Bamboo Cup Review: (kind of)
So take my review with a grain of salt because I bought it to put it on my Denon AH-D2000 but I did previously owned the TH-X00 Mahogany, TR-X00 Ebony, and E-Mu Teak (also owns the Rosewood cup) at a certain point, I've since then sold all the other ones except the Denon AH-D2000 (sorry lol, Denon's sound signature matches my taste the best). But since I don't physically possess the other headphones anymore so I'll do my review based on memory.
For those who don't know, Denon ear pad actually has slightly larger opening, so that changes the sound. I do happen to have an extra pair of TH-X00/E-Mu Teak ear pad at hand so I did swap to it for comparison. For more apples to apples comparison refer to the TH-X00/E-Mu Teak Pad write up.
Bamboo Cup with TH-X00 / E-Mu Teak Pad:
I read Chan's review prior to purchase, however I find oddly enough that his description actually match my Bamboo + D2000 pad review much more than the Bamboo + E-Mu Pad review. I don't know how much driver difference there is, so don't take my word for it.
But in short I find Bamboo cup is the most balanced cup out of any wooden cup I tried. I actually like it better than the Teak cup (LOL I know shocking eh). Teak cup sounds warm and rich but I find vocal distance too far for my liking, also relatively too much mid bass not enough sub bass. If anything Bamboo cup sounds quite close to the Denon D2000 plastic cup actually (I know people knock on the plastic cups, but they actually sound the best to me that's why I sold the other ones).
Again sound preference obviously comes in play here. But to me I actually like the Bamboo cup the best so far out of Mahogany, Purpleheart, Ebony, Teak, and Rosewood.
I think out of all the cups Teak and Bamboo sound closest to each other (probably due to internal volume being bigger than rest, very thinly milled).
It has just the right amount of treble, vocal, mids, bass, sound stage (widest out of the wood cups, plastic cup is wider).
If anything the only downfall I'd say with Bamboo is that it might be a bit........... boring.........????? Sort of jack of all trades master of none situation, this leads to my next point.......
Bamboo Cup with Denon AH-D2000 / Fostex TH-610 Pad:
Remember I said Bamboo sounded boring? Ok that's entirely changed with the Denon AH-D2000/Fostex TH-610 pad. With this combination this finally becomes my favourite setup. Reason why I tried so many different headphone is because I've been looking for an upgrade to my D2000 for ages, no matter what I tried in the end the cons always out weights the pros so I eventually went back to the plastic cup. But for the first time the pros out weights the cons and I might actually stick to this (again, when I said pros out weights the cons because there are still some minor cons, which I'll get to later).
So with this setup what you gain the vocal texture, this is the most detailed vocal I heard in any cup, period. It also brought the vocal distance forward just the way I like it. It gains a much richer mid range compares to the plastic cup (hence why I think this is closest sounding to Teak). But Teak never gave me this vocal texture (maybe because it sounded too far), in live recordings Bamboo + Denon pads give me the most realistic presentation in human voice.
Imaging and sound stage are also really good, plastic cup might be a taaadddddddd bit better but it's close enough that I can live with it. It's slightly more mid bassy and slightly less sub bass compare to the plastic cup but again it's close enough that I didn't mind.
The only thing that I would say might be a real con is that certain frequencies are boosted in the treble range and then there is a slight dip in the treble range too, so overall it's a bit more uneven. Certain parts might feel a bit overly detailed or tiring (slightly echoey too), but sometimes certain range of piano/violin sounds quieter than how I liked (hence the dip, but I'm not pro enough to know the exact frequency). Again this I would say is the only con.
This aspect kind of reminds me of the TR-X00 Ebony? Some frequency sounds a bit tiring but I think because of that boosted frequency it gave the best imaging and sound stage.
All in all I think I'm ok with the cons so this is what I'll be sticking with. So I wholeheartedly recommend trying the Bamboo cup if you're interested in trying other cups. You might just need to pick up some TH-610 pad to go along with it.
Finally here are some pics:
Not as "woody" grained as other wood cups but the matte finish and Bamboo strips still look amazing as ever in my opinion. It's subtle yet refined.