ATH-W1000X

I got mine for $570 shipped from PriceJapan. Arrived in two days. Amazing service from those guys.

They sounded terrific right out of the box. The treble smoothed out just a little after burn-in, but if they hadn't changed one bit I'd have been fine. They sound really, really good, and much better than I recall the original W1000 sounding (which I hated and sold in less than a week).

They are nice looking, and see pretty comfortable. For under $600, they are very attractively priced. I am glad I sold the L3000's and got these - I think these sound MUCH better.

Some pics:

I decided to try the W1000X after reading the descriptions here on Head-fi, as it sounded like there was a good chance that my issues with original W1000 and the W5000 were resolved by the W1000X (that being that the very clear mids and treble were not balanced any useful bass weight). The W1000X, to my ears, does indeed manage this balancing act not - instead of a very bright, bass light headphone, we get a very detailed, clean sounding headphone that also has satisfying bass.

The W1000X does have a bit of a forward midrange, but much less so than the L3000 did. The mids stick out a little bit, and there is a treble emphasis that adds a bit of presence but somehow does not cause a problem with sibilance (which is fortunate). They're quite a different take from the D7000 and DX1000, but taken on their own they are very good sounding cans IMO. The W1000X are definitely brighter than the DX1000, and less bass than it or the D7000, but very nice overall presentation with just as bit of a treble emphasis. As for the D7000 vs. the W1000X, the main differences are the D7000 has a little more bass and a less forward midrange, and is slightly more neutral overall. Both are great, but quite different sounding. It's nice that there's a choice for people who prefer the more forward mids than what the D7000 and DX1000 offer. I can appreciate all three perspectives, and enjoy all 3 of these closed Japanese Woodies

I don't think of them as being "specialist" in any way - they sound good to me on all kinds of music. I like the W1000X with a wide variety of rock and jazz, which is mostly what I listen to. But as for "making crappy recordings sound good" - nope. I'm not sure I know a headphone that will really do this, but if there is one, IMO, it's the JVC DX1000. It is definitely NOT the W1000X. Any headphone with a slight elevation in the presence region, like these have, is not going to help poor recordings at all. Maybe the opposite. But that said, I think they sound excellent on almost all my music - and if I listen to a bad recording, I just accept that it's bad.

Isolation is fair. Better than Denon D7000, but not as good as JVC DX1000, and much less than Ultrasone Edition 8. Speaking of the Edition 8, I think the Edition8 is quite a bit better, not just a little. But that's JMO, and doesn't take away from the W1000X being a great sounding headphone for the money. After all, the Ed 8 is 2-3x the price!

So to sum up, the W1000X have a bit of a flavor, and are not for people who like a laid back sound.  But the flavor is not so strong as to make the headphone seem colored, and if you like your sound just a little vivid, the W1000X are a terrific headphone.

Equipment Used: PS Audio Power Plant Premier > Macbook Pro > USB > PS Audio Perfectwave DAC > Woo Audio 5 (Shuguang 300B-Z Output, Shuguang CV-181-Z Driver, EML 5U4G Rectifier)

Aesthetic / Build Quality:
This headphone is quite a handsome headphone with very clean lines.  The magnesium frame is very sturdily built and the 3D wings have been tweaked over the years by Audio Technica, and you can tell that this is a great frame that will last with lots of abuse.  The Wooden cups are of American Cherry wood and have a nice reddish / orange color with nice lacquer.  In terms of wood it looks a lot better than many Denon headphones and JVC and once again you can tell that ATH has spent a long time perfecting the art of making wooden full-size headphones.  The pads are made of a pleather-like material and are a little thin for my tastes and not large enough inside for my ears.  I wish they were real leather as it would feel more quality.  As for the cable, it has a rubbery coating sheathing to it, but feels nice since it is lightweight and doesn’t tangle at all.  Wooden plug is a nice touch.  Overall, the headphone is extremely well put together, feels very well engineered, and fits on the well extremely well.

Lows:
I consistently found this headphone to produce very deep bass in almost all the songs I played.  It was well controlled and nowhere near as loose as a Denon D5000 was in my book.  The bass extends very deep and can be a joy on neutral sounding songs, but sometimes overwhelming in bassy recording.  For example, the bassist on Diana Krall’s S’Wonderful would be overemphasized and at time compete with Diana Krall’s voice.  On most songs though, the bass is a joy to listen to and makes songs feel very musical and with good attack.

Mids:
The W1000X have very good mids in most songs, but I feel that they tend to get drowned out by the bass and treble, especially once that the volume levels are raised.  There is a slight emphasis on the treble and bass, leaving the mids ever so slightly behind.  This compounded with the large soundstage but things like vocals a little bit too far back for my likings.  This may be fine for many listeners, but I have a tendency to prefer a slightly more upfront presentation with more forward mids.

Highs:
The highs on this headphone are really wonderful and well balanced with the rest of the spectrum.  Cymbals and high pitched guitar strings really sparkle and add a lot of dynamics to songs.  Even with these great and extended highs, it never feels fatiguing to my ears.

Soundstage:
The soundstage is truly wonderful and expansive, which is something I would never have thought a closed headphone could do so well!  It isn’t as big of a soundstage as the HD800, but still allows for a lot of room / air between instruments, especially in Jazz and acoustic genres.  One is able to very easily pinpoint where the instrument in placed in the field of space.  This does have downsides though because the vocals also seem to be pushed back and at times get a little lost between all the other instruments.  This means that this headphone isn’t ideal for more classic rock songs where an upfront presentation is preferable.

Conclusion:

I think it is a wonderful headphone with a very good and balanced amount of bass, akin to the Denon D7000 headphone.  As Skylab mentioned, they don't have much coloration to the sound and should be considered relatively neutral and thus very easy for most listeners to enjoy with a wide variety of music genres. 

The soundstage is expansive, as is the bass and treble in the songs, but the mids feel not as forward as the the other ends of the sonic spectrum.  I feel that this headphone is a lot more linear or with a little bit of a V-shaped sonic signature.  At lower volumes, all respects of the sound spectrum work on the same level, however as you start bringing up the volume, Bass and Treble increase but mids get slightly drowned out.  This makes it not work too well with classic rock songs and ones that aren’t as well recorded, resulting in a thin and slightly more distant presentation of the song.  With most of the music I listen to, which is Jazz, Indie, Acoustic, 80s though it truly excels with.   Overall, I think you would be sacrificing the mids a little for much better soundstage, better controlled and deeper bass, and great sparkling highs that aren’t fatiguing.  For the price, i think these are an exceptional value for the money and easily competes and beats the Denon DX000 series in many aspects.

Really wanting to buy the AD2000 I got the W1000x on the Japanese Yahoo Auction site for a ridiculously low price of 29000 yen. They are used but have almost no wear or tear. I guess they have been broken in alreay, but I really can't say. The might have been used as an exposition model since the plug doesn't show any wear.

Using my Sony XBA-3 in the office most of the time, I found the W1000X not as immersive as I would have liked. IEMs make me feel a lot more "inside" the music. 

The worst thing that's keeping me from using these "closed" cans everyday is the VERY bad leakage. Sitting in a cubicled office these would annoy everyone else when using them at medium-high volume. 

That being said, these cans are exeptionally detailed and clear sounding to me. I'm new to the audiophile world but I think this is what people refer to as "soundstage": The instruments seem to be quite distant from me. Much more than with the AD2000, although those are open and airy they immerse me much more in the music. The highs started to hurt my ears when played at higher volume.

Listening to mainly classical (contemporary and baroque), Jazz (hard-bop, impro, contemporary, big band) and electronic music via my RAL-2496UT1 DAC using MusicBee with WASAPI output and mostly 24/96 or upscaled FLAC material.

Now I haven't got more than one or two hours with these so I might edit my review later but the leakage is real and quite noticable for closed cans. So anyone looking for a good seal, please look elsewhere.

Edit: After listening some more I am tempted to sell these since the pleatherpads get way too hot for my taste. 

Edit no. 2: I actually replaced the pleather pads with the L3000 lamp leather pads without a problem. They are a pricey upgrade (60 dollars) but worth every penny as I can listen to the W1000X without problems for hours now. They comfort has definetly improved by miles. Also I would advise to equalize these cans according to this thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/413900/how-to-equalize-your-headphones-a-tutorial It has made mine a lot easier to listen to since they have quite some spikes in the upper frequency ranges.

Edit no. 3: I have been using the W1000X for about half a year now and I am using it together with the AD2000, mainly switching for issues of comfort or musical genre. It's an awesome headphone and I am VERY satisfied with my purchase.

Comparison review found here:

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/564964/comparison-ath-w1000x-vs-ultrasone-pro-900#post_7646172