Feel like writing something about them, cause gonna send them back for RMA.



Saw them on Massdrop and instantly got hooked on them, "DEM PURPLE WOODIES MAN, EVEN ATH DOESN'T HAVE THEM", paid the money and waited for 5 months.
Then went to try the Mahogany ones before the deal expired and think this might not be a bad deal.
Think this is the only one pair of Purpleheart in Malaysia, and one of two TH-X00s(the Mahogany one that is on sale on LYN and keep changing hands all the time)

5 months later, after all the expectations and hype, man "dat bass" man, the Fostex TH-X00 Purpleheart arrived at my doorsteps.
And it is a downright disappointment.

First at all, the rm50-headphones-tier packaging.
The US$450 pair of headphones comes in a paper box wrapped with bubble wrap and nothing else. Not even sponge. NOPE.
And a carrying bag.


WHAT ARE THESE THINGS? RM50 CHINESE BEATS?!!

Then the notorious QC issue in the TH-X00 circle, the "bubble-gate" of the Purplehearts.
Not sure the numbers but it has bothered dozens if not hundreds of the purchasers to get on the forum seeking for help(fyi the Purpleheart drop has around 1.5k buyers)

The affected headphones come with bubble wrap marks on the cup, suspected to be wrapped and shipped before the lacquer was dried properly.
Then the lacquer issue too. Uneven application of lacquer on two sides of the cups.


I swear these ain't the oil marks from McD fries

Many Purpleheart cups, including mine look more like Reddish-Purpleheart in this sense.
Later on some say the cups were produced in China but not "Made in Japan". Holy wow.


expectation vs reality


Picture of them on the product page, my cans look like these under flashlight haha, normally they look like the cover picture
Literally chinese/korean/japanese goddess level of photoshop


I was planning to keep mine but then after two weeks of burning-in I gave in and am going to refund these, as they are affected by the bubble marks issue so I can. Thank god.

I don't like how they sounds. They ain't a pair of proper Fostex cans for me.

The bass is plenty compare to reference cans but little to the likes of TH600s and TH900s.
I did try the Mahogany ones thought they actually have the bass I want, and read the description on the product page and forums.
BUT the Purpleheart lacks bass compare to the Mahogany. The link for product page
OMG the head-fi review, better than TH-900s holy (bs was killed after the Mahoganys were shipped and everyone knows the truth)
Literally a stomp at the graph believers

IMO the mids should be the selling point of the Purpleheart. Definitely the best among the Fostex line-up, especially when compare to the "handicapped" mids of the TH-900.
Will put it one tier below the likes of T1s and LCDs and Pandoras.

It has good resolution compare to the 600s, matches its $450 pricetag, sounds good out of the box, can be driven easily, good soundstage, great clarity, good sub bass, punch and detailing(piano and line instruments sound fabulous)

Then its cons, limited potential even is being driven by desktop rigs(literally the opposite of Sony Z7), lacks of control of its highs(will get annoying at times), bad bass control during vocals(contradicting its great mids), not comfortable(tight earpads and thin headband)

What annoys me is the cons are fixable, with a price.
Like the TH-900, the upgrade curve is.
1)The detachable cable mod by Peterek then TH-900 cable by Lawton(the OG cable is a fixed 6.35mm jack)
2)New earpads from Lawton for TH-900
3)DT770's headband mod
The price will be around $150 if I'm lucky, just to fix the annoying highs, not adding bass(which what I want) and not really improving SQ(it's good enough)
Thing is everything can be far simpler if Massdrop didn't cheap out and optioned for a removable 3.5mm cable design like the current line-up for Fostex.
And better headband and earpads like the 600s and 900s.

So buyer's remorse kicked me hard for literally a week then I decided to return them.
The purple heart cans are sexy, even under the handicapped form.
But the overall package is a disappointment. Not even is a good value with the sound, for me.
On top of that Massdrop cheap'd out. And Fostex backstabbed by cheaping out at the production. What a freaking combination. Karma strikes back 2k16


will throw the box away instantly if I'm not doing RMA, KNN-tier of irritation it is, $450 and this??!!

Thank god the issue blew out of scale and Massdrop was forced to RMA or replace them.
Then I can take advantage of it by lossing some postage fees but am allowed to listen to them for 2 weeks. Good demo fee I reckon.
Otherwise it will be a half or 70% off LYN deals Thank god

Think I will never get anything audio-related from Massdrop after this. Unless they make the HD800s drop $800 then I'll be all-in again

Tl;dr: Again! Be careful when dealing with Massdrop everyone, and don't buy something w/o trying it at full price!

Epilogue:
Wee RM205 of DHL delivery, MD says they will reimburse me the normal shipping fee, let's see how much are they paying me back

Anyway these cans are not for me, if you got a pair for them and like them, enjoy them!
I can see them pair good with Pop genre. And maybe anime songs if your playlist has no female vocals

This post has been edited by Melvin117: Sep 6 2016, 06:42 PM

Ouch, tough luck. By now we should've learned from 2-3 year wait Geek Pulse drop and others projects. Massdrop is risky.

One thing, reviews are extremely, substantially important.
One should either read multiple reviews or demo a pair of cans before buying one.

And the TH-X00 project met none of the above two criteria. This is literally pre-ordering a pair of headphones, at couple hundred of bucks.

Won't comment on other drops, the KB ones are good usually if you can't read Mandarin and do Taobao.
The K7XX ain't half bad, considering what you're getting.
The dac and amp drops wise, good luck.
Headphones drop usually are on-sale models rather than new models like these. And not a big discount usually. So the manufacturers won't cheap out on their current production methods.

konpaku has a mahogany one as well

I was under the impression that purpleheart has more punch in the low end compared to mahogany, although both have a huge mid drop off that makes it unsuitable for my tastes. Never tried the ebony variant though.

Yeah true, the mids are better, significantly than the mahogany tho.
looks better too, maybe, after new cups replacement

Wow wth?! No Foam covering the phone.. Dam...
For 450 USD, paper box.. Maximizing Profit kaw kaw.

lai lai bonus, nsfw pic of how is it in the box

that's just the risk and rewards/trial and errors of "leap of faith endeavors"

i did mine and thankfully AT didn't alter their AD2000x sound signature too much for older AD2000 fans like me to appreciate.

and my headphones were more expensive than these at last year promotional pricing from one of the vendors at amazon... and i can assure you the packaging is nothing stellar lol.
not the AT woodies level of packaging if that what you were expecting

oh to add in my decent luck, the ALO RX MK3 B+ that i ALSO took a leap of faith to purchase, not only something i've yet to audition (i only auditioned the B, not B+ which is said to have minor improvement, which could mean worse to some, who knows), it is also a used unit.
it's also about the same price as my headphones btw... original ALO price was 650 USD.
and i noticed a slight uptrending on pricing as the unit was long discontinued... and someone on Yahoo japan was selling cheaper than average due to a lot of cosmetic defects MAINLY on the box. (hey some ocd japanese, you'll never know. that auction was on for MONTHS before i finally lost it)

packaging? bubble wrap over the original super small paper ish cardboard box. oh did i mentioned used? the white paper/writing everything has already yellowed/blurred out a bit lol.

yet... the amp.. even on this rm5 viewnet 3.5mm interconnect from my centrance DAC Port LX to the amp still sounded so awsm
oh i also verified the SN with ALO audio directly, it's a legit product. even with the fucked up scribbled serial number writing

=edit=
what i am trying to say is, doesn't matter the value of the item, or even the avenue, be it indiegogo, kickstarter, games etc.

people have paid FAR MORE and yet received even WORSE disappointments.

that skully tech motorcycle helmet?
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/skully-a...rcycle-helmet#/
people gambled 1.4k US Dollars on that btw, more expensive than a HD800S btw

while yes, i do win in this 2 gamble, i also paid some school fees of my amp being held by customs for taxation.

and other things in life, like myself almost dying (hmm, well if you switch the subject to life, i guess i won because i'm still alive and posting! ) from motorcycle crashing (car hit and run over my bike), or total losing my car in a shitty accident which is generally my fault

while it may sound a bit irresponsible in saying this, but i guess there's just no other way on putting it as "that's life bro"

This post has been edited by Quazacolt: Sep 6 2016, 04:22 AM

It's a shame to see that Fostex doing that kind of packaging..

ATH W series woody have some vintage looking case though, red velvet covering the inner foam. Dam, i just wish I could purchase the case alone.

well it does come premium in price... and don't try to "kira" with Japanese

The packaging has been like that since the first drop, nothing new there. Same as the made in China thing, has been the same since day 1.

The finish "bubble marks" and some people reporting twisted cables? That's a different story. Didn't have such issues with mine from the original run, luckily. Considering these were even more expensive, really shouldn't have happened >.<

Somebody screwed up somewhere/rushed to production. But you think about how many months they had to make it (an entire new mahogany run finished before these went out), quite shocking. Was reading some of the comments on MD, no wonder they're just accepting returns, seems to be widespread.

This post has been edited by echineko: Sep 6 2016, 05:23 AM

I loled when i see the word china china china in this so called review.


There are no less than 5 pairs of th0xx here la. Dont be exaggerated.

Your tldr review did not specify your source.

I believe this is more like buyer remorse more than anything.

If no less than 5 pairs but a lot of complaints, that is bad. Even if only 1 is bad, that's considered as 20% defect rate. That's astronomically high.

Massdrop is shit. Lol. There. I said it.
Their 'deals' are hardly deals

This post has been edited by joshuachew: Sep 6 2016, 12:30 PM

Thing is, this time the use of bubble wrap literally destroyed the physical appearance of the cans.
On a large scale.
Lot's of people are not claiming the warranty, cause they don't bother to because of the sonic performance ain't affected.
What I want is something protective, and functional, not this shite.

DEM LUGGAGE MATE
The pelican case comes with the LCDs are not bad too

hahaha so true
they are more capable than you in kira-ing wakakaka
paid so much Final tax for all these years

Idm Made in China as long as they are functionable. Bought enough Chinese high end stuffs, even 2nd hand ones and they function well. Definitely not this tier of horsecrap.
Forgot to mention about the twisted cables, if you carry them around regularly, they do ended up twisty
NOT MY CONCERN ANYMORE HAHAHA
ME AINT HAVE BUCKS FOR PARETEK CABLE MOD
Will include them to the rant article later on
Bad is not enough to describe the productional fark up happened, MDxFostex are 2sugoi

Ya I realise there maybe only 5 so I'm maybe exaggerating

I do appreciate if you read throughly and look at the pictures I attached before making claims, it is made in china, printed on the box, attached under my "China China" statement above.

What source do I even need? I have the dem thing and a dozen of pics and more than enough buyers who share the same issue.
The product page is there, the link is provided there, you are more than welcome to see how volatile the issue is, and MD is giving literally zero-condition refund on this case, as long as you have a mark, even it is as big as a rice. Somemore they promise to cover the return shipping fee, which is not included in their TnS iirc.
Or other minor issues that are usually neglected and be called to ignore in forums such as the cables and mismatched brand logo.

I won't ignore my buyer's remorse, and the productional screw ups have lead to me to take actions, and a happy ending for me.


The Purpleheart batch is a disaster, and I'm surprised actually the angmos are not returning them in large scale considered how they behave normally.
If you have ever seen a Fostex or ATh woodies and look at mine you will be surprised by how bad the cups are, photos won't do them justice, they are way worse then they are shown the photos.
No shite but they fkin feels like plastic with the cacat lacquer.

They do have good OEM deals, and like I said if you are in US/EU and don't bother to do taobao MD is actually awesomesauce.

This post has been edited by Melvin117: Sep 6 2016, 06:59 PM

Any chance you going to let other people loan them for a few days bro>

sent it back for refund d today
sorry yeah
will be willing to keep it around for few more weeks if it ain't a company as stingy as MD
think there's one guy with the PH in KL, hit the LYN TH-X00 thread here

S/N: if u have tried the Mahogany then the PH is a less bass, more sub bass, better mids Mahogany, that's how they sound to my ears

This post has been edited by Melvin117: Sep 6 2016, 06:34 PM

Well at least it protect your toy. Better than the "burble wrap" with card board.
The box is premium too, top class

Source as in your audio source.

But seems like you are not interested in any discussion apart from returning it

This is bangla class, destroys the product and an eyesore
Idm go to get a big box, in fact I was planning to, now no need la

normally I rocked them with the odac+o2 combo
if I brought it portable then with my dx90 or phone+mojo
tot going to desktop rig will save them so I ran them on a friend's Mjolnir 2 stacks. Haha the annoying highs is still there, marginal sonical improvement unlike when I plugged my hd600 on them.

anyway I have returned them, and if you have a pair of the TH-X00 and my post have offended your love towards them, I will say sorry before I get salty again