Personal View:
What i have realized through years of loving music & being in the industry in various capacities is when it comes to music or sound reproduction of any sort, views range from strong likes to even stronger dislikes for a particular equipment. The best example is this review page that has various takes on ATH E70.
When views change so dramatically about a particular product from person to person, it is indeed difficult to know what suits you & finally what to buy.
Let me start by saying ATH-E 70 in my regard & by many others who are professionally into music is that it is one of the best monitor headphones in its price range & above. Please read further as to know how I came to this conclusion.
Nature of sound reproduction:
I won't get into its form factor & explain as normally people do about sound i.e. highs, lows and mids. What i want to bring forth here is the nature of sound that this headphone is able to deliver & why that makes it one of the best in its category & above.
Sound, specifically what is music to our ears can be perceived in various ways. Live sounds, the ones that are delivered via speakers and other systems and then live music delivered naturally without any of these devices; plain sound emitting from instruments and vocals. Then there is studio recording, where music is recorded under special and specific conditions. Finally the way we normally hear music i.e. via a music player/DAP’s, digital music files & headphones.
Under all these circumstances a particular musical piece may sound different in different setups & we may also feel it differently. Which situation would you say is ideal when it comes to hearing a sound in its truest form? Or as many say, music/sound as intended by the musician? Most get caught up by the idea of 'I like my music in a particular way' & invariably end up buying a particular DAP - headphones with specific sound traits or finally EQ music to their taste.
Specialty of ATH-E70:
Now here it’s not a question of what is right or wrong, like most things in life it’s relative to the individual. But say that you get a chance to experience sound as if you are sitting around musicians in an open space and hear them play & sing with no speakers or any other systems. This is the setup for hearing sound/music in its most natural form & ATH E-70 is manufactured to produce this sound.
But being such an effective and fine-tuned headphone, it naturally reciprocates to the quality of the music player and music files, as this headphone on its own doesn’t have any particular sound characteristics.
You may think this as a bad thing to have no particular sound trait of its own, but believe me, not only is it difficult to create such fine-tuned headphone that recreates sound in its most natural form but to also to have an equipment that gives you a chance to experience music in the most organic manner.
As if you are not just seeing the river flowing and thinking about how the water will feel, but you are able to touch water yourself and experience it at a very personal level.
ATH E70 is like water, no taste on its own whatsoever. Some may not like that tastelessness & would go for something more tasty (that may be costlier or cheaper).
But water being water, will always be pristine, necessary & the best natural drink.
Conclusion:
Even if my grasp on language or my power of thinking is not allowing me to explain this in a much lucid manner, I will definitely say that buy it or not, at least hear it once. That too with the best player you can get your hands on and quality music files. Before you hear music know if your player has any musical traits like being bright/warm or any other musical presentation. Don’t EQ it, hear it as it is & then experience ATH-E 70.
Likes & dislikes is a different thing but you will at least know how music sounds in it's most basic and natural form
I have heard & owned various headphones and in-ear’s ranging from AKG ‘s reference headphones to campfire’s & Audeze planar’s (specifically AKG K3003, Campfire Jupiter & Audeze iSine 20), but this particular Audio Technica monitor is of a truly special quality. It allows you to sense music at it's core level and be content with it.
I feel sad that such a rare and special product is not that well recognized, possibly one of the main reason is people approach music and related equipment’s with a lot of preconceived notions and hence in return when they get life giving water to drink instead of the expected juice or alcohol, people naturally get disappointed.
So my request to all music & headphone lovers is to at least try it once.
What i have realized through years of loving music & being in the industry in various capacities is when it comes to music or sound reproduction of any sort, views range from strong likes to even stronger dislikes for a particular equipment. The best example is this review page that has various takes on ATH E70.
When views change so dramatically about a particular product from person to person, it is indeed difficult to know what suits you & finally what to buy.
Let me start by saying ATH-E 70 in my regard & by many others who are professionally into music is that it is one of the best monitor headphones in its price range & above. Please read further as to know how I came to this conclusion.
Nature of sound reproduction:
I won't get into its form factor & explain as normally people do about sound i.e. highs, lows and mids. What i want to bring forth here is the nature of sound that this headphone is able to deliver & why that makes it one of the best in its category & above.
Sound, specifically what is music to our ears can be perceived in various ways. Live sounds, the ones that are delivered via speakers and other systems and then live music delivered naturally without any of these devices; plain sound emitting from instruments and vocals. Then there is studio recording, where music is recorded under special and specific conditions. Finally the way we normally hear music i.e. via a music player/DAP’s, digital music files & headphones.
Under all these circumstances a particular musical piece may sound different in different setups & we may also feel it differently. Which situation would you say is ideal when it comes to hearing a sound in its truest form? Or as many say, music/sound as intended by the musician? Most get caught up by the idea of 'I like my music in a particular way' & invariably end up buying a particular DAP - headphones with specific sound traits or finally EQ music to their taste.
Specialty of ATH-E70:
Now here it’s not a question of what is right or wrong, like most things in life it’s relative to the individual. But say that you get a chance to experience sound as if you are sitting around musicians in an open space and hear them play & sing with no speakers or any other systems. This is the setup for hearing sound/music in its most natural form & ATH E-70 is manufactured to produce this sound.
But being such an effective and fine-tuned headphone, it naturally reciprocates to the quality of the music player and music files, as this headphone on its own doesn’t have any particular sound characteristics.
You may think this as a bad thing to have no particular sound trait of its own, but believe me, not only is it difficult to create such fine-tuned headphone that recreates sound in its most natural form but to also to have an equipment that gives you a chance to experience music in the most organic manner.
As if you are not just seeing the river flowing and thinking about how the water will feel, but you are able to touch water yourself and experience it at a very personal level.
ATH E70 is like water, no taste on its own whatsoever. Some may not like that tastelessness & would go for something more tasty (that may be costlier or cheaper).
But water being water, will always be pristine, necessary & the best natural drink.
Conclusion:
Even if my grasp on language or my power of thinking is not allowing me to explain this in a much lucid manner, I will definitely say that buy it or not, at least hear it once. That too with the best player you can get your hands on and quality music files. Before you hear music know if your player has any musical traits like being bright/warm or any other musical presentation. Don’t EQ it, hear it as it is & then experience ATH-E 70.
Likes & dislikes is a different thing but you will at least know how music sounds in it's most basic and natural form
I have heard & owned various headphones and in-ear’s ranging from AKG ‘s reference headphones to campfire’s & Audeze planar’s (specifically AKG K3003, Campfire Jupiter & Audeze iSine 20), but this particular Audio Technica monitor is of a truly special quality. It allows you to sense music at it's core level and be content with it.
I feel sad that such a rare and special product is not that well recognized, possibly one of the main reason is people approach music and related equipment’s with a lot of preconceived notions and hence in return when they get life giving water to drink instead of the expected juice or alcohol, people naturally get disappointed.
So my request to all music & headphone lovers is to at least try it once.
I was in the game for new IEMs and hesitating between the E70 and the Etymotic ER4XR but then Santa came early and gave me something else!