[Xabanak]

It seems very clear they are simply designing a headphone that runs on board DSP they develop in-house to "emulate" other headphones. Although the app shots in the video are extremely poorly faked, and the company has basically zero presence/advertising/existence outside this video and a relatively new facebook page.

I honestly can't tell if it's a scam or if it's a scam. Someone's drastically overselling what they can pull off here, IMO.

What are your thoughts?

 

[justanut]

Their marketing:

We realized to replicate any headphone, we had to master 4 factors of Headphones we emulate:

● Frequency Response

● Dynamic Range

● Resonance character at each frequency spectrum

● Harmonic Distortion & Saturation Character across entire spectrum

Haha if that were true, any headphone can turn into any other headphone too...

 

[jjss]

That's precisely the intention of TiTum and the question is how good (or bad) they can achieve the goal. There is science behind this concept but can they implement this? Interested to know their result ..

 

[ExTubeGamer]

From their discussion section on Indiegogo:

We will have these models when shipping..

TiTum Reference UHD – This is the most flat frequency respond for people who are seeking for the most true to life sound and tonal respond.

TT 700X – Travel & Luxury Sound Reference

TT Z1RX – Premium Hi-Fi Sound with Ultra DAC Reference

TT 1770X – Studio Monitor Reference Sound

TT MOVIE ATMOS – Dolby Atmos Movie Reference

TT GAME DAC X – Gaming Reference

So it seems like a Bluetooth closed-back headphone with DSP+EQ. While not bad, this is far from emulating any headphone out there. I would not expect more then a better then average bluetooth headphone with switchable tunings.

 

[HipHopScribe]

Most likely scenario, they're just using some standard OEM headphone and have Morphit built into their app

https://www.toneboosters.com/tb_morphit_v1.html

In which case you can already poorly emulate another headphone without buying this headphone.

Or they've built (actually probably just licensed) some sort of Morphit knockoff

Either way, it's not gonna sound good or convincingly emulate other headphones

 

[Lumithium]

A literal flat curve. Do they understand why most headphones don't have a curve that is literally flat? Can't imagine how this is going to sound good at all.

 

[matteventu]

Basically, everything about this company, this product and the whole way they've been doing the Indiegogo campaign, smells like scam. And hey've been post-poning the launch of this product basically since always from the original planned delivery date.
The "company" has been very reluctant to announce any technical specs of the headphones when first asked to, and when asked for them repeatedly they provided what really look like made-up answers.
Also, no working prototype of this product has ever been seen by someone not of the company (not the norm when you're doing a crowdfunding launch).
Plus, the product has some features that would literally be impossible to build in a product in 2022, no matter how many patents they claim they have, some of the features they announced would require literally BILLIONS of dollars in research and development to overcome some physics limits that there are and that would prevent them to implement such features.
Not to mention, that if a company was to launch such a breakthrough product, they wouldn't be doing so at the price that they're "selling" these headphones at (less than $250 per unit), as it wouldn't even cover the manufacturing costs, let alone all of the R&D money that they would have spent to get to be able to actually develop and engineer a product like this one.
Also, all images from the campaign page, videos, and website, look like marketing material made by a contractor taken on sites like Fiver.
Now, if you were somebody thinking that I can be someone from a competing company, just trying to discredit "TiTum Audio Inc." for my own benefits, you could argue that all I've written above is subjective stuff that I am just making up.
So, in addition to that, let me bring you some clear points that would be very difficult to dispute:

• there's nothing known about this company, TiTum or "TiTum Audio Inc." is not registered in any companies office or reputable work-related social platform (LinkedIn, etc)
• there is not a single known employee of this company, in the Indiegogo campaign they mention only two names of two people under the "TiTum Team" section, and both could be considered (in case of an actual company) just "external collaborators" (one is a uni professor, one is a music producer, my best guess is that those people are just being used for advertising purposes, and it's most likely that neither of those two man are really aware that this company is using their names to try and create credibility - instead, in the best case, what happened is that the company reached out to them asking for permission, and they just gave them permission probably under the payment of a fee, and they didn't take time to investigate what the company was, assuming that these two men granted permission to use their names in good faith trusting the ethic of this company, unaware of the scam behind it). Still, we don't know who (and when and where) founded the company, who's actually working within TiTum Inc, their past employment history and what "credit" they have to the ability of being able to found a company and develop a product such as these headphones with the features they claim they'll have
• again, ASSUMING that this company actually is founded by actual people, somehow has got all of the billions of $$ needed to develop a product like the advertised TiTum Headphones... then why haven't they registered not even the trademark of "TiTum"? The cost for registering the trademark of the product/brand/company would be peanuts compared to the budget they would have had to develope the (literally) "physics-breaking" technology that would allow the headphones to do what they advertise them as capable to do, and should we believe that they just "forgot" to register the trademark? You can consult the WIPO Global Branding Database (https://www3.wipo.int/branddb/en/), which takes data from the most reputable sources of all trademarking agencies all over the world from most of the civilised countries, and there's nothing registered as "TiTum" or any variant of that. Also, in the Indiegogo page they call "Truly Transform® Technology" the developed technology that allows their headphones to "transform" their sound. Well, they specifically included the Registered Trademark symbol "®" and... you can guess it... there's actually no registered trademark for "Truly Transform" or "Truly Transform Technology". So why are they lying on that, if it's not a Registered Trademark, why bother putting the ®, if the reason wasn't to just try to create "authenticity" in the Indiegogo campaign?

I am deeply sincerely sorry to be the bearer of bad news - but please, if you're reading this and you've put money in their campaign, contact ASAP Indiegogo to ask for a refund if that's possible.

 

[MicMan]

Well, I was an 'early adopter', and put money into the Titum crowdfunding offer. And waited ..and waited ..and it was what, a year or two behind the stated completion date?

But then my Titum cans were delivered: among the most comfortable cans I've owned. And, of course, no trailing cable. The Bluetooth connection is so simple - though the first attempt at pairing took MANY, - M-A-N-Y- attempts ..but the online help on their site was very fast! ..Amazing, in fact, as I'm in the UK and I think they're in the US.

After several resets, the Titums actually worked, and pair immediately now, with spoken voice confirmation that they're activated and that they're connected - to both my Mac and my iPhone. The iPhone app lets me swap between configurations - though they're not labelled by brand (..too many copyright or trademark problems?..) - with audible confirmation that the 'style' (freq response) has swapped. I understand that personalisation via the app - as with a graphic equaliser - is in the works.

They're substantial cans; well built, sturdy, not cheap'n'nasty. The only real fault is that the buttons (ON/OFF, + - etcetera) are identifiable only by position near the headband, and NOT with raised, tactile ID ..so I've put a blob or two of resin dots on each button for easier identification just by touch.

Overall - although very late in delivery, as many crowdfunded projects are - they do pretty much what was advertised, have long battery life, feel really good, the (optionally activated) noise-cancelling isn't as good as Bose, but fairly good, the freq range is really good, with deep bass, hi highs, and I'm absolutely pleased with them.

So matteventu said "..I am deeply sincerely sorry to be the bearer of bad news.." ..but there isn't any bad news to bear: the Titums exist (..I have no relationship with them except for being an Indiegogo backer, so I put down my money early in the project, and was then disappointed by the many delays..) and they DO work well, and am very happy that I stuck with the project ..because they delivered ..and what they delivered sounds and feels great.

- Micman.

 

[Aevum]

sounds like they just slapped a software DSP on a pair of mid headphones.

 

[MicMan]

sounds like they just slapped a software DSP on a pair of mid headphones.

"mid headphones"..? No, I'd say they're excellent headphones. Yup, that's a DSP in there, but the implementation is also excellent: choose the emulation you want, on the phone app, and it's immediately applied, and it's remembered, when the cans are turned off, for next time.

Superb comfort, less shrill than the audio mixers' usual Sonys, almost as 'open-sounding' as my Grados, way better than 'flat' Audeze, decent isolation to remove room ambience if wanted ..and did I say they're comfortable, too? ..Just the right amount of over-ear grip, so they're not tiring to wear.

Why belittle them if you haven't, in fact, tried them? That seems just childish.

 

[Aevum]

well, in your defense, Nural already did this, and as soon as they were somewhat succesful they sold the company and tech to Danon, so you can get the Danon pearl and Pearl pro which are already on the market and have this tech. and its one of the best TWS on the market.

the problem is that you´re trying to sell a product that looks sketchy to one of the most uptight and critical communities out there, then again its not the first time someone scammed people Head-fi and got away with it (and still have a active thread for his new company here **Caugh** bob from IMR **caugh**)

 

[drummerman1]

Apparently has Beryllium drivers. Not a guarantee for anything but not a run of the mill stock unit either.

 

[Sm0ld3r]

"mid headphones"..? No, I'd say they're excellent headphones. Yup, that's a DSP in there, but the implementation is also excellent: choose the emulation you want, on the phone app, and it's immediately applied, and it's remembered, when the cans are turned off, for next time.

Superb comfort, less shrill than the audio mixers' usual Sonys, almost as 'open-sounding' as my Grados, way better than 'flat' Audeze, decent isolation to remove room ambience if wanted ..and did I say they're comfortable, too? ..Just the right amount of over-ear grip, so they're not tiring to wear.

Why belittle them if you haven't, in fact, tried them? That seems just childish.

What is over-ear grip?? It's a little suspect you just joining with a whole 8 posts defending Titum which has zero credibility and very suspect advertising and claims. Glad you didn't get burned if you did infact support and received a pair of these headphones and you are happy with them. However, all signs point to exaggerated claims at best and fraudulent ones more likely.

 

[MicMan]

What is over-ear grip?? It's a little suspect you just joining with a whole 8 posts defending Titum which has zero credibility and very suspect advertising and claims. Glad you didn't get burned if you did infact support and received a pair of these headphones and you are happy with them. However, all signs point to exaggerated claims at best and fraudulent ones more likely.

No, I'm just someone who has all sorts of assorted cans and liked the look of this Titum project when it appeared on a crowdfunding site, and have supported several other crowdfunding campaigns ..so I thought I'd try this one, too. Sorry that I've got only 8 posts here ..oh; I see that you're way ahead of me with a whole 17 posts!

In reply to Aevum (above) - who has a whole 2,750 posts, and is probably far better informed than I am - I'm not "..trying to sell a product that looks sketchy to one of the most uptight and critical communities out there.." ..I'm simply describing my own experience. I put up some cash, the product was 18 months or more late in being delivered ..but I like what they have delivered. Some people like cheese sandwiches, some people hate them ..and some people hate them without ever having tried cheese sandwiches. So?

I'm happy that everyone likes and is satisfied with whatever particular brand(s) of headphones they do like. It makes no difference to me, and I'm not trying to sell anything. I'm simply explaining - though I won't bother explaining it again - that most of the posts above are just speculation ..like saying "I guess they sound rotten" or "they're a scam". Who cares what anyone guesses? The sensible thing is to criticise them, or, alternatively, enthuse about them, IF YOU'VE USED THEM. And if you haven't used them, then an uninformed opinion is clearly pointless.

Feel free to completely disregard my opinion ..after all, I have only a measly 8 posts! ..and won't bother posting about this any further. But I simply gave an INFORMED opinion: an opinion formed by having bought a pair ..which no-one else here seems to have done. And my opinion - for whatever it may or may not be worth - is that they're decent value for money, they sound great (to me, anyway), they give an assortment of different emulations - including an Audeze version, which I think sounds good only on Quincy-Jones-produced tracks (same goes for real Audeze cans) - and they have excellent bass, highs and mids, and reasonable noise-cancelling.

Everyone else here is free to believe whatever you like.

But actually trying something before you criticise it is the point I was trying to make. (Now 9 posts.)

 

[AsciiJC]

No, I'm just someone who has all sorts of assorted cans and liked the look of this Titum project when it appeared on a crowdfunding site, and have supported several other crowdfunding campaigns ..so I thought I'd try this one, too. Sorry that I've got only 8 posts here ..oh; I see that you're way ahead of me with a whole 17 posts!

In reply to Aevum (above) - who has a whole 2,750 posts, and is probably far better informed than I am - I'm not "..trying to sell a product that looks sketchy to one of the most uptight and critical communities out there.." ..I'm simply describing my own experience. I put up some cash, the product was 18 months or more late in being delivered ..but I like what they have delivered. Some people like cheese sandwiches, some people hate them ..and some people hate them without ever having tried cheese sandwiches. So?

I'm happy that everyone likes and is satisfied with whatever particular brand(s) of headphones they do like. It makes no difference to me, and I'm not trying to sell anything. I'm simply explaining - though I won't bother explaining it again - that most of the posts above are just speculation ..like saying "I guess they sound rotten" or "they're a scam". Who cares what anyone guesses? The sensible thing is to criticise them, or, alternatively, enthuse about them, IF YOU'VE USED THEM. And if you haven't used them, then an uninformed opinion is clearly pointless.

Feel free to completely disregard my opinion ..after all, I have only a measly 8 posts! ..and won't bother posting about this any further. But I simply gave an INFORMED opinion: an opinion formed by having bought a pair ..which no-one else here seems to have done. And my opinion - for whatever it may or may not be worth - is that they're decent value for money, they sound great (to me, anyway), they give an assortment of different emulations - including an Audeze version, which I think sounds good only on Quincy-Jones-produced tracks (same goes for real Audeze cans) - and they have excellent bass, highs and mids, and reasonable noise-cancelling.

Everyone else here is free to believe whatever you like.

But actually trying something before you criticise it is the point I was trying to make. (Now 9 posts.)

I would love to hear these myself, but with some very, very bold claims from the company without a company history or wide spread information on how this is done, is going to of course make a lot of people weary. I am willing to give them a go, but with various acoustic engineers seeing this headphone and saying "lol" is a lot.

I am not spending the money however, if there was a tour of sorts to get impressions I would be willing, but everyone absolutely has the right to be very sketched out from this.