Does anyone have extensive time with the 1000's? I modded a headphone with the 2000's and they sounded amazing. On my next pair of headphones I wanted to try a different driver. From the reviews the 1000's seem very dry and analytical. Any ideas ?

I've only read good things about them.  You might as well go ahead with your tinkering. 

mad max said:

  I've only read good things about them.  You might as well go ahead with your tinkering. 

Click to expand...

 
I plan to drop them into a beyer 990 with custom baffle, different mesh and recabled. 

Does anybody know how the ATH-AD500X will compare to the Grado SR80? The AD500X is just $18 more expensive than the Grado over here in Singapore

tripbitshooter said:

Does anybody know how the ATH-AD500X will compare to the Grado SR80? The AD500X is just $18 more expensive than the Grado over here in Singapore

Click to expand...

The grado will have more bass, a little brighter with a smaller soundstage. The AD500x will have leaner/tighter bass but may go a little lower than the Grado. The AD500x will sound more open.

AD500X it is then

tripbitshooter said:

Does anybody know how the ATH-AD500X will compare to the Grado SR80? The AD500X is just $18 more expensive than the Grado over here in Singapore

Click to expand...

 
 
I've had both.  The ATH-AD500x was somewhat "anemic" sounding.  I paid $79 for the new pair with free shipping.  Then again, having the AD500x wasn't my ultimate goal.  With the drivers removed and laid out on the bench, one could see the quality jump from the AD500x to the A900x driver and then to the AD2000 driver.   I used my ATH-AD500x for just the skeleton.  The drivers I opted to install into them were the AD2000 drivers.  The sound?  Very, very intriguing.  Very detailed, good mids, etc.  It's not a headphone that will work with all genres, but for jazz and listening to female vocalists, it does a great job.  Percussion is spot on, excellent instrument separation.  Truly a refined sound over what even the AD900x offers.  Then again, we've seen it all too often where we'll pay 100% more in an upgrade for a 5% sound improvement.

wje said:

   
 
I've had both.  The ATH-AD500x was somewhat "anemic" sounding.  I paid $79 for the new pair with free shipping.  Then again, having the AD500x wasn't my ultimate goal.  With the drivers removed and laid out on the bench, one could see the quality jump from the AD500x to the A900x driver and then to the AD2000 driver.   I used my ATH-AD500x for just the skeleton.  The drivers I opted to install into them were the AD2000 drivers.  The sound?  Very, very intriguing.  Very detailed, good mids, etc.  It's not a headphone that will work with all genres, but for jazz and listening to female vocalists, it does a great job.  Percussion is spot on, excellent instrument separation.  Truly a refined sound over what even the AD900x offers.  Then again, we've seen it all too often where we'll pay 100% more in an upgrade for a 5% sound improvement.

Click to expand...

 
How do the ad2000's sound in a "stock" ad headphone? I've only heard them in my modified frankenstein and I love the sound. Ultra fast and textured bass. 

So would u say the SR80 is better? I am only looking at budget open backs for home listening as i spend most of my money on closed backs like the PSB M4U1 and Nad Viso HP50

This was done poorly in photoshop but hopefully it gives you an idea of what I was thinking.  I was thinking about making a beyerdynamic-esque headband from scratch for the audio technica line. I want to do this for myself but I didn't know if I did if anyone else would be interested in having it done to theirs if it turns out well.  
 

tripbitshooter said:

So would u say the SR80 is better? I am only looking at budget open backs for home listening as i spend most of my money on closed backs like the PSB M4U1 and Nad Viso HP50

Click to expand...

 
Yes, I would say the SR-80 would be better.  I couldn't imagine the AD500x performing too well with the standard drivers.  There might be another and good option - if you were to find a pair of the ATH-AD700 headphones (used).  As I recall, they were quite good sounding.  I don't know what changes were applied to the ATH-AD700x as far as revisions go.  I like Grado, but hate "on-ear" headphones at times.  I've selected to use the Grado G-cush pads because they're oversized and prevent the headphones from resting solid on your ears.  As far as comfort goes, I like what Audio Technica has done with their AD series as you can wear the headphones for several hours of comfortable listening.

mad max said:

  I've only read good things about them.  You might as well go ahead with your tinkering. 

Click to expand...

 
I'm not sure I'd jump on a 1000x driver.  Well ... unless it was given to me or at a very "nice" price.  At the moment, the AD900x or A900x drivers run $27 each from A-T.  The AD2000 driver runs $45 each.  Assuming the 1000x driver falls in the $39 - $40 range, spending an extra $5 or $6 per driver to get the 2000 is a much better choice.  If the price difference was large, it might worthy of consideration.  For additional clarification: The ATH-AD2000x drivers are $70, each + shipping.

folex said:

 
How do the ad2000's sound in a "stock" ad headphone? I've only heard them in my modified frankenstein and I love the sound. Ultra fast and textured bass. 

Click to expand...

 
The results are very, very good.   With the ATH-AD series at the moment, the AD500x, AD700x and AD900x use the same ear pads.  As to the quality of plastic, I'd suspect that the ATH-AD2000x might be a better quality of plastic, but in all honesty, there's nothing to dislike about the ATH-AD500x plastic and ear cushions.
 
When going for build, consider going to cable that will enter into each cup.  I'm not a fan of the wiring used by Audio Technica. It's essentially the same type of "thread" like wire coated in a thin layer of resin to insulate the wire.   When working with the "thread" to solder or connect to the drivers, it's a "3 Tylenol" headache you'll be dealing with.   I've followed advice here in the forums by others who have dealt with the thin stock wires.  You could use some Acetone to strip off the insulated material at the ends of the wires so you could solder them.   In such a situation, please use flux, a lower soldering iron temp so that the "thread" doesn't scorch into ashes and tin the "threads" before attempting to solder them to the driver solder tabs.  This is why I'd recommend a new cable split going into each cup.  The right side plastic is easy to drill into the bottom with a fresh hole.  Start with a smaller bit, then bump the size up one or two times until you reached the desired hole size to thread the new wire through.  Use shrink tube (a couple of layers) where the wire will feed through the new hole on the right ear cup.  It will have an appearance very similar to the stock left side which has a rubber sleeve protecting the left cable - sort of like a strain relief.  Also, when working on the recable, use two small cable ties - one for each side so that the wires will not pull out through the plastic cups and wreak havoc at a later time.
 
The sound when using the AD2000 drivers in the ATH-AD500x is stellar.  The soundstage widens quite a bit.  I only had 10 hours into mine and could detect a bit of improvement with the sound in the lower frequencies.  The instrument separation with the AD2000 drivers is just beautiful.  One can build a "Poor man's" ATH-AD2000x in the $200 range.  $80 for the ATH-AD500x headphones (new) and $90 + shipping for the AD2000 drivers, plus about $30 in cable supplies.
 
Enjoy!

Speaking of ATH-AD500x, I have the ATH-T500 (closed), the headphones actually have punching base, the 53mm drivers are also angled. Not a bad entry level closed back headphone. Handles like cheap plastic and the cups pivot 180 degrees so seems to rattle around as you put them on but once in place and listening to them, decent staging for cheap headphone along with that good bass with a decent seal around the ears.

wje said:

   
I'm not sure I'd jump on a 1000x driver.  Well ... unless it was given to me or at a very "nice" price.  At the moment, the AD900x or A900x drivers run $27 each from A-T.  The AD2000 driver runs $45 each.  Assuming the 1000x driver falls in the $39 - $40 range, spending an extra $5 or $6 per driver to get the 2000x is a much better choice.  If the price difference was large, it might worthy of consideration.
 
 
The results are very, very good.   With the ATH-AD series at the moment, the AD500x, AD700x and AD900x use the same ear pads.  As to the quality of plastic, I'd suspect that the ATH-AD2000x might be a better quality of plastic, but in all honesty, there's nothing to dislike about the ATH-AD500x plastic and ear cushions.
 
When going for build, consider going to cable that will enter into each cup.  I'm not a fan of the wiring used by Audio Technica. It's essentially the same type of "thread" like wire coated in a thin layer of resin to insulate the wire.   When working with the "thread" to solder or connect to the drivers, it's a "3 Tylenol" headache you'll be dealing with.   I've followed advice here in the forums by others who have dealt with the thin stock wires.  You could use some Acetone to strip off the insulated material at the ends of the wires so you could solder them.   In such a situation, please use flux, a lower soldering iron temp so that the "thread" doesn't scorch into ashes and tin the "threads" before attempting to solder them to the driver solder tabs.  This is why I'd recommend a new cable split going into each cup.  The right side plastic is easy to drill into the bottom with a fresh hole.  Start with a smaller bit, then bump the size up one or two times until you reached the desired hole size to thread the new wire through.  Use shrink tube (a couple of layers) where the wire will feed through the new hole on the right ear cup.  It will have an appearance very similar to the stock left side which has a rubber sleeve protecting the left cable - sort of like a strain relief.  Also, when working on the recable, use two small cable ties - one for each side so that the wires will not pull out through the plastic cups and wreak havoc at a later time.
 
The sound when using the AD2000 drivers in the ATH-AD500x is stellar.  The soundstage widens quite a bit.  I only had 10 hours into mine and could detect a bit of improvement with the sound in the lower frequencies.  The instrument separation with the AD2000 drivers is just beautiful.  One can build a "Poor man's" ATH-AD2000x in the $200 range.  $80 for the ATH-AD500x headphones (new) and $90 + shipping for the AD2000 drivers, plus about $30 in cable supplies.
 
Enjoy!

Click to expand...

 
Sweet, a cheaper way to try AD2kX!
 
Are A1kX drivers really a noticeable downgrade from A2kX?

mad max said:

   
Sweet, a cheaper way to try AD2kX!
 
Are A1kX drivers really a noticeable downgrade from A2kX?

Click to expand...

 
I personally haven't heard the ATH-AD1000x drivers.  Also, I've updated my original post to reflect that the ATH-AD2000x drivers are actually $70, each, plus shipping.  The older model - ATH-AD2000 drivers are $45.00, each, plus shipping.
 
I'd love to hear the ATH-AD1000x headphones at some point.  It would benefit me well if I could hear them all to gain more perspective for this expensive hobby of mine.