[nickchen]

Had a nice visitor last night who brought his entire equipment here - that was funtime I can tell you!

Amps used: Millet & Aria. Both quite on par, BTW.

The AT AD2000 was a huge disappointment. While the bass layers were the best I've ever heard, the rest of the frequencies were totally freaked out. Way too forward upper mids caused a kind of plastic sound, while the highs were much too recessed for my taste. Soundstage was very small. Overall impression was of total sonic inbalance somewhat.

The AT-W1000 was more positive after that. That was the same kind of sound as the D2K, but not as extreme, which made a big difference. Less nutty mids, and mentionable highs. Very nice soudstage. If I would listen to more conventional stuff, that could be a fon to dream of.

The AT-A950 had the most balanced sound of the three ATs, however, its ability to present details was sub zero compared to all the others. Only listened shortly though. Looks like I've become a bit snobbish lately.

The old Sony MDR-CD3000 was the one I liked best out of the whole bunch. Very (if not to say totally) similar to the DT880 except its bigger midfi bass. Huge fun to listen.

Of course all a question of taste & genre. I'm the uncritical kind of person who is normally enthusiastic with any new fon that gets into my reach. But I ended up liking my DT880 best - which I run slightly "thumbed up" at the bottom end. If I was a hardcore "no EQ allowed" concretehead, the order would be CD3K > W1K > DT880 > AD2K > A950.

 

[denl82]

Thx for your impressions Nickchen!

One of these days I would like to here the ad2000. Your preference for the dt880 just proves to me how good it is

l8r

 

[facelvega]

as usual, solid opinions from nickchen. I've had some suspicion that I would feel the same way about the AD2K in particular. Interesting how well the Sony did.

 

[Gradofan2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickchen /img/forum/go_quote.gif Had a nice visitor last night who brought his entire equipment here... ...Of course all a question of taste & genre. I'm the uncritical kind of person...

Noted...

And... it just demonstrates that the sound of any set of phones is a function of the quality of the setup, and how the setup synergies with the phones, as well as the "taste and genre."

With a quality setup, and most other "genre's" (other than electronica, progressive, rap, hip hop, etc. - what are those?) most refined "tastes" will agree the AD2000's are among the handfull of the best phones available.

You might want to check out one of the better car audio systems - you might like those quite a lot.

 

[003]

The AD2000 is by far my favorite headphone next to the K1000. In some ways it is actually a little better (most notably, lower bass extension).

The AD2000 is the only headphone (again other than the K1000) I have owned for this long a time and not grown bored of it's sound. I have tried the HD650, K701, RS-2, D5000, and several other highly regarded headphones here, and some were OK, but became "boring" when I got used to them (RS-2, D5000), and others simply sounded bad period (HD650, K701), but the AD2000 is something special for me. If I had the cash I would like to own an AD2000, K1000 and RS-1. I am also interested in hearing an L3000.

 

[nickchen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gradofan2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Noted... And... it just demonstrates that the sound of any set of phones is a function of the quality of the setup, and how the setup synergies with the phones, as well as the "taste and genre." With a quality setup, and most other "genre's" (other than electronica, progressive, rap, hip hop, etc. - what are those?) most refined "tastes" will agree the AD2000's are among the handfull of the best phones available. You might want to check out one of the better car audio systems - you might like those quite a lot.

If you presume that the "good folks" listen to Folk & Rock, I am certainly evil, yes. Very evil.

 

[slwiser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 003 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The AD2000 is by far my favorite headphone next to the K1000. In some ways it is actually a little better (most notably, lower bass extension). The AD2000 is the only headphone (again other than the K1000) I have owned for this long a time and not grown bored of it's sound. I have tried the HD650, K701, RS-2, D5000, and several other highly regarded headphones here, and some were OK, but became "boring" when I got used to them (RS-2, D5000), and others simply sounded bad period (HD650, K701), but the AD2000 is something special for me. If I had the cash I would like to own an AD2000, K1000 and RS-1. I am also interested in hearing an L3000.

Make sure you add the Ultrasone Edition 9 to your list to listen too. I like the W5000 better than the AD2000 and now I am enjoying the UE9 better than my W5000.