šŸ”· Drop THX Panda

Headphones [Official] Closed Back
21

oh cool nice, looking forward to the impressions! have fun with ur friends too

22

Signed up, but not sure I want to travel into The City around that time. Wish it was earlier.

23

ikr. Who wants to pay for parking or deal with traffic on a weekday afternoon. Though the BART station is relatively close so you could hoof it over since its just a half a mile.

I would consider it if it was a mid morning thing.

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24

Looks like thereā€™s more definitive info now.

*Edit - whoops, I shared the page too quickly. Looks like this a copy paste of the page from drop.

25

Did make it to the event?

26

I didnā€™t attend, but I did read some impressions on Dropā€™s site. Looks promising thus far. Iā€™ve been wanting a set of PM-3ā€™s, so Iā€™m pretty much all in on the Panda. Hopefully the leather/pleather on the Drop version is a lot more durable than the Oppoā€™s. Price is set at $399 and Iā€™m guessing the pre-order price with be at $349-369. Also, found this video a few days agoā€¦

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27

I did make it, and headline summary is that this looks like another winner for Drop.

Clarity and detail was really something special at the price point theyā€™re targeting. I brought my SP1000 w/ amp module and 6xx as a reference point, and the Pandas pretty much stomped all over the 6xx. After a couple songs it wasnā€™t worth pursuing A-B.

I had also brought out Stellias to share with a friend I met up with, and I ended up pulling those out to get a sense of what limitations the Pandas have in their sound.

The most obvious thing is, the Pandas do sound closed: they have a slight rolloff to high frequencies and less ā€œairā€ extension than the Stellias, which are remarkably open-sounding. However, the Pandas do ā€œclosedā€ quite well; thereā€™s no hint of that ā€œwearing a cardboard box on my headā€ sensation that comes with bad closed backsā€“more of a smooth but fast softening of some fine details.

Frankly, the Pandas are supposed the be isolating, and they do so very well without sounding stuffy or screwing up the frequency response.

My biggest criticism of them is comfort, and itā€™s not that theyā€™re in any way badā€“just that they could be better. I wish the earcups were a little bigger, but theyā€™re fine. I could appreciate the pads being a little more plush, but theyā€™re not uncomfortable. The headband / fit / comfort are all fine, but not as wonderfully comfortable as AKG 7xx.

Bottom line, I had moderate expectations going into the listening experience, but was quite pleasantly surprised. Iā€™m not particularly looking for Bluetooth headphones, but Iā€™m absolutely getting some Pandas for the collection. I think Drop has something really special and compelling here, particularly for a wireless headphone.

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28

Well thatā€™s good, we could use some more interesting and actually practical entries into the wireless market :+1:

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29

Absolutely. I donā€™t have experience with the latest Bose or Sony Bluetooth models, but the Pandas do a good enough job with sound quality that I imagine theyā€™ll be a disruptive product, provided they get enough exposure to overcome brand recognition of those two big names. More competition = everyone wins.

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30

The new Bose 700 just suck lol, definitely not worth, the QC 35 ii is their best product so far and the 700 is a step backwards, they were clearly getting a bit too comfortable at the top of the market and getting lazy

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31

and the last app update for the QC35 iiā€¦ like made it worse a moment before 700 was released

32

Too bad they forced an update botching their ANC

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33

Yeah I never updated it so I was safe but itā€™s quite the poor thing to do on their part

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34

Just dropping this here

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" 18 months ago we embarked on a journey to create the most-requested product in the Audiophile Community: a wireless audiophile system with everyday usability. Introducing the Drop + THX Panda Wireless Headphone.

To create Panda, we integrated a phase-correct planar-ribbon driver, THX AAAā„¢ technology, and a QCC5124 chipset that supports LDAC, aptX HD/LL, and AAC, plus dual mics and a 30-hour battery. This combination boasts the lowest THD ever in a wireless headphoneā€”and itā€™s the direct result of your engagement and input on our platform. With over 13,000 requests, Panda is our most-requested launch ever, and we canā€™t wait for you to hear it.

As a thank-you to those who followed this journey, weā€™ve opened a round of preorders for units with serial numbers 1,000 and below. This offer is only available on Drop.com until Monday, January 27th at 5:59 a.m. PST, when we launch the rest of the units on Indiegogoā€”or until we sell out. The preorder round is account-based, non-transferable, and only accessible to those who have requested Panda on Drop.com."

Putting this hereā€¦ Just got an email about this. Pre-orders are $320 with regular price being $400
Estimated ship date isnā€™t until the end of June

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36

So, all at once:

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37

Flippin eck lol. Apparently everyone had to wait today to publish their reviews.
Oh well, time for coffee! :slight_smile:

38

@BluJay614 you mind if I turn this into an official thread?

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39

Not at all.

40

Done then :+1:

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