Fostex TH-1100RP Headphone Review - Especially Specialized In Its Specialty

[@En_Joshi-Godrez]

Buying an expensive headphone that can do just one thing well is only justified in the mind of a purchase addict. You can't change a headphone mid album or song, yet these people want you to believe they can.

[@halimj7]

You could say that about anything. Why buy a sports car, or a beach house, or a planar over a dynamic? For the experience! These are all luxury items that are not necessary or even practical, but for those who can afford it or want it badly enough, they do it to experience something different and special. If a headphone is so good at one thing for many that is enough to to justify the purchase in order to have that experience they can’t get with any other headphone.

[@user-fj8mi4iq9y]

​@@halimj7 because the equivalency would be a car that did one portion of driving experience well, NOT a car that is specialised in a certain driving experience. In order for a car to exceed at doing one discipline well, it's needs to do many individual thing well. It's culmination of all those attributes, not just one. That's never how that works. This headphone only does one thing well. That's not good enough when music is multi tonal and requires many sonic attributes to be competent.

[@user-fj8mi4iq9y]

​@@halimj7 "can't get with any other headphone". Like sounding broken? No, that certainly not purchase addiction logic. Not one bit. Lmao

[@En_Joshi-Godrez]

@@halimj7 "it's for the experience!". Like all addicts are.

[@halimj7]

@@En_Joshi-Godrez you are out of touch. For the average consumer they are looking at you why would you buy a headphone over $300. It’s all relative. If you don’t have the interest or money don’t buy it. There is no perfect headphone. Whatever you buy you are making a sacrifice and if you buy an expensive headphone you are making an expensive sacrifice.

[@Renexx90]

Thanks for your amazingly detailed reviews. Always very helpful and enjoyable.

[@JTB--]

Nice one Wave! Happy Holidays and much success in 2025!!

[@wavetheorysound]

Thanks JTB. Same to you and thanks for your support!

[@ReverendDr.Thomas]

@@JTB--Merry Christmas!🎄

[@JTB--]

@@ReverendDr.Thomas Same to you! ☃️

[@MichaelDavitt1]

Would you please review the Pass Labs / Wayne Colburn "Whammy" Headphone amp . It sounds terrific to me ! A great DYI Project This is a fantastic channel I enjoy, thanks for all the hard work,

[@matthewhilty4209]

I heard these at SoCal CanJam and was impressed but I should have checked if there was an EQ or played my own test tracks. I did notice it emphasized the very beginning of every note but didn't think much of it at the time. Great review even if you didn't like it. Not every product can be a hit.

[@fishbarbeque8540]

Hey! Are you going to review the Hifiman Isvarna?

[@SpiritualPsychotherapyServices]

I hope so!

[@wavetheorysound]

Eventually I'm sure...whenever they have one for me.

[@fishbarbeque8540]

@@wavetheorysound Awesome!!! Love you! (No homo, just normal love)

[@PixelPipes]

Can't believe they didn't include a balanced cable with it. Even one balanced cable with an adapter to SE would have been way better.

[@TheMaurob1979]

Hifiman shine basically in every generes..the others don t give a good reason for choose their headphones over hifiman..and its been like this already for many years.

[@TheVeganVicar]

I guess I had better sell my Mod Head Audio headphones now...

[@soulfulfool]

maybe only their most expensive stuff, cheaper shit almost everything got failed treble section, mid range without good tonality etc. so your statement is maybe right but for someone who did NOT tested many headphones

[@PaulsLittleRoom]

Sennheiser and Grado are better for vocals and dynamics, everything else goes to Hifiman.

[@liamhenderson3958]

​@@soulfulfool your critiques are always bad. The xs has the same midrange profile as the hd1000 series and it's treble is less modal. You are effected by sighted bias.

[@soulfulfool]

@@liamhenderson3958 no I just dont consider Hifiman as best brand ever but at least they did cut the prices as they should do long time ago

[@dragosthule]

But how do these sound with the argon treatment! 😀 Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

[@danielsamson9505]

Merci👌👍 pour cette vidéo.

[@P4sta.]

what pairing would you reccomend for the arya stealth? i just got it for 600 bucks, love ur content keep it up

[@P4sta.]

You should review the jds labs element iv and the smsl raw mda 1

[@ReverendDr.Thomas]

🎄Merry Christmas, Professor!🎄 😇 May God Bless You Always! 😇 Reverend Dr. Thomas, ✝️ The Vegan Vicar 🌱

[@wavetheorysound]

And a Merry Christmas to you too, Rev. Dr.! Thanks again for your continued support!

[@ReverendDr.Thomas]

@@wavetheorysound, thanks! Incidentally, I got a pair of Mod House Tungsten for Christmas, so I am going to rewatch your triple-review of those headphone with two other models, and comment my opinion on how they compare, to my ears.

[@RX-rd4sc]

Please review sony mdr z1r

[@delta9k]

Thanks for the review - disappointing indeed though I suppose that is more on me and my preferences but Fostex for me means energy, bass, and technically capable. I get that this is a new driver type in use in the new series but still, to vary so far from the sound signature of the TH9xx series is too much in my opinion. I know others may appreciate the 1xxx sound signature and that's great for them but for me if it ain't got the bass then there's no use case...

[@baaltroth1957]

I'm tired of headphones that cost over 2k.

[@mariodrv]

This.

[@shockwave2291]

Remember when the Focal Utopia came out in 2016 and everyone was shitting on it for costing far more than every other headphone at the time except the Sennheiser HE1? Now it's considered the average price for summit-fi headphones lmao. Inflation and market economics is such a wild system.

[@Darkmatter356]

say it with me.... CASH GRAB!

[@mariodrv]

Build one. Price it.

[@STEELFOX2000]

For me sounds like cash grab too.

[@shockwave2291]

​​​@@mariodrvModhouse (which is a Indie business literally run by one dude) recently built their first proprietary planar headphones that cost only a third of the TH1100 and has a sound quality that punches well above its price. Stop making excuses for rip offs.

[@mariodrv]

@@shockwave2291 God you guys are dumb.

[@IrenESorius]

👍‍‍🌟👍‍‍

[@WeatheredPeach]

Indigo colored wood accents? Jeadphone.

[@jcoate4925]

For the algo

[@Nightjar726]

It would be SUPER nice if you out of all reviewers could do reviews with EQ added as well. So many mediocre headphones can be made into amazing headphones with EQ. Headphones are flawed by their nature and are very difficult tune to a good Harman target .

[@wavetheorysound]

I appreciate that you want my take on that. You are correct in that no headphone is perfect. Even so, I only do EQ in rare instances when I feel it's necessary to tell the story. EQ is not something that usually interests me. In an already complicated hobby, I think EQ makes things more complicated. Also, the use of EQs like Equalizer APO limits fidelity, IME, as users are required to go through the Windows audio mixer instead of using exclusive outputs. But more fundamentally, I disagree with the premise that all headphones/IEMs need to be tuned to the same target. It's ok for headphones to have different tunings. It's ok for different headphone makers to target different segments of the audience with different tunings. Not only does that make the hobby more interesting, it makes listening more interesting, IMO. It presents different music in different ways that can keep listening to your favorite music fresh and new. Obviously to each their own on this and I'm happy to all exist under a big tent. Thanks for watching and commenting, though, it is much appreciated. Cheers!

[@frxtrader3227]

Hifiman arya organic better

[@arthurhaywood2184]

Devil’s Advocate: “Good on Jazz, classical and acoustic…….” Hmmm….. Genres where the recording process is more straight forward. Where artists take more care in the finished product when it comes to accurate reproduction and conveyance. Sounds like a good headphone to me! If other genres that are heavily processed and produced sound bad on same said headphone? Guess what? It’s not the headphone. It’s the source! Most popular music is heavily over produced and mixed down to sound good on the equipment most likely to be used by its target audience. I know because I have had family and know people in that industry. Suffice to say, if the end product doesn’t sound good on Beats or Air Pods, it doesn’t sound good! That’s the general rule. So I get it. You want something that makes what you normally listen to sound good to you. Perfectly understandable! But….. What is the truer representation? Always a struggle……

[@soulfulfool]

true, about headphones alone for that price you can have anything with better build, sound, accessories...your choice, I would not pay that much for any fostex headphones, I cant even imagine to who they are trying to sell them

[@wavetheorysound]

In general I give some creedance to this Devil's Advocate position, but for this headphone I think it's a bit misplaced. The 1100RP is always coloring the sound, at least to my ears. It's the way that it colors the sound that does something for instrumental jazz in particular that makes it quite an experience. Natural it isn't. But it is engaging for that narrow range of genres. So to me the listening experience with this particular headphone isn't closely connected to the quality of the recording. There are a lot of bad jazz recording out there too. And not because they were intentionally done poorly, but a lot of well-known jazz music predates rock-n-roll and its fidelity is limited to the recording quality of its time. Remasters can only do so much. Yet those early recordings are still engaging on this headphone. The engineers at Fostex had a certain sound they wanted and developed a headphone to deliver that sound. That makes it a specialist IMO. Which is fine. But needs to be known going in if you're in the market. I do appreciate your view and comment. Happy Holidays! 🍻

[@arthurhaywood2184]

@ Happy Holidays! I really appreciate the well thought out response!