The ATH-D1000 is an upsampling digital headphone, which re-samples CD signals to 96khz within the phone itself, amps the signal digitally, squirts it through the D-A converter and plays it.





The phone is powered from two AAA NiMh batteries, and ships with a universal voltage (100-240V) Ni-Mh AAA/AA charger (one of the nicest of it's ilk I've seen). Connection is via a standard Mini Toslink cable (connector as fitted to Sony portables for Optical In/Out), so aftermarket cables can be used.





Reference this isn't... a powerful bass and and a bright-ish treble are it's sound hallmarks. Details are very good at this stage, with aspects of the sound barely noticeable on an Ultrasone HFI-650 being very noticeable on the D1000, but obviously more analysis is required. Initial results are very encouraging... reasonably well staged, warm-ish yet posessed of ample high-end response without any sign of sibilance, and an excellent low end. A mid-bass hump is sticking up a little which may spoil the party, but there's no doubt it's highly entertaining and easy on the ears.





Comfort is outstanding as per regular ATH-A series phones (the structure is the same apart from the battery packs on top of the '3D wings').





The selling point with this phone is that only the phone is needed to work off a modern PCDP with optical output. No amp, no jumble of cables, etc. I'm not sure if digital cable rolling will play any role in the sound, but it can't hurt to give it a try somewhere down the line. Either way, my search for a 'semi-portable' phone for use with PCDPs seems to be over.





A proper review with comparison to tranditional amping will follow later. Although if you guys know my 'follow later's, you might be waiting for a bit

Wow what a unique headphone. This uses a digital amp or regular one?

Edited the post. Answers your question as well.

That's a really nice headphone Bangraman. But, how about the cable? I know your not supposed to bend them. Won't this happen while listening?

You can coil an optical cable without problems. You just can't crush-bend optical cables. However, even if you bend the cable too far, you just buy another one. Any Toslink/Mini Toslink -> Mini Toslink cable will work.


Generally, I like the extra element of clarity that the phone gives with my portables. I have to say that the iMP-550 is winning out here as the source, mainly because there are no restrictions on the optical output, be it redbook or MP3 (although upsamping MP3's seems like a futile process... nevertheless I can't deny the results sounds pretty good) and also because the remote can now be used with the headphone unconnected, so you can clip it somewhere without thick headphone cables dangling off the remote. The quality's not bad at all either via optical.

Updated post with internal picture.

This seems promising. Unless cost is too inflated.
Perhaps b/c I am not an audiophile, it seems crazy to me to buy Senn 600/650 only to find that the product lacks an adequate cable and requires an amp (if you intend to hear it), boosting cost to well above original price just so that the phones can be heard as should be delivered in the first place.

Hi, thanks for your great pics!
I am very interesting on the IC used,
but the internal photo is blur,
can u read it out? thks!

Quote:




I couldn't agree more about the amps thing, but in my opinion the cable's aren't actually 'bad' rather than there being room for improvement. The only reason people complain about this on the Senns that they can change the cable easily. If you could change the cables just as easily on some other phones you might be hearing this about all high-end phones. In many cases, the cables dont make the sound better, they just change it to your taste or set-up,


I love buying gadgets as well as anyone, but the infrastructure necessary around a half-decent phone is unwieldy. This does the job pretty well and gives great sound/music from anything with a digital output.