Sound Impressions
The Fostex TH600/900 are bass head headphones, pure and simple. When it boils down to it, they offer the most fun, punchy, weighted, and deep-reaching low end of pretty much any other popular Hifi model out there.
This is a headphone for people who feel their bass experience to always be lacking, who wish to experience an omnipresent bass nearly at all times.
It is very obvious that most audio enthusiasts who are interested in Summit (the most expensive ) gear are looking for a more balanced sound signature, something with equal parts bass, mids, and treble: that level playing field…overrated to me.
I prefer a highly musical sound and I love a sick amount of bass…but not at the cost of losing mid and treble quantity as well. Thankfully, the TH600 doesn’t have that problem.
Stock v Wood
The difference between the stock magnesium alloy and Lawton wooden cups is audible. There is definitely a more focused feel to the entire low end of the spectrum, testing with Techmaster PEB’s Bassgasm resulted in more than a marginal improvement with the control factor in the new wooden cups.
Lawton’s replacements feel tonally in focus and you can actually feel the difference in the low-end looseness when swapping between them and the Fostex stock cups, the latter does feel shakier by a noticeable degree.
I am assuming this is because wood disperses audio waves more efficiently instead of letting them bounce around and crash like some metal alloys may tend to.
Either way, there is a difference not only in the physical structure of the bass, which ends up sounding pure with the woodies installed but also one that results in a warmer tone in my woodie option.
The stock TH600 is quite dry, however, it retains a solid sense of gentle warmth on the low end at all times with these Lawton cups. I didn’t have to do much A/Bing, the difference was very obvious. One is just a bit colored, the other sounds like a studio monitor without coloration, something too neutral to my ears.
Mids
Unfortunately, the TH600’s biggest downfall is its midrange, which is annoyingly recessed. It is V-shaped, and I dislike it strongly. I don’t think any amount of modifications can stop the drivers from producing this type of sound.
I’ve also found no differences between the stock and Lawton cups with regard to the midrange for the most part. The clarity factor remained too close to the same to judge and I failed blind testing to spot which cup set produced the more clean presentation.
You have to respect the TH600, even though it is a semi-open headphone in a technical sense, for producing such a crazy large soundstage. In turn, the vocalists and instruments carry a large feel to their physicality.
Everything just sounds so huge, by comparison, the very vast-sounding ATH W3000ANV and W1000z lack that large and well-rounded physical defining qualities to their midrange. Swapping between the two results in the Fostex simply sounding like the vocalists or instruments have more heft to them.
Quite a unique experience in the audiophile world and something very akin to the way the Sennheiser HD 800 portrays things in a physical sense. The Fostex stock pads are also noticeably inferior with the physicality quality most vocalis house, the Lawton pads are angled and offer a better sense of depth of field and spaciousness, but more on this in a bit.
Treble
The upper end of the TH600 is much more solid, clean, and crisp compared to the Denon D7000, so hats off to Fostex for fixing that nightmare.
Surprisingly, just like the TH900, the treble of the TH600 is both plentiful and engaging without sounding harsh or overly hazy. It is the weak point of the headphones for sure.
Still, there are also noticeable solidity differences between using the stock magnesium alloy cups and Mr. Lawton’s woodies: I can easily hear the shakiness dissipate and focus replace it each time I swap the cups, testing with my favorite tracks really confirmed that these Shedua cups really do alter the tone for the better.
I think the stock cups have resonance problems and the materials used are not at all well set up for smooth distribution of sound waves, I imagine them bouncing all over the place due to the way the upper end of the headphone is portrayed.
It is loose, lacking substance, and tonally out of balance in my humble opinion, however, it is definitely improved to an audible degree with Lawton’s cups.
The overall brightness of the headphone’s upper mids and treble regions only makes the TH600 sound even more spacious, something that you can easily test with a flat EQ vs a treble elevated EQ.
Staging & Imaging
The TH600 is really one of the most spacious, if not the most spacious closed-back/semi-closed headphones that I am aware of. Everything is light, aired out, and well separated in the stereo image, but oddly there isn’t much of a sense of width that I can pick up on.
The bubble void of the sound stage that is available is very rounded, tall, and deep. Stage width is there and it is impressive for this type of headphone, but it really takes a back seat to the height and depth of the headphone which vastly overpower it, at least to my ears anyway.
Stereo separation is neigh unrivaled in the stock TH600, I don’t feel the Lawton cups alter anything in this regard. Blind testing cannot be done with sound staging here due to how easy it is to spot the tone and textures of the woodie cups vs the magnesium alloy stock cups…like night and day to me.
By comparison, the ATH W3000anv and the W1000z house a massively wide sound stage to the ears, one that lacks the fantastic height of the TH600, but after testing, I realized that the TH600 matched the W1000z in width…the problem is that the TH600 is so physically well-defined that you simply don’t get a good feel for just how wide it really is.
By stark contrast, the W1000z from Audio Technica is noticeably more rectangle-shaped: very wide, but not tall, something very similar to the HD700 from Sennheiser.
Synergy
You can squeeze by with most genre selections, but I wouldn’t consider the TH600 absolutely well-rounded, perhaps moderately well-rounded is the furthest I would take that.
The TH series is also fairly efficient and plays well with all of my sources and amplifiers, ranging from my beloved Ray Samuels SR71B portable to my Pathos Aurium.
You’ll be able to rig pair to a moderate degree: meaning if you want a very colored sound, you can get that with certain equipment, if you want a neutral or natural sound, you can achieve that as well.
Thankfully, the TH600 isn’t picky with source and amplifier pairing, Lawton’s woodies are only a bonus on top of this that lets you take it a few steps further with certain woods that will match your tone preferences.
Our Verdict
Look, I know that most people reading are rolling their eyes at the thought of paying $549 for some wooden bowls, but consider that Audeze’s XC ( their wooden closed back ) has similar costs for just their wooden cups.
This is Art, plain and simple. You can either love it and respect it, or not. If you love the TH600 or any other headphones in general and find out that someone is offering tone adjustment to your preferences, odds are good you are going to pay for it.
It is very hard to justify the price of the TH600 alone let alone the price of Lawton’s modifications and cups that cost roughly the same price as the headphone itself, but when you are in love with a headphone enough and realize that there isn’t another headphone sub $1000 that does what the TH600 does you’ll save up for it.
Custom cups like these are a double threat: they fill a niche in the artistry and beautiful vintage or hifi vibe that most products sorely lack, as well as offering something different in tone depending on which cups you opt for.
If you are serious about the headphones and want a different flavor, check out Mark Lawton’s site and see what sparks your interest. You’ll be very happy when you take your TH600 to audio meets like I have, only to be told your TH600 is more beautiful than any other headphones in the room.
Lawton Fostex TH600 Technical Specifications
- 50mm driver units with 1tesla (1,000 gauss) magnetic circuit
- Bio-dynamic diaphragm
- Lightweight and highly rigid magnesium die-cast used for the housing material
- Piezo-sheet inside the housing for dispersion of resonance as well as high damping treatment
- Ear pads made of ‘Idemitsu Grancuir’ material as much as 60% lighter than genuine leather
