[TWerk]

Good info, thanks for your post.

 

[WayTooCrazy]

I thought the Sony MDR-7506 are one of the "monitoring" cans. I doubt any of the TH-X00 cans would give an uncolored representation to the music you are producing.

 

[HipHopScribe]

  I've got the PH and although I didn't do a strenuous test, I gave a listen to a couple of songs to A/B them with my mahogany.  The increase in bass is noticeable and if you listen to extremely bass heavy music be prepared to amp the headphones.  I tried it through my iphone 6 and I didn't love the sound with dubstep, drum and bass or even minimal techno.  when i swapped over to my grace m9xx it sounded far better.  I am no golden ear but the increase in bass made them a bit hungrier and an unamped source cant keep up with it, making the bass sound flabby and unrefined to me.  I did really enjoy them with the m9xx.  i noticed a large bump in the upper mids in comparison to the mahogany and also a touch of sibilance that was devoid in my mahogany.  With classical or jazz I didn't notice a large difference in the sound signature of either headphone.  It was there but its not as noticeable as something like EDM or rap.  I greatly prefer the look of the PH to my mahogany, they are both very nice but that PH wood is just gorgeous.
 
In the end, I found the mahogany more to my preference as they are the flatter of the two headphones.  I am sure a great many of you will prefer the PH, but as an amateur producer I like to have the flatter cans for monitoring.  I would keep the PH for walking around in or out of the studio for some fun listening but I have some much more portable IEMs for that purpose.  Unfortuantely, I will be offloading the PHs.
 
Cheers.

 
The mahogany's are no where close to flat and therefore not really suitable for studio monitors in my opinion. These are all funs cans, not studio monitors

 

[BeardPapa]

You can use anything as a monitoring can if you know the sound and what it does to your sound.  It is all a matter of how the mix translates.  With that said, I am not a fan of the ubiquitous (and dare i say underwhelming) 7506.  I also have two pair of AKG I have used that are "flatter".  Still though, with the way I hear music and the styles I produce, I have made some great mixes on the THX00.  Any producer worth his (or her) salt will tell you to play back on multiple sources.  I have multiple studio monitors and imho the THX00 sound like headphone versions of my JBL 4328s; which I totally love.  I sold my pair of genelec 8050 because I liked the JBLs better.  So for me yes, the THX00 are perfect monitoring HP as they are the HP equivalent to my studio monitors of choice.

 

[-19db]

  I've got the PH and although I didn't do a strenuous test, I gave a listen to a couple of songs to A/B them with my mahogany.  The increase in bass is noticeable and if you listen to extremely bass heavy music be prepared to amp the headphones.  I tried it through my iphone 6 and I didn't love the sound with dubstep, drum and bass or even minimal techno.  when i swapped over to my grace m9xx it sounded far better.  I am no golden ear but the increase in bass made them a bit hungrier and an unamped source cant keep up with it, making the bass sound flabby and unrefined to me.  I did really enjoy them with the m9xx.  i noticed a large bump in the upper mids in comparison to the mahogany and also a touch of sibilance that was devoid in my mahogany.  With classical or jazz I didn't notice a large difference in the sound signature of either headphone.  It was there but its not as noticeable as something like EDM or rap.  I greatly prefer the look of the PH to my mahogany, they are both very nice but that PH wood is just gorgeous.
 
In the end, I found the mahogany more to my preference as they are the flatter of the two headphones.  I am sure a great many of you will prefer the PH, but as an amateur producer I like to have the flatter cans for monitoring.  I would keep the PH for walking around in or out of the studio for some fun listening but I have some much more portable IEMs for that purpose.  Unfortuantely, I will be offloading the PHs.
 
Cheers.

Funny, I'm getting more sibilance on my Mahogany's than my PH's.
Not sure if it's unit to unit variation or break in, although, my Mahoganies weren't sibilant when brand new either.  The additional sibilants aren't ideal, but they do help add detail to the standard Biodyna recessed mids.
Presently, my PH's do exhibit more bass but without the highs, they are less balanced than the Mahogany's.
The low end on my PH's combined with highs between them and my Mahogany's would be ideal - so I'm hoping the break in goes that way.
Good thing about Fostex driver is that the bass on the TH series doesn't color the mids.

 

[BeardPapa]

  Funny, I'm getting more sibilance on my Mahogany's than my PH's.
Not sure if it's unit to unit variation or break in, although, my Mahoganies weren't sibilant when brand new either.  The additional sibilants aren't ideal, but they do help add detail to the standard Biodyna recessed mids.
Presently, my PH's do exhibit more bass but without the highs, they are less balanced than the Mahogany's.
The low end on my PH's combined with highs between them and my Mahogany's would be ideal - so I'm hoping the break in goes that way.
Good thing about Fostex driver is that the bass on the TH series doesn't color the mids.

 
That is interesting... and a fair assessment.
My mahoganys have no sibilance even after hundreds of hours of use.  I think you are right though with some deviation in each unit.  Break-in may help with my PH.  To be fair to the PH the sibilance was mostly noted on my phone and not nearly as noticeable when amped.  I felt the highs were probably comparable with some frequencies trading spots.  However, like you said,  with that bump in bass it felt weighted and the balance definitely tipped in favour of the bass.

 

[bartlett]

  I wonder why they called the PH more V shape when it appears the treble is less than the Originals.
 
Must be rather bass heavy if it has more bass, smoother highs, and what appears to be described as recessed mids by some.

 
How would you compare the Yamaha 220s to X00s and 900s?

 

[TWerk]

It's hard for me to entirely say without a/b tests. I believe you own both the X00's and the MT220's, right?
 
What I can say is that the MT220's offer (to my ears) a rather uncolored, detailed sound. They are clean and a touch lean but not overly so. They are very balanced top to bottom. They are studio monitoring cans after all, and that's what I hear. They do offer some potent sub bass, which is enjoyable. However, there are more fun sounding headphones you can own. These are revealing in the treble and won't smooth over anything offensive.
 
The treble can be a little bit much to me at times, and as a monitoring can, it probably should.
 
I think the X00's are a little more fun. They offer more colored lush mid-range, more low end sub bass, and more rolled off highs. It's a great, fun listening headphone that I think many of us can appreciate.
 
TH900's sounded (at times) magical to my ears. Lots of detail, really great bass, and very clean sound. The highs were troublesome ultimately and were too sharp for me. I really enjoyed them for awhile, but because the treble bothered me somewhat I couldn't justify keeping them at their very high price point.
 
You have to remember, BOTH Fostex headphones are MULTIPLE times the cost of the MT220. I always keep price in mind with my purchases, and many times I just ultimately could not justify keeping headphones if they cost too much when there are much cheaper options. If the THX00 cost the same as the MT220 or close, I would choose it, but they aren't close. The MT220 performs exceptionally at its price and keeps getting better with burn in.
 
Right now, MT220 is my neutral headphone. Pro900 is my electronic and basshead can. DT770 is another enjoyable (comfortable!) V shaped can. I love my EPH-100 buds. I also have a Creative Aurvana Live, which is probably the greatest budget can out there. Warm, rich sound, and comfortable to wear. All of these together take care of me pretty well, depending on my mood, and they didn't break the bank at all... though I have an ELEAR coming soon, so we'll see if I finally find my keeper flagship with the Focal.
 
What do you think since you own the two headphones?

 

[TsKen]

  I've got the PH and although I didn't do a strenuous test, I gave a listen to a couple of songs to A/B them with my mahogany.  The increase in bass is noticeable and if you listen to extremely bass heavy music be prepared to amp the headphones.  I tried it through my iphone 6 and I didn't love the sound with dubstep, drum and bass or even minimal techno.  when i swapped over to my grace m9xx it sounded far better.  I am no golden ear but the increase in bass made them a bit hungrier and an unamped source cant keep up with it, making the bass sound flabby and unrefined to me.  I did really enjoy them with the m9xx.  i noticed a large bump in the upper mids in comparison to the mahogany and also a touch of sibilance that was devoid in my mahogany.  With classical or jazz I didn't notice a large difference in the sound signature of either headphone.  It was there but its not as noticeable as something like EDM or rap.  I greatly prefer the look of the PH to my mahogany, they are both very nice but that PH wood is just gorgeous.
 
In the end, I found the mahogany more to my preference as they are the flatter of the two headphones.  I am sure a great many of you will prefer the PH, but as an amateur producer I like to have the flatter cans for monitoring.  I would keep the PH for walking around in or out of the studio for some fun listening but I have some much more portable IEMs for that purpose.  Unfortuantely, I will be offloading the PHs.
 
Cheers.

:C I am guessing the HTC 10 won't be able to drive the fostex th-x00?
 
Someone on this thread mentioned that it could and it got my hopes up...

 

[HipHopScribe]

  :C I am guessing the HTC 10 won't be able to drive the fostex th-x00?
 
Someone on this thread mentioned that it could and it got my hopes up...

 
The LG V10 will drive them well enough. From what I know, the HTC 10 has similar power, so it should work fine. They benefit from a dedicated amp of course, but they're efficient enough that they'll still sound great from lesser sources

 

[TWerk]

My iphone and Macbook drove the original X00's just fine. They also drove the 900's too.
 
These are 25 ohm headphones, basically as low as it gets.

 

[TsKen]

   
The LG V10 will drive them well enough. From what I know, the HTC 10 has similar power, so it should work fine. They benefit from a dedicated amp of course, but they're efficient enough that they'll still sound great from lesser sources

I'm getting my PH on Wednesday, Hope I won't be missing out on too much while trying to drive it with the HTC 10.
 
I have the Valhalla 2 as well but i don't think it would work very well with the PH.
 
Does anyone have any recommendations for a portable amp/dac under $500 to drive the PH with?
 
Anyone using a portable amp/dac as well that can chip in?
 
Thanks everyone!

 

[CCXR594]

  I'm getting my PH on Wednesday, Hope I won't be missing out on too much while trying to drive it with the HTC 10.
 
I have the Valhalla 2 as well but i don't think it would work very well with the PH.
 
Does anyone have any recommendations for a portable amp/dac under $500 to drive the PH with?
 
Anyone using a portable amp/dac as well that can chip in?
 
Thanks everyone!

 
Chord Mojo is like $550 USD and is pretty much universally considered the best portable amp/dac setup, beating many desktop systems. As far as the HTC 10, pretty sure that is more powerful than my S6 Edge+, which can drive them as hard as I can take, albeit with much lower resolution and control than my modi/magni setup.

 

[Eudis]

:C I am guessing the HTC 10 won't be able to drive the fostex th-x00?

Someone on this thread mentioned that it could and it got my hopes up...

With out a doubt it will. People forget how easy to drive these headphones are. Sure they can scale a little more with power. You will get better results eqing if anything.

 

[VRacer-111]

I'm getting my PH on Wednesday, Hope I won't be missing out on too much while trying to drive it with the HTC 10.

I have the Valhalla 2 as well but i don't think it would work very well with the PH.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a portable amp/dac under $500 to drive the PH with?

Anyone using a portable amp/dac as well that can chip in?

Thanks everyone!

The Audioquest Dragonfly Red works very well with the PH's...extremely hard hitting, extending, and tight bass, mids that are very defined and clear with some nice strong presence, and highs that are likewise detailed and extremely clear, yet smooth.