Hi-Fi World – September 2019

FOSTEX TH909

£1500

EXCELLENT - extremely

capable.

VERDICT

Fine quality but few cable

options.

FOR

• punchy bass without
  exaggeration


• cable and ear-
  pads replaceable


• comfortable to wear

AGAINST

• little consideration given to
  portable users


• recessed treble

Fostex

+44 (0)3301 222500

http://www.scvdistribution.co.uk/

http://www.hi-fiworld.co.uk SEPTEMBER 201 9 HI-FI WORLD 41

REVIEW

and-socket arrangement. For long
life, contacts are rhodium-plated. As
standard, Fostex supplies a chunky
3m cable terminated at the other
end in a standard 6.3mm jack plug.
Fine for ‘normal’ headphone amps

• but what about the balanced
  connections currently voguish in the
  upper echelons of personal listening?
  The company’s website reveals that
  TH900 cables are compatible with
  the TH909, and so the existing 3m
  ET-H3.0N7BL XLR cable (£260) can
  be used, but few portable players
  use XLR so an adaptor cable will
  be needed. There’s no cable with a
  3.5mm plug either, officially at any
  rate. If you want to partner the
  TH909 with a personal player you’ll
  need an adaptor – hardly ideal.
  There’s better news elsewhere.
  The earpads that, according to
  Fostex “adopt a low-resilience
  cushion to achieve a comfortable fit
  and the best audio performance” are
  detachable. In the US, replacements
  (EX-EP-99) sell for a very reasonable
  $80. Cables and earpads are the
  items most likely to deteriorate.
  That said, a sturdy carrying case
  isn’t supplied in the rather large
  box. Instead, you get a bag-like affair


• and a ST300 desktop stand, on
  which the TH909 is perched when
  not in use; it’s evident that dust
  worries and portable use aren’t on
  Fostex’s radar.
  The 50mm drivers push and
  pull diaphragms are made from
  a proprietary “Biodyna” material,
  described by Fostex as a “bio-
  cellulose and inorganic fibre

admixture”. The implications
are said to be a “wide dynamic
range with low distortion...a rich
low-frequency, natural mid-range
and excellent reproduction of
highs”. Fostex claims a 5Hz-45kHz
frequency response. Their 25 Ohm
impedance is very low – most
headphones fall into a 40-300 Ohm
band – so they need a decent
headphone amplifier.

PERFORMANCE
I tried the TH909 with Chord Toby
TT and Prism Callia DAC/headphone

amplifiers, fed

digitally from

a Cambridge

CXN v2 playing

FLAC CD rips and hi-

res music held on a NAS. Using a

3.5mm-to-6.3mm adaptor the TH909

worked fine with a FiiO X3 personal

player. I encountered no problems

with drive, headroom or dynamics

• but an adaptor is a burden.
  Initial listening impressions
  were of deep bass unexaggerated
  or overhung; the TH909s were
  particularly effective with pipe
  organs and modern electronic music
  such as Remurdered, from Mogwai’s

Rave Tapes album; 24/96 FLAC. Their

midrange is perhaps a little forward,

which helps to highlight vocals in the

mix; every word of Pixx’s delicious

slice of articulately-feminist guitar-

tinged electro Andean Condor

(Small Mercies, FLAC rip) was

discernible.

Yet this key mid-range region

was neither coloured or unnatural,

as listening to speech on BBC Radio

4 (320kbps AAC stream) proved.

Treble, although capable of filigree

detail, was a tad subdued – bright

these headphones are not! Hi-hats

and

electronic

percussion were nevertheless

crisp and clean, while brass

instruments like trumpets retained

bite.

The urgency of, say, Steve Reich’s

Music For A Large Ensemble (ECM

FLAC rip) or Radiohead’s Burn

the Witch (A Moon Shaped Pool,

FLAC rip) was a delight to behold.

Rhythms, for example the one that

underpins the aforementioned Pixx

track, flowed nicely.

Also impressive was the intimate

performance space that the TH909

created between my ears. This

convinced with evening concerts

from BBC Radio 3 (320kbps AAC

stream), including a performance of

Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, and

the 24-bit LSO/Naseda recording of

Britten’s War Requiem. The TH909’s

excellent resolving power, dynamics

and natural tonality did justice to

these complex forms of music.

CONCLUSION

Although the TH909s lack the

absolute finesse of the world’s

very best ‘phones – notably Focal’s

Utopia that I use – enough detail is

resolved to draw you into the music

without unduly laying bare the flaws

of the recording.

"impressive was the intimate

performance space that the

TH909 creates between your

ears"

£