[plakat]

Brief impression. Very airy and open sounding, vocals sounded really nice,I think bit laid back and smooth presentation. Cant say much about bass, there were no tracks with bass emphasis playing.

 
I was there too and tried the TH500 with my own gear (iPhone and CEntrance M8), so there was no lack of bass. In the tracks that is. The TH500 does not go very deep and is missing the punch I'd like to hear. I can only second what MrSpeakers had to say about them: he told me that the drivers are really not suited well for an open headphone. It was very interesting to compare them to the Alpha Dogs, which do very well in that regard.
 

   
Sounds like the opposite of the TH900, which has a V-shaped frequency response....

 
I would characterize the TH900 more as U-shaped, not classic V
 

  Yeah, they are rather flat, except for the rolled-off deep bass.  I wouldn't call them mid-forward (that is reserved for the AT-like LCD-XCs). Beats Antique, for example, comes across like it is being played through a pair of studio monitors and lacks impact, but is very smooth and non-fatiguing.
 
I'm using them mainly from a Geek Out 1000 with an Aurorasound USB PSU, which seems to be a decent match.  Unfortunately I can't modify them to run balanced, as they'd probably work well with the Centrance M8.

 
Sonic description matches my impressions quite well. I'm somewhat reminded of the drivers age hearing these... the signature is in line with that, while MrSpeakers does
quite a good job pulling them up to the present.
 
They did work nicely with the M8, though I used the unbalanced output. Not very sensitive, but middle gain setting worked for me.

 

[LFC_SL]

I was there too and tried the TH500 with my own gear (iPhone and CEntrance M8), so there was no lack of bass. In the tracks that is. The TH500 does not go very deep and is missing the punch I'd like to hear. I can only second what MrSpeakers had to say about them: he told me that the drivers are really not suited well for an open headphone. It was very interesting to compare them to the Alpha Dogs, which do very well in that regard.

Yes I immediately thought the bass was deeper and had more punch on TH600/TH900

Of course rather large caveat required it is show impressions. These things often inspire things you like and dislike. Little room for nuance

I posted my photos from the show in the meet impressions section

 

[up late]

so you compared them side by side?

 

[cute]

Just got a notice from Headphone.com, these are in stock...........order placed!

 

[up late]

congrats! let us know what you think of them.

 

[sandalaudio]

Just got mine today, so I'm doing an A/B test with my TH600. (interesting that they are almost identical price).
 
I'm driving them with a Grace m903 so it should have plenty of juice. The headband and hinge mechanism is pretty much the same as the TH600, but the TH500RP has a smaller ear cut-out for the ear pad so it feels like a nicer fit than the big circular opening on the TH600.
 
Anyway, the TH500RP is... um.. very "cozy" sounding...
The stereo imaging is fairly good and has decent depth that's comparable to the TH600. However, it just doesn't have any thump to the bass, or edginess to the treble, which TH600 has plenty of. By itself, TH500RP sounds very nice, but when compared to a modern high end headphones, many people will think there is something broken about the TH500RP. It's almost like speakers with the tweeter and the bass driver removed and just have the midrange driver playing music.
 
Interestingly the efficiency is very similar between the TH500RP and TH600. TH600 feels louder because it has more punch to the sound, but I can listen to both at the same volume setting without feeling uncomfortable.
 
Lot of reviews say this needs a lot of burn-in time, so I'll see how it develops. So far it's only good for listening to somewhat harsh, edgy recordings since it tames the music down. If I listen to a warmer recording then the whole thing sounds wooly and fuzzy.
 

 

[Defiant00]

Thanks for the impressions!

 

[RedBull]

Thanks sandalaudio.
Any comparison with t50rp or Oppo pm-1 would be nice.

 

[money4me247]

Just got mine today, so I'm doing an A/B test with my TH600. (interesting that they are almost identical price).


Anyway, the TH500RP is... um.. very "cozy" sounding...
The stereo imaging is fairly good and has decent depth that's comparable to the TH600. However, it just doesn't have any thump to the bass, or edginess to the treble, which TH600 has plenty of. By itself, TH500RP sounds very nice, but when compared to a modern high end headphones, many people will think there is something broken about the TH500RP. It's almost like speakers with the tweeter and the bass driver removed and just have the midrange driver playing music.

Lot of reviews say this needs a lot of burn-in time, so I'll see how it develops. So far it's only good for listening to somewhat harsh, edgy recordings since it tames the music down. If I listen to a warmer recording then the whole thing sounds wooly and fuzzy.

Thank you for your impressions. Perhaps you may be really used to the th600's vshaped sound signature so that is why the treble and bass appear to be lacking for you on the new ones.

 

[sandalaudio]

Thanks sandalaudio.
Any comparison with t50rp or Oppo pm-1 would be nice.

 
Sorry. I don't own either of those, although I will burn it in for a few days and compare with my T1 etc.
 
Basically the TH500RP sounds fairly similar to many of the fully open headphones like ATH-AD2000X, HD598, etc, but with more distant mid-high range and smoother low end. I find it nice and coherent but lacks the wow factor. It has less low-midrange richness compared to say HD650 or Fidelio X1.
 
I think many high end headphones nowadays have a very wide 3D projection in the midrange (good sense of space) but the bass on the other hand is pumping and "in your face" with no sense of distance. In comparison the TH500RP keeps the bass in the similar sense as the midrange, so it feels far away and diffuse, which is fine for classical music etc but may not be exciting for pop and rock type music where you would rather feel the beat and the sense of distance is not as important.
 
Interestingly it does sound a bit similar to my AKG K340 planar electrostatic and K240DF, in terms of sounding smooth and coherent but lacking punch.
 

Thank you for your impressions. Perhaps you may be really used to the th600's vshaped sound signature so that is why the treble and bass appear to be lacking for you on the new ones.

 
Yes you are absolutely right. the TH600 is particularly "V shaped" and sparkly sounding, so a direct comparison makes TH500RP feel overly tame, particularly since it's not burnt in yet.

 

[marcswede]

Thanks sandalaudio for impressions. A midcentric planar flagship (well, sort of) is a niche rather empty ATM, unless one goes searching for vintage orthos. It will be exciting to see more impressions coming in.

With midcentric cans it's often good to crank up the volume a bit to get the bass and highs out and get a full sound, as opposed to V-shaped headphones that has the loudness-button built in to their sound.

 

[plakat]

I've heard the TH500 recently (driven by an HP-A8) and was distinctly underwhelmed. Yes, it does have some kind of old touch to its sound signature -- does not match with my musical preferences at all. Especially bad was the presence of the Alpha Dog, showing what this driver is actually capable of... I think the decision to create an open design was troublesome. But of course some may still like it... I'd suggest to try it out before ordering though.

 

[sandalaudio]

  I've heard the TH500 recently (driven by an HP-A8) and was distinctly underwhelmed. Yes, it does have some kind of old touch to its sound signature -- does not match with my musical preferences at all. Especially bad was the presence of the Alpha Dog, showing what this driver is actually capable of... I think the decision to create an open design was troublesome. But of course some may still like it... I'd suggest to try it out before ordering though.

 
Yes. Underwhelmed is a good word to describe it, although it has good potential to be a unique niche headphones. If you ignore A/B comparisons with other headphones, the TH500RP does sound very natural and "nice". Very low fatigue and pleasant to listen to. Also the build quality is top notch and matches the price range.
 
Ultimately the main issue is the expensive price. I just think there are too many good competitors in the $500+ market.  If the price eventually drops down to say $300 then it will be much more favourable (think of the difference between the RRP and the actual street price of AKG headphones for example).
 
Also the brand Fostex has a good reputation as being technically excellent (they made half the world's OEM earphone drivers, including some iPod earbuds, Denon, Beats, Sennheiser, etc.. etc..) so it's surprising that they made something this "weird" in the year 2014. If this headphones was made by some niche company like Grado or Ultrasone then I'm sure I would've been less critical.

 

[cute]

Is there anyone that has heard the current production version of this headphone here in the US?

 

[up late]

great impressions sandalaudio - thx