CDJapan : Review for TAGO STUDIO T3-03 BK

Now my ‘everyday’ headphones (Review by Daniel Drentin)

These headphones have taken over their rightful place on my desk as my default headphones, and for a good reason.

Up until recently whilst working at my desk I would continuously switching back and forth between both my Sony WH-1000XM3 and Philips Fidelio X2HR/00, due to polarising differences between the two. The Sony’s sound was strong and bass-heavy, whilst the Phillip’s open-back design lead to it being light and distracting - neither were good all-rounders. In contrast my TAGO STUDIO T3-03 has fulfilled my desire to get a more balanced set of headphones for everyday whilst I’m working from home.

At first when you take them out of the box they feel light, which was initially surprising - then I realised this is part of their appeal - TAGO STUDIO has specifically reduced the weight of this model for wearability reasons. I grew to appreciate this after wearing them for hours on end. In the box there’s also an included bag, which is appropriately sized to fit both the headphones and the shorter cable - which is another talking point.

2 types of cables are included in the box - a shorter 3.5mm cable and an additional longer 3.5/6.35mm cable. I was not expecting this but it ended up being a big plus. I use the shorter cable for anything on my desk, whilst the longer cable is running to a spare output in my amplifier, meaning I can set a record or CD to play whilst I’m at my desk working. The design of these headphones does however mean there is a cable to both left and right earpiece - this reduces any cabling between earpieces themselves but it does mean you have two cables to deal with when handling the headphones. I’ll take it for what is - a small inconvenience for an overall simpler and more sturdy headphone design.

Two highlights whilst listening so far have been CAPSULE’s JUMPER - on my Sonys it would get drowned out and felt crowed, on my Phillips the bass would just escape but with the TAGO STUDIOs it was most enjoyable - the bass was there but never overpowered the rest of what was happening.

capsule: JUMPER

Second was Ayumi Hamasaki’s Boys & Girls from the the 2015 15th Anniversary Edition - whilst this edition will already sound much clearer on any set of headphones than the original mastering, on the TAGO STUDIOs the drums and guitar separate themselves from the vocals and stood out to me more than previously.