Fostex has a long history of building impressive headphones, and they’ve been pioneers of driver technology since the 1970s. Their flagship TH910 and TH919 headphones are renowned for their combination of craftsmanship and natural, engaging sound. Their latest headphones, the TH810 and TH818 take the basics of the 900 series design and driver technology and change the materials – specifically the wood used for the earcups – to create a slightly different, more affordable set of headphones. With a price tag of $1999 for the closed-back TH810 and $2199 for the open-back TH818, these are hardly cheap, but do they have the premium sound and build that lives up to Fostex’s reputation?
Build and Design
TH810 and TH818 have a shared basic design, featuring a fairly standard adjustable headband coupled with a comfort strap. The core elements of the design are leather, metal, and wood, providing a very premium look and feel, despite a fairly standard profile to the design. The earcups are made of acacia wood that’s polished to a shine. Comfort was definitely a priority, and while there are fancier suspension systems out there, these headphones do a great job balancing strong comfort with a more “normal” looking structure.
The package has a high-end feel, but is fairly basic. The headphones come packaged in a premium box with just the headphones and a standard cable. The headphones use the 3.5mm connections on the left and right side, and the included cable is terminated in 6.3mm, but it’s easy enough to swap that out with the number of 3.5mm cables out there. The package as a whole offers a nice experience, but is ultimately pretty barebones.
Sound
In the high-end audiophile headphone space, we’ve become accustomed to tunings leaning more towards brightness, that can provide crisp separation, and a massive – if sometimes artificial feeling – soundstage. When combined with strong technical performance this kind of tuning can deliver insight into details and elements of the recording that you’ve never heard before. Fostex takes a different approach with headphones that aim to provide the most natural, lifelike instrument presentation, if not the most immediately impressive. TH810 and TH818 aren’t exactly the same, but they both have a core element that’s more focused on the realism and physical tactility of the sound than on the immediate wow factor.
In the bass, TH810 has a stronger emphasis – not surprisingly for a closed-back – with a significant amount of punch in the midbass, but the emphasis is very tasteful with the quality of the bass being as much of a highlight as the quantity. TH818 has a more linear bass presentation, with less obvious midbass emphasis, but offers a step up in the richness in texture and quality.
The mids are also a highlight, with highly natural timbre and lush layering. TH810’s mids are set slightly further back, but don’t feel overshadowed by the bass or recessed. TH818 delivers a more neutral midrange, offering stronger vocals, and excellent clarity with a slight touch of warmth, lending a strong sense of emotion to the sound.
The treble is nicely extended, and where some other more bass focused headphones tend to sound darker in the treble, Fostex delivers good air and resolution in the highs. This is particularly important to the balance of the TH810, keeping the stronger impact and warmth of the headphone in balance. With TH818, it completes the sound, with good air and extension on top of Fostex’s thick, weighty take on a classic open-back sound.
Both these headphones use the same drivers, with the same impedance and sensitivity rating of 20 ohms and 100dB, respectively, meaning that you won’t need a particularly powerful amp to run them. While you can listen just fine off of the average headphone jack, these definitely scale up nicely, and sound great with high-powered solid state amps and OTL tube amps in my testing. Depending on your tastes, you may find that typical tube amps are a little too warm, but if you want a thicker, more lush sound, tubes might be just the thing you’re looking for.
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana is the perfect sort of track for TH810. With a simpler arrangement of instruments recorded live and a high-energy feeling, it highlights all of TH810’s best attributes. Right from the start, TH810 delivers every bit of grit in the guitars, and every bass drum and tom hit has a palpable impact. The bass has good texture that further enhances the low end delivery. With TH818, you get slightly less impact, but more texture in the bass, and a stronger vocal performance.
With How to Destroy Angels, Trent Reznor moves Nine Inch Nails electronic elements even further forward. Tracks like “The wake-up” offer a good test for headphones like TH810 and TH818. With TH818, there’s deeper bass extension and a better sense of separation in the layering, but with TH810 everything feels thicker and more organic. There’s a trade-off in the feeling of weight and impact with the lower extension and texture between TH810 and TH818, but both offer an immersive listening experience.
On “Track A- Solo Dancer” from The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady by Charles Mingus, TH810 gets a chance to shine. Where its layering and separation feel a step down from TH818, with these sorts of older jazz recordings, it offers an incredible sense of immersion that can really put you in the room. TH818 is no slouch here either, providing a sense of a larger space and a really nice sense of the breath in the wind instruments, but it doesn’t have quite the “reach out and touch the upright bass” feeling that TH810 gives you here.
Comparison: Dan Clark Audio E3 ($2299), HIFIMAN HE1000 Unveiled ($2699)
Speaking of headphones that have brighter tuning with more focus on air and spaciousness, two good contrasts for TH810 and TH818 are the Dan Clark Audio E3 and HIFIMAN HE1000 Unveiled. E3 is one of our all time favorite closed back, but leans more into the technical end of things while balancing a solid level of musicality and engagement, while HE1000 Unveiled goes almost all out into the world of highly technical sound.
Comparing E3 with TH810, E3 is clearly more energetic in the highs, with a more forward vocal presentation. E3’s soundstage is also among the most impressive out there for a closed back. TH810 is almost the complete opposite, trading crisp separation and extended air for a thicker, more cohesive sound. TH810 doesn’t just have stronger bass, but also a stronger sense of body and weight to the sound. In the highs, in spite of its strong extension, TH810 feels more relaxed overall than E3.
Looking at HE1000 Unveiled and TH818, it’s actually closer than I expected. Both offer tunings that are just slightly off from neutral and strong technical performance, but where HE1000 Unveiled provides more treble and upper extension, TH810 provides just a touch more impact and warmth. Where TH810 and E3 are sort of a mirror image of warm-neutral vs bright neutral, HE1000 Unveiled and TH818 take the same idea but are more like just being a subtle tweak away from each other, rather than being significantly different.
The Bottom Line
While TH810 and TH818’s warmer presentation isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, Fostex really hits the sweet spot of performance, craftsmanship, and sound here. If you want high-end headphones that just sound good, Fostex has delivered two sets of headphones with all-day comfort and a classic, accessible sound.
