I've been hanging around here for a few years now but still haven't done a review. Just thought I'd contribute a bit finally. NOTE: I consider myself to be less than average at understanding the headphone terms fully but I will try my best with descriptions and opinions.
My review will consist of two sections: music and movies. I specialize in the later. I've owned all these headphones for very different time spans so I will have different amounts of memories for each. The only one I currently still own is the w10vtg and I have a Denon d2000 on the way.
***MUSIC***
A900 - This is the one that got me started over 3 years ago. I've since bought and sold it 4 times. It was everything that I hoped it would be. High resolution, detailed, good soundstage, very good imaging. It just sounded like a very full headphone. I've never used anything that compared to it before so the the Audio Technia sound characteristics really blew me away. That is possibly why I've favored ATs ever since. The midrange is not as good as on the any of the other ATs I've tried. The huge cans are comfy and lite but can make your ears sweaty.
W100 - I read reviews extensively before purchasing this and after some listening, I know for sure that I was lucky to receive the 'good' version of this headphone. The a900 did some things better such as soundstage and overall fullness. However, really destroyed the a900s when it comes to musicality and simply enjoying the tunes. I found myself tapping my toes or moving a part of my body to the music all the time.
W10VTG - From my memory of the w100s, I think that the w10vtg has similarities to the w100 but better. It has a fuller sound and is even more musical and also very relaxing. I could listen to them for many, many hours straight with different material and their sound would never hurt my ears. Nothing really jumps out at you but it draws you into the music and you forget about everything else. For music alone, these or the ksc35s are the best that I've heard since my start here.
ES7 - These seem to be very genre specific. They are very good for pop and songs with piano sounds but soft rock and guitars sound much better to me on the other ATs. But, they are very solid at that price and the folding design was very useful for me during my backpacking travels this summer.
KSC35 - What can I say? I like their sound very, very much and have owned them the longest. Everyone has heard that best bang for the buck stuff but I honestly prefer them over most of the headphones I've owned, regardless of price. If I were to compare each criteria such as detail, resolution, imaging etc with the other headphones, then they would not fare well. However, they share a quality with the w10vtg in that I could just put them one and melt away with the music for hours and hours. Also, I have used the ksc75s in times that these broke but I prefer the 35s much more. I think some have said that they both use the same drivers but that can't be right. Even I could tell. To try and put it in perspective, the ksc35 is like your favorite arcade game from the 90s while the ksc75 is the same game ported to the Super Nintendo. Just not the same.
MS1 - Simply put: I definitely preferred the ksc35s to these while I was comparing the two.
HF1 - I only had these for a short time before selling but I directly compared them to the ksc35 also. I don't remember all the details about these but I do recall that I thought they were better than the ksc35. However my thinking was that I only preferred them slightly over the Koss so it would be more economical to keep the ksc.
***MOVIES***
Watching dvds on my laptop was the reason that I got into this high-quality-headphone-wallet-raping-business. Movies are actually my priority when deciding on headphones but I will try to keep this section shorter as I know there is a much smaller demographic that uses their headphones to watch movies.
MS1/HF1/KSC35/W100/W10VTG - I do not remember my experiences with the ms1 or hf1 for this purpose. The ksc35 is great for music but simply sounds too small for movies. Things still sounded great but there were too many times where I wished for something fuller sounding. The w100 and w10vtg were very good for movies but both had flaws. The w100 had nice detail and soundstage but just not as good as the a900. The w10vtg has a very full sound and nice imaging much like the a900. I really wanted to like the w10 for this purpose as my music sound their best with these but it simply had too much of a relaxed nature for some movie genres. Sadly I will have to let it go.
A900/ES7 - The a900 have all the characteristics of a nice sound system on your head. They have everything I've wanted since the start of my journey here but there are reasons why I've sold them 4 times. They have a hollow sound to them much like if I was watching a movie in an underground tunnel. It doesn't always sound like that but the times that it does are very annoying to me. The soundstage is bigger than the w100 and w10vtg in that I could hear things further away what is on the screen but it somehow sounds more closed in like being in a cave. It is hard to describe but if there was an open headphone which sounded just like the a900, it would be king for movie watching. The es7, much like it is for music, is very good for certain things. They are far behind the other 3 ATs in terms of detail and separation/imaging but their tight bass works great for some movies. In particular, gun shots sound amazing on these things. Overall I think both the w100 and w10vtg are still better for movie but the es7 deserves a special mention due to its effectiveness with some action movies.
Well, I hope that my review made sense to someone. It is true that I've spend alot of money since coming here but I've also had many great nights of just relaxing and listening to my favorite tracks or dvds in bliss. I've personally spent more money on much less rewarding things so I don't regret finding this place.
Fatmaneaetschild
My review will consist of two sections: music and movies. I specialize in the later. I've owned all these headphones for very different time spans so I will have different amounts of memories for each. The only one I currently still own is the w10vtg and I have a Denon d2000 on the way.
***MUSIC***
A900 - This is the one that got me started over 3 years ago. I've since bought and sold it 4 times. It was everything that I hoped it would be. High resolution, detailed, good soundstage, very good imaging. It just sounded like a very full headphone. I've never used anything that compared to it before so the the Audio Technia sound characteristics really blew me away. That is possibly why I've favored ATs ever since. The midrange is not as good as on the any of the other ATs I've tried. The huge cans are comfy and lite but can make your ears sweaty.
W100 - I read reviews extensively before purchasing this and after some listening, I know for sure that I was lucky to receive the 'good' version of this headphone. The a900 did some things better such as soundstage and overall fullness. However, really destroyed the a900s when it comes to musicality and simply enjoying the tunes. I found myself tapping my toes or moving a part of my body to the music all the time.
W10VTG - From my memory of the w100s, I think that the w10vtg has similarities to the w100 but better. It has a fuller sound and is even more musical and also very relaxing. I could listen to them for many, many hours straight with different material and their sound would never hurt my ears. Nothing really jumps out at you but it draws you into the music and you forget about everything else. For music alone, these or the ksc35s are the best that I've heard since my start here.
ES7 - These seem to be very genre specific. They are very good for pop and songs with piano sounds but soft rock and guitars sound much better to me on the other ATs. But, they are very solid at that price and the folding design was very useful for me during my backpacking travels this summer.
KSC35 - What can I say? I like their sound very, very much and have owned them the longest. Everyone has heard that best bang for the buck stuff but I honestly prefer them over most of the headphones I've owned, regardless of price. If I were to compare each criteria such as detail, resolution, imaging etc with the other headphones, then they would not fare well. However, they share a quality with the w10vtg in that I could just put them one and melt away with the music for hours and hours. Also, I have used the ksc75s in times that these broke but I prefer the 35s much more. I think some have said that they both use the same drivers but that can't be right. Even I could tell. To try and put it in perspective, the ksc35 is like your favorite arcade game from the 90s while the ksc75 is the same game ported to the Super Nintendo. Just not the same.
MS1 - Simply put: I definitely preferred the ksc35s to these while I was comparing the two.
HF1 - I only had these for a short time before selling but I directly compared them to the ksc35 also. I don't remember all the details about these but I do recall that I thought they were better than the ksc35. However my thinking was that I only preferred them slightly over the Koss so it would be more economical to keep the ksc.
***MOVIES***
Watching dvds on my laptop was the reason that I got into this high-quality-headphone-wallet-raping-business. Movies are actually my priority when deciding on headphones but I will try to keep this section shorter as I know there is a much smaller demographic that uses their headphones to watch movies.
MS1/HF1/KSC35/W100/W10VTG - I do not remember my experiences with the ms1 or hf1 for this purpose. The ksc35 is great for music but simply sounds too small for movies. Things still sounded great but there were too many times where I wished for something fuller sounding. The w100 and w10vtg were very good for movies but both had flaws. The w100 had nice detail and soundstage but just not as good as the a900. The w10vtg has a very full sound and nice imaging much like the a900. I really wanted to like the w10 for this purpose as my music sound their best with these but it simply had too much of a relaxed nature for some movie genres. Sadly I will have to let it go.
A900/ES7 - The a900 have all the characteristics of a nice sound system on your head. They have everything I've wanted since the start of my journey here but there are reasons why I've sold them 4 times. They have a hollow sound to them much like if I was watching a movie in an underground tunnel. It doesn't always sound like that but the times that it does are very annoying to me. The soundstage is bigger than the w100 and w10vtg in that I could hear things further away what is on the screen but it somehow sounds more closed in like being in a cave. It is hard to describe but if there was an open headphone which sounded just like the a900, it would be king for movie watching. The es7, much like it is for music, is very good for certain things. They are far behind the other 3 ATs in terms of detail and separation/imaging but their tight bass works great for some movies. In particular, gun shots sound amazing on these things. Overall I think both the w100 and w10vtg are still better for movie but the es7 deserves a special mention due to its effectiveness with some action movies.
Well, I hope that my review made sense to someone. It is true that I've spend alot of money since coming here but I've also had many great nights of just relaxing and listening to my favorite tracks or dvds in bliss. I've personally spent more money on much less rewarding things so I don't regret finding this place.
Fatmaneaetschild
