I want to purchase either one of these headphones but can’t really decide. Been looking for comparisons but haven’t found much. Anyone here who have tried both out could give me a sound comparison please.
Will most likely buy them used although I wouldn’t mind waiting for the Atticus if I bought that new.
Thanks
I have heard Eikon and Th900, and would say it comes down to preference. Eikon has great all around timbre, laid back, slight neutral with bass bump, but still fun. Th900 is v shaped, sparky highs, deep bass, recessed mids. I wish I’ve heard an atticus! Haha.
I like the tygr 300r sound sig a lot. I know most of the zmf headphones are pretty mid forward like a Sennheiser headphone. I’ve had the 58x and 6xx before and those sounded a bit too shouty to me.
Maybe the th900 would be better for me but definitely would like to hear more thoughts though.
Thanks btw
Having owned the verite c, and eikon, they are both slightly neutral, with eikon being a little warmer. I wouldn’t say they are too mid focused, but you hear everything pretty well. Both are pretty wide, with decent depth. What genres do you mainly listen to?
Metal of many extremes, I listen to a lot of death metal with a mix of thrash, nu, alternative, occasionally black, and heavy as well as some core genres.
Rap/Hip hop is another I listen to a lot
And EDM/Dubstep occasionally
Yea, the th900 may suit that better, but i wonder about the atticus.
Everyone says that the Atticus is very lively sounding. There is one reviewer that said the Atticus had a very similar bass response to the th900 so It gets me curious. That’s all he said in comparison though
Yea, I would imagine the atticus would be less sibilant than the th900, but the th900 would have better treble detail
Now im leaning Atticus because of how they look and are probably built better. I also have a bunch of zmf pads that I could try on them if I get those.
Oh the stress lol
Lol, either could be good, and both have great resale value
You have a tube amp? My understanding (haven’t heard myself) is the Atticus gets really bassy on a tube amp.
I don’t just have an Asgard 3 but would probably get a tube amp later on if I purchase the Atticus.
For your tastes in music I would say Atticus + tube amp or (here comes the wrinkle) TH900 which you eventually Lawton mod. I put Lawton’s Purpleheart cups on a TH-X00 and I still can’t believe how extended and potent the bass is while still be so controlled. I’m turning into a full Lawton shill on this forum but it’s for good reason.
Do you know if all versions of the fostex bio dyna headphones react the same way to the lawton cups. If they do then I would probably get the denon d5200 w/ lawton cups instead.
Hey I can give you a quick rundown.
They have a similar level of bass quantity and slam/impact, so bass-heads will be very satisfied with either. Although the quality is much better on the TH-900.
The Atticus is very warm, smooth, non-fatiguing, but can be a little slow and smeared in comparison to the TH-900.
The TH-900 is better technically. It is faster (transients, attack/decay), more detailed although Atticus is decently detailed to, much clearer, better resolution, more dynamics, wider soundstage and sharper imaging.
I think the TH-900 is the better all-rounder for more genres, provided the brightness and occasional sibilance on some tracks doesn’t bother you too much ( I would recommend pad rolling with the TH900).
If brightness/fatigue is a concern and/or pad rolling doesn’t interest you, then the Atticus is the safer choice by far. Although, keep in mind you will be giving up some of that aforementioned technical performance.
Hope that is of some help to you.
For me, with the right pads, the TH-900 is absolutely god-tier with metal, EDM, Hip hop, pop etc.
What pads did you use for the th900?
damn, now I am hyped and cant wait to try the th900 I bought
I would recommend the Dekoni sheepskin pads or the TH-610 pads. I tried both the Yaxi pads, but found they muted the characteristics I liked in the 900 a little too much. Other pads I haven’t tried but are often recommended are the pads off of the Stax SR-007, Mr Speakers Ether pads. You could also try EQ as well, the goal is to tame the sub-bass and highs, just a little to remove sibilance and bring the mid-range forward slightly. Too much though and it makes them kinda boring.
have you tried lawton pads?
I think for the most part they do the same things, yes. My understanding (and community jump in here if this is wrong) is the drivers are mostly the same for the Fostex biodynas. The differences in price between the models comes from the enclosure design. However, the TH/TR-X00 models from Massdrop had a slightly warmer driver tuning, IIRC. I think it’s minor, though. Mark Lawton will help you out when/if you’re ready to start exploring that route.