Fostex’s RP series of headphones has decades worth of legacy in the audio production world. Their “regular phase” planar magnetic driver is one of the earliest examples of the technology. Planar magnetic drivers use a thin energized membrane suspended between magnets instead of a traditional dynamic speaker cone assembly, with the goal of reducing distortion and improving overall audio fidelity. The Fostex RP driver features some of the good characteristics of newer planar drivers packed into a solid frame, but its far less suited to multi-purpose listening than other popular studio headphones.
The most recent Mark 3 update of this headphone launched about six years ago, and subtly refined the headband design and audio tuning while keeping the core driver intact. It’s available in three models: T20RP, T40RP, and T50RP, and each one has a street price of around $160, which is what I paid on Amazon. That price makes these slightly cheaper than the average planar headphone. You can check out their official product page right here, and that’s not an affiliate link as I think those are terrible and have no place in tech reviewing.
