Drop + THX Panda -- Bluetooth Audio Clipping Whenever Resumed from a Pause of More than 2 Seconds

[Takuro]

I don't have much experience with Bluetooth headphones and figured I'd ask here to help set my expectations a bit.

I just bought some Drop + THX Panda headphones. They're well reviewed for sound quality and supporting higher-end audio codecs, some of which Macs support (eg: aptX) and some of which they don't (eg: LDAC).

Anywho, upon unboxing them and pairing them to my 2020 iMac running Big Sur, I noticed that audio over bluetooth sounds totally fine until it's been paused for more than 2 seconds. When I unpause, it almost feels as if maybe the headphones are coming out of some standby or low-power mode and are rushing to start a new bit stream. The sound is clipped / distorted for a second or two until it "catches up". This is particularly annoying for things like notifications and other sound effects which, by nature, are essentially really short audio clips.

I can't find anything online explaining if this is normal behavior or just a shortcoming of bluetooth. I did a few tests:

- Tried enabling aptX codec then AAC codec in Bluetooth Explorer, which some people claim helps performance, but it didn't help.
- Tried using a cheap $20 AirPods ripoff. It didn't have the same issue and played even short, intermittent sounds like notifications fine.
- Tried using bootcamp. The audio was clipping like crazy, even during sustained audio playback, and was unusable.
- Tried using bootcamp with the cheap $20 AirPods. It also had extremely bad clipping. I think the Bluetooth stack for w/e chipset Apple uses must just have horrible drivers in Windows?
- Tried pairing with my iPhone and iPad. If I go to the Sounds preferences and play some of the demo sound effects for things like text message notifications, it's badly clipped off too.
- Factory reset the headphones multiple times.

Any ideas? My only other option before returning these headphones is to visit Best Buy and see how they sound paired to other non-Apple machines. And to state the obvious, yes, I did try both wired (3.5mm and USB-C) and those sound fine with the same headphones.

Thanks

 

[Takuro]

After doing some more testing and research, I am pretty sure either the chipset in the Drop + THX Panda's for Bluetooth is just garbage when it comes to the amount of packet loss or else the ones I got were a dud. When the sound isn't clipping, they sound amazing, but they're still unusable, IMO.

I haven't found anyone seeing my exact symptoms, but bluetooth issues are very widespread. Digging deeper, there are actually a ton of QC issues with these specific headphones as customers have gotten shipments in the past years, and Drop is launching an effort with their engineering team to intercept retuned units to figure out what's happening.

Apparently, another side effect is that eBay is flooded with second-hand units as a result. I have seen people complain that if you get one of these second-hand units, Drop also gives people a hard time about warranty service. So rather than risk it, my headphones are going back to the seller.

I'll try one more time to get a different pair of these headphones, but I am just stating the above as a warning. If you see a good price on these headphones used, odds might be it's a failing unit.

If all else fails: I am moving on to the Sony WH-1000MX4's. Those can be found for cheap all day long. Not because of people trying to get rid of them, but because the market is totally saturated with those things. I'm also sure the QC is much better granted they're from Sony.

 

[coolajami]

My 5c on this, is that if you're willing to burn $400 for bluetooth headphones, get something of proven quality. Have a look on Hifiman Deva headphones, you'll be missing the mic compared with the Drop THX Panda, but you get planars with TSR input and removable bluetooth receiver that also provides a usb connection.

FYI the Drop THX Panda have so high recycling rate in secondary market because the listening tests indicate poor overall performance, and definitely you can get more bang for your buck if you look around.

 

[Takuro]

Yep, I was blown away by the better sound quality of planar magnetic drivers more-so than the actual bluetooth functionality that originally drew me toward the Drop Panda's. I definitely want that in whatever I buy next. I'll keep looking around. Or I may just defer on this and wait to see what comes out in the next year and see what other companies' response is to the AirPods Max.

The Drop Pandas are a QC nightmare. There's a few rave reviews by respected YouTubers out there, but I doubt they did a long term stress test, and they probably briefly confirmed the audio streamed over Bluetooth but didn't test weird corner cases like I did with notification sounds and whatnot. Most of those guys just have a playbook for testing audio quality (which again, was admittedly great) which is not gonna expose all its bugs and quirks.

 

[coolajami]

Yep, I was blown away by the better sound quality of planar magnetic drivers more-so than the actual bluetooth functionality that originally drew me toward the Drop Panda's. I definitely want that in whatever I buy next. I'll keep looking around. Or I may just defer on this and wait to see what comes out in the next year and see what other companies' response is to the AirPods Max.

The Drop Pandas are a QC nightmare. There's a few rave reviews by respected YouTubers out there, but I doubt they did a long term stress test, and they probably briefly confirmed the audio streamed over Bluetooth but didn't test weird corner cases like I did with notification sounds and whatnot. Most of those guys just have a playbook for testing audio quality (which again, was admittedly great) which is not gonna expose all its bugs and quirks.

I wouldn't trust most of Youtubers one bit, most of them are pass-and-stamp tramps, praising anything comes in their way, just to make sure the flow of free stuff for review-then-you-can-keep-it continues from promoting companies.

Have a look into audio specialist websites, like soundstagesolo, audiosciencereview etc where they are grilling heavily any audio equipment comes in their way (and you learn a lot in the process).

Now, seriously, go check HiFiman Deva.

 

[Takuro]

I ended up finding a pair of AirPods Max for $350 that apparently somebody didn't like and immediately put on eBay. It was only 2 weeks into its warranty when I looked up it's serial # online. Really lucked out big time.

In any case, it was a really great decision to drop the Panda's (pun intended) and return them. In the past few months, it's turns into a sh*t show over on their forums, with the below developments:

• Their engineers acknowledged wide reports of bluetooth failures and other issues (eg: bricking) and said they were working on a fix. It turns out all they did was make a tool that helped revert the firmware to the factory version. Nobody reported any difference from that.
• Some people ended up having to return their headphones multiple times due to failures.
• Multiple reports of people eventually giving up and tossing them in the e-waste bin.
• One guy got very frustrated and decided to do a tear down and documented that it turns out they are not repairable. The components are tightly packed and the drivers are actually glued directly to other components, so taking them apart effectively destroys them.
• It turns out that customer service had been lying about the battery being user replaceable for the reason cited above, and it's using an uncommon battery cell type that isn't available for individual sale.
• Drop eventually just pulled the Panda from sale and users who are contacting customer service are being told it's discontinued and no replacements, repairs, or refunds will be honored even if they are within their 2 year warranty.

This has turned into a total cluster, and I'm very sorry for the people who bought these. People are hoping they release a "version 2" and offer exchanges, but I can't see that happening. It sounds like their engineers just dumped this product and gave up, since regular updates on the QC investigation stopped almost as soon as they were initially announced.

They might work well as a wired pair of cans for some time for some people, but they're utterly useless as bluetooth headphones and will all end up in the landfill in time due to the inability to repair them or swap the battery. Even the AirPods Max has a much higher level of repairability and uses a more common battery cell design.