🔷 Drop THX Panda

[giova05]

Are you sure it was just a direct 10% of sales and not some funky calculation involving “10%” of “something”?

[RiceGuru]

Nope just straight 10% the email even emphasizes the point if I manage to sell the 58x at$160 I get $16

[giova05]

oh wow, okay.

[Voifi]

@Ohmboy

Not really down with corporate homogenised reviews especially when it’s so orchestrated but that’s just me I guess.

It’s intended to give every reviewer the same time with the product so they’re not rushing to be first.

[RiceGuru]

So imagine selling an elex or a $1000 iem the amount of cash you get to pocket

[giova05]

yeah, this is for Drop or Indiegogo?

[RiceGuru]

For drop specifically. Not sure about indie go if they get an insentive. But I’m sure these tubers have to state when they have insentives or if it’s a paid review

[giova05]

Yeah, that’s a pretty big cut, honestly. I had no idea the affiliate links for drop were so big. That does make me question the Drop stuff a bit more, tbh. =P
Like even if Zeos or Joshua are NOT consciously trying to be manipulative, incentives like that affect things, IMO. Even subconsciously they will tilt your opinion and affect your bias.

@ZeosPantera … would honestly like to know your thoughts on this if you read this. And if you could let us know how the guidelines worked for the Panda review and any potential incentives you had.

[Acidleak]

I did see a review of Josh the other day which had in the comments section “Other drop products you might like” and then the Elex, 6xx and the PCM3 something or other were listed.

[RiceGuru]

This cut is the main reason I have been so cautiously optimistic since the beginning. But also how they released the reviews with this and how much marketing is going into it.

[giova05]

If you’re willing to, I think it would be worth it to share the ‘proof’ you mentioned, just to add some clarity and transparency. I think people would also like to know, specifically how Drop does their incentives.

[epic225]

I emailed drop about a review and they haven’t gotten back to me. I tell it like I see it… at the time.

[SpeleoFool]

@Veritas

We won’t actually know unless he gives more information on his logic, but maybe he’s just being objective or critical.

I kind of view Crinacle as living on the opposite end of the enthusiasm curve as Zeos. Crinacle tends to be very critical and very quick to call out even the slightest imperfections, which is really very helpful with so many high-end and expensive IEMs on the market. I ended up picking up the Drop x Empire Ears Zeus when it went on sale almost entirely because of Crinacle’s rating on the original EE Zeus XIV, and that turned out to be a good move. They are wonderfully clear, and a nice complement to my other IEMs (Campfire Solaris, Andromeda Gold, Atlas, and Noble K10 Customs).

@Veritas

I say this because I can easily see this product being overly hyped, more than what it’s worth. It is also combining multiple hyped products (wireless, THX, and ANC). I don’t think it’ll live up to the value that we can find out of 6xx, 58x, Elex, or other products that Drop has done a good job at giving bang for the buck.

I disagree; I think Pandas should offer the same level of value as those other greats you named, all of which I own. In fact, Elex converted me into such a fanatical Focal devotee that I now have the entire lineup, save for “Listen.” I only qualify my expectation because we haven’t seen the final version of Panda, there have not been any in the wild for long enough for any durability concerns to surface, and we don’t know yet whether there will be any manufacturing issues as production scales up.

However, if the end results match the pre-production model I heard at the Listening Event, then these very much deserve the hype they’re getting.

FWIW, a little personal background: I’m not a headphone reviewer; I’m a software engineer who happens to also be a lifelong music / audio enthusiast. I had absolutely zero expectations for or interest in the Pandas when I decided to attend the Listening Day. I live in AZ and paid my own way to fly to San Francisco to visit friends I haven’t seen in ~10 years. The Panda Day was merely the excuse that precipitated the trip, as well as a chance to go see in person the company that has cost me so much money since I picked up a 6xx for my wife so I could take back my HD650s from her.

I do have one friend (a best friend from college, who is a music lover, but not an audiophile) whose ideal headphone is “MUST be Bluetooth, and must sound great, have endless battery life and get LOUD,” so I figured I’d at least give the Pandas a serious audition. Still, my expectation going in was that $400 wireless headphones would be doing well to compete with $200 wired headphones and a $200 DAC/Amp (I have Aune X1s at home that I enjoy with the Sennheiser 58x/6xx as a very respectable “affordable” combo, so that was my rough expectation benchmark). I wasn’t expecting to be impressed; instead, I was shocked, in the best of ways.

Being “not-a-reviewer,” I’ve enthusiastically followed the Panda reviews as they’ve poured in to see how well the “pros” agree with my own impressions. Overall, the common themes are agreeing quite nicely with what I posted just after returning from the listening event:

@SpeleoFool

The most obvious thing is, the Pandas do sound closed: they have a slight rolloff to high frequencies and less “air” extension than the Stellias, which are remarkably open-sounding. However, the Pandas do “closed” quite well; there’s no hint of that “wearing a cardboard box on my head” sensation that comes with bad closed backs–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 it’s not that they’re in any way bad–just that they could be better. I wish the earcups were a little bigger, but they’re fine. I could appreciate the pads being a little more plush, but they’re not uncomfortable. The headband / fit / comfort are all fine, but not as wonderfully comfortable as AKG 7xx.

My audiophile vocabulary is not as developed as the professional reviewers, but I feel we’re describing the same experiences. There is some very mild bass bloom in Pandas, as Crinacle pointed out, which contributes to what I referred to as “sounding closed.” Bad closed-backs sound boomy with highs completely missing (that “cardboard box” effect). Pandas have just a hint of something going on in the bass region that is “less than perfect.” It’s not distracting, probably not even noticeable to people who don’t spend a lot of time critical listening, and certainly not unreasonable for $400 closed-backs. But it’s there.

As for the highs, the Pandas have this interesting thing going on up top. Here’s how I described that at a post @ Drop:

@SpeleoFool @ Drop

I’m less certain what to say about the treble. The mids and details on the Pandas are so impressive that it’s tempting to believe they may have more treble than 6xx, but I’m not really convinced. I feel like the ribbon transducer is simply more resolving, or else the Sennheiser “veil” does more to soften fine detail. Regardless, the Pandas didn’t seem excessively bright or harsh (like too much treble), nor does their “closed” sound seem like the highs are too aggressively rolled off.

Some things like sharp percussive hits were a little blunted on the Pandas compared to Stellias, but still very good overall. And the treble is less “bright” than Beryllium. But that’s neither surprising nor meaningful given the price differential. Whatever Panda treble is doing, it’s not at all harsh, and I found it in no way lacking in a subjective sense; it’s a wonderfully coherent sound signature that happens to not be as hyper-revealing as summit-fi cans.

Yes, there are nits to pick, but my impression at the Listening Event was that the magnitude of any “sonic blemishes” were more in line with what I’d expect from ~$1000 cans (or at least ~$900, specifically Elegia and Ether CX). I’m personally skeptical that Panda will continue to stand up to a close A-B with either of those from a reference desktop rig, but the fact that it’s even worth attempting such an experiment leaves zero doubt in my mind that Pandas are an absolute steal at $400. Especially given that they do all that (with or) without wires, and via less-than-perfect CODECs.

[BluJay614]

@M0N Why am I not surprised that this damn thing has blown up in the way it has? It’s not even shipping, and people are flipping shit over this damn thing

[M0N]

Yeah I’m just going to watch from the sidelines here lol, hopefully it turns out well and is good, will have to wait and see

[Lel]

So it seems his video is now private. Lol

[RiceGuru]

damn no balls I guess or massdrop contacted him

[giova05]

See HawaiiBadboy’s response.

Vid link deleted.

[LeDechaine]

@Veritas

It is also combining multiple hyped products (wireless, THX, and ANC).

AFAIK no ANC or DSP. (Omg wtf bbq all these abbreviations )

Seriously, they’re keeping it simple to get the best sound possible apparently.

[M0N]

You don’t enjoy TLA?