[jksoon]

So I'm looking for my next pair of vintage headphones (I just picked up an AKG K340 dual driver electret-dynamic a couple days ago).

Any members here that have owned both vintage Fostex like the T10 v1, T20 and Yamaha HP-1 or YH-1. Been reading up on these but have found limited comparisons between them.

I'm looking for the ones that are overall more enjoyable, preferably with less issues / peaks in the higher frequencies. I'm ok with lean bass.

Any info is greatly appreciated.

 

[200poundsofamp]

The only vintage Fostex I have is the t20v2, but it sounds a lot like the t50rp: warm, bassy, slightly rolled off upper mids, and a moderate treble spike. Kind of Audeze-ish, although their drivers are too small for that crazy lcd-2 bass.

The yh-1 is less warm with more upper mids and no treble spike. Very dark stock but they sound like ortho Sennheisers if you damp them right, I've been comparing them to my hd600 and it's uncanny how similar their presentation is. They don't quite reach that level of midrange clarity (at least with my damping) but they have that deep ortho bass and tiny bit of extra treble presence that I miss when I put on the 600s. The big downside is that they're on ear and replacing the pads is iffy.

 

[jksoon]

The only vintage Fostex I have is the t20v2, but it sounds a lot like the t50rp: warm, bassy, slightly rolled off upper mids, and a moderate treble spike. Kind of Audeze-ish, although their drivers are too small for that crazy lcd-2 bass.

The yh-1 is less warm with more upper mids and no treble spike. Very dark stock but they sound like ortho Sennheisers if you damp them right, I've been comparing them to my hd600 and it's uncanny how similar their presentation is. They don't quite reach that level of midrange clarity (at least with my damping) but they have that deep ortho bass and tiny bit of extra treble presence that I miss when I put on the 600s. The big downside is that they're on ear and replacing the pads is iffy.

Thanks for the comparison. I might lean towards the YH-1 as my next purchase, since I rather have a bit more mids and less of a treble spike relative to the Fostex. I did have my eyes on a T10v1 and T20v1 with round drivers recently. Not sure how they compare to the T20v2.