPS actually changed scheduled delivery again and my headphones are actually arriving today (again).  At first I was kinda curious what serial I'm getting, but I'm now much more curious what the grain will look like.  And the sound of course.  >_>
 
 
PS - Will, can you pass along your methods to the keyboard part of MD?  They really should have followed your lead about reaching out to the community when it came to that aluminum HHKB case.  Would have saved wasted effort/money.


now I'm kind of worried I'll get mine wednesday instead of thursday.  I've already taken thursday off work, haha.
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 3:44 PM Post #1,821 of 12,070
All this UPS insanity is why I'm a huge proponent of having them delivered to a nearby UPS "Access Point", i.e. Drop off location and just picking them up on the way home from work whenever they arrive. So much less hassle than playing the signature needed, should I authorize a release or take a day off from work madness.

FedEx has this option too.

Obviously, this will likely mainly be viable in more metro areas, or when along ones commute. But if you have the option, highly recommended.

Picking mine up today from a local UPS store.
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 3:46 PM Post #1,822 of 12,070
 
now I'm kind of worried I'll get mine wednesday instead of thursday.  I've already taken thursday off work, haha.

 
You might be fine, I live in PA so they probably thought they would make it here today but not soon enough to sort for delivery, and based on your delivery date I'm guessing you're out west somewhere so they're probably more accurate about that since it'll be in transit a while.
 
Are you taking off work to sign for it or just coincidentally?  If you sign up for a UPS account you can authorize them to deliver without signature.  Unless it's a matter of you living in an apartment where they won't drop stuff off unless you can pick it up in person.
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 3:48 PM Post #1,823 of 12,070
  I highly doubt it. Probably means they are heading to the boarder. Once they pass customs they will tell you how much the ransom will be to get them....


Ya I can't wait to see what the final tally on that will be. I was really disappointed with the correction from USPS shipping to DHL through the drop. Depending on how bad I get gouged, this may be my final drop participation till MD finds a better way to handle shipping to Canada.
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 3:49 PM Post #1,824 of 12,070
   
You might be fine, I live in PA so they probably thought they would make it here today but not soon enough to sort for delivery, and based on your delivery date I'm guessing you're out west somewhere so they're probably more accurate about that since it'll be in transit a while.
 
Are you taking off work to sign for it or just coincidentally?  If you sign up for a UPS account you can authorize them to deliver without signature.  Unless it's a matter of you living in an apartment where they won't drop stuff off unless you can pick it up in person.

 
Ha, no, I live like 20 minutes away from Matt who already has his.  Mine are being picked up from Massdrop today though, I was part of the unfortunate 5-10% who didn't make it out of the warehouse on Friday.
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 3:51 PM Post #1,825 of 12,070
   
What amp are you currently using and what's the bass boost step like? I love me a good analog bass boost!

 
Oh I just use a Fiio E10K and it has a one step on/off bass boost switch.  It's nice for when I turn on the turn off Rock and turn on the Electronica.   Maybe + 3db or so?  Not sure exactly.  I feel like the boost is well controlled.
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 3:51 PM Post #1,826 of 12,070
   
You might be fine, I live in PA so they probably thought they would make it here today but not soon enough to sort for delivery, and based on your delivery date I'm guessing you're out west somewhere so they're probably more accurate about that since it'll be in transit a while.
 
Are you taking off work to sign for it or just coincidentally?  If you sign up for a UPS account you can authorize them to deliver without signature.  Unless it's a matter of you living in an apartment where they won't drop stuff off unless you can pick it up in person.


I have vacation days I have to use before the end of the year, so I decided to just go ahead and take one to pick it up and just have a day to chill out, take pictures of it, write some notes, post some impressions and just nerd out.  Planning on doing several reviews/comparisons.  Grace M9XX and HE400i just passed the 150 burn in mark (50 hours of brain burn in).  
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 4:56 PM Post #1,828 of 12,070
Mine too says stuck en route to distribution centre since 4 Dec. What is going on with DHL. So annoying ... Surely it can't take that long to get there. They are a courier company and its their job to get things to people quickly ... :/

Anybody checked NJ news to see if a DHL truck was hijacked on Friday?!
 
Dec 7, 2015 at 5:01 PM Post #1,829 of 12,070
  what about the midrange.... If it doesn't have  full mids then I am no longer interested. 

 


 
   
I also hope that the mids are not too recessed...

 
 
They sound neutral to me. The mids are very lovely listening to Ana Caram (Brazlian jazz singer). It seems like the headphones are versatile so the vocals came forward on the Jazz or acoustic music and my more base heavy or rhythmic music the drums or baseline shined. Honestly, it is making me say to myself 'sssssshhhhh&*(&tttt' listening to my 70's funk and R&B yet I felt relaxed and mellow listening to vocal jazz. I have Alpha Prime, have heard and loved the LCD-3 and LCD-4 (but didn't buy because of $) and I am really happy with the TH-X00. At the risk of sounding like a fan girl (when I am 52) I may just put a play list on here of what I am listening to because I have not had so much fun bopping my head while working. As much as I liked the more expensive headphones there is something about these that dig deep into the rhythms and melodic sounds that is really connecting with me. :) I have the Chord Mojo and it is fantastic! I love all kinds of music and was sampling jazz, classical, world, dance etc earlier but I am still in my collection of 70's music (funk, R&B, soul, disco) for the past few hours.  If anyone is interested, I can post my playlist of classics. I know some people think that music is lame but the list is NOT what you would hear on TV compilations.  :)
 
 
 
   
Yes pics or it didn't happen. Start snappin. 
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Dec 7, 2015 at 5:01 PM Post #1,830 of 12,070
Quote:
Mine too says stuck en route to distribution centre since 4 Dec. What is going on with DHL. So annoying ... Surely it can't take that long to get there. They are a courier company and its their job to get things to people quickly ... :/


You're lucky, this is my shipping update at DHL since Saturday ...:
 
 

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