Take your word that the AD2kx doesn't like "some amps" that you own? Sorry for asking for clarification. And thanks for the details. I'm eyeing the AD2kx myself and figured I might need a better amp than the E12.

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pngwn said:

Take your word that the AD2kx doesn't like "some amps" that you own? Sorry for asking for clarification. And thanks for the details. I'm eyeing the AD2kx myself and figured I might need a better amp than the E12.

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I guess my point being, the ad2kx can sound like carp through relatively expensive amps.  One should not overlook this fact!

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mr.sneis said:

 
I guess my point being, the ad2kx can sound like carp through relatively expensive amps.  One should not overlook this fact!

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So, do you think the ad2kx connected to my Musiland 02 will sound like salmon?  

Im interested in a comparison of any other AT vs the ES88.
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a_recording said:

I'm wondering if anyone has more updates to give on their experiences with the AD2000X... or AD1000X? :3
 
Somehow in the past few days I've gotten my hands on an ES10 and an ES88... so I'm in the middle of a bit of an AT lovefest.

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a_recording said:

I'm wondering if anyone has more updates to give on their experiences with the AD2000X... or AD1000X? :3
 
Somehow in the past few days I've gotten my hands on an ES10 and an ES88... so I'm in the middle of a bit of an AT lovefest.

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Okay, I had a nice session with my full set-up and a varied custom CD. Set-up is a Marantz SACD8004 going into a vintage monster receiver (KR-9400), AD2000x plugged into the headphone jack. I don't think the KR-9400 presents a great soundstage (it didn't on my other headphones), but it has a nice, friendly sound to it. Warm, but not too colored. One of these days, I'll look into getting a proper headphone amp.
 
Bass is definitely polite, virtually no boom at all. Mids are definitely the strong point, feels like there's a dip somewhere near 2Khz and 3khz. That probably explains the issue I was having with female vocals earlier. Treble is also very polite, at no point did anything reach the point of annoyance. Soundstage is not big, but it has plenty of energy.
 
First things first, these headphones are made for rock music. I wanted to hum along to the electric guitars in all of the songs that had them and everything just sounded detailed and alive, full of energy. It was definitely a fun session. As expected, my chiptunes rocked as well, so I'm guessing these are good for electronic music too.
 
Everything with male vocals checked out perfectly. Survivor, Maiden, Savatage, Rainbow, Ratt, Hooters, Rush (Geddy Lee's vocals stopped JUST short of becoming annoying. ) Everything was clear and co-existed with the rest of the instruments. Vocal harmonies in the Savatage song were amazing (Hard for Your Love). Synthesizers also stopped just short of becoming annoying, they felt like they get flattened out a bit. Made them mesh with the guitars better, in my opinion.
 
Female vocals were another story, though they fared better than I was fearing. Some sounded really good. Barracuda, the headphones emphasized the main riff, but Nancy's vocals were still clear and edgy. This is the best this song has ever sounded to me. Laura Branigan's Self Control surprised me, again providing plenty of life over a fun midrange (I had always thought this recording was kind of thin and dull, but it was really brought to life here. It's the original 1984 CD) But..Poor Celine Dion. No life at all. Very dull. If I didn't already know I liked her voice, I would have just skipped this track halfway through (If We Could Start Over Again) Also, Mike Oldfield's Moonlight Shadow didn't quite reach the same level of excellence I'm used to on basically everything else. I prefer to leave the EQ alone, but I'm wondering if boosting the treble up just a smidge might restore the brilliance of these two tracks.
 
I tried a couple classical tracks I was familiar with-Music for the Royal Fireworks, a random Haydn Piano Sonata movement, and the first movement of Haydn's Symphony #1-. The music had plenty of weight to it and everything was clear, but I found myself getting fatigued going through these tracks and I just kind of skipped the Symphony track halfway through. I don't think the soundstage is really made for classical. It sounded nice and detailed, mind you, but everything was right on top of me.
 
My takeaway...They are fun, detailed "rock out" headphones. I do wonder if and how much the soundstage improves with a more dedicated headphone amp.

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mr.sneis said:

What you can't take my word for it?
 
ZDT: Flat/boring sounding.  Probably the wrong tube setup.
Balancing Act: Quite good actually, soundstage is further expanded which is the best part.  Bass that is spot on.
P1u: Brings out the worst in the headphones, strident/hard treble, harsh highs
ZDac Headphone out: not bad but a little bit of treble hardness and little less control of bass (more quantity than Duet).  More exciting than Duet.
Apogee Duet Headphone out: not bad but a tiny bit soft in the bass but better details than ZDac.  More accurate than ZDac

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oops does the ad2000x sound so bad on luxman p1u? seems that ad2000x is really picky of amps.

Lux man sounds great with high impedance headphones. Maybe its not ideal output impedance

I've got the older ad2k and it is amp picky IMO. It sounded good out of the CTH i had but it was hard to find a tube that wasn't noisy on the ad2k. The p-51 from RSA sounds the best of what i've tried (CTH with multiple tubes, Objective 2, headphone out of the HK3490 receiver at home, all fed by an ODAC). I think the main reason it is amp picky is because of how sensitive it is, doesn't take much to power it well. 

My first impression from AD2000X pre burn in are that the sound is a bit muddy, but pretty musical. The bass extension is better than any headphone I've owned before, but then again this is the first time I spend this much on headphones.
The soundstage seems good to me but I've mostly used IEMs before.
 
I'm listening through a Cowon D2+ with a Soundmagic A10 amp.

Those looking for an dac+amp for AD2000X, AT-HA26D is worth trying, I heard that it works good with AD2000X.

I had a hard time to find a seller that would ship the ATH-AD700x to Switzerland. While there are many affordable options in the US, none of them offers shipping to Switzerland. There are some international sellers that do but they typically add quite a mark-up for their international shipping service. I finally found a small Japanese store that would sell them and send them with Japan Post Mail to Switzerland. If you want to contact the guy directly: dreambook58@gmail.com
For any other questions regarding the ATH-AD700x PM me.

This might be a belated response, but to the guy asking about the leakage of the ad900x, honestly, at regular listening volume I can't hear anything coming out of the headphone being 1m away. When I put my head next to the headphone, it's only just as loud as a whisper. 
 
On another note, there is still something to be desired from the soundstage of this headphone. I think the description that it has an "artificially" wide soundstage is accurate, and it doesn't actually convey a 3d image that well, or at least not as well as some would expect considering previous hype. I would say even the HE-400 is much better and sounds much more transparent in this regard. 
 
The bass also comes off just a bit too thick for my taste, perhaps "pushing air" more than creating the sound. 
 
Although I do like these, I was just a bit disappointed. I guess that my expectations were too high.

Would the AD2000X play well with an Aune T1?

I've not heard a lot about the new pads, and whether or not they fit the old sets of headphones... Does anyone know whether the AD900x pads in particular would fit a regular AD900? If so, are they deeper, and do they prevent ones ear from touching the driver as typically happens with the AD900.

I have been looking through a couple pages of this thread and have been very tempted by the AD900x, which I can get for ~$155 shipped. Would anyone be able to make a sound signature comparison to the ck10?