[mikroski]

Very hard to make decision.

 
I love the look of W5000, and my heart want to buy it
 
But my brain said go with ESW11LTD, portable and may be easy to drive by FiiO X3
 
W5000 (800$) or ESW11LTD (700$)

 

[Aethelred]

Guys , please do the justice to those fantastic phones and use them in proper setup. With good tube amplification or dedicated AT amp these are very hard to beat. The only complaint might be slightly lacking low frequency pressure - depends on the shape of your head. I like them also with piece of round item inserted inside so my ears are actually inside the leather cushions and not on top of them. This provides better balance and more low frequency extension. Also I feel like more body is added to the sound. I do not hear them like some referred as "honky" and as I've already commented there are couple of pieces that developed slight "nasal" impression.
Do not try to drive BMW M3 on the meadow - it will move but it is not the way why was build for the first. AT has very nice portable line and I would stick to them. Just my two cents. I love my phones and they will never leave my possession. I like 5000 more than 3000ANV as a matter of fact.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

  Guys , please do the justice to those fantastic phones and use them in proper setup. With good tube amplification or dedicated AT amp these are very hard to beat. The only complaint might be slightly lacking low frequency pressure - depends on the shape of your head. I like them also with piece of round item inserted inside so my ears are actually inside the leather cushions and not on top of them. This provides better balance and more low frequency extension. Also I feel like more body is added to the sound. I do not hear them like some referred as "honky" and as I've already commented there are couple of pieces that developed slight "nasal" impression.
Do not try to drive BMW M3 on the meadow - it will move but it is not the way why was build for the first. AT has very nice portable line and I would stick to them. Just my two cents. I love my phones and they will never leave my possession. I like 5000 more than 3000ANV as a matter of fact.

Excellent, right on the money post.
Completely echoes my take on those. In my book they are the only closed rival to current open flagships (HD800, T1, LCD-3).
Think this review would interest anyone eyeballing them.
Review: Audio-technica ATH-W5000 'Raffinato'
 
Holly, and they were released in 2005, think Audio-Technica still keep them as a current flagship for a reason.

 

[MacedonianHero]

  Very hard to make decision.

 
I love the look of W5000, and my heart want to buy it
 
But my brain said go with ESW11LTD, portable and may be easy to drive by FiiO X3
 
W5000 (800$) or ESW11LTD (700$)

Seriously, I'd listen to them before buying. They were not the greatest IMO. I'd easily go for the W3000ANVs instead if you're looking for an AT woodie.

 

[mikroski]

  Seriously, I'd listen to them before buying. They were not the greatest IMO. I'd easily go for the W3000ANVs instead if you're looking for an AT woodie.

Thanks for advise. Sadly, I cannot find W3000ANV available, if you have any trusted on-line web site please kindly let me know (I live in Thailand). It very hard to make decision because I have no chance to listen before buy.

. I only read all the opinions here.
 
I want to correct my previous post, the AT model that I have now is W1000 not W1000X. I have used it for almost six years now and want a new AT to replace.

 

[MacedonianHero]

 
Thanks for advise. Sadly, I cannot find W3000ANV available, if you have any trusted on-line web site please kindly let me know (I live in Thailand). It very hard to make decision because I have no chance to listen before buy.

. I only read all the opinions here.
 
I want to correct my previous post, the AT model that I have now is W1000 not W1000X. I have used it for almost six years now and want a new AT to replace.

They do pop up used from time to time here. They were a limited ed. run.

 

[the wizard of oz]

Just want to know is it ok, if I purchase ATH-W5000 and use it with FiiO X3 player (no additional amp). Does W5000 require a lot of power to drive?

I listen to 70% vocal, 30% jazz.

Thanks for any input

I would say that the W5000 benefits from the better DAC and more powerful amp of the DX100.
P.S. It does sound great with jazz and vocal, especially female.
And don't worry about people mentioning lack of bass. Just bend those metal headbands to increase the seal, and you won't find it lacking in any way.
I hunt for used W5000's on a regular basis. My friends into baroque and/or jazz music who have listened to mine want a pair too!

 

[Saren]

For me the the bass is lighter than all the other flagship ive heard. Including T1, LCD2-3-x-xc, HE500-6, hd800, dx1000, d7000, th600-900, sig dj, ps1000, k812
 

  In my book they are the only closed rival to current open flagships (HD800, T1, LCD-3).

 
TH900, Alpha Dog, DX1000, Sig DJ are also in the upper end with the w5000. I prefer all 4 to the w5000 I heard. I couldnt justify w5000 getting them when I have t1 + hd800.
 
I will say they are one of the classical closed choices though.

 

[MacedonianHero]

  For me the the bass is lighter than all the other flagship ive heard. Including T1, LCD2-3-x-xc, HE500-6, hd800, dx1000, d7000, th600-900, sig dj, ps1000, k812
 
 
 

 
This really backs up your comments (and what I heard too...though to be honest, this graph seems a little over-emphasized....I hope 

):
 
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=4243&graphID[]=123&graphID[]=4061&graphID[]=2033&scale=30

 

[Andrew_WOT]

  For me the the bass is lighter than all the other flagship ive heard. Including T1, LCD2-3-x-xc, HE500-6, hd800, dx1000, d7000, th600-900, sig dj, ps1000, k812
 

  In my book they are the only closed rival to current open flagships (HD800, T1, LCD-3).

 
TH900, Alpha Dog, DX1000, Sig DJ are also in the upper end with the w5000. I prefer all 4 to the w5000 I heard. I couldnt justify w5000 getting them when I have t1 + hd800.
 
I will say they are one of the classical closed choices though.

The bass thing, I certainly do not hear it weaker than HD800 or T1, in fact doing A/B with HD800 right now on AURALiC stack and as far as bass amount goes they are almost identical. 
May be I am one of the lucky ones achieving proper fit with them, I had to bend headband a while back to get there though, or just have matching system.
 
Out of amps I've tried with them, GS-1 with Dynalo+ modules and AURALiC Taurus MKII, esp the latter, drives them the best, with the fullest and the most authoritative bass.
 
As far as other closed go, the best that I've owned and can comment on are  Mad Dog 3.2, Sony MDR-7520, D5K (modded), TH600, and to me as far as technical abilities go like resolution, imaging, sondstage, bass texture and control, nothing comes close to W5000. They also quite easily outperformed LCD-2.2.
 
Some may find pronounced midrange too much to their taste and prefer something more neutral, but this is pretty much ATH trademark, some like it, some hate off the bat and nothing on earth can convince them otherwise.
 
If you can really audition them, as live with them for a day or so, not just short A/B as they as few other cans need some brain burn in time, that would be the best. Find retailer with a good return policy or get them used so not to lose much in case of resale.
 
These days in home setup I am using balanced HD800 almost exclusively and turn to W5000 in case of my family or myself need some isolation. On my setup and to my ears they are almost perfect closed compliment to HD800.

 

[Saren]

It can also depend on what genres you are listening to though as well. The TH600 is a top flight headphone if we are talking contemporary styles, maybe not acoustic/classical, as its tuning doesn't seem to be aimed at that dart board.
 
I'll give the W5000 another listen when I get down to A2A here if they have one.
 
I'll give it a hour+ workover with 7-8 different genres of flacs or something similar.
 
The W5000 seems like its an acoustic specialist and built for classical, soundtrack as well.
 
While I listen to those genres I'm mostly a Rock (particularly progressive), Metal, Punk, K-Pop, Psy-Trance, Deep House, Indie pop fan.

 

[Tgtr0660]

The W5000 works well with classical music (though now my opinion of it has lowered since starting using Beyerdynamic's T5p), especially with opera and voices, and also baroque music. Dense orchestral Mahlerian Shostakovichean music presents more of a problem. But the W5000 absolutely fails with rock and other popular bass-heavy distortion-heavy genres. It is not a highly versatile pair of headphones. 

 

[Andrew_WOT]

  The W5000 works well with classical music (though now my opinion of it has lowered since starting using Beyerdynamic's T5p), especially with opera and voices, and also baroque music. Dense orchestral Mahlerian Shostakovichean music presents more of a problem. But the W5000 absolutely fails with rock and other popular bass-heavy distortion-heavy genres. It is not a highly versatile pair of headphones. 

Rock is too wide of the genre. 
Good quality progressive rock and symphonic metal like Pink Floyd, NightWish, Dream Theater, PT, etc. are awesome on those. For "bass-heavy distortion" stuff, they are just as *good* as HD800.

 

[Aethelred]

It should be noted that W5000 has high quality bass while for example w3000anv does not provide you with that level of definition altough you will hear more low requencies. Best test is bass guitar where at least myself cannot hear string details on w3000anv while it is present on w5000. I encourage everybody to try round insert inside leather pads. Totally reversable and in fact you might be quite surpriced. It is not my mod but do not remember the name of iventor. My modification is that instead of rubber tube i'm using synthetic rope which provides some dumping i believe being clean and not prone to any deteriration. The only drawback i cannot find this size of robe in dark color so it looks slightly funny but barely noticeable really. I have done the same mod on 3000anv but results are not that obvious mainly due w3000anv pads being smaller.

 

[Aethelred]

For some reason i cannot edit my previous post so apologies for errors. I love and hate ipad at the same time.