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That says something about the W100s!! Once I sell off my Senn 600 I won't miss them at all. I love these things, it's just that whatever I replace them with will probably blow them away so much that I won't miss having them!

That's why I'm looking at the At 1000 series or a Sony CD3K. The Sony scares me as more than a few have said they didn't like it with their rig and I don't want to spend that kind of money only to hate them and lose money selling them.

I heard the Sony CD3Kon the HeadRoom tour. It was the first thing I wanted to hear, given how hard it is to audition, and I was not impressed. Not even close. In fact, I thought something must have been wrong with them, they were so bland and lifeless. If I remember right, some other tour goers felt the same way.

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WOW. Now i definitely will wait until the new AT's come out!!! I have heard that these cans are "finicky" at best, and horrible at worst. Seems the better bet is to buy something less finicky like the A1000 or possibly A100Ti??

I guess we'll all see how good the ATs are once the new stuff comes out......which I hope is REALLY soon!!!!!!!!!!

doug,
I see you read the posts on the W100s. If I could have one high end can for female vocals and jazz they would be it. BUT...and it's a large one...wait..not a large butt....lol for rock they just didn't do me right. I am like you awaiting the new AT lineup.
md

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Thanks MD!! I don't listen to much rock, so this won't really affect my decision much towards either the W or A 1000 cans. I am also considering the Sony CD3K which MarkL spoke so highly of. He compared it with the Senn 600s like I have and said it blew them away, hands down in basically every category!! But too many others have said they suck and are kinicky, so as i have repeatedly said, I will audition a set of these and wait and see what everyone has to say about the new ATs.

Now if AT would only release a price and date I can look at for buying them!!!!!

I still have yet to really understand what is wrong with the W100 for rock. Everyone keeps saying that they suck for said genre, but I don't ever recall a truly intelligble, unequivocal reason. JML, our best W100 homer, would you care to donate two cents?

statix, I auditioned the A9X and the W100s...
Again my impressions are in the W100 thread but if you would like: the W100s seemed veiled to me with rock such as Rush etc...I had them at home for a week also thanks to a head-fier who let us borrow her headphones(almost said cans) and found the same thing. This was against my Grado SR325s and the A9X.
I loved the W100 with vocals and jazz. I just couldn't justify the price of the W100s as the ONLY set you would own. They just didn't rock. They lacked the punch of the A9X and Grados. I am awaiting an audition with the W2002s, ahem, and think that they maybe overall a better HP. Again, I really really really wanted to like the W100s.
my thoughts only,
md

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My sentiments exactly. The W100's are incredible with many types of music, but I have never heard a headphone better with rock than a Grado SR325, not even the RS1 IMO, possibly the K1000/RKV combination, but that sounds more like speakers to me than headphones. (rock's a big category, I'm talking rock on the harder side, not necessarily heavy metal, but not James Taylor either)

With the right music the W100's are utterly transparent, the walls drop away and you're there, with rock they sound veiled. With rock the SR325's sound the most transparent to me, but with softer more sensitive music they are a little too punchy and crispy on top.

The W2002's are a more versatile phone that play a wider variety of music better and sound better at higher volumes than the W100, but there is still material in my collection that I prefer the W100 over the W2002 or SR325 namely, Tom Waits, Blues, Miles/Coltrane........Just my opinions...YMMV.

First, my definitive source is vinyl, via a Linn LP-12.

Second, I listen to rock, but I'm 48. So most of my "standards" are from my college days, the 1970s. Sorry. But I've been a finicky audiophile since my freshman year of college. I think the W100 is superb with what I listen to. No matter what it is. And much of what was recorded well back then is still excellent, soundwise.

With wonderfully recorded stuff, they're wonderful. With poorly-recorded stuff, they're awful. Garbage in, garbage out. Are they in-your-face Grados? No. Will they work with hip-hop? I have no idea. Will they work with most of what I hear on the radio in the car? I have no idea.

What I do know is that they're as faithful to the recording as I could expect. Are they perfect? No. Do the Senns do something these don't? Perhaps, but the ATs do things the Senns don't.

But I'm not interested in the absolute best price-is-no-object equipment. I can't afford it. Plus when you get to that level, there isn't much to listen to. I'm happy at the price/performance level where I now stand (and listen).

Funny, I think the W100s sound wonderful with rock. Are they as sublime with rock as they are with jazz or female vocalists? No, but they're still damn good. Bass has nice punch and electric guitars sound damn good. You know what sounds really good on W100s? Massive Attack or Portishead.