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Hyde
1119
Dec 24, 2017
A while back I bought the Rosewood cup to use with my Denon D2000 only to find out the driver tuning is different so the result isn't so good and I had to set aside the cup for a while. Recently I decide to jump the gun on E-Mu Teak s now trying it out today with Teak cup first then later on Rosewood then now back to Teak again. I figure I can outline the major difference for those that are interested in the future buys.
A while back before I jump in the buy I was reading this guy's review: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/4kbf70/woodies_emu_wood_series_teak_rosewood_ebony_and/
While it was great but one part confused me, he liked Rosewood's signature the best but prefer Teak overall. I was like if you like the signature the best shouldn't you like this headphone the best? After playing around with both cups today I finally understood what he meant.
And I agree with him, I like Rosewood's signature the best except I'm not sure which one I like better yet. Here I'll explain:
LOWS: Rosewood somehow have "cleaner" bass, the sub bass hits deeper and there is less mid bass. So the Rosewood cup is less "noisy" and hits clean and hard. Kick drums and toms just hits hard and clean. Switching back to the Teak you do notice the difference. Rosewood definitely wins out here. In rock songs you can feel all the kick drums / toms in Rosewood but not as much in Teak.
MIDS: This is the tricky part, the thing that bugged me the most about Teak is that it has slightly recessed female vocal. I listen to a lot of female fronted rock band so recessed female vocal bugs me. Rosewood have more forward vocal (same as TH-X00 based from memory, tried it but don't own it), but Teak has better mid range detail. What I meant is that the vocal sounds more real, more textured. String instruments you hear the vibration and the decay a lot better, in contrast the Rosewood feel a bit flat in that regard. So it's a trade off here, it's like would you rather have more forward presentation or further but more detailed presentation. It's a draw on this regard. Funny enough you'd think more mids = more vocal but apparently not.
HIGHS: To be honest, highs is a double edged sword. Some people love it and some people hate it, so it really depend on your preference. I like the Grado house sound so I do like the more in your face highs that feels more lively and energetic. If you like more tamed highs go for Teak, if you want more treble and like treble then go for Rosewood. My friend who owns a HD650 he finds the Teak is boarderline sibilant for him, and Rosewood is probably like 5% more treble.
SOUNDSTAGE: Ok I find most review just skim through this area quickly. Teak has more soundstage, Rosewood has less soundstage, done. NO IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE (all caps because very important). This is probably the biggest difference that separates Teak with all the other Fostex/E-Mu cups. Here I have a picture with Teak sitting next to Rosewood cup.
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Left is Teak, right is Rosewood.
Notice that the Teak actually has more interior volume because it's milled thinner, while all the other variants (Mahogany, Purpleheart, Ebony, and Rosewood) uses the right side model. Which is why Teak sound different than everything else.
Teak actually have noticeably more soundstage, a pretty huge margin actually. While everything else just sounds flat/2D compare to Teak's soundstage (again, HD650 is still better because it's open). So Teak give it a more airy / layered presentation also offering more "details" (though this might be due to the mid presentation). Which is why a lot of people find E-Mu Teak more "musical" compare to the rest of the variants.
CONCLUSION: That being said. Which do I like more? As I mentioned I like Rosewood's sound signature better (in fact it's pretty similar to Mahogany, so I wonder if I could've just got TH-X00 and save myself some money). The bass hits low and deep and hard, less midbass "noise", more cleaner sounding. Vocal is more forward. High is also more present. Overall I find Rosewood just more exciting and fun to listen to while still have very nice, present vocals.
Teak wins out in soundstage, the lush mid range details. Better instrument separations. And all those extra details you hear from string vibration, the sound decay in the room, all those extra details that seems to be missing in Rosewood (I guess trade off for having a cleaner, punchier sound). Teak is warmer in that regard.
At this point I'm still not sure what I like, I listen to a lot of female singing rock, acoustic, and pop. For rock I'd recommend Rosewood (or Mahogany, haven't tried Ebony) for that punchy and exciting sound, also more forward female vocal, for rock Teak almost felt slightly....... boring for lack of better word. Acoustic performance Teak definitely wins out. You can hear so much more details from guitar strumming and the vocal is just a lot more life like (as oppose to more flat/2D like in Rosewood). Pop is a toss up because pop cover a wide range, some songs works better in Rosewood, some songs in Teak. For more dance/EDM/electronic type of pop songs I'd recommend Rosewood. I don't listen to classical but I'd imagine Teak would win out.
If only they can give Rosewood soundstage then I'd just pick that.
Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions.
UPDATE: I've been using the Rosewood for a week now while I quite enjoy the sound signature but there are still some minor complaints, the treble is slightly lower for my taste for clarity, voice while is closer than Teak but still a little bit far, the bass kicked hard but for long session it's a bit too much, and overall this cup just really lacking soundstage/imaging compare to the Teak.
Then I remember I bought a Dekoni Premium Ear Pad for TH-X00 a while back for my Denon D2000 and it just make it sound worse so I never end up using it. And I remember people were saying without attenuation ring it reduces the bass. So I decide to give it a try today and OMG to my surprise it fixes all the above issues. Generally I don't like using 3rd party ear pad because most of the time it makes it sound worse, surprisingly it worked out for the better this time.
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/dekoni-premium-earpads-for-fostex-th-x00
It pushed the treble a bit more so clarity is better, vocal is more forward and present, bass is reduced to normal levels (still hits really hard to be honest, just more in line with other frequencies), and voila soundstage/imaging got better (no clue how, but it stop feeling congested/flat). I'd say might be *slightly* bright for some people depending on your taste. But for my taste I think it worked out well, your mileage might vary. Though treble is now boarderline sibilant so if you're treble sensitive this might not work well for you. I also only tried it with Rosewood and it paired pretty well, haven't try it with the Teak cup yet.
So this is another option for those who likes Rosewood's sound but just want a little bit clarity and a more balanced sound.
Wait_A_Minute
9
Dec 26, 2017
HydeGreat review Hyde. I got Rosewood cups and so far happy with the sound. What about the cable? Are you happy with the stock cable? Any recommendation if I were to upgrade the cable?
Hyde
1119
Dec 27, 2017
Wait_A_MinuteLOL to be honest I cheap out and got the non-detachable version ($50 less), I've never broken a cable before so I didn't think it was necessary for me. That being said Zeos went over the cable in depth so you should see which one he got. Because the construction is a bit different so only certain cable works.
But good to hear you enjoyed the sound so far, it's also a bonus that Rosewood looked great! :)
MokumMan
30
Dec 28, 2017
HydeExcellent post!
Hyde
1119
Dec 30, 2017
MokumManlol thanks, I think I burned enough money in this hobby now the least I can do is try to help others save some money.
:P
Hyde
1119
Jan 13, 2018
MokumManI added an update to the post at the end. I end up trying the Dekoni Premiums Ear Pad for TH-X00 (without the attenuation ring) that I bought a while back and it pushed the vocal more forward and it worked really well (although might be slightly bright now).
Later when I have time maybe I'll try it with the Teak cup and/or the attenuation ring just to see. :P
austriandude
49
Feb 23, 2018
Hyde+1 Dekonis angled sheepskin are a 5 stars comfort plus added with a selfmade atenuation ring out of wettex and more or less shaped as stock all sounds even fuller with a decent more charm of bass, soundstage seems bigger, a lot less brightness with this ring as without imho ... Wow I like it now
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Hyde
1119
Feb 23, 2018
austriandudeHaha nice DIY setup, I should try this later too. :P
austriandude
49
Feb 24, 2018
Hyde... if highs still are fatiguing sometimes it helps to dampen peaks in the region around 8.000hz ++ with 1 or 2 layers of this very thin paper of a tea-filter-bag ... this seems pretty effective and doesnt damp other frequencies too much.
xASHx
0
Jan 26, 2020
austriandudeHi, whats that Wettex? Where can i buy it? cheers
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