[HelloHell]

Hi,
 
I just come across this picture of a yet-to-be-released Fostex headphones today from a Japanese website.
http://av.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20091102_326095.html
 
The headband structure looks quite similar to Denon D7000's and the wood cups have a special touch that resembles W2002 or W11jpn from Audio-Technica, which looks really sexy to me. From the latest Head-Fi TV episode Jude mentioned that it will be shown during CanJam. Any thoughts on those new cans from Fostex?
 
Update 1: product page released by Fostex: http://www.fostex.jp/news/199 The headphones are officially named as Fostex TH900. The page is translatable by Google Chrome.
 

 

[rhythmdevils]

My only thought is that they aren't planar magnetics which is quite baffling.  Since Fostex made the Denon woodies, I imagine them sounding similar. 

 

[dyl1dyl]

Looks interesting, but I doubt they will be competetive with the current flagships.

 

[tk3]

How can you tell that they're not planars?
 
As for the article, it mentions that they are planned for next year's spring, price is estimated to be 100.000 yen.
It also mentions that it uses cherry tree wood for the housing, and 2 kinds of black lacquer are used that give the wood a reddish tint.
The wooden cups are supposed beneficial towards the sound as well.
 
Personally I think they are quite interesting, only thing that worries me is that the pads' depth look rather shallow so I fear your ears will be resting against the driver covering, which is never a good thing.
 
Quote:

My only thought is that they aren't planar magnetics which is quite baffling.  Since Fostex made the Denon woodies, I imagine them sounding similar. 

 

 

[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

Looks interesting, but I doubt they will be competetive with the current flagships.

Well if you consider the D7000 a flagship then there's lots of reason to believe they will be, because foxtex made the D7000 and these look at least similar.  I bet they'll beat the Denons considering the high end headphone amps Fostex has been releasing lately.  Their ipod amp is possibly the most "advanced" portable amp on the market. 
 
Quote:

How can you tell that they're not planars? 

 

Jude said they were dynamics in his RMAF TV episode.  At least that's what I remember...
 

 

[wnmnkh]

Fostex made all of Denon headphones, not just D7000.
 
They have been OEM for pretty much all audio companies. It will be interesting if they begin to sell more of their products directly to people.

 

[arnaud]

Per sasaki, they're not ortho ( I was surprised too ) but an attempt at catching up with high end electodynamics. Will probably have more to report after the Tokyo fall headphone festival in couple of weeks...

 

[wind016]

They look glorious and I had no idea Fostex made the Denons. They're not having some crazy idea like trying to trump their own creation, right?
 
When can I order?

 

[HelloHell]

If I remembered correctly, Fostex is going to release this flagship product in Spring, 2012. Don't quote me on it though. Also 2 variations will be released, one being reddish (the one shown in the picture) while the other one having woody cups with black paint. Don't know if they meant one product with 2 colors, or 2 different models with different color scheme (sort of like Fostex' own D5000 and D7000).

 

[rhythmdevils]

Is electodynamic just a fancy name for the kind of dynamic transducer that most headphones use, ala Beyerdynamic?

 

[SP Wild]

Hey going by the pictures, it seems like they made the volume of the cups bigger than on the D7000.  I always suspected that the D7000 was overdamped by their cups, which seem too small for the amount of air they move (the sound they make is similar to subs in too small a sealed box - from the days I tried to make a subwoofer that actually works and I can afford).  I always wanted to "port" the D7000s cups so that the driver could "breathe" better as I felts this was the issue with the D7000 midrange - as for the sibilance, I have no idea how they will address that, I could never quite EQ that out.
 
Quote:

Is electodynamic just a fancy name for the kind of dynamic transducer that most headphones use, ala Beyerdynamic?

Yes it is.
 
 

 

[brat]

Since Sennheiser made HD800 everyone attacks the $1000 mark. Now Fostex.
Sorry for your wallet.

 

[arnaud]

Quote:

Is electodynamic just a fancy name for the kind of dynamic transducer that most headphones use, ala Beyerdynamic?

Didn't mean to use a "fancy name". Since Fostex is famous for their ortho-dynamic transducers, I referred to the proper terminology (with a spelling mistake though sorry electro-dynamic, indeed commonly referred as simply "dynamic") because I thought "dynamic" was misleading...
 
I was surprised to hear that fostex designed the whole headphone for Denon's recent D series, is that a fact or implied because the drivers are from fostex?

 

[SP Wild]

Quote:

 
I was surprised to hear that fostex designed the whole headphone for Denon's recent D series, is that a fact or implied because the drivers are from fostex?

Its actual fact.  That new Fostex headphone looks exactly the same as the D series - the only different part I can see is the cup and the A arm hinge mount.
 
Speaking of which, in fact the D7000 came out before the HD800 in the 1K category.  No one seems to give credit to the D7000, but if you play around with a good EQ and tame the D7000 bass, it actually comes very close to HD800 levels of overall transparency and detail retrieval.  So Fostex can play with the big boys - they do so already with a 75 dollar can that people mod around here.  I am really impressed by Fostex and would definitely purchase their portable amp if the need for porta-phile rears its ugly heads.

 

[Currawong]

I don't have the link handy, but there's a page showing the OEM versions of the Denon D2000 and D5000 on the Fostex site.