This is a review and detailed measurements of the Tascam TH-07 closed back headphone. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $75 from Amazon including Prime shipping.
The TH-07 looks very fancy but feels very plasticky and cheap once you hear it:
Comfort was good though. The headphone weighs 300 grams and has a round cup with inside dimensions of 59 mm. The cup depth is 18mm.
The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. I searched for any and all measurements I could find online. Alas while a number of them are close to mine, none are using the exact fixture down to coupler and pinna. As you will see, I have confirmed the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers above a few kilohertz so keep that in mind as you read these tests.
Getting a good fit was was challenging with a lot of variability. I did my best but it may not be fully representative of what you or someone else may get.
Tascam TH-07 Measurements
There is nothing more important than frequency response of a headphone as each is seemingly different and that difference leaves a very distinct character:
As you all know, I like to see good amount of bass to comply with our preference curve but here, we are overshooting by good bit up to 300 Hz. We then have decent matching and then some overshoot in treble region.
Shockingly, the company publishes frequency response measurements although there is no indication of what fixture they were using. Correlation is good with my measurements if I filter mine and change its aspect ratio to be closer to theirs:
Relative frequency response is such:
I was very disappointed to see high levels of distortion in upper mid-range/lower treble region:
The bass we will deal with since we have to EQ that down but the upper region may be tough. Here it is in absolute terms:
Group delay shows some issues in the bass region as indicated by the dip in frequency response as well:
Impedance is flat and low at 37 ohm:
Sensitivity is better than average:
So shouldn't be a hard headphone to drive.
Tascam TH-07 Listening Tests and Equalization
Without EQ, this is just not my cup of tea. It sounds uninteresting and bass focused. Equalization made a large difference:
I had a serious high frequency resonances (female "s") in one track that required good bit of attenuation in band 3 to tame it. Without it, the track was unlistenable.
While often equalization makes a dog of a headphone sound extremely good, such was not the case. Improvement was very significant but did not elevate the sound enough for me to want to keep using the headphone.
Conclusions
The Tascam TH-07 objectively and subjectively misses the mark. Granted, at $75 they are not exactly putting in a lot of engineering into this thing but still, I hold every audio product to a minimum standard and TH-07 does not get there. If you own it, please use equalization as otherwise you are getting very lousy fidelity.
I cannot recommend the Tascam TH-07 headphone.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The TH-07 looks very fancy but feels very plasticky and cheap once you hear it:
Comfort was good though. The headphone weighs 300 grams and has a round cup with inside dimensions of 59 mm. The cup depth is 18mm.
The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. I searched for any and all measurements I could find online. Alas while a number of them are close to mine, none are using the exact fixture down to coupler and pinna. As you will see, I have confirmed the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers above a few kilohertz so keep that in mind as you read these tests.
Getting a good fit was was challenging with a lot of variability. I did my best but it may not be fully representative of what you or someone else may get.
Tascam TH-07 Measurements
There is nothing more important than frequency response of a headphone as each is seemingly different and that difference leaves a very distinct character:
As you all know, I like to see good amount of bass to comply with our preference curve but here, we are overshooting by good bit up to 300 Hz. We then have decent matching and then some overshoot in treble region.
Shockingly, the company publishes frequency response measurements although there is no indication of what fixture they were using. Correlation is good with my measurements if I filter mine and change its aspect ratio to be closer to theirs:
Relative frequency response is such:
I was very disappointed to see high levels of distortion in upper mid-range/lower treble region:
The bass we will deal with since we have to EQ that down but the upper region may be tough. Here it is in absolute terms:
Group delay shows some issues in the bass region as indicated by the dip in frequency response as well:
Impedance is flat and low at 37 ohm:
Sensitivity is better than average:
So shouldn't be a hard headphone to drive.
Tascam TH-07 Listening Tests and Equalization
Without EQ, this is just not my cup of tea. It sounds uninteresting and bass focused. Equalization made a large difference:
I had a serious high frequency resonances (female "s") in one track that required good bit of attenuation in band 3 to tame it. Without it, the track was unlistenable.
While often equalization makes a dog of a headphone sound extremely good, such was not the case. Improvement was very significant but did not elevate the sound enough for me to want to keep using the headphone.
Conclusions
The Tascam TH-07 objectively and subjectively misses the mark. Granted, at $75 they are not exactly putting in a lot of engineering into this thing but still, I hold every audio product to a minimum standard and TH-07 does not get there. If you own it, please use equalization as otherwise you are getting very lousy fidelity.
I cannot recommend the Tascam TH-07 headphone.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Last edited:
