Fostex TH909 Review - A Vocal Classic
Introduction
To me, Fostex has always seemed like a sleeping giant in the headphone world. Fostex’s parent company, Foster Electronic Company, is a truly massive company that has been the OEM for everything from high headphones from companies like Denon to mass manufactured earphones for Apple’s iPhone. And yet despite Foster’s undoubted expertise in headphone design and manufacturing, the child company Fostex has only ventured into selling high-end headphones under its own marque in recent years.
With a release of only a few premium models, the company has almost been proudly boutique in its approach. This range has been expanded by the open-backed TH909 we are looking at in this review, but first I want to talk a bit about my experience with the TH610 and TH900 so we know where we are coming from.
In Fostex’s high end range, the TH610 and TH900 Mk. 2 are now both mature second generation products that reflect attention to craftsmanship and materials, both in terms of their driver technologies and their build quality. The TH610 and TH900 are both closed back models that use Foster’s famed ‘Biodyna’ drivers, where the diaphragms are made out of bio-cellulose fibres that are ‘grown’ on a substrate to produce a consistent paper-like structure. The result is strong, lightweight drivers that are remarkable for their bass response, high frequency extension and power handling.
Both of these headphones also have beautiful wooden earcups, with the TH900 in particular having a beautiful hand-laquered finishes produced by the Sa-kamoto Urushi Factory - an artisanal workshop with over 100 years of history.
Personally speaking, the TH610 is probably my favourite closed headphone on the planet. Even before I began working at Minidisc, I would often come into the store to demo the TH610 for hours. Its deep, cavernous bass brings out everything from the rich resonance of piano chords to the skull shaking bass of electronic synthesisers. The dry upper-midrange brings incredible much beautiful texture to female vocals and wind instruments. The TH610 is a headphone that I enthusiastically gush about to customers and encourage them to try - especially if they are new to higher end headphones. It’s both smooth and fun enough for pop music, and intimately rich for jazz and acoustic. For the money (and even disregarding the price), I think the TH610 is a powerfully emotional listen. I could go on!
Sadly, I cannot say I am nearly as enthusiastic about the TH900 Mk. 2. Despite its beautiful exterior, to me the TH900 is a bit monstrous. The refined aspects of the TH610 become uncontrolled on the TH900. Bass becomes thudding and boomy. Treble becomes splashy and harsh. I think the TH900 still sounds pretty magical for jazz music, but it gets ugly fast with electronic and pop where the treble can quickly become an angry mess of sibilants and smeared cymbals. Maybe this is purely the product of the TH900’s leather earpads (putting the TH610 earpads on a TH900 has the glass-slipper effect of making the TH900 sound lovely), but the TH900 Mk. 2 has always been a disappointment for me. As always, your mileage may vary.
Enter the TH909 - Design, Comfort and Isolation
It seems that after the success of the TH610 and the TH900, Fostex wanted to make a open back headphone. Their first attempt, the TH500RP, incorporated drivers based on the T50RP’s planar magnetic technology, and not the Biodyna drivers from the TH610/TH900. The result was… odd. The TH500RP was a relaxing listen, but had an oddly closed off sound, with a peculiar sound where all vocals sounded like they were being sung through cupped hands.
The new TH909 proudly goes back to the biocellulose drivers and Urushi wood-cups of the TH900. In fact, the TH909 seems almost identical to the TH900, except that the back of the earcups now feature a complex metal grille. The grille is actually a ‘dual layer structure’, which appears to be Fostex’s fancy way of describing two metal grilles sandwiched together. The two grilles actually have different opening sizes, and they are aligned in such a way to create a non-uniform variety of opening shapes. This is reportedly to distribute the sounds of air moving through these openings across a wider variety of frequencies, but it also happens to be the most visually striking, love it or hate it aspect of the TH909’s design. It’s grown on me.
In terms of comfort and isolation, the TH909 is very similar to the TH610 / TH610. It is a 390g headphone, but since it has similar earpads to the TH900, the headphone sits plush and easy on the ears. The TH909 is slightly more breathable thanks to the semi-open design, and you’ll note that I just said ‘semi-open’, because truthfully, in terms of both isolation and sound, we quickly discovered the TH909 is not a fully open design.
When you examine the TH909’s grille (and fabric mesh behind the grille), you realise that the total area of the vents is quite minimal on the TH909. The grille itself is proportionally smaller on the earcup compared to say, fully open designs from Audio Technica, and the majority of this grille is actually impermeable metal. Furthermore, the vent holes in the grille are blocked by a foam or mesh fabric. This results in the TH909 being more isolating than your average open headphone. As closed headphones, the TH610 and TH900 are not very isolating designs. On the other side of the coin, the TH909 actually only lets in, and leaks out, slightly more sound than the TH610 and TH900. For instance, Minidisc has an entry buzzer that chimes whenever someone enters the store. If I wear headphones in the store, I usually wear open headphones so that I can hear it go off. With the TH909, with music playing, I often cannot hear the buzzer. Conversations are still audible, so perhaps the TH909 could represent a workplace friendly compromise as an open headphone that won’t annoy colleagues quite as much.
Questions of isolation aside, the intricate grille has likely been designed not so much for ergonomic factors, but rather to tune and tailor the sound of the TH909. Why do I say this? Because it sounds marvellous.
The Sound of the Fostex TH909 - A General Overview
If I had to summarize, I would say that the TH909 is still a coloured headphone like the TH610 and TH900, but it sounds more natural than both. It takes the bass of the TH610 and flattens it to a level that is prominent without being bombastic. It takes the high end of the TH900 and tames it just a bit to reduce sibilants. Since the bass and treble are reduced, the midrange becomes proportionally more prominent on the TH909, and by far the most distinctive character of the TH909 is a dry upper-midrange that tends to emphasize female vocals and brass instruments - particularly saxophones. As we mentioned above, it does not sound particularly ‘open’ for a open headphone. Upper treble still feels a bit rolled off, and bass still has a lot of the characteristic punch of a closed headphone. It’s a unique, beautiful tuning.
The bass is really something to write about. It still preserves the resonant, vibrant depth of the TH610’s bass, but taken down a few decibels so that it feels less like a dedicated subwoofer LFE channel and better integrated into the sound overall. This is still dynamic driver bass - unlike say, a planar magnetic Audeze, the bass on the TH909 is wet and resonant, trading a bit of slam for rich dynamic thump with some mid-bass colour. It’s not the fastest bass, but I love it for its natural, rich timbre.
As much as I like the TH909’s bass, I think the upper mid-range and treble is going to be what the TH909 is famous for. In terms of aggression, the TH909 is between the TH610 and TH900. It can get a bit hotter with sibilants than the TH610, but it never gets quite as rude as the TH900. It still can get a bit unpleasant with some tracks, and you can get an idea of that from the listening notes I’ve written below.
TH909 Listening Notes
The Fostex TH909 is not particularly hard to drive, so I listened to it for hours on a variety of equipment. This includes the TH909 with a Chord Hugo 2 connected to an iPhone, a Sony NW-ZX300 directly, and the ZX300 with PHA-2A. We do not have a balanced cable for the Fostex TH909 on hand, but if I were to use the TH909 with a portable device like the ZX300 I would probably prefer to use the 4.4mm balanced connection just for the extra power headroom.
Ephorize by cupcakKe: ‘Cartoons’ (NSFW, EXPLICIT). Tags: hip hop, rap, bass, female vocals
I’m going to start with a kind of “worse case scenario” for the TH909. With the production on this track, CupcakKe’s vocals are quite splashy, with uncontrolled sibilance on “S” sounds. If it weren’t for this nasty rawness to the sound, this track would otherwise sound great on the 909. It’s punchy and snappy, with the 909’s powerful low end getting a chance to flex its muscle. The bass note at 2:20 in particular is stunning. This track demonstrates how the 909 is sensitive to even slightly “hot” mastering. This album is not unusually mastered for hip hop, and even the following track, Duck Duck Goose, is perfectly safe on the 909.
Anthropocene by Shuta Hasanuma Philharmonic: ‘Juxtaposition with Tokyo’. Tags: acoustic, orchestral, male vocals, female vocals
Here’s a well mastered piece that works quite well on the 909. The 909 sound helps bring out the layering of instruments, and the way the flutes and brass instruments lark around is vibrant and interesting to listen to. Everything has a nice sense of natural texture and warmth, and in the passage that starts 1:17, the bass kick on the drums gives everything such a satisfying thump of progression. Overall this track is a great demonstration of the 909’s approach to detail and texture, without a hint of harshness.
Pop 2 by Charli XCX: ‘Backseat’ feat. Carly Rae Jepsen. Tags: pop, synthesisers, bass, female vocals
This track is a pop track with production that places heavy emphasis on textured synths. On this track, the 909 starts to sound too aggressive at higher volumes, but at normal listening volumes the sound is quite brilliant. The 909’s separation between the bass notes and the soundscape of the high frequency synths gives things a sense of layered detail and excitement. It isn’t a general rule that the 909 is too bright for pop music.
Here Lies Love by David Byrne & Fatboy Slim: ‘A Perfect Hand’ feat. Steve Earle. Tags: Pop, rock, guitar, male vocals
This album is mastered somewhat aggressively in the upper mids, and as a result Earle’s vocals can sound slightly raw, and splashy on “S” sounds. There isn’t as much richness or depth to the male vocals as I would like, and I think the TH610 does a better job of providing richness to the vocals and piano than the 909.
American IV: The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash: ‘Hurt’ Tags: acoustic, male vocals
In comparison to ‘A Perfect Hand’, the 909 really excels with the sparse production on this track. The Acoustic guitar sounds beautifully rich, and Cash’s voice has a deep resonance. The 909 again demonstrates that it does better when production is calm and mellow.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Original Soundtrack (Track 15): ‘Garnet (Yokokuhen Short Version) - - ガーネット(予告編ショート・バージョン) -- 奥 華子’ by Hanako Oku. Tags: piano, female vocals
This track is interesting to test with, as the vocalist has an unusual vocal range that tends to sound nasal and narrow on some headphones and quite rich on others. For this track, the TH909 could well be the perfect headphone. The production on this track is very sparse, and has a sense of a live recording. In this space, the 909 lets vocals and piano ring with a beautiful sense of clarity, while providing some subtle richness and depth to the singing. The sound is both intimate and spaciousness. This track is a showpiece for the Fostex.
The Incident by Porcupine Tree: ‘The Blind House’. Tags: prog rock, male vocals
The production on this track is lovely, but the 909 really doesn’t do anything special with this track. Everything sounds detailed, but nothing particularly stands out. On this track, the Focal Clear does a better job of making the male vocals sound more forward and vivid, keeping the guitars crunchy, while providing a better sense of layering and depth to the production.
Shin Godzilla x Evangelion Symphony (Track 20) by Shiro Sagisu. ‘Who Will Know - Furusato -- 高橋洋子’. Tags: opera, orchestral, female vocals
This is, so far, my favourite track I have heard on the 909. It is a live orchestral recording, and while it does not sound as open and spacious on the 909 as it does on some other headphones (ie: Clear, ADX5000), the 909 gives stunning depth to the female vocals. The 909’s upper midrange conveys a powerfully emotional richness to the way the singer sweeps between lower and upper registers. Meanwhile, the strings swell and pluck with a kind of languid beauty on this headphone. When writing this review, I really had to stop and appreciate this track on the 909.
In comparison, the Focal Clear delivers this track with better technical ability: a wider soundstage, clear vocals - but with just less raw intimacy and emotion.
‘Harmonielehre I.’ composed by John Adams, performed by the San Francisco Symphony.
This 2013 Grammy award winning recording of John Adam’s minimalist orchestral piece sadly does not thrill on the 909. Because of the slightly closed soundstage on the 909, there is a sense of a veil to the 909’s sound that stifles the dynamics of the piece. The strings feel oddly subdued, and there is not a sense of a wide performance space to this live recording. On this track I very strongly prefer the Audio Technica ADX5000 (or even the Focal Clear) because of extra treble extension - the energy and detail in the triangles and strings provides a better sense of clarity and layering. The HD800 would probably be similar in this regard.
Comparisons with the Focal Clear, Audio Technica ATH-ADX5000 and Sennheiser HD800S
We have a lot of headphones we could compare the TH909 to at Mindisc, but when taking into account sound and price point, I think the most natural comparison we can make is the TH909 versus the Focal Clear and the Audio Technica ATH-ADX5000. That’s because the TH909 slots in between the two in terms of character, though of course, the devil is in the detail. I’ll also give some thoughts about how the TH909 compares to the Sennheiser HD800S as a common reference.
The Focal Clear is one of my favourite sounding open headphones on the market, though I might be one of the few to say I don’t love its grey colour. Call me shallow. Compared with the TH909, the Focal Clear is the calmer, more balanced sounding headphone. Bass is punchy and slightly warm, but it doesn’t come close to having the same kind of colour and richness that the TH909 has. The mid-range also plays it safer compared to the TH909, while the treble is more open and cleaner. The Focal Clear is more of a all-rounder (and a very good one at that), so if you find the TH909 and its midrange forwardness to be a bit much, the Clear would be a great alternative. One thing to consider though, is that the Focal Clear is less comfortable than the TH909, with higher clamping pressure thanks to its denser earpads.
On the other side, the ATH-ADX5000 is also an interesting comparison. Both are headphones with a distinctly ‘Japanese’ tuning, with an emphasis on the female vocal range. The ADX5000 in particular is like Audio Technica’s take on the Sennheiser HD800, with a sweeter spin on the vocals. Whereas the TH909 is bright in the upper-midrange where saxophones blare, the ADX5000 pushes its peak higher towards the upper frequency range of string instruments. As a result the ADX5000 tends to sound dramatically cleaner and more open than the TH909. It is also much harsher with treble and sibilants - while the TH909 can sound unpleasant with aggressive recordings, the ADX5000 borders on painful. Bass is also more subdued with the ADX5000. So just as the Focal Clear is the calmer, darker headphone compared to the TH909, the ADX5000 is the brighter, more pristine sounding headphone on the other side. Worth noting is that the ADX5000, as a lighter and more breathable headphone than the TH909, is the more comfortable of the two. It does have significantly higher power requirements than the Fostex.
The HD800S sounds dramatically different to the TH909. For one thing, the Sennheiser is much more open sounding, with an expansive and immersive soundstage width that the Sennheiser is famous for. It is also much leaner in sound than the TH909, with a more gentle bass and midrange response. Overall it is flatter and more even in sound than the TH909 (and even the ADX5000), but without an overall warm tilt like the Focal Clear. Now, I have to say that I have never been a big fan of the HD800S for its diffuse soundstage and unengaging low-end, but clearly it is the more ‘reference-grade’ headphone than the TH909. Like the ADX5000, the HD800S does want for more power.
Conclusion
The TH909 is a tricky headphone for me to evaluate. I tend to prefer safe, all rounder headphones, and while the TH909 isn’t completely specialised, it really tends to work its magic on some tracks while sounding somewhat uncomfortable on others. Where the TH909 does work, it works beautifully, breathtakingly well - enough to make me accept the compromise that on other tracks, it may not be my first choice.
The TH909 has clearly be tuned with craftsmanship and intent. I would be very excited and proud to have the Fostex in a collection of headphones - but it could not replace a collection for me. That said, the TH909 easily justifies its price point alongside its competitors, and also earns its place over the TH900 as a flagship in Fostex’s range. By all means, if you love female vocalists in particular, you really owe it to yourself to have a listen to what the TH909 can do.
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