I have these, driven by a Ratoc mid-fi DAC/Amp (50.000 Yen), listening to FLAC 24/96 or upscaled 12/44.   I can compare them to the W1000X which I also purchased recently, to the AD900 and to the AD700. Most of my impressions AD900 are the review for those cans.    I can say that the AD2000 are by far the best headphones I have listened to so far. They are not nearly as airy and whispery sounding as the AD900/AD700 but are very forward, aggressive and fast. As far as I can tell they are also superior in almost any aspect to the W1000X. It...

These are great headphones for quite a budget price (at least in Japan and America).  I also own the AD2000 and the W1000X so here is a little comparison:   The W1000X would be the warmest sounding of the bunch. The AD900s openness also takes away something from the bass area that would be needed for a warm and embracing sound. The AD2000 is airy as well, but a lot closer and tighter than the AD900. In direct comparison the AD900 seems to be rather muddy with not quite as clear mids and highs than the AD2000 or W1000X. Whereas the AD2000...

  So I bought the Ratoc Systems RAL-2496UT1 on the Japanese Yahoo Auctions site a few days back. It has been getting 100% positive reviews on Amazon Japan and Kakaku.com so I thought it couln't be bad. Also, the guy selling it sold his Beyerdynamic T1 and A1 at the same time so he probably used the RAL-2496UT1 as well and knew quality.  There is virtually no information on any non-Japanese website whatsoever so I decided to review it here. The RAL-2496UT1 goes for a retail price of 54,000 Yen (700 Dollar) which is quite hefty. I managed to get it...

Really wanting to buy the AD2000 I got the W1000x on the Japanese Yahoo Auction site for a ridiculously low price of 29000 yen. They are used but have almost no wear or tear. I guess they have been broken in alreay, but I really can't say. The might have been used as an exposition model since the plug doesn't show any wear.   Using my Sony XBA-3 in the office most of the time, I found the W1000X not as immersive as I would have liked. IEMs make me feel a lot more "inside" the music.    The worst thing that's keeping me from using these...