![]() ![]() With a real emerging house sound, Ryan is set to carve out his own niche in the market, which I think will be rewarded with Modhouse building a dedicated following among headphone enthusiasts. Rather, they were tuned to the ear of a great developer and reflect his taste, offering a distinctly unique character of their own. They were not built to copy any headphones. Unique in character, the Tungsten will not replace the Susvara, unseat the Caldera, or substitute any of your other top-level planar headphones. They do not make you think about their capabilities, they let you sink into the music and enjoy yourself. Rather, they are exceptionally smooth, offering a very non-fatiguing listen while exposing everything in the music with great accuracy. With an exceptionally silky presentation, the Tungsten are neither dynamically aggressive, nor electrostatic lightning fast. The Tungsten possess the creamy presentation of the LCD-4, but with a distinctly better tonal balance and technicalities. In my mind’s eye, the Tungsten are what the LCD-5 could have been, if they were a true upgrade of the LCD-4, rather than entirely different headphones. ![]() At a price point of $1,499 and $1,999 for the Single- and Double- sided magnet versions, respectively, they offer top-tier performance, providing perhaps the best performance-to-price on the market. The Tungsten are superb headphones with a distinctly unique character. In order to help you skip my diatribe, here is an index of everything I will cover, so you may skip and skim to your heart’s content: I’ve gone overboard in this writeup, as I sometimes do. I will state upfront that they are much more similar than they are different and, unless you have both on hand at the same time, if you liked one then you would like the other (and vice versa). ![]() In a separate section further below, I offer a comparison between the Single- and Double- sided magnet versions. My review will be based on the Double-Sided magnet version. Most of my listening with the Tungsten was done in my home chain using Bricasti M3 DAC (sources: Nucleus+ for streaming, NuPrime CDT-10 for CD transport), and ’s wonderful Aegis amplifier (tubes: Mullard EL73, Tung-Sol 6SU7GTY, Miniwatt GZ34). I have tested the Tungsten with numerous amplifiers, and therefore dedicated a full section further below to share my impressions of those I have used and tried, as well as explain in a bit more detail what these headphones require to be appropriately driven. The Tungsten are ultra-low sensitivity headphones that require significant amplification and thoughtful pairing (though, fear not, there are many options available for any budget). For a sense of my taste and reference points, please refer to my prior reviews. Per usual, my take is 100% subjective, based entirely on my hearing, taste, and gear. Since these are the first fully developed headphones from an upcoming developer and this (I believe) may be the first published in-depth review of the Tungsten, I wanted to take extra time and care in getting to know them thoroughly to provide thoughtful inputs (for all those waiting, thanks for your patience ). I have had the Tungsten now for over two months (including both the single- and double- sided magnet versions more on that below). Immediately after that show, I contacted Ryan to get a pair to listen to in my own chain. If these are his first headphones, I can’t wait to see what the future holds for him! These open-back planar magnetic headphones are his first fully developed headphones, designed by Ryan end-to-end, made in his (proverbial and literal) garage. Ryan Dietz ( ), founder of Modhouse Audio, has been modding Fostex headphones for years.
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