Fostex Hp A3

[Lorin Cupples]

The highlight moment came when I was working on the Bakoon HDA-5210mk3 review. You can read about the Bakoon and Fostex pairing on the review, but this was the amplifier that displayed what the two Fostexes were capable of. And on this amplifier, it is beyond doubt that the TH900 would be the headphone to get for me, if I have some $5,000 laying around for the TH900-Bakoon combo. Bye bye, Sennheiser HD800.

More quantity, more slam, more emotions from the bass, AND add to those the fact that you get far more improved bass detail and layering from the TH900. There is no competition here. All you HD650 fans: weep (unfortunately the TH900 will soon go back to its owner and I would be forced to return to the HD650).

I have been thinking about Audio Technica and Fostex headphones since I read your review on the TH600 and TH900 headphones. I listen to mostly J-pop and J-rock music on FLAC. So what do you recommend for headphones, amp, and DAC on $3.5k budget?

Someone on another forum recommended the Burson Soloist as the headphone amp. Still need to look into a DAC. Is the Musical Paradise MP-D1 or Resonessence Labs Concero good DACs to use with the TH600 or TH900 headphones?

Hi there Mike. Amazing review! I got in touch with foster, the parent company of fostex and they confirmed that both Denon D7000 and Fostex TH900 contain the same top-of-their-line driver. I can only assume that TH600 has the same one or a very similar one. Another assumption is that the difference in sound is indeed caused by the different material used for the enclosure. The setup you have used for the review looks pretty awesome! Could you by any chance compare the D7000 with the TH900/600 on this very same setup? That would be much appreciated!

Well just like in a speaker set up the speaker box and the room acoustics affect the results a great deal more than just the drivers. In a headphone set up the housing and the pads make up that box&room factor and use a big factor to the sound.

Tyll measured the Grados and found that these have a spike in the mid bass and in the lower mids. An attempt to negate the Munson Fletcher effect when listen to music at low volumes. In the good ole days, amplifiers had a switch known as the loudness compensation. Music is thin when listen to at low volumes. It is best played loud to get full impact of the music and that is the reason people like to listen to their headphones at very high volumes.

What is your take on this controversy ? You are the foremost expert (sincere compliment) in these areas and after reading almost all your reviews, I have great respect for your opinions. Please tell us more.

After the recording process/chain, there is of the reproduction chain. The DAC, the Amp- tubes or transistors, class A or class AB or D, the interconnects- copper or silver, balance or single ended RCA, the power supply conditioners to purify the dirty electric supply, the power cables, the solid anti vibration base, 101 tweaks etc will affect the sound and then finally that pair of speakers or headphones all with its different sound signatures that vibrate the air with sound that finally hits the tympani of our ear drums.

The new king is the Abyss AB-1266 US$5,499. Magazine writers poured lavish praises for this HP. They claimed it betters the HiFiman 6, the LCD 3 and even the Stax 009 in mid and lower bass. They hyped praises on the bass slam which they claimed betters the LCD 2 or LCD 3 and the Fostex TH900.

In reply to your question posted on FB, yes you are right that these are great headphones. Thanks for your very educational, informative and reliable (accurate) articles. If in doubts, I always turn to your reviews. Your opinions are among a few I trust. Keep up the good works in furtherance of this absorbing and passionate hobby of ours.

Hi Mike, do you have a portable amp recommendation to go with the TH-900? I just purchased but my Macbook>Jitterbug>Dragonfly Red will be my rig on the go. I know its been awhile since you reviewed but do you have some ideas? Thanks:)

Great cans, exactly what I've been looking for out of a fun headphone.

Some minor gripes, I wish Dekoni would have still included the velour pads, as the hybrids are a bit tight on my giant dumbo ears. They should be fine for anyone else though.

I also wish Dekoni or fostex would include some kind of more normal 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable. Fostex makes an orange OEM one. Dunno why they didn't include that instead of the annoyingly painful to use 6.3 to 3.5mm adapter.

Don't let these minor gripes push you from getting these cans. I still use the stock hybrid pads, and ordered a V moda cable for like 15 bucks shipped. They're really great cans, I use them for gaming, I've fallen asleep listening to relaxing tunes, the detail retrieval has been somewhat relaxed, making me able to use these for muuuuch longer periods of time than my Argon mk3s with the same pads.

it worked fine a couple of years ago.

every thing else seems to be ok on the setup menu.

I do everything as the manual states...

when I arm the recording keys Im getting good mic thru the monitor headphones.

then I press play and start recording...seems ok.

I press stop...disarm the record keys and rewind...press play and no sound or bars jumping. the timer is running as if its playing but that's all.

any suggetions?

Got a card in it? Try formating the card or get the card to read something previously recorded (from a few years ago.) Basically eliminate the possibilty that the storage medium isn't working or working correctly. Post back if you are stil having problems I'll dig mine out from under the desk. LOL I haven't used it in years either.

yeah its got a card in it. the card worked fine a couple of years ago too. it even still had several songs on it that i had recorded then. I copied the files from it onto my computer and then deleted them from the card via the pc. do you think I could have corrupted the card somehow by opting to delete its files by way of pc instead of the multi track.

So the card did format? You are sure you are pressing record and play at the same time. If I remember that unit was very sensitive to getting it to start recording correctly. Anyway I'll dig out mine after dinner.

I'd hate for you trouble yourself, but thanks for wanting to help.

i've definetly been deliberate when pressing the play button( correct me if i'm wrong but i think the manual says to first arm the two record buttons and then when you are ready to record, press play, as opposed to pressing them at the same time like the older school ones.

It flashes green when i press it which i think is normal. when i'm checking the mic, I can see the bar jump up and down with my voice, and i can hear it through the headphones, allbeit a little staticy(cheap headphones with dinky wire probly causing static).

I think i'm probly just missing something. one problem is i'm a cheapskate(well broke is probly a better word) and i'm probly due for an upgrade. It worked fine for recording rough ideas though and I'm wanting to try to use it to record the audio for a youtube vid.

I just down loaded the most recent manual I could find and it is the same as mine. My recorder is at most three years old. The most common mistakes my band mates would make is after downloading the card it is best to wipe it completely clean reformating it (which you did.) Then you must create a new song which is a four or five step process, if you have not done this the device has nowhere to store it. You arm the tracks (which you did) but you must hold down the record button while pressing play to get it to actually record even though the record button has been previously depressed to get recording levels. If thiese are not the issues I would suspect the card. Cards are cheap but if you are worried about it bring it into a Radio Shaft (I bought a huge card there for $12.00) explain that you are having problems with it and see if they have a media card that you can use to see if that is in fact the problem. I just can't tell you how many times the proper steps to get a recording were not followed and I heard "This f%$^ing machine didn't record again!!" It wasn't the machine but the nut behind it that was the problem. Good luck.

I am presently pretty heavily invested in recording gear but I am using Presonus Firestudio Project interfaces. The quality jump is pretty extreme from the Fostex and if I never have to scroll through 17 screens 2" wide with crappy lettering again I wil die happy. I still have the thing because it has zero resale value, but if you can't get yours working I'd accept any reasonable offer it even comes with SK8 hard case foam filled indestructable LOL!

By Gump! you're a genius! it was just that I had to hold record and play at the same time. I'm such a numnuts...wasted an entire day cause i couldn't figure that out. THANK YOU! now biggest problem is when I get everything sounding optimal through the headphones(any louder and its distorting) and put the card in my pc, u can barley hear it with the speakers full blast. I'm using the free software audacity to make some edits, and i can't even boost it there because the default volume setting is already maxed out(i'm using vista). i did notice an amplification key under the tools tab, but it's grayed over indicating that it's not included in the free version....any suggestions?

Jg, after going back into audacity I saw there was a box that allowed me to boost the sound. not seeing a normalization yet but i'll keep looking. and yes i'm referring to the fader...sorry. when you say try bouncing them to another track and boost the fader during transfer are you saying boost the fader on the the original track or the fader on the new track that they're being bounced to? Jack, where is the normalization thingy on audacity?

hey Jack, i think I figured out the normalization. and I set it to 12 gb which did boost the volume. when I saved it it said that it would save it as an audacity project file and that most other programs wont be able to access it. then it said that if I want to save it in way so that other programs can open it, to choose the export option. do you know what that means?

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