Fostex TH-900 -- $2K flagship headphone from Fostex is super sexy and closed

[Dusty Chalk]

Damn, I wish I had US$2K to drop just to hear these...

link

[Voltron]

Where can I buy them?

[mikeymad]

google points me to

HeadRoom (not in stock) -- http://www.headphone.com/headphones/fostex-th-900.php

and

Moon (in stock) -- http://www.moon-audio.com/fostex-th900-flagship-dynamic-headphones.html

[Voltron]

TTVJ has them so I sent Todd an email. Have no need for these and probably won't do anything, but I'm working too much and a little distraction seemed worthwhile.

[jantze]

Looking forward to your first impressions

[johnwmclean]

At a recent meet I had the opportunity to listen to these out of a Weiss 202 DAC, they sounded superb for closed phones.

Edit, btw the above impression was straight after I had been listening to the T2 with the 007 and 009’s .

Edited August 20, 2012 by johnwmclean

[Dreadhead]

Interested. I would really love some very good closed phones for work and a stax 4070 setup isn't reasonable.

[padam]

They don't isolate very well.

[n_maher]

TTVJ has them so I sent Todd an email. Have no need for these and probably won't do anything, but I'm working too much and a little distraction seemed worthwhile.

Buying headphones, like a boss.

[Tyll Hertsens]

Listen to some at headroom, thought they were pretty good, but not sure they're worth the big bucks. Jus' sayin'. You may want to wait til you get to hear them before committing. Much better than they sounded at RMAF last year though.

[Tari]

Moon Audio has them on their 10% sale periodically - you can save a couple hundred there. I was pleasantly surprised (only other dynamic Fostex I've heard is the Denon line which they are the OEM for) but perhaps they could make this with a less exotic lacquer and knock off like $800.

[Audiojunkie]

Listen to some at headroom, thought they were pretty good, but not sure they're worth the big bucks. Jus' sayin'. You may want to wait til you get to hear them before committing. Much better than they sounded at RMAF last year though.

Agreed. I thought they sounded slightly better than the D7000 (better controlled bass and less ringing in the treble), but only 5-10% better I'd reckon.

[Torpedo]

OMG they're 1.5Tesla!!! What will be of the T1 Beyers?

I think they've reviewed them recently at one of those audio magazines, but can't recall which one, they sent an e-mail but looks like I deleted it completely.

[purk]

Well, I'm curious about them myself and glad that Dusty asked some questions. For 2K, it is in O2 territory as well as the HE60 price wise. Might be better off buying the O2 if you already have a good stats amp.

Edited August 20, 2012 by purk

[Dreadhead]

Listen to some at headroom, thought they were pretty good, but not sure they're worth the big bucks. Jus' sayin'. You may want to wait til you get to hear them before committing. Much better than they sounded at RMAF last year though.

Are you going to measure them. The relationship to the Denon's is not a plus to me.

[Tari]

Marv (Purrin) has some measurements:

FR:

Compared to the D7000:

He's also taken distortion and CSD measurements.

Edited August 20, 2012 by Tari

[robm321]

The relationship to the Denon's is not a plus to me.

That's what I'm sayin

[n3rdling]

These sound really clean for a dynamic but way too bassy for my tastes. Garbage for the price they're asking but could sound nice with eq.

[blubliss]

They sounded just all right, can't believe that price.

[purrin]

When I had them on long term loan, I had to apply EQ to push down the bass and a spot in the treble. They are very clean sounding for dynamics - probably one of the cleanest sounding dynamics. Much less distortion and more articulate than the Denons. Not worth $2K though.

Edited August 20, 2012 by purrin

[Dreadhead]

Thanks for the info Purrin, the low distortion is mostly what I was looking for. EQ can't fix that.

I wonder if the price will drop on resellers or not. Seems like you're paying a ton for the finish and wood which I could care less about.

[purrin]

There's a little distortion spike around 3.5k which corresponds roughly with some minor resonance at 7k (easily audible). It was tolerable for me, but I notched it down via EQ anyways. Otherwise, actual HD distortion measurements were excellent across the board including the bass. Some 2nd order in the bass, but 3rd order was very low. Overall distortion, esp from 500Hz on was very very low ~ 0.11%. I'll let Tari post them here.

Tyll's results corroborate mine (they actually indicate better results - but our methods are different. I take mine with the headphone calibrated to 90db SPL/A with white-noise).

Edited August 20, 2012 by purrin

[Voltron]

Alright, so what other overpriced closed dynamic headphones are better so I can satisfy my itch?

[spritzer]

HD800 and a roll of tape?

[morphsci]

Alright, so what other overpriced closed dynamic headphones are better so I can satisfy my itch?

R10s?