Tascam TH-06

Package, design and materials

The package that comes with the Tascam TH-06 is very simple. Apart from the headphones themselves, all that is needed is a screw-on 6.3 mm adapter, which is gold-plated to prevent corrosion and ensure the best possible connection. The design of the headphones is classic and simple. Black and silver dominate their colour scheme. The overall design of the device appears well defined and timeless.

The over-ear design of the TH-06 uses oval earpads, which are not too bulky. Their foam padding is surrounded by soft artificial leather whose stitching keeps the pads in shape. A stainless steel frame and the precisely tailored seam hold the pads in place. Two plastic articulated brackets grip the closed ear cups, these cannot rotate but can be swivelled through 180° so that they face outwards. The adjustment mechanism of the headband consists of a stainless steel rail inside, on which a scale is etched. The headband of the TH-06 is made of manganese. Therefore, it is stable and lightweight despite its flexibility. An artificial leather cover covers the headband and provides generous padding.

The workmanship of these headphones is perfect. The ear cushions are replaceable and the one-sided cable is reinforced at its ends by anti-kink protectors. Worth mentioning is the permanently installed cable which comes with oxygen-free copper wires and is equipped with a gold-plated stereo mini jack plug. The fact that the retaining bracket and the headband extension cover are made of plastic is something that can be tolerated for this price.

Technology

The dynamic transducers inside the ear cups have 45 mm drivers, which are driven by powerful neodymium magnets. The audio transmission range extends from 10 Hz to 26 kHz and is therefore tremendous for headphones in this price range. The TH-06’s averaged impedance has a range of just over 45 ohms, which makes them ideal for many applications. They can be operated loud enough not only with headphone amplifiers with decent power, but also with lower-powered headphone preamps. Their limit is set by a maximum possible sound pressure level of almost 100 dB SPL. But pay attention! According to Tascam, the TH-06 use technology that the manufacturer calls “Bass XL”, which is supposed to deliver a particularly low-distortion bass sound that reaches especially deep but also sounds “soft” at the same time.

Handling

The military appearance of the Tascam TH-06 is deceptive, as with a weight of hardly more than 250 g (without cable) they are actually really lightweight. For such cheap headphones, they feel good and their fit is comfortable. The size of the headband is adjustable, but once selected it is fixed. The contact pressure of the headband is relatively low, yet it fits securely, because these headphones are so light. The fit is helped by the fact that your ears don’t sweat under the soft padding, so the TH-06 is suitable for wearing for long periods.

The ear cups of the TH-06 can be rotated by 180°. This will please DJs who can use the headphones with just one ear cup. There is no longer any need for DJs to wedge their headphones between their ear and their shoulder with the TH-06. The length of the non-detachable cable is about 2.9 m, so that DJs have full freedom of movement.

Sound

Closed over-ear headphones sometimes have the problem of booming during bass playback and they can sound rather fuzzy. In audio passages without too much bass, the TH-06 delivers concise, slightly sharp mid-range and an equally sharp sounding treble profile. Speech and vocals, therefore, tend to hiss slightly. As soon as lower frequencies come into play, these Tascam headphones show that they can convert them into the sub-bass range. However, the sound image is not very balanced. All in all, there is a lack of openness in the sound “on top”, and “underneath” there is a frequency range in the basses that takes the overall sound out of its dimension. In terms of volume the TH-06 offer enormous reserves and even with weak preamps they make a lot of noise. Acoustic isolation from the outside and the damping of external noise are – as is natural for closed headphones that surround the ears – really good. In terms of dynamics and transients, however, the TH-06 are unconvincing as is their overall slightly washed-out sound. The sharp mids quickly lead to Rock, Alternative and Metal becoming difficult to listen to with pleasure. Unfortunately, the subjective signal resolution of these headphones depends very much on the audio material. If strong bass components are present, it appears as limited as the stereo impression and the perceived depth graduation.