The ATH-AD900 Appreciation Thread - Page 36

Awesome, thanks. I really hope I will enjoy the sound signature of the AD900's as I am not a huge fan of the mid-centric Shure sound, so forward vocals could be a slight problem. I can't wait to get mine next week!

 

I'm assuming that a Nuforce uDAC will drive them just fine? I've read that they don't need to be amped at all, which is the main reason I bought them...

Indeed, they don't really need to be amped. So yeah, almost any source will drive them adequately. Your uDAC will be fine.

Hi

 

I'm looking for new headphones (more details in my post here) and having had (and sold) the AD700, I'm naturally interested in the AD900. However I bought the AD700 for gaming, this time I want something more for my music, which is alternative/electronic rock. Are the AD900 good for that?

 

Thanks,

 

Semirh

Finally got the AD900. These are so amazingly detailed, but the treble is so sparkly it's bordering on sibilant. Also the bass is very weak so I'm hoping the bass will improve and the treble will setlle down a bit.

 

Right now, it's how I imagine the Ety ER4 sounds like. The details and clarity are amazing!

AD900 is good for rock!. Tight bass, clarity, fun and natural, but bass slam may not enough for some.

Anyone here using the FiiO E11 to power these? Thoughts? Especially those who also have the FiiO E7.

Thanks Aruna!

Jost got mine a week ago. Coming from the AD700 (and a K601 which I sold after few weeks beeing too distant sounding, precise and lifeless in comparsion with the AT-ADs) I was a bit afraid that these are just a slight improvement over the AD700 for 2x the price (as many of the user "reviews" said). I have to tell that the AD900 easily beats a fully burnt in AD700 right out of the box. Now I have 30+ hours in them, and they continue to improve in every possible way. I feel they are two class better than my beloved AD700. Althought they share a lot of similarities, AD900 is much more detailed, clear, balanced, has better bass, much-much better and excellent mid (more upfront and detailed) and fantastic highs. There is only one thing I miss from the AD700, its comfort. One has to place the AD900 right to be comfortable (to not touch ears), with the AD700 you just had to put it on and forget the world. All in all I think it's a significant improvement over the AD700 and is well worth its price even compared to the AD700 excellent price/performance ratio. Highly recommended!

How much better is the bass exactly then the AD700. Is it only slightly better or is it noticeable better (impact, volume, extension). My biggest problem with the AD700 is its midrange and treble. The upper mids/lower treble are a bit too recessed and the treble spike around 10,000 hz to be jarring. According to the frequency grapgh on headroom the AD900 looks much better balanced and like it will fix the problems with the AD700 for the most part.

 

 

Looking at the graph the upper mids/lower treble doesn't drop out like the AD700 and there is no longer the large treble spike. Bass looks much better extended though volume and impact cant really be judged looking at this.  100 HZ to about 2000 hz looks relatively flat actually compared to many graphs i looked at. The dips and peaks don't seem nearly as bad as some phones either (50hz to about 10,000hz looks to be mostly within 5-7 dB more or less).

Bass is more prominent on the AD900 compared to the AD700, especially under 100 Hz (as you can see on the graphs). The difference is not night and day, but one can exactly hear the difference between the two. Quantity seems a bit more, quality is more refined to my ears. I enjoy its bass much more than on the 700, but its not the biggest difference between the two. You can find the real step up in the midrange: its very upfront (not recessed at all), very clear, lots of fine details and very engaging. This is the strongest point of the AD900. The highs are also better, they are more controlled, have very good detail and also very clear. To make it short: the AD900 is more detailed, much clearer, balanced, has better separation and more refined in every possible way. I read a lot before buying these as an AD700 replacement, and some people said there are only a few percent between the two. I absolutely don't agree with this, I can hear a huge improvement in the mids, a lot in the highs and a very good amount in the lows. Maybe the AD700 has a better price/performance ratio under 100 USD, but the AD900 is absolutely well worth its price even if its 2x more.

 

 

Edited by davek - 9/4/11 at 2:17pm

Hi All,

 

just wanted to say that the A1000 pads I ordered from Bluetin finally arrived and I got to try 'em out the other day. First thing is that I got these primarily for comfort reasons as I found the standard velour pads itchy and uncomfortable over long periods. The stuffed tissue mod did a huge amount to improve the overall fit (especially the pressure clamping under my ears/on the edge of my neck) but the surface texture was still not to my liking. I'm going to disappoint a lot of you and not really talk about changes to the sound signature because I'm not clever enough and, well, there is *barely* any difference to my ears.

 

Firstly, I got them from here:

http://bluetin.com/catalog/headphones-accessories_earpads_audio-technica-hp-a1000-earpads-for-art-monitor-series.html?osCsid=30c219ad8c0a19eed761bd049e190ac8

 

I know the W5000 pads look great but they were too expensive and I didn't want smaller pads, which these sounded like. I would love real leather but pleather sounded fine and I don't think my ears will overheat too much in sunny old england. The texture is wrinkled leather and I was expecting smoother. Maybe should have taken a chance on the W1000X pads (also pleather but smooth) now that I've just taken a look at them on bluetin & google images. Anyway, they probably feel no different on.

 

Instructions in japanese only unfortunately but there's enough in the diagram to identify L from R. Like the original pads, these have an oval cavity, which I like (W5000 pad circular right?) and have a perfect fit. Switching them was relatively painless. I have to say that I am a bit disappointed with the *depth* of the pads. I was expected a puffed out luxuriousness that would take my ear off the speaker grille but it is very close in depth to the stock pads and my ear can still touch. Maybe a Senn 598 would be my perfect 'fone as I remember trying on a 595 and 650 a couple of years back and being impressed by the fit and the sound. I'd mod a 558 anyway (the crippling of the 598 design is criminal!) but times are tough and I can't justify the outlay. I'd still love and keep my AD900s though :)

 

So the sound - I really can't hear any different. It's still signature airy with a huge sound stage, forward mids and lovely treble. There's just a tiny feeling that the bass may have lost a little definition and punch (despite being more forward) but it's probably just placebo effect or my expectations after other reviews.

 

Overall then, insignificant changes to sound, if any, for me. Ears still touch the grilles is disappointing but the big pluses are that they fit well, look better and feel much better than the itchy velour. Mission accomplished (mostly) then. As usual, YMMV.

 

Noli

 

I have the fiio e11 (and digizoid zo). I generally used both at the same time with the ad900. Each individually seem to power the ad900 very well. The fiio e11 gives way more power and volume than the digizoid zo though.

 

I don't use the fiios or the digizoid's bass boost features much because Sony's clear bass setting is much better sounding to me. Clear bass up 1 notch (3db) seems to be the best. Using the fiio bass boost feature on level 1 is great (level 2 sounds worst) and also using the digizoid zo on 1 click sounds great too (more than 1 click sounds worst though).

he

Using the ad900 with Sony A845 (line out) with both the e11 and zo and with Sony's clear bass setting to 1 makes the ad900 the best sounding headphone I've ever heard. It now does everything excellent with no weaknesses. I've heard the denons ad series(own the d2000 though) , the beyerdynamics dt 770 and 880 series, the hd598, the iems such as ie8 fx700 se530 sm3 etc and the ad900 under this setup trumps them all. I bet they can compete with (not beat though) headphones like the lcd-2 or the hd800 (although I never heard headphones of that caliber).

Edited by h1a8 - 9/14/11 at 9:11pm

You might want to try this mod I did a while ago. Sound-wise, it brought back the the things that went missing after going from the stock velours pads to the leather (and possibly also the pleather) pads. And it distances the drivers from your ears. No more touching, which makes wearing the AD900 a lot more comfortable.
Edited by Bengt77 - 9/21/11 at 3:00am

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Edited by Bengt77 - 9/21/11 at 3:00am

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Edited by Bengt77 - 9/21/11 at 3:01am