TH-02 Professional Studio Monitor Headphones, Wired, Over Ear — for Recording, Podcast, DJ, Music and Guitar, with 1/4 Inch Jack Adapter

I was recently in need of closed headphones and curious about what the market offers. I thought I might share my findings with someone in a similar situation. The Tascam TH-02 turns out to be an excellent value among the eight headphone models that I have compared. Below is my review of these headphones. I am a speaker builder with measurement equipment, so I know what is neutral and undistorted sound. Unlike speaker systems, most headphones have no crossover or frequency response correction circuit. So, it is critical to be able to know how much such uneven responses affect perception of their sound with respect to accuracy and neutrality. I have good sense of it since I have been measuring sound. But I do not have proper equipment for headphone measurement, mostly importantly a dummy torso/head, nor am I willing to invest time in making a DIY setup. This is the reason why my search and audition have been limited to headphones for which measurement data exist, with some exceptions (see below). I made use of three different sources for the data: InnerFidelity.com, Headphone.com, and en.GoldenEars.net. While there is consistency within each site's measurements, there is also inconsistency between them, due to different measurement conditions and compensation methods. So, I researched and took those into account. One may say we can use EQ to remedy irregular frequency responses. But EQ has its own limitations. Some minor EQ'ing can help, but headphones that need too extensive correction should be avoided. The foremost reason is the loss of dynamic range. Theoretically, with EQ you can only limit, not increase, dynamic range in a certain frequency band. On the source side, you lose digital bit depth, and on the headphone side, you suppress the driver's efficient response range. Below is the list of headphones that I have auditioned (in the order of their street prices): - Tascam TH-02 ($30; no data available) - Panasonic RP-HTF600-S ($32; semi-open headphones) - Brainwavz HM3 / Incipio F38 ($35; no data available) - Tascam TH-2000 ($50; no data available) - AKG K518LE ($50) - Sennheiser HD429 ($65) - Creative Aurvana Live! ($70) - KRK KNS6400 ($85) - Shure SRH440 ($90) My DIY speaker system (it measures very flat) served as a reference with respect to tonal balance. I also own some open headphones like Sony MDR-MA900 and Sennheiser PX100, which also provided a baseline when I evaluated tonal balance of the headphones under comparison. I used a desktop headphone amp that has flat FR and reasonably low output impedance. I will give short, summarized impressions for one by one. Tascam TH-02 (no measurement data available) This is a really nice surprise. There is a little hump in the bass and midbass regions, and some wide, shallow dip in upper mids and lower treble (i.e., slightly polite presentation). Otherwise, these are relatively accurate headphones at a fraction ($30) of cost of headphones of comparable quality. Construction is good for the price. The pad size is between over-ear and on-ear, but comfortable enough. Panasonic RP-HTF600-S (semi-open headphones) Warm tone, deep bass. Treble is there, but upper mids and lower treble are lacking. Comfortable to wear. A good value, but not great for those looking for reasonably accurate sound. Brainwavz HM3 / Incipio F38 (no data available) Mid/upper bass ruins the sound which has otherwise good midrange-treble balance. Very uncomfortable to wear due to non-swivel cups. Tascam TH-2000 (no data available) Simply inferior to its younger brother TH02. Very dull and muddy presentation. The model uses the same ear cups as TH02 but contains different drive units. The driver may have better components but execution must be bad. Not worth the asking price. AKG K518LE You need to remove the thick foam pad at the driver's front (easily removable) to have better bass-to-mids balance. Even the pad removed, the phones still have bass-oriented sound, but not bad. Mids to treble balance is good. Somewhat similar sound signature to Tascam TH-02's. But the TH-02 sounds a little more natural. The headband can be too small for some people. The clamping force is a bit above a comfortable level. Sennheiser HD429 Anothter pair of headphones with bass emphasis. Not overly bassy, though. But a bigger problem is treble, which is a little too polite to be neutral. I would not consider these headphones a good value. Creative Aurvana Live! Smooth and warm tone. Bass is somewhat loose at times. Treble has sparkles and at the same time sounds smooth. But relative to bass and treble, upper mids and lower treble are somewhat recessed, making the headphones' sound colored. Some people may feel them musical and full, but I prefer the Tascam TH02 at a lower price. The appearance is very good, though, with some feel of high quality. Very comfortable to wear with memory foam pads. KRK KNS6400 It has much more neutral sound than the headphones described above. Mid- and upper bass is somewhat lacking, and treble is a little overly presented. Good monitor-type sound. But there is one problem with these headphones. They are not very efficient, which means their usability is limited---you need a desktop headphone amp or a high-current capable portable amp to make them sound good. A little too bright treble is a weakness, too. Shure SRH440 Without doubt, these are the best of the bunch. In terms of clarity, they are in a different league---perhaps, the KNS6400 is close but also with weaknesses (see above). Treble is sometimes a little on the bright side, but not as bright as the KNS6400's. Some people may find them bright with bright recordings, but the headphones should not be blamed for that. These produce very neutral and accurate sound. Bass is sufficient and often pleasantly strong in the mid- and upper bass regions, but deeper bass is not covered by these cans. Most music recordings do not contain this deep bass, anyway. I summarize my findings with the following top two picks: 1. Shure SRH440: These are the headphones you can safely choose under $100 if what you are looking for is accurate, neutral sound. 2. Tascam TH-02: This is a secret gem. At $30, you get really good closed cans. Its overall presentation is not as clear as the SRH440's, but with their price factored in, you cannot complain. They are definitely in the same league as the AKG K518LE (foam pads removed) and the Creative Aurvana Live. It may depend on personal preference, but among the three, my pick is the Tascam. The Creative has a better look and feel, but I'd choose the Tascam for its sound. Another headphone model I wanted to include in my search was the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro ($90-$100), but after I listened to the Shure SRH440, I decided not to. According to HeadRoom's measurements and many people's common impressions, the HD 280 Pro has a little subdued treble compared to the SRH440 which has great mids to treble balance when compared to my reference speakers. The Sennheiser covers the lowest octave much better than the Shure, but that is not my priority. I also considered the Koss ProDJ100 because of good reviews, but ruled them out because of their measurements. Their response might be flat in fundamental tones from most instruments but not with harmonics due to a large dip around 5-6kHz. Some people may think they sound good, but there is no way for them to sound accurate and natural by my standard. UPDATE: I think the following info may be useful for your purchase decision: They do sound "like" $100 phones. But IMO they are not truly comparable to those headphones. You will notice slightly less clean bass/lower mids, slightly weak lower treble, and somewhat strong treble (which you already did). Note I used the word "slightly." They are kind of moderately well balanced. I can confidently say that they are comparable to any good, major-brand headphones retailing at $50 - $80 (e.g., AKG K518LE, Creative Aurvana Live, Senheiser HD 429, etc), basically telling that they can compete with things costing double their price. By the way, if you can play with a good EQ software like Electi-Q or Rockbox built-in EQ, you will be able to obtain better tonal balance by slightly increasing the upper mids / lower treble (from 1.5 to 5 kHz) by about 4.0 dB and lowering the treble from 8 to 10 kHz by about 3 dB. Here is the EQ setting I use: Filter 1 Center Freq: 3000 Hz Gain: 4.0 dB Bandwidth (BW): 2.5 Filter 2 Center Freq: 9000 Hz Gain: -2.5 dB Bandwidth (BW): 1.0 You will hear much better tonal balance. If you feel the treble still a bit too much (it sounds fine to me), you may adjust the gain of Filter 2 (e.g., -3 to -5 dB).

After a rough start, these headphones have highly impressed me. What was the rough start? Well, when they arrived the TH-02 headphones were exceedingly tight on my head. Other reviewers have mistakenly diagnosed this as a problem with the earpads and purchased after-market earpads for themselves. There is nothing wrong with the leather-like earpads, and I have found them comfortable (if just barely too small for my sizeable ears). But the fit was so tight on my head that these made my ears sore to wear after just a half hour. So I left them stretching on my router overnight, and after that they were golden. First of all, the audio quality I am getting out of these is nothing short of incredible for a pair of headphones that cost me less than twenty bucks. They compete easily with my beloved IEMs that I was using before getting this pair, and at less than half the price. Second, I love the clean black-and-white look of this pair of headphones. Not only does it match with the overall visual style of my whole PC and audio set-up, but it is a nicer and more professional look than you can find in many more expensive options. Third, the construction of them is also surprisingly high-quality at their price. Nothing about the pair seems flimsy or cheap; all of the connections are solid and all of the points of articulation move in a consistent fashion every time. Finally, I have noticed other people remarking on the very long cord that this pair of headphones features. It is indeed rather long! I view this as a good thing, because I can run them directly out of the audio output on the back of my PC (leaving my front-facing audio jacks open for other applications). But if you're looking for headphones that you can carry with you everywhere, you might want to consider tying up some of the cable length somehow.

Price is great, drivers sound good if you need a neutral natural sound for mixing audio, these are great. My only complaint is the earpads are on the smaller size, yes they do fit over the ear and I can deal with the fit its fairly comfortable, but the foam is not very good, probably not memory foam, or very little. Better earpads would be a great improvement in comfort. I usually don't wear them for more than 20 minutes at a time, but still I'm buying replacement ear pads to make these more comfortable for longer wearing times. I like the sound, I like the price. mine were missing the 1/4 inch adapter, I've got plenty around the place, not a big deal, but indicative of Amazon of late - shipping someone else's return and charging full price. Not worth the effort of returning them - lets face it the UPS store is most likely the front door to hell, especially at the holidays. no way I'm going near that place. - and thats the best return spot I've got near me... if you step up to around 35$ you can do better in comfort but the sound will be more bassy, great if thats your thing, but if you are trying to get a neutral sound to mix from, you need something like these. soundwise as good as 75 to 100$ cans, just wish they'd put a few more pennies into putting decent ear pads on the things. At least its easy to correct for about 10$ or so.. If you've got small ears and have never used memory foam earpads, you won't have a problem with the stock earpads. The lead cable is plenty long enough. They are good headphones with average earpads. The headband and cans adjustments are quite a range to fit most any head comfortably. I couldn't wear them all day, but maybe when I put the new earpads on I will...

Item arrived quickly and as advertised. They fit great and sound amazing.

Der Kopfhörer ist vielleicht nicht ganz so subtil zusammenfaltbar wie Konkurrenzmodelle, aber für den Preis sind die Tonqualität, der Sitz und die Verarbeitung super!

Estos auriculares, están muy bien mirando calidad y precio. El sonido muy bueno.

Excelentes audífonos para estudio, aunque la salida del audio es plana, me toco equalizar y los bajos son excelentes. La marca Japonesa Tascam es de lo mejor en audio..

Tek kelimeyle berbat bir kulaklık. Müziği açtığım an bir yanlışlık olmalı diyerek kabloyu kontrol ettim. Midler aşırı derecede ön planda, bu kulaklıkla sesleri doğru duymanız, mix & mastering yapmanız asla mümkün değil. Ürünü indirimdeyken aldığım için belki de bozuk bir kulaklık gönderildi bilmiyorum. Hayal kırıklığı ve anında iade.

Tascam reste du Tascam, de l'excellent produit de production musical Pro ! Mais à ce prix là, acheter autre chose pour à qualité égale serait vraiment stupide ! La qualité sonore est exceptionnel en pré mixage ou même pour les enregistrements voix ou instrument acoustique ! Merci Amazon, toujours aussi bon !!