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Author Topic: TH500RP  (Read 5450 times)

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ultrabike

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TH500RP
« on: February 05, 2015, 08:09:48 AM »

Special thanks to Danny for sending these my way! Thanks mate! :)p5

A box the size of my 4 year old showed up at the door. Inside the box was lots of paper and another box. The second box was beautiful, with nice shades of red and black (mostly black) and a picture of the TH500RPs. The picture of the cans is dramatic. The headphones seem to be floating in air. The edges of the box were silver. Inside this box there was another box. This third box was black. Not Kuro black, but black enough. Inside this last box, and in deliciously soft foam rested the awesome looking TH500RPs and a user manual in pink with Japanese, English, German, French, and what looked like Chinese. In that order. But no Spanish.

Scanning through the literature I learned that RP means Regular Phase, which seems important. It says that the diaphragm is etched copper and heat resistant polyimide film, and obviously as everyone knows, polyimide film kicks ass. Mids are described as rich and bass is said to be of good quality due to a gravity resin baffle plate that reduces resonances. There is some further important stuff, but I'll skip to the cable. Manual says it's pure copper "HiFC" (HiFC is a registered trademark of Hitachi Metals, Ltd.) for superior sound resolution.

To operate these cans one most: 1) Protect headphones from impacts, temperature, and humidity. 2) Be aware that your cans are subject to design and specification changes. 3) Don't listen at high volume levels. 4) Not use headphones when driving and stuff. 5) Avoid inconveniencing people around you by keeping volume down since these are open type cans. Following step 2) should prevent you from bitching about box of chocolate issues. Following step 5) is important if one accidentally clicks on an adult site add.

Presentation

These cans are outstandingly beautiful. They sort of remind me of the SR-007s in their magnesium + aluminum silvery color. The weight is reasonable for an ortho. The pads are fat assed and leathery black. The cable is neatly dressed and terminated in a quality 1/4" fat and long TRS tip guaranteed to satisfy the most demanding of amp sockets. The headband is black, plush and adjustable by discrete levels. Every adjustment makes a satisfying click. Chicks are positively going to try to grab your cans really hard.



Sound

These cans are unique in many ways. The first thing that came to mind while hearing them was this clear high quality tizzy sound. Listening to Holly Cole's "Take Me Home" was lusciously and naturally painful. Sweet as silvery white sugar.

Next comes Antonio Sanchez "Birdman" album that does a wonderful job on moving things around for a sense of space. Impact was very controlled and restricted. Switching to my HD600s scared the Jesus out of me with these songs. Not so with these cans. I sort of picture a bull loosing a ball.

Impressions with similar songs can be found here.

Moving on to pop songs I'm more familiar with came Madonna's True Blue which I like to evaluate mids. Some slight coloration was perceived but in some cases this can provide a sort of room effect that makes things more engaging.

Measurements

These were measured o n a non-leaky baffle (similar to how electrostats and thin film orthos are measured), given the pads seem to be designed for seal.

Frequency Response



Distortion Right



Distortion Left



CSD Right



CSD Left



Impedance

« Last Edit: February 05, 2015, 08:28:47 AM by ultrabike »
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Solderdude

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Re: TH500RP
« Reply #1 on: February 05, 2015, 08:20:08 AM »

Thanks, I was interested in these.

Are the lows really rolled off like that ?
It seems to me like a subbass rolled-off 'regular' T50RP but beautifully made, with a warm signature and the typical T50RP treble behaviour.
Based on the plots I'll skip these.
I would go for a Stratocaster'ed open T50RP instead.

The TH500RP has better driver matching than on all the T50RP's I modded till now.

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Use your ears to enjoy music, not as an analyser.

ultrabike

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Re: TH500RP
« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2015, 08:24:08 AM »

The bass is there. But it is definitively rolled off relative to what I hear from the HD600s. No sub-bass. Antonio Sanchez "Birdman" is a pretty bassy and impact filled album. It almost sound normal with these cans, so in those situations these are probably a good fit. But for most other stuff, these may sound a bit lean.

A stock T50RP has it's own share of problems. I'll be honest, I prefer a KSC75 to both the T50RP stock and TH500RP. Modded T50RP is a different story.
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Solderdude

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Re: TH500RP
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2015, 08:26:48 AM »

A stock T50RP has it's own share of problems. I'll be honest, I prefer a KSC75 to both the T50RP stock and TH500RP. Modded T50RP is a different story.

Same here...

$600.- may be a bit too steep for the SQ it delivers, perhaps a Philips X2 makes more sense if you want 'nicely made'.
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OJneg

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Re: TH500RP
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2015, 08:37:57 AM »

Ok, so these look like they measure fairly well. Better than i expected based on my brief impressions. A bit of an elevated region around 10k might have been part of my issue. Bass roll-off is interesting too.

So ultra, could you go into more depth wrt your comparison to the HD600? Sounds like you're saying the HD600 has better bass impact and dynamics. Which would you describe as more natural and "musical" sounding? Do you feel one of these headphones is significantly more resolving or accurate than the other?
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ultrabike

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Re: TH500RP
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2015, 08:38:47 AM »

LOL! Most cans from Fostex seem to be specifically colored, or "diamond in the rough", or unfinished, or whatever other perspective you may want to give it. For $600 or less I would go for Sennheiser (HD6x0), AKG (7xx), Beyer (880), Grado (SR60), and so on, unless I wanted to monkey around with the cans.

From the shoutbox:

Bill-p:
"Anyway, off topic for a second, but I'm curious about this... how come there is so little in the way of reviews and impressions for Fostex's TH500RP? Does it suck so much that people don't even have anything to say?"

There are some reviews. Gutty's "Absolutely sublime: Fostex TH500RP headphones" review says "The Fostex TH500RP may be the best sounding high-end headphone you can buy in its price class." Dunno about that.
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ultrabike

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Re: TH500RP
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2015, 08:41:04 AM »

Ok, so these look like they measure fairly well. Better than i expected based on my brief impressions. A bit of an elevated region around 10k might have been part of my issue. Bass roll-off is interesting too.

So ultra, could you go into more depth wrt your comparison to the HD600? Sounds like you're saying the HD600 has better bass impact and dynamics. Which would you describe as more natural and "musical" sounding? Do you feel one of these headphones is significantly more resolving or accurate than the other?

Yes, the HD600s have better bass impact and dynamics. As far as accuracy, the HD600 is IMO more accurate and much more resolving. The tizziness for me gets in the way of resolution.

I do not consider these natural sounding. Too far north upstairs for that.
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spoony

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Re: TH500RP
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2015, 05:40:36 PM »

These are begging for a big-ass piece of foam behind the drivers.
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HideousPride

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Re: TH500RP
« Reply #8 on: February 05, 2015, 06:43:10 PM »

Thanks G!

I rather liked the TH500RP, stylistically and comfort-wise it's quite the headphone. Not as peaky as the TH-600, which is a big plus. My hope was that it'd sound like an open TH-900, but that might have been a bit too much to ask at the cost.

If there's any other pirates interested in giving them a listen before they come back to Massdrop, shoot me a PM.
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Re: TH500RP
« Reply #9 on: February 05, 2015, 06:58:32 PM »

PM sent. I wonder if this would be easy to open up and mod? Not sure if we'd be allowed to tinker with these or not, but if so... :)
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