Drop + THX Panda Review Your Next (and Last) Bluetooth Headphones

I guess this can happen with any product, and that's why warranty is so important. But, at least, I got them working and was able to use them for a short time enough that I could get this review up and running. They still work fine when wired, and that's a really good thing.

Let's start with the price because budget, as usual, is very important. These things cost around $399 (prices may change). First, that's a pretty steep price tag, and second, it puts the Panda in the same ballpark as many other big brands and big names out there in the Bluetooth department.

I happen to also agree with a bunch of people who say these things can trade blows with more traditional wired headphones around the same price range. That competition that was already steep just got like exponentially bigger.

I also got in the box an estimated $49 (prices may change) add-on attachment microphone for the Pandas to take a look at.

For something that was made by Drop in collaboration with THX, how is this thing actually built? This is not something that Drop rebranded from another manufacturer.

Everything is made out of plastic mostly, but this is super tanky. Every single material used here is of very good quality. Plus, it's matte black everything, and there are no fingerprints to be found. This is not a fingerprint magnet, which is awesome because it helps with the clean subdued look just as the branding is minimal. All you get is that little Drop logo on the inside of the right side of the headband near the yokes.

Aside from that, the only thing that is actually written on the Pandas are the L and R on each ear cup on the inside of the pads. This thing also has IPX6 waterproofing. Don't go out submerging them in water, but if you're out and it starts to rain, you should be 100% fine with them on your head.

Since we're talking being out and about, weight is actually a pretty important category. The Pandas weigh in at 375 grams. It's not the heaviest thing in the world, but they're not exactly light either, which is potentially important because there is no cushioning on the headband at all.

Thankfully, the beautiful pads on the Pandas are fluffy memory foam donut pillows that you just want to sleep in. These things are very comfortable, and the clamping force is just enough to keep them on your head, taking advantage of the plushies of these beautiful pads, so that it won't go anywhere.

Since the adjustments are pretty firm and confident or snappy and they adjust to any head size, this is definitely going to fall in the category of a good fit. It's probably going to be very comfortable.

Personally, I did get a little bit of pressure right in the middle the crown of my head after about four hours of usage. To relieve the pressure, I just adjusted it forwards or backwards for another three to four hours of usage without any issues at all. This ends up being quite a comfortable fit for me.

On the left ear cup, there's a 3.5 millimeter connection, and on the right ear cup, you have the microphones, a USB-C port for charging, and a joystick controller.

On that note, I just want to suggest for Drop to just lose the manual and save from having to print them because the Panda's design is very intuitive. It requires a long press to turn it on, a longer press for pairing, up and down for volume, left and right to adjust the track, click to play, pause, and answer calls, and a longer press in the end to shut them off. It's very basic. It could not be simpler.

On the same topic of simplicity, that's also all you'll get. There's nothing else here. There are no features. There's no ANC or Active Noise Cancellation. There's no transparency mode, nothing. With that said, because of the beautiful passive isolation these fluffy donut pillows on your ears actually create, having them on your head and playing something is almost the same as saying they have Active Noise Cancellation. This is because you are going to be isolated in your very own little bubble.

The Panda comes with a nice but not exactly small carry case because aside from this 90-degree motion on the ear cups, they do not fold at all.

They also come with a 3.5mm cable for wired use. The idle microphone comes with an extension that's also an adapter for without it, with no single jack, it's probably not going to be enough to wrap around your desk and then come back to the Pandas on your head.

There's a USB-C port for charging that also allows you to use the Pandas while connected, taking advantage of the internal THX-AAA-0 amplifiers that power, when you're in Bluetooth mode, the Ribbon Planar 55mm drivers that these things use. In terms of impedance, the Pandas are rated at 26 Ohms and 100 dBs of sensitivity.

They're actually pretty easy to drive. They're much easier to drive than I was even expecting from them. This is probably going to be able to get pushed to comfortable and interesting volume levels with anything you plug them into.

Since they are Bluetooth, how's the battery performance? It's stated that they are good for about 30 hours of play time, and that actually tracks. This can easily break the 30-hour mark, plus, it's got fast charging, so if you're running low on juice, ten minutes will get you about three hours of play time. A full charge is about two hours plugged in, which is awesome. You're definitely not going to have much downtime with these.

When it comes to Bluetooth, the Panda has Bluetooth 5.0 with a QCC5124 chipset inside, which gives you ten meters of range in direct line of sight to the source. Plus, you have access to all the codecs. You have APTX HD, APTX Adaptive, AAC, SBC, and LDAC, which is the absolute best sounding codec you could possibly have available to you.

This also gets us into that specific spot in the video where we quit talking about everything else and jump into sound because these are the best sounding Bluetooth headphones out in the market that you can easily get.

I know that I'm not the first one to say this, and I'm definitely not going to be the last until something else that's actually better than the Pandas comes along. Since that still hasn't happened, the fact is, these are the best sounding ones, and that's without taking into consideration something I purposefully didn't mention up to this point.

There is no DSP correction here. There's nothing being done digitally to enhance how the Pandas sound. What these things are capable of is a direct result of Drop going in and physically tuning the drivers that sit in the ear cups of the Pandas.

Drop set out to make the Pandas sound identical whether you're using them through Bluetooth or if you're plugging them in directly wired to whatever source you want. All in all, they nailed it. These things are beasts no matter how you're using them. This can be like an all-in-one solution for so many people out there because on the go, they sound incredible, and when you plug them into anything, they sound just as good.

Since we're tackling this subject, how do the Pandas actually sound? They are impressively balanced and linear. They're not analytical at all. They're not clinical. Despite what I've seen some people saying, just because they don't color the sound too much, I would definitely not say that they're boring.

They're actually fun to listen to. The bass response is excellent even though the sub-bass region is a little bit better on headphones like the AirPods Max for example. The overall low end has more ambient quality and more detail in the representation.

The mid-range is warmly balanced. It's not at all offensive, and there's a phenomenal body to the sound and takes advantage of the incredible separation that the Pandas are capable of. Plus, the timber character is smooth, soothing, and relaxed, which makes the experience of listening to the Pandas something that's actually enjoyable to go on for hours of listening.

It's not fatiguing in the slightest. When you go into the treble, even though it doesn't have that extra level of sparkle in the treble in the higher-up regions, the overall presentation is phenomenal again.

It's not too sharp. It's not too harsh. It's not too forward. Just like with the mid-range, it's just brought up and forwards enough to bring out the detail, again, just enough to put you in the room in front of your music.

It delivers an entire sound signature that's warm, detailed, and inviting. It's fun. It's very rich. The imaging is impeccable with the low end that has a lot of punch. It's really fast in doing that because it's a Planar Magnetic, so speed is part of the deal with the Pandas.

The soundstage is the one area where I would like to see a little bit more improvement. It's not claustrophobic or a center point, but it is confined to the actual width of the ear cups. You're not going to get anything coming from outside of this barrier.

This is where it stops. It doesn't necessarily detract from the whole experience of listening to stuff with the Pandas because it does everything else to the degree it does. I do also get why this narrower sound stage makes these not necessarily ideal for gaming for some people.

Using the Panda on wide sounding gaming environments and gaming worlds might end up feeling like you're losing a bit of the monstrosity of that space. But in games like Overwatch, Cyberpunk, Farquaad 5, and Witcher 3 for example that I've been using recently for testing stuff, I really didn't come out of any of these experiences feeling like I was lacking or missing something.

Since we're talking about how stuff sounds, you can grab a microphone as an additional mic for your Pandas. Plugged in through 3.5mm directly to the Pandas and to my system, it's better than what the internal microphones of the Bluetooth portion of the Pandas sound like.

It is the same as saying it performs like any other external mic would, which is always going to be better than the internal microphones of any Bluetooth headphones you can grab out there. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to record the Bluetooth microphones of the Pandas before the internals went kaput. Sorry about that.

In terms of final thoughts, I don't think that they're structured for trying to achieve sound quality to the detriment of other features because there flat out are no other features.

To me, the Pandas are targeted or aimed at people who value sound quality to the point where they would be okay with getting by without most of these other comforts and features.

But stuff like extra padding on the headband or a different way for these things to fold or joints to make them easier to carry around, NFC pairing, or an actual app to control the headphones, those things are attractive extras, and they would be welcome improvements.

But I would still have the Pandas as they are right now if it means having a pair of headphones that sound like this even if the only people who would be interested to buy these are those who know a little bit more about headphones and stuff like LDAC and THX simplification technology and that kind of stuff.

Those people are probably the only ones who are going to think about pulling the trigger on a pair of Pandas instead of going straight to a more well-known brand, to a Sony or a Bose.

But since I know this question is going to pop up anyway, this is how I personally would stack them. The Pandas, over the XM3s, the XM4s, the Momentum Wireless, the Bose 700s, and every other Bluetooth headphone out there, features be damned, are just way too good. It tips the scale in that direction. They're a no-brainer even at an estimated price of $399 (prices may change).

That's it. I hope that you guys enjoyed the video. Please like, subscribe, hit the bell, and share this video as well here if you've enjoyed it. It really helps me out a lot, and I appreciate it. Thanks a lot for watching. This is Gus, and I'll catch you guys later.