Fostex USA Stage or Studio Cable (ET-RP3.5UB)

After spending several days of intensive listening with these headphones, I am comfortable giving them a full five stars. First, I can't compare or contrast them to the T-50 MKIII. I haven't ever listened to any of the modern Fostex offerings, including the modified versions from various shops. I had a set of T-10s back in the 90s, but they have long since gone into the great dustbin of history.So, I'll just try and evaluate the T-60s on their own merits. To start, they are really attractive, at least to me. I think the wood looks amazing, and was a feature that helped me pull the trigger and buy them. The 'phones arrived in good shape. No damage to them or their package. The package is sufficient. Nothing super amazing. Compared to a recent purchase of the Neumann NDH-20, this is a ho-hum unboxing experience.Comfort is quite good. I can wear these 'phones for several hours during the day and not suffer any ear discomfort. I'm wearing them within an air conditioned house, so I can't tell you if they're hot during summer/outside wear. These, despite being quite large cans, aren't very heavy, and don't have really high clamping force, even on a large man's head.Sound is a good balance. They have a good bit of air and lightness in the treble, but aren't shrill or super incisive. No complaints with the midrange, as there shouldn't be in a planar. Bass, at least in these, doesn't seem overboosted. It's present, detailed, but not boomy. They have a more open and broad soundstage than the Neumanns, but don't have as much slam. They aren't as wide or sharp as Sennheiser HD700s. They provide some acoustic isolation, but are semi-open, so you can still hear your surroundings, albeit attenuated and treble-rolled.Some have said that the Fostex planar line is hard to drive. I wondered if my dac/amp would be sufficient, but I've settled on around 19/100 volume with my Apogee Groove. That's roughly the same as the Sennheiser HD700, which is not known as a tough pair to drive. Would these strain a phone or a weak headphone out on your laptop? Maybe a bit. But you could make do, if that's all you had. That said, there are better choices for portable gear. These are big headphones that don't fold, remember.The T-60s don't necessarily do any one thing better than everything else, but they have a lot of good qualities. I don't find them fatiguing to wear. They're revealing and hi-fi enough, without being painful to listen to with lesser sources or compressed music. They're distinctive in looks. Being a close cousin to the much-modded T-50, there will be tons of aftermarket pads and tweaks for them. Very much worth your consideration, if you're looking for a set of 'phones less than $500. For my money, I prefer them to the HD700s I've been listening to for years.

I use these headphones with a pc and a soundblaster g6 usb dac/amp. These headphones bring so much clarity to music it is crazy. I went out of my way to find audio at higher bit rates and these really give you great sound, clarity, responsiveness, and position, they are extremely enjoyable. On a flat EQ these headphones have a breat mid to high end sound, but the bottom is light, even with the ear cups they give you that are adding to that semi closed environment. I would recommend swapping them out for some brainwaves due to the lack of ear cup comfort with these, and take your time putting them on because they need to be worked to fit in the ear cup. I wear a 7 3/8 fitted hat so I have a larger noggin. I used the eq controls in my sound card to boost the low end and keep the rest flat and you are rewarded with one of the best sound experiences for music. My wife is very sensitive to pitch and sounds and shes using a regular gaming headset (arctis 5) and she had me play thunder by imagine dragons and she really enjoyed it. She said, great, now I can’t enjoy listening to music on other headphones because I’ve tried these and now I can hear how bad everything else sounds. The wood grain is a nice touch and black sack that it comes with is great for when you have it on your desk and you want to keep dust and dirt off of it. The headphone cable that it comes with is ok, I would ask that they offer it in two lengths for the same price (299) as the one that comes with it is too long and I could really use a shorter one. If you're looking for a planar magnetic thats going to close out the surroundings, this is the one you want. If you want more boom to these, just make sure you use eq software to give you that necessary boost to the low end and you’ll really enjoy it.

FIRST PAIR: The first T60rp i got had the squeaky ear cup problems others have had and there was a crack on the plastic part that holds the headband to the left ear cup. The squeaking was very annoying and made listen unbearable. Slight movements of my jaw would make very loud noises. The small crack on the plastic part split, causing the left earcup to fall off. This was from light use and less than one week of owning it. The adjustment sliders were very loose. I kept having to readjust the fit after a few songs because the headband had become too loose.SECOND PAIR UPDATE:Returned the dud and received a new(er) pair. The adhesive seal on the box was broken and then re-sealed. So not sure what that was all about. They seem new to me. The squeaking problem is gone. The sizing adjustment stays in place now and is a perfect fit for my XL head. No cracks or issues that i can see.Sound is very clean with crisp highs and good bass. They sound a bit warm to me, but that could be the tube amp i'm driving them with or placebo effect from the wood. Brighter, but less bass than Fidelio X2HRs, but the opposite when compared to HD650s. The differences are slight, but the bass on the X2s is much deeper.I am running them on a Schiit stack(Modi3, Magni3/Vali2) on my desk and a xDuoo XD-05 Plus for portable. I tried using an ifi idsd nano black label, but that didn’t have enough power for these. Needless to say, the T60rp needs a lot of power.I haven't heard the T50rp or any other mod(argon, blue, etc). Worth the price paid if you want good cans that look cool and sound great. Just beware of duds.