NEW: Audio-Technica ATH-ESW11LTD - Page 10

By the way, if anyone wants, I can purchase ESW11 here and send it abroad. I won't pay the paypal fees or shipping or tax though. I will only send EMS though. The current price is 49.800 yen including taxes. The pre-order at 44.800 or whatever it was, seems over.

Thanks for the review link, if only I was fluent in Japanese. >.<

Made a standing offer on a gorgeous used pair of 3000ANVs just now, and still have my eyes on these, so what I've picked up from this thread has been quite helpful.

Looking forward to your review shigzeo!

Quote:

Originally Posted by rx79ez08 

The ATH-W3000ANV came down in price eventually.

Actually the price has gone back up. I got mine for under a thousand dollars and now they can't be found for under $1299. that i can see.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuppetFace 

ESW9:

 

 

ESW11LTD:

 

 

 

Subtle differences: the writing on the cups (most obvious), different woodgrain, slightly darker color (could be the lighting), and different adjusters on the arc assembly.

More like a ES10 turned wood. Doesn't spark my enthusiasm that much. The headband design is almost identical to the old ES models (not to mention, the same weak plastic material which doesn't promote good durability) which means this too will not isolate that good. And the lambskin... for me, it's better off with leather jackets than in headphones because they are terrible grime magnets, not really suitable for portable usage. Could've been better if they used protein leather instead. The ES700 though is quite interesting. I wonder when will AT release another non-limited wooden portable.

Well, they're in. Isolation is better than the ES10 by quite a margin. The pads are on-ear, not circumaural ala the ESW9 pads on the ES10. My ears are tiny and these pads sit ON them, not around them. But, it is a comfortable fit. 

Soundwise: wider than ES10 is, and slightly deeper soundstage, but I've not spend enough time with them yet to say so definitively. Very similar sound style, but less energetic, slight speed hump in lower midrange. Overall, very nice, mature sounding headphones.

As for build: worse than ES10, which apart from horrible earpads, had good overall polish. The ESW11 has awkward seems and joins; the wood is thinly enamelled; paint brush marks are visible, rubber grommets break the continuity of the wood housings. 

The cables and harness are the same used in the ES10, which I feel is fine. At first, I wasn't keen on the ES10's design, but after two years with them, I'm fine with them, though they are form over functional quality. These are no DT770 and will break with rough usage. 

The 700$ question: I don't know how to answer yet. Damn fine sounding headphones that look, and function, like 400-500$ portable headphones. I know I'll love them eventually, but first sights do not really put the ESW11LTD in good light.

will wait for further impressions before jumping in. the es10 sounds very good and if the jump is not too big, then i would pass.

It's not. The best part of this headphone is its ear pads, though the ESW9 pads are suppler.

Thanks for the impression, shigzeo.

Yeah, I half-expected the ESW11LTD to sound more like a ES10 with a bit more warmth (wood signature) and bigger soundstage (thanks to the ear pads pushing the drivers further away).

Looks like it's not enough of an enhancement to justify 2x the price tag of the ES10 for me.

2x the price of the ES10? Here, it is just 150$ more than the ES10 is, making it roughly 25-35% more expensive. 

Well, considering the ES10 can be had here (in the US) for $399 brand new, and that the ESW11LTD imported at the lowest price I've seen is around $700 something, it's close to 2x.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill-P 

Well, considering the ES10 can be had here (in the US) for $399 brand new, and that the ESW11LTD imported at the lowest price I've seen is around $700 something, it's close to 2x.

Well, that depends on location. Over here in Singapore, at usual price, the ESW11 Ltd (798 SGD) is slightly more expensive than ES10 (729 SGD). But I bought it at pre-order price of $638 which makes the ESW11 almost 100 SGD cheaper! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hiyono 

Only downside of Amazon.jp is they wont Ship to me in USA.  I order CDs from them but cant order the ESW11s.

there is a neat website called "tenso.com" . They can forward packages for you at a relative cheap fee. You will have a Japanese address after registering and they accept paypal for payment. Their Enlgish site is very professional done unlike some other site. A  500g package(same as ESW11) cost roughly 2500 yen. PriceJapan killer is what I would say.

That is way better than I could ever do. Tensoo FTW.

Wow, the ES10 is so cheap in the USA. But... almost every headphone is so damn cheap there. Westone 4 here go for over 500$, same with SM3, and Japanese headphones are generally more expensive, too. Damn.