keanex
Keeper of The All-New Headphone Buyer's Guide
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
- Posts
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- 727
The Good: Price/Quality ratio; Comfort; Bass quality/quantity; Musicality; Imaging.
The Bad: Requires a powerful amplifier.
Tonal Balance: V-Shaped
Style: Circumaural semi-open.
Cost: $250 at Cascadia Audio
I’ve had them for about three months or so and have used them exclusively for music and gaming - primarily Overwatch. I have used these long enough to have an informed opinion on them, but reviews are always subjective. Personal experience always trumps reviews!
Thanks Mad Economist for the opportunity to “beta” test these and purchase them!
The Talos are a modded T50rp MK3, but the mods are centered around comfort, sound, and aesthetics, no structural changes have been made that would affect the durability of a stock T50rp. Overall I feel the T50rp are a solidly built headphone with no concerns of durability for long-term use, this has been shown time and time again in the many other T50rp mods.
Comfort
Oh man the Brainwavz Hybrid pads are comfy! The leather comfort strap relieves the downward pressure and does a good job dispersing the weight as well. They never disappear from the head, they’ve got a little bit of heft to them, but they are comfy to wear for hours! The pads remind me of the DT770 Pro 80 for what it’s worth - super soft and comfy.
Oh man the lows kick. Digging incredibly deep and providing an authoritative rumble in the sub-bass. I’m a huge fan of how powerful the sub-bass is while also being controlled very well, no noticeable midrange bleed at all. The sub-bass lingers slightly, but not to the point of slowing down the pace of quick electronic tracks. The bass has a tendency to push itself to the forefront of the soundstage, though the fantastic imaging qualities keeps the instruments in their own space.
The mid-bass is tight and punchy, not as prominent as the sub-bass and I appreciate that as mid-bass bloom distracts from the midrange. The punch of the mid-bass gives the Talos a very lively and exciting sound. No midrange bleed at all.
The bass is powerful and tastefully so, very few headphones compete with the quality in the low-end in my experience. The low-end is reminiscent of the ZMF Blackwood for reference.
Mids & Highs
The midrange has a similar texture that can be heard in the Vibro, Blackwood, or Omni. A slightly smokey pleasing texture that’s neither highly resolving, or veiled. It sounds slightly smoothed over in a pleasing way and it seems to be unavoidable with this driver for better or worse. The midrange has a noticeable dip, yup these are definitely v-shaped, but the midrange isn’t drowned out.
The highs are bright and are as forward as the bass. They push the limit of what I consider to be acceptable brightness before becoming fatiguing or grating. No doubt some people are going to find these too bright, but I find them less bright than the DT990 for reference. Mild grain, but the highs sparkle and add to the excitement of the tuning.
Soundstage
The soundstage feels like an intimate club with great speaker placement. There’s a sense of air though that keeps them from feeling boxed in though. Imaging is fantastic, I have absolutely no issues using them for enemy placement in Overwatch, and left/right pans in music dance across soundstage accurately. Instruments also have hard defined edges between them, I’ve had no issues with instrument bleed at all, which gives each instrument it’s own space.
The Bad: Requires a powerful amplifier.
Tonal Balance: V-Shaped
Style: Circumaural semi-open.
Cost: $250 at Cascadia Audio
Reviewing Process & Background
I knew Mad Economist as a fellow mod on Reddit’s /r/headphones community. A while back he had mentioned that he was working on a Fostex T50 mod and asked if I’d like to hear it when he finished the tuning, and enthusiastically I agreed. After some time I finally received a prototype, a standard T50 shell with the tuning applied inside. I gave them a listen for an hour and sent him a payment via PayPal to buy the first pair, I wasn’t letting these go!I’ve had them for about three months or so and have used them exclusively for music and gaming - primarily Overwatch. I have used these long enough to have an informed opinion on them, but reviews are always subjective. Personal experience always trumps reviews!
Thanks Mad Economist for the opportunity to “beta” test these and purchase them!
Build & Fit
BuildThe Talos are a modded T50rp MK3, but the mods are centered around comfort, sound, and aesthetics, no structural changes have been made that would affect the durability of a stock T50rp. Overall I feel the T50rp are a solidly built headphone with no concerns of durability for long-term use, this has been shown time and time again in the many other T50rp mods.
Comfort
Oh man the Brainwavz Hybrid pads are comfy! The leather comfort strap relieves the downward pressure and does a good job dispersing the weight as well. They never disappear from the head, they’ve got a little bit of heft to them, but they are comfy to wear for hours! The pads remind me of the DT770 Pro 80 for what it’s worth - super soft and comfy.
Sound Quality
BassOh man the lows kick. Digging incredibly deep and providing an authoritative rumble in the sub-bass. I’m a huge fan of how powerful the sub-bass is while also being controlled very well, no noticeable midrange bleed at all. The sub-bass lingers slightly, but not to the point of slowing down the pace of quick electronic tracks. The bass has a tendency to push itself to the forefront of the soundstage, though the fantastic imaging qualities keeps the instruments in their own space.
The mid-bass is tight and punchy, not as prominent as the sub-bass and I appreciate that as mid-bass bloom distracts from the midrange. The punch of the mid-bass gives the Talos a very lively and exciting sound. No midrange bleed at all.
The bass is powerful and tastefully so, very few headphones compete with the quality in the low-end in my experience. The low-end is reminiscent of the ZMF Blackwood for reference.
Mids & Highs
The midrange has a similar texture that can be heard in the Vibro, Blackwood, or Omni. A slightly smokey pleasing texture that’s neither highly resolving, or veiled. It sounds slightly smoothed over in a pleasing way and it seems to be unavoidable with this driver for better or worse. The midrange has a noticeable dip, yup these are definitely v-shaped, but the midrange isn’t drowned out.
The highs are bright and are as forward as the bass. They push the limit of what I consider to be acceptable brightness before becoming fatiguing or grating. No doubt some people are going to find these too bright, but I find them less bright than the DT990 for reference. Mild grain, but the highs sparkle and add to the excitement of the tuning.
Soundstage
The soundstage feels like an intimate club with great speaker placement. There’s a sense of air though that keeps them from feeling boxed in though. Imaging is fantastic, I have absolutely no issues using them for enemy placement in Overwatch, and left/right pans in music dance across soundstage accurately. Instruments also have hard defined edges between them, I’ve had no issues with instrument bleed at all, which gives each instrument it’s own space.
