This is my favorite of the fostex variants. I owned the TH-X00 mahogany, then sold it to get the Ebony variant. The ebony variant didn't have the same initial wow factor - the shimmer and slam of the Mahogany. I sold the ebony variant eventually and decided to come back to the mahogany- now the TR-X00. I was right in my decision every little bit. The TR-X00 is so much more fun, and here is a little secret. Get the dragonfly black USB amp. I have not known a sweeter pairing. It makes the already awesome TR-X00 sound terrific!!
Rhodey-IIIThe reason being is that they are looking for a neutral pair of cans. The mahogany has a more fun sound.
ebony is a lot more neutral.
then again it’s the same people who think the bland and extremely boring hd 600 is the “standard” that headphones should strive for.
4N4NDFinally someone agrees with me, I also previously owned the Ebony and Mahogany but I always wonder why people liked Ebony better. Ebony sounded too cold for me while the Mahogany is warm and rich and exciting.
4N4NDI'm angry I read this review lol now I have to do more research. I was convinced that the ebonys were the best sounding with the best bass based on the reviews. You think purple hearts would be better for bass?
HeadphonechampIt depends on what you look for, I previously sampled the purpleheart for like 5 minutes so you could take my comment with grain of salt.
But I find purpleheart sits somewhere in the middle between mahogany and ebony, and it didn't feel particularly bassy to me at the time. It actually sits at a nice balance between warm (mahogany) and cold (ebony), it is definitely more v shaped though where treble and bass is a bit more pronounced mids (certain string instruments like violin / piano) is a bit laid back. But vocal is surprisingly the most forward one out of all 3.
Overall to me mahogany feels more bassy as an overall presentation (a bit more on the mid bass) and ebony while is more sub bass but it also didn't feel like it extend as far as my Denon AH-D2000 for sub bass. Again purpleheart sits somewhere in the middle between mahogany and ebony in terms of bass too.
Oh I found my article that I wrote a while back in case you're interested:
https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-fostex-tr-x00-ebony-headphones/talk/2362567?utm_source=linkshare&referer=UN68BR