phiaton ms400 vs esw9 or 10...

"phiaton ms400 vs esw9" ... sounds like an interesting comparison.

I heard the Phiaton's once, but only briefly. They did however sound good for a sealed headphone.

I am also interested in a comparison of Phiaton MS400 vs ESW9/10. I need light weight headphones and these are 180 gram only.

After going through the Stereophile review of the Phiaton, I found myself somewhat lost. Granted, Phillips found the Phiaton to sound pure and primal with certain recordings, crystalline with others, darker than RS-1 but less sparkle than K701....May be I can't read between the lines, but these pieces do not gel together to give me a wholistic picture.

Someone like to offer further insight ?

busanblues, if you are in Busan, you could pop down to the 'Apple' shop in Seomyeon opposite Migliore, and listen to the Phiatom MS400 and MS300.

I was there last weekend and thought the MS400 weren't too bad at all. I think my ESW9 were slightly better for me, as the highs on the ESW9 suit me better, just a touch more clarity. But I can imagine the MS400 being a fun phone and could recommend it quite highly.

I was in the shop for about three hours, and managed to listen to the following full-sized cans: Denon AH-D2000, AH-D5000, Grado RS1, Grado SR80, BeyerDynamic DT880, DT990, DT770, Sony MDR-XB700, Denon AH-D1001, AKG K81DJ, Shure SE530, SE420, SE310, AKG K340, D-JAYS, Q-JAYS, Westone UM1, UM2, Ultimate Ears Super-Fi.5, Triple-Fi.10 among others.

Overall impressions were that I liked the Beyers a lot. The Denon AH-D5000 disappointed me a little for the price. I don't regret buying the Kenwood KH-K1000 the other month. I think I made the right choice there.

I've owned the Grado SR-80, but didn't think the price difference between them and the RS-1 was worth it.

The Sonys sounded not too bad. The bass wasn't as boosted as I expected. It didn't interfer as much with other frequencies. Not bad for the price anyway.

The Westone UM2 impressed me a lot. I didn't care too much for the Shures. The Q-Jays weren't too bad. I couldn't get the Ultimate Ears to fit, so no comment there.

For the record I only used my Ipod with a Go Vibe Petite portable amp to listen to the headphones.

So what did I walk out with?

Beyerdynamic DT990.

Westone UM2 is on my wish list.

I own all three. My ESW10JPN came to me recabled though so I'm not familiar with the stock cable. The Phiaton's are surprisingly good headphones. The build quality is nowhere near the AT's but the sound is very good. For portable I don't know if I could take either AT on the go with me (they're too damn nice, lol). The Phiaton is nice and light but doesn't fold up. It's a very good looking headphone. The AT's both sound better from top to bottom but there is also the price factor. The Phiaton does everything well at its price point. I hate to say this, lol, but my go to portable is still a Cardas recabled HD25-II. But I think anyone could be happy with the Phiaton as long as they don't need it folded into a small storable unit. It is very easy to drive. My only knocks on it would be the cable is too long and anyone with larger ears may have a fit issue. MarkL did a writeup on the MS400. I bought his pair after that. I haven't spent enough time with the ESW9, ESW10JPN or the Phiaton to write a lengthy review yet so these are kinda off the cuff thoughts on them.

It does

I'm going to revive this thread, because I'm finding myself deadlocked between the MS400s and ESW9s. The ESW10s are out of my budget, though. On unamped sound quality alone, which is better? The ESW9s don't isolate that badly, do they?

I don't know about the MS400s but I know the ESW9s are very smooth sounding cans, got them on right now, real good. I've got music playing here in the office and I can't hear myself type. However outside it could be a different story depending on how noisy things are. They don't isolate 'badly', there are just better isolating headphones out there.

 

If they don't fold, they're probably the PS500s, which are quite different.
 

Trust me, if you want isolating 'headphones' you're better off with stuff like ES7's that clamp down well. The ESW9's, even though they are closed-back, offer no isolation to ambient noise; on the contrary, I have personally found that they amplify outside noise just a little bit more.

 

I travel on a noisy local train on a daily basis, trust me on this. One of the reasons why I switched to LW3 from the ESW9s. They are sweet, mellow-sounding cans but oh the noise...

 

And IMO, the price difference between the ESW9 and 10 is not worthwhile. Unless you have lots of money to go round, or have the chance to compare both side by side, *my* take is, go with the ESW9's.

 

I have not heard the MS400's, however, so I am sorry I cannot help there.

 

And Captain Obvious but, take care of either cans. They're scratch-labile...