[VRacer-111]

Also a direct question for VRacer, you mentioned that the bass was reduced on the suede Ori pad vs. the leather version. Was this comparison made using the same half-moon attenuation rings that I saw you post about at one point or did you increase the coverage of the ring to try and compensate for the loss of bass?

I also have a couple of questions on pad materials that I haven't found solid answers on. I have never actually tried a genuine leather earpad so how does it compare pleather and microsuede? Given how much I hate pleather I don't feel super confident blindly getting a $60-$70 leather earpad. Does leather actually breathe better than pleather? I don't like sweaty ears. I also don't like the sealed resonance that pleather pads have, where all exterior sounds have that boomy quality. How is leather compared in that respect? And lastly, I wear glasses so pleather pads "fart" excessively when they shift on my glasses. Hopefully you know the sounds I'm talking about. Does leather do this too?

The attenuator rings were the same for both headphones, copied directly from the first set to make the second set of attenuators, so there was no change in size or shape.

Leather does breathe and feel better than pleather, but still not as breatheable as microfiber or Alcantara - ears will still be a little 'sweaty' but not 'pleather sweaty'. Alcantara is probably the best material I've come across for comfort in pads, it really does a great job for comfort. Thing is, with the TH-X00 the leather pads seem to sound the best to me, more open and breathable pads just don't sound the same because they simply lack the subbass experience you get with the leather pads. There are some pads I want to try out now from Yaxi since I love what their pad for the Koss Porta Pro does and would be willing to take a chance on them. They have both leather and Alcantara hybrid versions, so might as well get both...

https://www.yaxi.jp/product-gallery/th900-610/

I wear thin frame glasses and have not really experienced any differences in rubbing sounds between pads I've tried. I often try to listen without my glasses to since I'm near sighted and generally don't need them for seeing anything within arms reach.

 

[SilverEars]

I wonder if there is velour out there? Lately, I've been liking what velour does to sounds.

Is the attenuation ring required? Or is it just necessary if you have a circular open instead of the stock oval? What happens if you open up the pads to be circular instead of oval?

Those attachment rings get pretty expensive with shipping. Is there cheaper way to attaining them?

 

[theangelboy]

The attenuator rings were the same for both headphones, copied directly from the first set to make the second set of attenuators, so there was no change in size or shape.

Leather does breathe and feel better than pleather, but still not as breatheable as microfiber or Alcantara - ears will still be a little 'sweaty' but not 'pleather sweaty'. Alcantara is probably the best material I've come across for comfort in pads, it really does a great job for comfort. Thing is, with the TH-X00 the leather pads seem to sound the best to me, more open and breathable pads just don't sound the same because they simply lack the subbass experience you get with the leather pads. There are some pads I want to try out now from Yaxi since I love what their pad for the Koss Porta Pro does and would be willing to take a chance on them. They have both leather and Alcantara hybrid versions, so might as well get both...

https://www.yaxi.jp/product-gallery/th900-610/

I wear thin frame glasses and have not really experienced any differences in rubbing sounds between pads I've tried. I often try to listen without my glasses to since I'm near sighted and generally don't need them for seeing anything within arms reach.

Thank you very much for the detailed response! I really appreciate the info on pad materials. It sounds like I won't be able to have my cake and eat it too when it comes to pads for this headphone. I'll either get the bass or the comfort of suede but not both. I guess I could always get both versions of the Ori and just sell the one I like the least. ZMF pads seem to have a pretty healthy resale value.

Those Yaxi pads look promising and are cheaper than ZMF pads but I wonder if the increased treble would be too much on a Purpleheart. Definitely something to consider, though.

 

[Purplezorz]

I finally got my hands on a TR-X00 Purpleheart this past week. My Lawton driver dampening mod should be here tomorrow. Overall I'm liking the sound (especially dat BASS! ) although they do sound a little congested to me (my Elear with Elex pads has spoiled me, I think) but I'm guessing that the Lawton mod should improve that. The two major things that I dislike are the stock cable and ear pads. The cable has the single worst microphonics I have ever heard on a headphone cable. I'm really glad that I didn't get the TH version and be stuck with that noisy cable. I got a third party Sennheiser cable but the pins are further apart than they are supposed to be, and while it works, it makes me worried that it will damage the cup connector over time. So I'm still looking for the decent cable on the cheap (<$50). I don't really want to fork over $100+ for a custom cable. However, the cable is much less of a problem compared to the pads.

The pads have two problems: material and comfort. Comfort-wise I can only wear them for a few hours before my ears start to hurt; the ear holes are too small and the foam is too hard. As for material, I absolutely loathe pleather. If you look at my headphone stable I have swapped out every pleather pad for some form of velour or microsuede pad. So the pleather pad material needs to go. I knew going in that this wasn't a headphone that I could slap a velour pad on and call it a day since I wanted to maintain the bass. I can confirm that after doing some basic pad rolling that velour or hybrid changes this headphone into a super V-shaped mess (with attenuation rings) or puts it in treble hell (without the rings). Microsuede would be my first choice of material (the now-extinct Audeze Vegans are my ideal pad in terms of comfort) but I'm considering genuine leather since I'm slightly apprehensive about the suede pads losing all of that wonderful bass.

ZMF and Brainwavz both now have microsuede options, although the Brainwavz pads only come in flat varieties and after previously mentioned pad rolling I did it seems that this headphone does benefit quite a bit from angled pads (if anyone has tried those Brainwavz pads I would love to hear what you think). That leaves the ZMF Ori or Eikon. The ZMF Ori seems like it would be the best physical fit for the Purplehearts since it has a very similar diameter to the stock pads but I have seen some say that the Eikon pad has a better sound signature than the Ori pad on the Fostex but the looseness of the fit worries me a little. I don't want my pads sliding off.

The venerable @VRacer-111 did a nice pad comparison that included both the sheepskin and suede versions of the Ori pad on the TH-X00 but I haven't seen any detailed posts directly comparing both the Ori and the Eikon pads on the Fostex. Any help on that comparison would be pretty helpful. Also a direct question for VRacer, you mentioned that the bass was reduced on the suede Ori pad vs. the leather version. Was this comparison made using the same half-moon attenuation rings that I saw you post about at one point or did you increase the coverage of the ring to try and compensate for the loss of bass?

I also have a couple of questions on pad materials that I haven't found solid answers on. I have never actually tried a genuine leather earpad so how does it compare pleather and microsuede? Given how much I hate pleather I don't feel super confident blindly getting a $60-$70 leather earpad. Does leather actually breathe better than pleather? I don't like sweaty ears. I also don't like the sealed resonance that pleather pads have, where all exterior sounds have that boomy quality. How is leather compared in that respect? And lastly, I wear glasses so pleather pads "fart" excessively when they shift on my glasses. Hopefully you know the sounds I'm talking about. Does leather do this too?

TL;DR version:
Need better pads, debating between the Ori and Eikon pads (suede versions, probably) and would appreciate some comparisons (both fit and sound), preferably on a Purpleheart.
Also how do genuine leather earpads compare to pleather ones in terms of breathability, sealed resonance, and "fart" noise factor?
Bonus question: <$50 cable recommendations for TR-X00, 5-8 ft length.
Double bonus question: Sound impressions of the new Brainwavz microsuede pads on the TH-X00.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Have you tried the Dekoni hybrid pads? They have a better seal and have more comfort as velour is touching your face which also means no sweaty pads.

I feel like you have more sensitive ears than mine, but any differences I heard between the sound of the original pads and these are negligible. I use EQ to pull back the bass (-3db around 62hz) and midbass (-2db around 125 hz), but 95% of my listening is bass heavy music and feel with normal music the reduction doesn't really yield any benefit. This is with the stock and Dekoni pads.

So, in conclusion, I highly recommend them, but of course, YMMV.

 

[theangelboy]

Have you tried the Dekoni hybrid pads? They have a better seal and have more comfort as velour is touching your face which also means no sweaty pads.

I feel like you have more sensitive ears than mine, but any differences I heard between the sound of the original pads and these are negligible. I use EQ to pull back the bass (-3db around 62hz) and midbass (-2db around 125 hz), but 95% of my listening is bass heavy music and feel with normal music the reduction doesn't really yield any benefit. This is with the stock and Dekoni pads.

So, in conclusion, I highly recommend them, but of course, YMMV.

I did consider Dekoni but I read somewhere that their ear hole openings are even smaller than stock pads and the stock pads already give me issue with not being roomy enough. With the softer foam and such it might not bother me as much but I don't know if it's worth the risk. However, if Massdrop does another drop for them soon I might bite.

 

[Purplezorz]

I did consider Dekoni but I read somewhere that their ear hole openings are even smaller than stock pads and the stock pads already give me issue with not being roomy enough. With the softer foam and such it might not bother me as much but I don't know if it's worth the risk. However, if Massdrop does another drop for them soon I might bite.

The pads overall are bigger and deeper, but I believe the ear hole size itself is the same, as opposed to being smaller.

Unfortunately, I have relatively normal sized ears and my experience is that even though the top and bottom of my ears brush the boundaries of the ear cups, they're so comfy I've never felt it as an issue.

If a bigger ear hole size is what you want, you're gonna have to look elsewhere and consider those ZMF or...I've suddenly gone blank on the other popular brand...but yeah, try other brands - but I will still recommend this otherwise if you haven't tried it. I feel like the weird weight distribution issue that the can has is gone also.

Good luck man!

 

[SonyFan121]

So out of curiosity, I decided to swap the cups of my Denon AH-D5000 and Fostex TH-X00 Purpleheart. I was just curious to hear the differences to the sound. I'm glad I did because I prefer the resulting sound of the TH-X00 Purpleheart headphones with Denon AH-D5000 Mahogany cups compared to the Purpleheart cups. The sound signature is allot more natural, warmer, and the bass is tamed. The high's/treble has just the same level of detail though slightly more accurate and less bright, it's more natural. Imaging has improved also. Overall,- an improvement in all areas of sound quality except soundstage, which remains the same. And a warmer, more natural sound signature.
I haven't heard any of the other Fostex Massdrop headphones but wouldn't be surprised if this TH-X00 with Denon Mahogany cups sounds the most natural of them all.

I think there's definitely something special about the warm, natural sound that the Denon Mahogany cups resonate. I spent years trying to figure out what it is, I came to the conclusion that it was most likely because of the lacquer they used on the inside of the cups, and how smooth it makes them. There is no lacquer applied to the inside of the Purpleheart cups and it's rougher, not smooth.

 

[Pahani]

Ah, thanks for your impressions! Though not for me and my purposes with my X00, others here may find it useful.

In my case, I already have a standout neutral/natural setup with my Stax. My X00 PH's are expressly as a counterpart...NOT neutral, strictly for fun.

 

[Carlsan]

Question for those of you in the know, are the Ebony's still being produced? I didn't see them in the latest go around at Massdrop.

 

[cathee]

Question for those of you in the know, are the Ebony's still being produced? I didn't see them in the latest go around at Massdrop.

When the TH-X00 series was originally released on MD (before the removeable cable upgrade) I vaguely remember reading each different wood varient was made in limited amounts with the Ebonys being the most limited. So if I had to guess they're probably sold out.

 

[theangelboy]

Okay, I'm going to need the help of some Fostex experts. I have a TR-X00 Purpleheart and I, rather stupidly, thought I would replace the stock headband padding with one that actually had padding. I starting removing the screws for the slide cover. The first one came out just fine, although it was tight. I tried the second one and I thought it was turning. After a couple of turns I looked to see how it was doing. It was totally stripped! I have never had a screw strip that fast or with that little effort. Well, now I really needed to get the screw out and replace it so they wouldn't void my warranty if I had to send it in. I tried lots of different methods, and, long story short, I finally got it out with a broken EZ-Out (a non-broken one didn't have the gripping power to get it out since the freaking screw was so soft). After all that I found out that the headband padding is glued to the slider cover.

Anyway, now I have it out I need to go about finding a replacement. I went on Full Compass and found this screw (https://www.fullcompass.com/prod/513200-fostex-8204552287-m2x3-screw-for-th-900) for a TH-900 slide cover. However, it's listed for a TH-900 and not a 600/610/X00. It looks similar but I don't know for sure. I would hate to spend $2 on a screw that doesn't work. Does anyone know if the TH-900 and X00 use the same screws and headband assembly? Here is a picture of the one I managed to get out and the slider cover it came out of. Sorry the picture isn't closer, that's as close as my phone would focus.


Any advice on whether or not a TH-900 headband slider cover screw would work for a TR-X00 would be sincerely appreciated! Thanks in advance!

And in case you are wondering I have since given up my ideas of making custom headband padding. I will just buy one of those headband pads that Beyerdynamic headphones use or a pilot pad.

 

[Whitigir]

What you want is a Sugru and vice grip it for 24 hours, applied sugru in black and made a hole in the middle.

Then tomorrow come, try to screw it in bu the hole wit some forces

Just thinking out loud

 

[theangelboy]

What you want is a Sugru and vice grip it for 24 hours, applied sugru in black and made a hole in the middle.

Then tomorrow come, try to screw it in bu the hole wit some forces

Just thinking out loud

Thanks for the reply. However, I did manage to get the screw out, I just need to know if the TH-900 headband slider screw on Full Compass is compatible with my Purpleheart. I should have been more clear what advice I needed in my post. I will edit it so it makes more sense.

 

[nicholars]

What do you think about Brainwavz angled sheepskin pads + custom attenuator + lawton mod on drivers?

Would this be a big improvement over the stock X00 mahogany?

I do not want any more treble or sibilance, I would like bigger soundstage, smoother / more detailed treble, cleaner bass.

Do you think this would be a good idea?

BTW I know you might recommend Ori pads, but they are 80 vs 40 for the Brainwavz, would both be an improvement over the stock pads?

Thanks.

 

[nicholars]

Thank you very much for the detailed response! I really appreciate the info on pad materials. It sounds like I won't be able to have my cake and eat it too when it comes to pads for this headphone. I'll either get the bass or the comfort of suede but not both. I guess I could always get both versions of the Ori and just sell the one I like the least. ZMF pads seem to have a pretty healthy resale value.

Those Yaxi pads look promising and are cheaper than ZMF pads but I wonder if the increased treble would be too much on a Purpleheart. Definitely something to consider, though.

What about the Dekoni elite hybrid pads? They have leather on the inside and velour on the part that touches your head, are these any good for sound?