About a year ago I purchased a pair of the A55's, and last week I upgraded to the AD700's. In both cases the headphones fit my head too tightly under the ears, and too loose higher up. I am tall and thin and my head is similarly shaped.
I've read many reviews and forum comments from persons saying their new audio-technica headphones would not fit their heads. Some have even returned them for that reason. That is really sad considering how easy it is to adjust them. This mod does not require the use of rubber bands or special tools, and can be done in about 5 minutes time.
Considering the properties of the hoops or bands that connect the left and right halves of the headphones, I concluded that they must have a core of some type of springy steel. To me what this means is that it would be safe to attempt to bend them into a new shape.
For my head, I wanted there to be less pressure at the bottom of the headphones, but narrower at the top. The headphone bands have a very round arc right out of the box. What I wanted was more of an upside down "U" shape - straighter near the two ends of the arc, but a tighter curve at the center.
So what I did was make three separate bend changes. To give it a tighter curve in the center I firmly grasped each side of the connecting hoops using both hands, a few inches apart, and then gave them a few inward tweaks. Bending them far enough to go beyond the point of springiness, but not so hard as to kink them. Don't try to do it all at once - build up to it over the course of several bends, increasing pressure each time until it seems like they might have changed a tiny bit. Its really a matter of feel to know when you have successfully made a change to the curvature.
I also did the same at each end of the headphone hoops, but this time lessening the amount of curvature in them. I firmly grasped both hoops again with a few inches between each hand, but this time nearer to one one end or the other. For adjusting the bend down near the ear pieces it seems like a good idea to make sure you are holding the hoops in both hands - if you had one hand moved completely off of the hoops onto the ear cups, then I think you could potentially damage the plastic end pieces where the hoops connect to the ear cups. We're talking very small bend changes here, so don't go overboard with the force. Try them on in-between bends to see how they are fitting.
These new AD700's are very light, and now that they fit correctly I can barely tell I have them on for extended periods of time. I hope this post helps some of you audio-technica headphone owners find that perfect fit.
I've read many reviews and forum comments from persons saying their new audio-technica headphones would not fit their heads. Some have even returned them for that reason. That is really sad considering how easy it is to adjust them. This mod does not require the use of rubber bands or special tools, and can be done in about 5 minutes time.
Considering the properties of the hoops or bands that connect the left and right halves of the headphones, I concluded that they must have a core of some type of springy steel. To me what this means is that it would be safe to attempt to bend them into a new shape.
For my head, I wanted there to be less pressure at the bottom of the headphones, but narrower at the top. The headphone bands have a very round arc right out of the box. What I wanted was more of an upside down "U" shape - straighter near the two ends of the arc, but a tighter curve at the center.
So what I did was make three separate bend changes. To give it a tighter curve in the center I firmly grasped each side of the connecting hoops using both hands, a few inches apart, and then gave them a few inward tweaks. Bending them far enough to go beyond the point of springiness, but not so hard as to kink them. Don't try to do it all at once - build up to it over the course of several bends, increasing pressure each time until it seems like they might have changed a tiny bit. Its really a matter of feel to know when you have successfully made a change to the curvature.
I also did the same at each end of the headphone hoops, but this time lessening the amount of curvature in them. I firmly grasped both hoops again with a few inches between each hand, but this time nearer to one one end or the other. For adjusting the bend down near the ear pieces it seems like a good idea to make sure you are holding the hoops in both hands - if you had one hand moved completely off of the hoops onto the ear cups, then I think you could potentially damage the plastic end pieces where the hoops connect to the ear cups. We're talking very small bend changes here, so don't go overboard with the force. Try them on in-between bends to see how they are fitting.
These new AD700's are very light, and now that they fit correctly I can barely tell I have them on for extended periods of time. I hope this post helps some of you audio-technica headphone owners find that perfect fit.
