Sennheiser PC37X randomly goes bad after disconnecting the cable ?
Greetings, Yesterday I was using my headset like normal with my macbook, just listening to music and on a call with people like usual, and the headset was perfectly fine. The stock wire that came with the headset is extremely long and yesterday it annoyed me very much that it kept getting tangled with itself, so I decided to see if the cable is replaceable. I pulled out the cable from the headset and saw the adapter, and looked online for a replacement. Upon plugging it back in, the audio sounded extremely muffled and washed out. Im not sure what I did wrong to make it mess up like that as I've always taken good care of it, ive had it for about 2 years and its always just been chilling on my desk, but anywho I thought the cable just went bad and ordered a replacement. The replacement came, and the issue is still persistant, so I am not sure what the issue is I've tried multiple different headsets and the issue is not with the port, and I also tried it with my windows laptop and...
Apr 23, 2024
And the pickings are even slimmer if you're trying to improve on the THX00 with a closed headphone. You've got the $1500+ Ether C that clearly beats it out, but outside of that it's mostly trade-offs. I think the THX00 beats the pants off the Audeze EL-8 which is more expensive. It beats the AKG top end closed offerings. It beats the Shure top end close offerings. The PM3 competes with it, but is a much different sounding headphone. And the NAD HP50 is also competitive. Alpha Dog Primes also compete, but it's a coin flip to me and they're more expensive. But outside of that the landscape is barren.
All hobby communities go through continuous cycles of lusting after the latest and greatest equipment releases (regardless of price). It does not mean TH-X00 won't continue to be loved or recommended, but at some point the market will become saturated and/or people will move onto the next "darling" product (which for all we know will be generated as a result of releases like this..aka competitive markets).
BTW I would very much be interested in this list of "40 extremely capable" full size open headphones in the ~$200 range :)
none of that is to say that the K7XX aren't great headphones, simply that the competition in the $100-300 open back market is intense with very high quality performers, which leads to a lot of "flavor of the month." It's the same with low end closed designs. There's literally hundreds of mediocre $100 closed headphones. But the high end closed headphone market is pretty barren, especially if you take anything costing more than $600 off the table. Heck, I think the THX00 best almost all the $600+ closed headphones. It destroys the Audeze EL8, for example.
However, hype will always be present, while competitors without hype will not get noticed. For example, the LFFs and ZMFs which do not have the marketing resources the Fostex has are not hyped and fly under the radar. They're both great mods, and really the LFF is the closed-back end-game, and those who have heard it including myself express the same sentiment (r/headphones, SBAF). I'm still wondering when these will get the respect they deserve.
Anyway, the Fostex gets a lot of hype that it deserves I guess, but it'll definitely slow down in a year or so once more people get their hands on the Fostex which is what happened to the AKG.
Sure, there is some hype, there has to be hype to sell out this fast given a three month wait time. But I don't see this going the same way the K7XX has, where even in *just* the AKG line there are, what, 7 variants that are comparable? K701, K702, K712, K712 65th anny, Q701, K612. I honestly don't understand AKG's strategy there, where almost nobody understands the differences between the various models.
I think these will stay very consistently popular, and a go-to rec for closed headphones as long as they stay in the $399 price point. On the other hand I don't see how Fostex will ever sell another TH600 as long as these are available.
Official webpage is still up: http://www.fostexinternational.com/docs/products/TH-600.shtml
But who knows? They currently haven't decided how they will ultimately reshuffle their mid tier lineup. It is clear that some of their mid tier products aren't working at the given price points though.