[OldDude04]

Can your friend do custom 3D cuts. My logo as a grill would be dope I love my Phantoms

I don't really know the guy, seems like a good dude. I just saw him post his pic in the M1060C thread, and someone else suggested he make some for the Phantoms. I immediately said I'd buy a pair if he did. He then asked if anyone had measurements on the grill and I told him I'd take some today. I popped a grill off this morning and PM'ed him the specs. I don't know if he's down to do them or not yet, but his name is @LUCILLE667 if you want to hit him up. That logo would be dope on a grill man.


As for how I feel about the Phantoms, I'll just copy a post I made a couple days ago in the Audio Lounge thread:

My new planar magnetic headphones came in yesterday. And I'm sad to say that my heavily modded M1060's have finally been dethroned as my favorite headphone. I bought a set of THESE, the Thieaudio Phantom. They did what several Audeze, HiFiMan, Verum, and MrSpeakers planar sets could not do, they made me look at my M1060 as something less than. I'd honestly started to believe that there wasn't anything that was better suited to me, that I was just a modded M1060 kind of guy. However the Phantoms are fantastic and have incredible synergy with my Emotiva stack. The bass is deep and clean with no bleed, the mids are rich but not too in your face and the treble is crisp and it reaches way up high. But the star of the Phantom show is the crazy stage. I was listening to Aloe Blacc's "I Need A Dollar" and I was in heaven with both the width and depth of field. The height could be slightly better, but that is just nitpicking. It's as close to listening to a nice 2 channel speaker setup in a headphone I've ever heard. If I'd paid Audeze money or MrSpeakers money for these, I'd still say they were worth it hands down, at $350 they can't be touched imo. The pair I got were slightly modded by removing the foam over the driver on the earpad side. They also came with a set of fenestrated Brainwavz XL pads on, but after trying them, as well as both pairs of stock pads and some Audeze vegans, I stuck with the vegans. I would say I'm making it official that I'm done with my desktop setup (I'll still play the IEM / DAP / Cable roulette game I'm sure, lol). Ok, I'm done gushing, here are a couple pics:

 

[bagwell359]

I read that the Hifiman HE-4XX had single sided magnets and in this forum post it was said that it was due to keeping price down which I have no clue if that is true or not .

But in the description of the thieaudio phantom it stated it was German made double sided magnets .

I've had an electrostatic since the 70s but have only had the HE-400 and the HE-4XX Planars so I'm trying to find the next step up .

I really liked the HE-500 but if I buy one and it fails I'm out $400 because Hifiman does not make replacement driver's so I'm really looking for a reasonable replacement.

I don't know if the HE-500 is a single or double sided magnet ....

So I'm really kind of new to Planars.

The HE-500 is built like a tank. They don't fail. That being said these seem interesting.

 

[bagwell359]

I removed just alittle of the pad and saw why the center of the earcup was so spongy. Being that I have 3 day weekend i'll mess around with it. If the foam is glued in I'm not messing with until someone else does. I like this headphone too much to damage it and $349 is a lot money. That's money well spent.

People who are thinking about this headphone I can say it's not laid back like my He1000 v2. It doesn't hurt your eardrums, but boy it can get loud.
Right now I'm only listening to EDM off iTunes later on I'll on some DSD of Nora Jones using foobar. I've got a bunch of flac I'll throw at it as well.
So more to come.

Why is the earcup spongy? Didn't get that...


Reddit is more arch/critical in analysis than what is written here. Amazon has two worshipful reviews. But the Reddit guy threw enough shade - that it certainly is going to hold my hand until we have more data. Came across a freq chart, which showed them pretty strong to 35 Hz, but elevated from 4-6k, after a dip centered at 2 KHz.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

Why is the earcup spongy? Didn't get that...


Reddit is more arch/critical in analysis than what is written here. Amazon has two worshipful reviews. But the Reddit guy threw enough shade - that it certainly is going to hold my hand until we have more data. Came across a freq chart, which showed them pretty strong to 35 Hz, but elevated from 4-6k, after a dip centered at 2 KHz.

You know a town named Needham?

Anyway, did an O.C.D review with songs and time stamps compared with $600 Sendy and these were better in comfort, detail but not build. I watched reddit and a lot of folks loved em ( paying folks) then I saw Z's forum and most viewed headphone thread in their own forum was Phantom. (Before Z reviewed). A guy who loathes me and has said so publicly trashes them and calls them hype....lets wait just a sec..
Those stoked owners were driving the train. There had been only 1 review. Me. The rest were owners. That's hype?
No the Radstone HE100 with a thread of blog reviewers vouching for them along with a guy from Harman ...that is hype ( old Head-Fi style anyway) When 99% of the "Push" is paying owners...that's a good set.

Love my set I listen to music though so........

 

[bagwell359]

You know a town named Needham?

Anyway, did an O.C.D review with songs and time stamps compared with $600 Sendy and these were better in comfort, detail but not build. I watched reddit and a lot of folks loved em ( paying folks) then I saw Z's forum and most viewed headphone thread in their own forum was Phantom. (Before Z reviewed). A guy who loathes me and has said so publicly trashes them and calls them hype....lets wait just a sec..
Those stoked owners were driving the train. There had been only 1 review. Me. The rest were owners. That's hype?
No the Radstone HE100 with a thread of blog reviewers vouching for them along with a guy from Harman ...that is hype ( old Head-Fi style anyway) When 99% of the "Push" is paying owners...that's a good set.

Love my set I listen to music though so........

Needham is about 25 miles South of me.

My general point is that they are new, and all reviews - negative or poistive ought to be taken with a grain until they get heard directly by oneself or someone you trust/agree with. The idea of a can at $350, now $399 that can punch much higher is always going to be seductive.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

Needham is about 25 miles South of me.

My general point is that they are new, and all reviews - negative or poistive ought to be taken with a grain until they get heard directly by oneself or someone you trust/agree with. The idea of a can at $350, now $399 that can punch much higher is always going to be seductive.

I got family there

And...agreed.

 

[Lohb]

Getting in the Phantoms this afternoon...going to get reading on mods, but any consensus emerging on the best earpads ?

 

[OldDude04]

Getting in the Phantoms this afternoon...going to get reading on mods, but any consensus emerging on the best earpads ?

I've ended up on Audeze Vegans. Super comfortable, and I think they sound better with an angled pad.

 

[Lohb]

I've ended up on Audeze Vegans. Super comfortable, and I think they sound better with an angled pad.

Nice. If you get a chance....I wonder...if you slightly break the seal on the pads around your head does the bass elevate or recess ?
It can go both ways with various brands of planars I think.

 

[OldDude04]

Nice. If you get a chance....I wonder...if you slightly break the seal on the pads around your head does the bass elevate or recess ?
It can go both ways with various brands of planars I think.

I'll give it a go in about an hour and I'll post back up after.

 

[maxxevv]

Will anyone print the metal grill? Looks like first mod I want to do, but I still want protection.

If anyone can upload the dimensions, its not at all difficult to do a laser cut stainless steel / aluminium piece.

I did that with my HE4XX anyway.

 

[OldDude04]

Nice. If you get a chance....I wonder...if you slightly break the seal on the pads around your head does the bass elevate or recess ?
It can go both ways with various brands of planars I think.

I tried with a few songs and breaking the seal didn't lessen or increase the bass, but it did introduce distortion to the low end. Made it go from sounding great to sounding a little flabby.

 

[Bonddam]

If anyone can upload the dimensions, its not at all difficult to do a laser cut stainless steel / aluminium piece.

I did that with my HE4XX anyway.

I’d buy from you.

 

[AJCxZ0]

If anyone can upload the dimensions, its not at all difficult to do a laser cut stainless steel / aluminium piece.

I hope the slight parallax, inconsistent positioning, ancient unit and reflection doesn't prevent this being a useful measurement of the cup, grill and screw dimensions.

I did that with my HE4XX anyway.

Nice job. While I like the grill on my HE400i, I am interested in options for a more open and attractive gill for my Phantom.

 

[OldDude04]

I took the grill out and measured for another HeadFier a couple days ago. Here is what I got:

The Diameter of the grill is 3 13/16.

The distance between the center of the screw holes diagonally is 3 5/8.

The distance between the center of the screw holes horizontally and vertically is 2 9/16.

The thickness of the metal grill is 1/32. However, there is room to double the thickness and still remain flush.