Like Deleeh mentioned, biocellulose drivers need some break in. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
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Thanks, good to know. I’ve been wanting to hear a set with this driver tech for a long time now, excited to finally have one on the way.
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I own TH900, x00 purpleheart, d2000 modded and i think th900 is just overpriced - i prefer the tuning of other models, th900 are better when eqed. In my opinion a fair price for th900 would be 800-1100$ brand new, I got them just because i got good deal on used.
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Most japanese stuff is a bit overpriced. Your often paying for the brand or the craftsmanship. It’s the same things with the TH-610, they are too expensive compared to the X00s and E-MU Teaks.
Here are my thoughts on the Yaxi alcantara pads for the TH-900/TH-610.
Would it be worth buy emu wood cups for my X00?
Depends on what you are looking for. If you’re using a Mahogany cup I’d definitely recommend it, but if you’re using something else, then it depends on your tastes. The cups range from 100-150 usd for which you can almost buy an hd6xx.
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That is true, their woods look incredible though and I have a mohogany
Denon 5200 are awesome headphones!
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Hello,
I bought the Fostex Tr x00 Mahogany on Drop back in the day.
And later upgraded to Ebony cups from Emu and it was worth it.
And with the Denon D2000 from plastic cups to the rosewood also from Emu and has been worthwhile with both listeners.
Of course, a padswap was still necessary.
The padswap was actually mainly for comfort and as close as possible to the tuning sound signature of the original pads.
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I ended up going with sheepskin on my X00’s and never looked back, gives it a more relaxing treble experience, thank you I’ll definitely be looking into emu’s wood cups
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Do the emus scale well with nicer dac/amp? I’m currently using a schiit modi multibit and ifi micro ican. Really wondering if I’d get any significant improvements from something like the rme adi-2 or ifi pro ican. Those two are currently at the top of my wishlist for a new dac/amp. Really hoping ifi will do a neo ican soon though. The XBass and 3D are such a great features with the emu, I feel like I can’t live without them.
It’s rare that a dac or amp will provide a significant improvement or change (at least in the mid tier). That being said, the X00s are fairly revealing, especially after the Lawton mod. So it could be worth it.
That being said, the only thing I think might need an upgrade in your current chain is the modi multibit. The older modi has a more compressed sound due to the output stage (meaning the normal and multibit share the issue). But since dacs are probably the least important of the three main components (not always, but usually) it can wait.
Do you have any other headphones that could also possibly benefit from a source upgrade or are you looking to get a higher end ($1000+) headphone in the near future? If so, feel free to get a higher end dac/amp, but I don’t think it’s entirely worth it for just the E-MU Teaks.
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E-mu teaks should be really easy to drive, and I don’t think u will get something from dac upgrade. I wouldn’t personally bother with chain upgrade unless u need more volume.
Recently got https://aliexpress.ru/item/33040658281.html these pads, they work great with denon d2k, they have bigger ear opening than stock fostex x00 pads, just like old denons pads. I can’t compare their width with stock denon pads, because they were initially too compressed and worn out (>5 years in use, totally flaked out). Will try them with x00 too, probably gonna order another pair of these.
Good to know about the modi. It is one of the originals, I upgraded from the modi 2 (?) as soon as the multibit was released.
I’m actually more interested in the rme right now since I like to tinker. I also have a Loki and am guessing the rme can easily replace the two pieces of schiit. The ifi will be harder to replace, I’m holding out for them to release a desktop amp in the $500-$1000 range.
As far as headphones and this hobby go, I am in it for the long haul. Might try to pick up a zmf Eikon or lcd-xc or D7200 this year (Black Friday?) as an upgrade to the emu. I’ll have a lot more disposable income in about 2-3 years, at which point I’ll be venturing into summit fi territory. So any dac/amp “upgrades” would hopefully not be “wasted”.
If anyone that comes across this post found a solid “upgrade” to the teaks, I’d love to hear about it! Ruling TH-900 out since I had an X00 that fell apart, and after almost 5 years using the Fostex drivers daily, I’m ready for something new.
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My teaks should be here tomorrow. Pretty excited. Once I get a feel for their stock form I have a ton of pads as well as the attenuation rings to test them with. Gonna be a long day of pad rolling and I’m looking forward to it.
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Hello,
I had the Rme with me for a short time and it was a disappointment.
Apart from the complex menu navigation, its sound was too clean and analytical, and it was no fun.
Since I have 3 listeners there, all 3 sounded almost the same.
It was definitely not for me.
For the money I got the Singxer Sda2 c and I still had something on the side and it was worlds of difference.from the sound.from analytical partly cold sound it was warmer and more musical in comparison.
Changing the chain does make a difference, but it’s not a huge step like changing a cup, where it would be quite obvious.
Of course, at the end of the day it’s a matter of taste.
The D7200 wasn’t the best either, I had that too.
If the Fostex,Emu,older Denon models are properly tuned with the Fostexmod and possibly still have cups on them that are good and harmonise with each other.
Then the D7200 doesn’t have such a good chance.
The D7200 has too fat a bass that likes to bleed into the mids, which can become annoying over time.
Otherwise, it has great mids and highs.
The whole thing is simply more separated and more cleanly tuned with the old Fosse drivers.
There are certainly better things for the money of the D7200.
Of course, this is also a matter of taste.
Another thing that is very good about the D7200 is the top workmanship.
Looking forward to your thoughts. I’ve only tried the pleather brainwave hm-5 pads (terrible, no attenuation ring though) and sheepskin brand accessories Orion with the attenuation ring. Left a mini review on it a few weeks ago. Still using the pads. The bass can get out of control at times though. I was a chronic XBass/EQ user before, but now, I find that those pads increase the bass response enough that I can actually turn the bass boosts and down or off. Overall I think I like the sound and comfort better than stock with the Orion, but will need to switch back to stock soon to make the final call. Have fun!
Thanks for the feedback. I’d read that the rme is quite neutral. Mainly looking for the harder-to-quantify upgrades in things like imaging and soundstage, so if it does that, I’d be happy with picking a “colored” amp to add in the musicality. Ifi products seem to do that for me, though admittedly, I haven’t tried a lot of other brands. I also have an Emotiva a-100 that’s really really warm sounding, so maybe that with the rme would be a good match.
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