Fit and Comfort

Seen above is the ThieAudio Wraith placed on a mannequin head, to help show how these headphones would look on the human head. Note that the head is slightly under average sized, so account for the discrepancies accordingly. As with all headphones, getting a good fit and seal is crucial, so make sure to properly use the various pivot points, and the height adjustability of the headband and ear cups. This section is mostly a summary of the points expanded upon in more detail on the previous page and I will mention here that the Wraith is relatively heavy at ~450 g, but does not feel like it. It wears its mass quite well owing to good weight distribution with the steel parts used throughout, and the larger headband/suspension band also help spread out the mass more along the top of your head. I would still prefer a softer suspension band as previously mentioned, or at least one with ventilation holes and a less stiff suspension system. The ear cups are naturally directed inward courtesy the frame design to where I would also say clamping force is slightly higher than average, so there is another reason this could not be the most comfortable for those with larger heads even beyond the relatively smaller ear cups/pads themselves. The oval nature of the pads do help mitigate the ears from hitting the insides easily, however. There are also three different ear pad options and I would classify the velour pads as most comfortable with the hybrid pads next, and followed by the full leather pads thereafter. The opposite order holds true for those seeking the best seal between the ear cups and the ears itself—or however close to one you can get here anyway with the use of the hook-and-loop fasteners as seen on the previous page. Be sure to have installed the ear pads correctly given the contouring in place, and also keep in mind that the Wraith is an open-back set and thus will be best used in a quiet environment without others in the vicinity.

Audio Performance

Audio Hardware

ThieAudio claims the planar magnetic drivers in the Wraith are the result of three years of R&D after the release of its previous set, the Phantom. In practice, these 97 mm drivers sure look a lot like a Tuoyin OEM set that have been incorporated into the Wraith, so take that for what you will! Either way, ThieAudio claims a new "German conductor membrane, thinner magnetic plates with 1.5x stronger magnetic field, and a new structural airflow design" here with the membrane itself being a composite that is "compressed thinner to achieve greater and more uniform surface tension" across the entirety of the 97 mm oval-shaped diaphragm that in turn dictates the shape and size of the ear cups and pads used here. It does seem to be an efficient set of drivers given the rated impedance of 23 Ω coupled with a relatively high sensitivity of 101 dB/mW for planar sets. I can actually see this being a fairly portable set if the open-back nature of the headphones isn't a big issue for you. A decent portable DAC/amp with a balanced 4.4 mm output to use with the stock cable will be plenty enough thus, and I mentioned on the previous page what sources I used with the ThieAudio Wraith.

Frequency Response Measurement and Listening

I will mention that I have a general preference for a warm-neutral signature emphasizing a slightly elevated bass and smooth treble range with detailed mids and good tonal separation. I also generally prefer instrumental music over vocals, with favored genres including jazz and classical music.


Our current headphones test setup uses a set of two custom in-ear microphones for the two channels. These microphones closely adhere to the IEC711 class, but have been tweaked to be more reliable in the >10 kHz frequency range, the precise issue with my previous setup, that is otherwise still very good and will continue to be used for IEMs and earphones. Two soft silicone pinnae are installed on the sides, separated by a distance matching my head, and multiple "height" adapters have been 3D-printed for further customization, based on fit, head size and shape. Each set of microphones has an XLR output I separately adapted to 3.5 mm. I used a transparent source—the FiiO K9 Pro ESS—for measurements after confirming it was not a bottleneck in any way.

This artificial head simulator feeds the microphone lines into a reference USB sound card, which in turn goes to a laptop that has ARTA and REW running. I begin with an impulse measurement to test for signal fidelity, calibrate the sound card and channel output, account for floor noise, and finally test the frequency response of each channel separately. Octave smoothing is at the 1/12th setting, netting a good balance of detail and signal to noise ratio. The default tuning was used for testing, and no app or program-based EQ settings were chosen, unless specifically mentioned. Each sample of interest is measured at least thrice with separate mounts to account for any fit issues, and an average is taken of the individual measurements for statistical accuracy.


As per usual, you can find my headphone frequency response measurements on VSG.squig.link, along with all the earphone measurements. Scroll to the bottom and choose different targets there, including two from Harman Kardon, developed after years of R&D. The Harman 2018 over-ear target in particular is a reference curve many headphone makers aim for now, but I find it too bass-boosted. As such, I am opting for the Harman 2018 curve with the bass target from the Harman 2013 curve, which is what is being referred to as the "Harman Combined" target there. Before we get talking about the sound signature of the ThieAudio Wraith, I want to first talk about the channel balance achieved here. You will notice how the left and right channels are pretty much identical all the way until ~3 kHz followed by some measured discrepancy, before the two align again close enough to be within error margins of each other. In practice I would say both drivers sounded similar enough and closer to how the left channel measures here, and some of this discrepancy can be attributed to the ear pads installation mechanism that has an inherent range to it as opposed to a fixed position as with most other headphones. So while there aren't driver matching concerns in itself, that is still overshadowed by the unfortunate ear pad mechanism chosen by ThieAudio.


Now is as good a time as any to talk about the sound signature of the ThieAudio Wraith, but here too I need to show you the effect of the other two ear pads now provided with the headphones. The fully sealed leather custom pads A make for slightly better bass extension and tilts the tonality more on the warmer and darker side compared to the stock hybrid pads. The velour custom pads B go the other way round to where it's somewhat more V-shaped but mostly due to a more pronounced ear gain coupled with an even larger dip in the sub-bass. These velour pads would be my go-to option here to make the most of the inherent limitations of the drivers and the ear pad installation mechanism itself.

Indeed, notice how all three pads have poor bass extension here. This is a result of the imperfect seal between the ear cups and the pads themselves that make for a planar magnetic set which comes off tuned akin to open-back dynamic driver sets instead. That's not a deal breaker in itself but there are worse issues with the tonality of the set here that the different pads don't completely solve either. The Wraith is mid-forward in a few wonky places and the ear gain is also barely present here unlike what is advertised on the product page. So you get a somewhat boomy bass in the first place that then gives way to forward-facing vocals only to get vocals and instrument fundamentals sounding less natural. Timbre is also heavily affected as a result to where the Wraith is one of the worse offenders to distinguish between instrument classes and also to monitor guitar strings and drum hits too. As we go to the higher frequencies, we see it leans towards a more relaxing sound but there is upper treble presence to prevent it from coming off completely dark either.

Now keep in mind that tonality can be subjective, so there may be folks out there who are looking for a a more mid-bass centric warm and relaxed sound. This would be fine and even potentially a positive for the ThieAudio Wraith if the drivers themselves backed it up. Unfortunately I do feel like better drivers could have saved the product here since these ones are mediocre at best. They are not as resolving as even some of the less expensive sets in the market, and EQ doesn't help bring out the sense of speed and transparency I wanted to get here from the planar magnetic drivers, even if you had the time and patience to get it tuned like you want it. Micro-contrast is present but trailing ends of tones are muddy. Deliberately adding in upper mids presence makes instruments sound raised and doesn't help female vocals sound natural either—I suspect the drivers are overly dampened here. The semi-open back nature of the set also makes for a relatively cramped soundstage that makes the hazy imaging all the more prominent. I can't really tell you what music genres the Wraith excels at because most music I've listened to on this just doesn't sound as good as nearly every other set I've tried. I suppose if you were only going to listen to bass guitars and gravelly male vocals (Motorhead, for example), then the Wraith would suit you well.


Such is the nature of headphones coming out of China these days that I can fill out an entire comparison chart here out of recently released open-back planar magnetic sets and still the ThieAudio Wraith would be hard pressed to impress. The HarmonicDyne G200 costs more and has comparably high build quality and design metrics in addition to having a few mishaps too, but is saved by aftermarket pads and EQ owing to some of the most technically superior drivers I've seen in this price range, if not higher. It's a work of labor but rewards you with a set that competes against much more expensive headphones once you set it how you like it. The biggest competition here comes from the MOONDROP VENUS which bests the Wraith pretty much everywhere outside of being easy to drive. It's a more comfortable set for me that is also tuned better and has way better drivers to boot. Then there's the ZEPHONE Tiger which I thought had both tonality and technicality issues but somehow looks like a worthy purchase compared to the ThieAudio Wraith. Unfortunately this means a complete whitewash for the Wraith here.


Would you believe it that the previous set of comparisons was actually more favorable to the ThieAudio Wraith? The Audeze LCD-2 Classic is not one I'd recommend anymore now that I have far more context with headphones in the price range, but it is a better take on the blunted warm + relaxed sound that you get with the Wraith while also offering better warranty and arguably better customer service too. Build quality is excellent overall here too, although it does weigh more. The biggest competition here is of course the HIFIMAN Edition XS that not only costs less, but can be more comfortable while also sounding far, far better even without EQ. It's a plastic chassis with a worse headband and low clamping force though, but that's not enough to stop the Edition XS taking the win. Then there's the Sivga SV023 dynamic driver set which, as you might have guessed by now, is another set I'd pick over the Wraith. Notice a similar warm and mid-forward tuning here with sub-bass dip and somehow even this sounds more natural and even compared to a planar set to where I can't help but think ThieAudio needs to re-think its drivers and ear pad mechanism.