Quote:
Originally Posted by jpelg
I found the W100's to be so rolled off at the top as to be objectionable, even out of a Benchmark DAC1 (a bright source/amp). Just didn't sound natural to my ears *shrug*.
On an overall brightness scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being "Dull/Extremely Rolled Off & Lacking Detail", and 10 being "Way Too Bright & Fatiguing", I'd rate the Audio-Technica Woodie lineup (that I've heard) at:
W100 - 2.5
W2002 - 4.75
W1000 - 7.5
The W2002's can be woken up. The W1000's can be toned down. The W100's are like trying to wake up someone the morning after a St. Pattie's Day binge .
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Either your ears were bunged up with wax OR the source / amp you were listening through were overly warm OR these phones have got a hell of a lot of bedding in to do before they tone down to "dull" sounding. At the moment (30 hours on the clock) they are bright and "very" revealing. there's no way I'd call them Dull (at this stage of the bed in) heck, I even rolled two OPA 627's into the WNA earlier (in place of LM6171) in an attempt to warm the sound up a bit.... the OPA 627 sure sounds a bit darker but the W100's are nowhere near as warm as others have reported (yet!)
There's also the possibility that the sonic character of these phones can vary from phone to phone... you must remember that these phones use wooden earcups and no two trees will be identical or possess the same density.... even in this day and age man can't control nature so every W100 earcup will be different in character (unique even) unlike the plastic equivalents which will sound much the same from phone to phone.
I was commenting earlier on the treatment of the wood as this will have a pronounced effect on the characteristics of the sound.... if the wood dries out this will affect the sound... if the wood is fed with wax this will also change the characteristics... there are so many variables when you use wood in acoustics.... any violinist will know that no two Stradivarius violins will sound the same... the age of the wood, the patina, the conditions they have been stored in all play a part in making each violin sound unique. Similarly, IMO, no two headphones with wooden earcups can be said to sound identical to one another.... nature doesn't work that way.
My phones "could" be sounding brighter due to the fact they have been kicking about unused in a Japanese warehouse for the past six years.... it's possible the wood has dried out a bit? As I said earlier.. I'm a great believer in feeding wood so watch this space for a "Feed your W100 tweak" thread a few months down the line
Out of interest has anyone taken these phones apart and, if so, is the inside of the earcup smooth and laqcuered or is it rough and untreated? I ask as this would be the ideal place to feed the wood and it would mean you wouldn't have to strip down the lacquer on the exterior of the earcups.....
Another alternative to feeding with beeswax would be to use Damar varnish (highly respected natural varnish that loudspeaker builders sometimes use to treat paper cones and cabinets) I've used it to great effect on midrange driver cones and cabinets back when I was into building loudspeakers..... another possibility (I'm sure there are plenty of articles re: damar varnish on the web if you search)
The beauty of these phones is you can tweak from the inside and if you make a pigs ear it won't be visible
just another thought....... it may also be worthwhile altering the shape of the earcup chamber (from inside) to break up standing waves...... even a simple thing like aralditing a small piece of granite onto the inside of the earcup would make a difference....... more complex things like mini deflex panels or honeycomb structures wouldn't be too hard to incorporate..... hell, a good old coating of bitumen may even work wonders.
These phones have got me salivating..... when there's wood involved you can always tune it to your own taste.
Mike.
