ATH-EW9 Review

[Takashi]

I got this wood clip-ons a month and a half ago, and since this is my first purchase of clip-ons, I waited to see how I feel after a while. Here it is.

When I looked at these phones on the picture I felt this is just another gimmick Audio Technica came up with, and I didn't expect any practical use of it. But as W1000 is on my shopping list for a long time, I thought I'd give it try and get a hint of how "wood headphones" are. Well it's rather economical to go straight to W1000 in the first place, but at the time I couldn't come up with good reason to convince my wife for getting another full size headphones. Actually I still don't.

Anyways, so I bought them. Out of the box, first I felt they look classy with beautiful wood, comfortable with jersey earpads, and those metal wire hangers with rubber cushon flipping out for easy wearing is pretty nice gimmck. They are really comfortable for extended use.

Soundwise, my first impression was that they have pretty good highs and lows. Good resolution but not too revealing. It is quite impressive they have enough bass reaches down to good drum kick. Also mids are smooth, though not full-bodied like other AT full-sized headphones.
I was really amazed at this as my sole experience with clip-ons is the really cheapy one which was bundled with Sony Clie.

But over time, its rather harsh mid-highs started to bother me. Vocals, especially female, hurt my ears. Also as the nature of clip-ons, sound is so upfront and has no sound stage. Compare to this, even SR-225 has deep spacious sound stage.

I think they are OK for home use, or at quiet office, with realtively smaller sound level. If you crank it up mid-highs starts to hurt your ears. But some may find it favorable depending on the type of music they hear. Especially I find it quite enjoyable with acoustic guitar sound. Does this have anything to do with the housing being wood? Not necessarily, but I like to think so.

As portable phones, when they are used at noisy places such as on the train, you'll still get plenty of vocals with some highs and lows. Of cource they don't isolate at all so lows are really mixed with ambient rumbling noise, You can't expect much.

Cost performance? Depends on how you like the touch of wood.

My conclusion:
They are beautiful, comfortable to wear. Best use for these are at quiet places like at home, office or park in the morning.
For some acoustic music, or with proper EQ, and surround processing if you like, they can be good sounding clip-ons. Basically I like them.


Lastly, I read on Japanese forum that EM9s have same characteristics. So if you don't care about wood, they would be the ones to try. (I like the look of EM9R disguising itself as ventilated disc brake rotor.)


Oh and KSC35s has been delivered to my home, I can't wait to compare them with EW9 after I go home next week.

[harkamus]

EM9D = ventilated disk brake. EM9R = round.

Nice review. Guess I'll skip the W9 and get the 9D.

May I ask how much you paid?

[Takashi]

It was 18,000 JPY (=approx. 160 USD) plus tax. I actually payed less because I had "discount points" of the store.

And you're right, D is for disc brake and R is for round.

[HMan]

I have also had these phones for about a month or so myself. I wanted a pair of reasonably high quality, extremely portable and comfortable headphones that could be powered by an Ipod without an amp. I also did not want a lot of isolation since I already own a pair of Etymotics. Given that criteria, I believe that the ATH-EW9 do a fairly good job.

I found the sound to be quite acceptable and as a matter of fact better than I expected. I did find what I perceive to be some dips in the frequency response in the mid section. I would love to see a frequency response graph of these phones. Some music like Bach's Passion of St. Matthew sounds very nice, but the Clash's Clash doesn't. Unfortunately, it is not a simple classical is good and rock is bad since I have also found some classical that suffers and some rock that does very well.

Overall, I don't think that these phones are as good as the ER-4, but then again to my ears the ER-4 aren't as good as the Stax Omega II. Given the criteria that I had, I think that ATH-EW9 do a fairly good job.

As always, your mileage may vary.

[harkamus]

Originally posted by Takashi
It was 18,000 JPY (=approx. 160 USD) plus tax. I actually payed less because I had "discount points" of the store.

And you're right, D is for disc brake and R is for round.

. Factory direct, you could have gotten the W9 for 151.

[Takashi]

Originally posted by harkamus
. Factory direct, you could have gotten the W9 for 151.

Thanks for reminding me. But I told you I payed less.

Besides, I am in Japan and I wanted to see it before I buy, and when I saw it I had to have it. Kinda stupid but that's me.

[Takashi]

OK, so I listened to KSC35 for a week and here's comparison of EW9 and KSC35.

From KSC35, you got a lot of bass. It doesn't go so deep but amount of mid-bass is incredible. It's so dominant and covers whole sound, so the sound is a little muddy but overall balance is not bad at all.
Although it was not bad, I still wanted highs to be more clean so I bought Sony's ear pads and cut out a nickel-sized hole, and replaced the original pads. Result is not so significant, just very slightly improved mid-highs. This was disappointing since I was successful with the same mod on MX500, also SR-225 with Radioshack pads.

To compare with ATH-EW9, I switched them back and forth. The most significant difference was mid and mid-highs of EW9. They are very clear and present. Even though EW9's mid-high is too harsh, it has very good mid to high so acoustic guitar sounds excelent. Bass is tight and goes deep but no match of KSC35. KSC35's bass is just a shy of being bloated and boomy --- EW9 is good with bass heavy tunes.

I had one problem with KSC35 --- build quality. There were sharp edge on both ear clips (burr at parting line), I had to scrape off all around the arc with sharp knife.
Other than that KSC35 is excelent considering the price, EW9 is more like joy of owning beautiful wood phone with clarity and good mids.

[bangraman]

Sorry to butt in in this thread but I've just lost an EM7 and am thinking about replacing it with the EM9r. Did you happen to be able to check out the EM/EW difference sonically? And I don't know if you saw the EM7, but it's got pretty sharp edges around it and my biggest bugbear cosmetically was the fact that the pair would scratch each other if left in a pocket and also that the cord would fray quickly. Is this any different with the EW/EM? Thanks.

[PeterR]

Originally posted by bangraman
Sorry to butt in in this thread but I've just lost an EM7 and am thinking about replacing it with the EM9r.

I've got my EM9rs a few days ago, and my initial impressions are somewhat similar to what Takashi says about the EWs. Sound is amazingly clear and detailed, though with a slight metallic upper midrange coloration. I called them bass shy in my post last week, but this has gotten a lot better in the meantime. They're still not for bass heads, but what they do is precise and with a nice punch. All in all by far the best headphones their size I've heard.
Comfort is excellent, as is build quality. Don't know whether they'd scratch each other - I keep them in their pouch where this isn't an issue.

[Takashi]

I also think EM9 has same sonical characteristics, while EW9 is a bit warmer (could be a placebo), based on my very brief auditioning.

EM9r/d are not as edgey as EM7, but I am pretty sure they will scratch each other as well. If you insist, "r" is more rounder.

Cord of EM/EW is elastomer (synthetic rubber) and doesn't tangle easily. It's slicker so it won't fray either, I guess.
(I am too sissy to throw my EW9 in the pocket so I don't know for sure.)

[Zuerst]

Takashi, have you seem all 3 models in person? I want to get either the EM9d or the EM9r but I'm not sure which... Which look nicer to YOU in person?

[Takashi]

Yes I have seen all of them in person.
Mechanical look of D is not bad (I like cars ), but I think R will look better when weared because of rounder surface and shiny ring trim.

[Zuerst]

Hmmm... now I'm wondering if I should just get the EM9r or opt for the EW9... is EW9 worth the extra $$$?

[adhoc]

Originally posted by harkamus
. Factory direct, you could have gotten the W9 for 151.

got any linkage? i'm thinking about the em9d.

[Takashi]

Originally posted by Zuerst
Hmmm... now I'm wondering if I should just get the EM9r or opt for the EW9... is EW9 worth the extra $$$?

It's really your personal preference about look and touch. Personally I am satisfied with EW9.

Originally posted by adhoc
got any linkage? i'm thinking about the em9d.

Their Singapore site has online shop