INTRODUCTION As most of you should now, the Roxanne sits at the top of JH Audio’s line-up at 1.649 dollars, sporting 12 balanced armatures per ear in a three way configuration, the freqphase technology, passive bass control on the cable and the optional carbon fibre shell, at 500 dollars.
It brings, therefore, all the expertise that the maker has acquired over the last years.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS One of the things that surprised me when I saw the Unique Melody Mentor demo for the first time was how small it was for something that houses 10 BAs. The Roxanne only has two more, but it is considerably larger. It protrudes from the ears quite a bit more than my old JH13 Pro, but not enough to draw too much attention to itself.
Another difference is the cable which, because of the extra conductors (there are six in total, as opposed to the usual three) needed for the bass control, is a lot thicker than the norm for this type of product. However, it’s not heavy and it’s quite flexible. The plug looks simple but not low quality and the connector on the earpieces is well thought and efficient, despite the issues that it had with cracks – that has been solved with the use of metal nuts.
I also like the bass control. Fortunately it isn’t located close to the earpieces (something that would be terrible because of weight and microphonics), but close to the plug. This means that it can stay inside the pockets, along with my mobile or DAP, and adjustments can be made in a convenient fashion – just like we take the DAP out of the pockets to change tracks, we can do the same to adjust the bass. The only problem is that the knobs are quite small and require the small tool included to be adjusted. The upside to that is that it’s almost impossible to mess with it by accident.
The carbon fibre version of the Roxannes are, when well made, a piece of art. I won’t talk about aesthetic preferences, but this material is arguably sophisticated and it’s very unusual to see a custom earphone, made just for use, using a material that is usually reserved for high-performance sports car or in the aerospace industry.
The included case is also made of this material, with an aluminium outer structure and an internal piece that houses a negative impressions of the earpieces where they are stored. The writing on the case is made with lasers (I think), including the name of the owner – a big improvement over the sticker on the Otter cases that JH Audio used to use. Despite having shown problems with the resin in some units – such as bubbles and badly placed fibres –, this piece is seriously cool. It does look like it stores something rather special. However, I can’t deny that it’s also spectacularly inconvenient, and storing the earpieces in the correct manner is annoying and takes maybe about a minute. This made me buy their regular case as well – just a small metal rounded case.
The list of accessories included is rather slim, however. Apart from the case, you only get a velvet bag, a cleaning tool and the tool for the bass adjustment. No ¼ inch adapter or even a manual.
THE SOUND My first impression was, if I’m honest, of estrangement. I was expecting something like a JH13 on steroids, or at least something close to all the other high-end monitors I’ve ever auditioned, but what I heard was completely different. When I received the Roxannes I was auditioning the UM Mentor demo, and I was surprised with how different they were – especially since the Mentor sounded reasonably close to my old pre-freqphase JH13.
The way that I perceive the Roxanne has gone through several phases. I won’t spend much time with them so as not to bother the reader, but it suffices to say that at the beginning I heard a monitor with what seemed like exaggerated bass, even with the control at the minimum, thick and weighty mids, a somewhat claustrophobic presentation but, above all else, a big sound.
Today, however, I see it as a truly spectacular in-ear monitor: scarily natural and, like the JH13 Pro, it has the ability to excel in everything I ask it to play – however, in a different way.
I’ll start with the lower regions, which are somewhat complicated: while I like its bass performance, it’s not perfect and the bass control doesn’t really work like what I’d prefer. I’ll explain: the JH13 kept surprising me because it had the chamaleonic ability to sound small and think or big and authoritative solely depending on the recording, and that was most of all because of the bass. It sounded detached from the rest of the spectrum, and only appeared with extreme authority and weight when asked to. When it wasn’t asked, it seemed as if the bass drivers were simply turned off.
The Roxannes, however, always sound big and weighty. It’s always full and thick. At first, I thought this happened because of the bass (even with the bass control at the minimum). With time, I realized that this happened because of the mids, probably because of some mild mid-bass hump which, to be clear, did not impair clarity of transparency.
Consequently, the feeling I have is that, with the bass control at the minimum, the sound is not as light and airy as I expected. It still sounds thick, but with a sort of hole before the mids. As I increase the bass quantity, this frequency starts to fill a space that was already there waiting for it in the first place. What I would love, however, would be to have a thin and light presentation for some genres and, as I increased the bass control, the low frequencies would begin to appear and to form a firm and authoritative base, like I heard from the JH13 Pro in many situations. That way, I would be able to suit the bass to the music.
With the way that the bass control is implemented, however, I don’t see many options. It’s as if its sound was only one and I had the bass control simple to find not the sound that suits a particular moment, but the one that sounds coherent with its personality as a whole. So I just found my preferred position for the bass knob and left it alone. With less the sound is think but there seems to be something lacking, and with more I get a subwoofer in my ears.
Anyway, after I found my preferred position for the bass knob, I found that its performance in that region is excellent. The bass quantity becomes perfectly appropriate and coherent with the rest of the spectrum, and they possess startling definition, texture and extension. The bass is fat and rounded, but at the same time incredibly transparent.
This duality, which is still present in the mids, may be, to me, the most singular characteristic of the Roxannes. It is, along with the HE90, the only headphone or earphone I’ve ever heard that mixes this much mass, weight and body with extreme transparency. The only other headphones that possess this character to some extent are the Stax SR-007, which has the transparency but not the weight and the HiFiMAN HE500, which has the weight but not the transparency. Usually, when a headphone is this sweet and euphonic, it’s not particularly transparent. Not here. All the sounds seem to be perfectly in place and aligned somehow (maybe due to freqphase?), so it’s as if it was possible to “see deeper” in the recording. I know it’s a strange analogy, but it’s the closest I can get to explaining how I hear it.
This is somewhat surprising when I take into consideration that the thick personality of the Roxannes owes itself to the mids, which means that there’s probably a mid-bass hump somewhere. Fortunately, apart from the mild issues I have with the bass, there are no prices to pay. After all, this character – which reminds me of the Westone UM3X in a way – doesn’t hurt transparency and resolution. Quite the opposite: the result is that the mids sound exceptionally natural. This is what defines them. The timbre seems sport on, and this weighty and thick character, along with the feeling of alignment and transparency creates very tridimensional mids that seem to be alive. Another quality that helps is the absence of a plasticky character that is present in every other BA earphone I’ve heard so far.
All of those traits makes the Roxanne sound a lot closer than usual to full-sizes: it really sounds huge. The JH13s and the Mentors sound like earbuds next to these. However, despite all the spacial capabilities and the weighty but transparent character, there’s not denying: this is still and in-ear and it simply does not sound as spacial and as open as a headphone. There’s a lot of transparency and resolution, but the sounds are, despite considerably tridimensional, still close to each other. Considering the analogy I’ve made above: the sounds are close but perfectly aligned, so it’s possible to “see deep through the slits”. I don’t have this feeling with full-size headphones because the sounds are not close, so instead of having a slit between sounds, there’s a bigger space that doesn’t feel like a slit in the first place.
I’ve read pretty divergent opinions about the treble. Some consider them harsh, while many feel a lack of presence in that region. What I know is that Jerry Harvey seeked to overcome the limitations of the technology in balanced armatures – achieving highs with proper extension and providing a linear and neutral response in this end of the spectrum, with no artificial sparkle. In my opinion, he achieved that with flying colours. There’s no artificial sparkle as in most other headphones, so that’s why many will find the Roxannes to be lacking in clarity and brightness.
The result is that those IEMs don’t have prominent highs but, in my opinion, is spot on with regards to timbre and truthfulness of instruments that reside in this region. It reminds me a lot of the Grado HP1000s, but with slightly less withdrawn treble. The treble response is among the things that I appreciate the most in the Roxannes, as they provide a very accurate response along with a smooth and fatigue-free experience.
CONCLUSIONS Maybe, in this text, I have explicited more downsides of the Roxannes than you, the reader, might have been expecting. So I’ll just make it clear: this last masterpiece from Jerry Harvey is undoubtedly the best in-ear I’ve ever heard, by a wide margin.
The reasons are simple: everything in them, even the small issues, seem to build a distinct personality. It doesn’t sound like a dry, authoritative and fun monitor, but rather an earphone targeted at the audiophile crowd. It’s not that I consider it neutral, but it is, quite clearly, one of the most organic headphones I’ve ever auditioned – maybe even the most.
I’m not sure about how to define this character clearly, but I know that it’s exactly what the Roxannes portray. With it, music sounds alive, palpable and organic. Everything I hear with it is jut enchanting.
At the same time, however, I know that it isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t have the energy and the fun-factor that I used to have with the JH13s or that I heard with the Mentor or even with the Merlin. I know that I wouldn’t be able to live solely with either of them now since I’d consider it a downgrade – the Roxannes goes far ahead any IEM I’ve yet heard in some aspects –, but I’m not going to lie, I’d love to have something like an improved JH13 Pro (with regards to transparency and linearity of mids and highs) to complement the Roxannes as the “fun” earphone.
Nevertheless, I can’t forget that it’s impossible to have everything in one single headphone. Unfortunately, that’s not how our hobby works. That’s why I own many: Audio-Technica W3000ANV and M50, Grado HP1000, HiFiMAN HE500 and Sennheiser HD800 and Amperior. Big names.
These little earphones, however, are my favorites of them all.
Associated equipment:
Portable: iPod Classic, Sony NW-ZX1, Sony Xperia Z2
Desktop: iMac, Abrahamsen V6.0, B.M.C. PureDAC, HeadAmp GS-X
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Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much, Zorin 
themad
Excellent and detailed review! Thanks for that and congrats for the acquisition!
Leonardo Drummond
Oh, look who's here! Thanks, man!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Extreme accuracy, life-like with reference acoustic recordings
Cons: Very uncomfortable, will not suit any genre, rare and expensive
INTRODUCTION
First of all, excuse my English if you find any mistakes – I'm not a native speaker.
I suppose these don’t need much introduction. They were the first Grados – all made by Joe Grado himself –, and are usually regarded as some of the best headphones ever made. Even by today’s standards they are a reference for neutrality.
Three variations were produced: HP1s (with polarity switch), HP2s (without polarity switch) and HP3s (without polarity switch and more tolerant driver matching). There were also at least two cables used during the HP1000s’ production: the Joseph Grado Signature Ultra-Wide Bandwith Reference Cable and the Grado Signature Laboratory Standard Audio Cable. From what I could gather, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus as to which is better or rarer. This review was done about an HP2 with the JGSUWBRC, but since then I replaced it with an HP1 with the GSLSAC (had both for a short period of time) and found that they sound exactly the same.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
The HP1000s are pretty much equal to other Grados, but with a few distinguishing details that make them, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful headphones ever made. The whole structure is made out of metal, unlike all other the other Grados, which have plastic and/or wood. Joseph Grado wasn’t fooling around: this is a tough old bird.
The headband is made of genuine leather, but that doesn’t mean it’s comfortable: it definitely isn’t. The weight is quite substantial and the headband has got pretty much no padding, so it exerts considerable pressure on the top of my head. The clamping force adjustment is a joke: you do it by bending (!) the headband. Yes. On a 1.5K headphone. Only those who have done it will know how scary it is to do such a thing on such a rare and expensive headphone. The up side is that you can pretty much adjust it to your liking, unlike most other headphones I know. Vertical adjustment is made by the traditional Grado rods – but in here the whole thing is made entirely out of metal and there are little screws that secure the rods in place.
The original pads are similar to current Grados flat pads, but have a more consistent foam and a hole in the middle. I’ve tried all other pads and these (which are now sold through TTVJ) undoubtedly give me the best sound. The trade-off is that they’re incredibly uncomfortable. I really can’t wear these headphones for more than 30 minutes without some rest.
THE SOUND
The HP1000s are usually regarded as being completely different from all other Grados. This was not my first impression, however. It is indeed more relaxed, less energetic and darker than the other Grados I know, but the crude and direct house sound is still intact. Tonal balance still seems to be centered on the mids, but the highs are much more relaxed than the brand’s recent offerings.
Regardless, I’ll go straight to the point: these are easily one of the most neutral headphones I’ve ever heard. Not long ago I reviewed the Orpheus, and my conclusion was that even though it might not be entirely neutral to the media, with its slight colorations it ends up being (accidentally or not) extremely natural and neutral do the original musical event. The Grados, to me, achieve a similar level of neutrality, but in a completely different way.
The Sennheisers seem to show you an embellished reality, putting you in the middle of a gorgeous and well decorated scenario, with beautiful musicians playing beautiful sounds around you. You appreciate every detail that is presented in great style. The HP1000s, on the other hand, show you a much cruder version of reality. It simply portrays an ugly reality, with tired and sweaty musicians playing on a dirty stage, after hours of recording.
Bass is very good. They’re not as strong as some other reviews made me believe, but they have good presence and excellent definition, impact and speed. However, extension is not that great – it’s good, but not spectacular. Integration of this region with the rest of the spectrum is seamless. In some cases I feel that they could be a little bit more present, but this is very recording-dependent. Reference recordings will find one of the best performances every, but artificial genres, such as electronic music, not so much. Some might find the bass to be a bit too dry.
The mids are the best – though the most complicated – aspect of the HP1000s. The thing is that to me they do sound forward, like other Grados, but the interesting thing is that this doesn’t seem to affect the way in which the tonal balance is translated to a truthful presentation. It’s as if we had mid-centered instruments (voices, guitars, pianos, etc.) more forward than the others in the Grado’s soundstage – something that usually happens in real performances, by the way. This is quite interesting, as something that initially sounds like an alteration of the tonal balance ends up sounding more adequate and real.
This characteristic is one of the biggest reasons for this raw character that the HP1000s possess. In some styles, this nude and crude reality is exactly what I want. There seems to be no artificialities, but at the same time the mids do sound forward, composing a personality that is borderline unpleasant – but it’s as if it was a reality that is borderline unpleasant, and this is the key here. It sounds like reality, so for a headphone, it’s almost pure perfection. That’s the HP1000s’ paradox. In acoustic reference recordings it sounds, well, like the reference, and in some cases, particularly with rock music, guitars just seem to attack your ears in a life-like way. It’s bloody fantastic.
The highs, just like the mids, are something special. I’m fairly sensitive to how treble should sound – I had a band for a while and I know how cymbals should sound, and the truth is that like 95% of the high-end headphones I know (that includes HD800s, JH13 Pros, SR-007, T1, HE500 and many others) just get them wrong. There seems to be some bright spots that completely distorts cymbals. I should say, though, that this is also highly dependent on the recording as well. There seems to be some peaks in the treble that somehow are in the wrong place, and the results frequently are cymbals that have no body. They simply don’t sound like the real deal.
I know of a few headphones that do get them right – HD600, HE90 and K1000 immediately spring to mind –, and to me, the HP1000s outclass them. They may be the most realistic treble I’ve ever heard on a headphone before. They are slightly laid back, especially compared to the forward mids, but in terms of timbre, they are simply spot-on. Cymbals have body, attack, presence and an extremely realistic decay. Some of my reference recordings for treble are Mogwai’s The Hawk is Howling and Hard Rock Will Never Die, But You Will and Esperanza Spalding’s Esperanza. With the Grados, I found what are the most realistic cymbals I’ve ever heard on headphones to date.
In terms of transparency the HP1000s are good but already show their age. It’s not nearly as transparent as something like an HD800, even though, to me, they do sound more realistic in its overall signature. The same can be said about speed: the Grados are somewhat quick for a dynamic of this age, but comparing them to may modern offerings will show you that they are indeed 20+ year old headphones.
Soundstage is considerably more expansive than the brand’s usual, but it’s still small and can’t be compared to something like an AKG K702 or an HD800. It resembles the LCD2 in that regard, though a bit better since the Audez’es have a fuller sound that seems to diminish their spacial capabilities.
CONCLUSIONS
The HP1000s are truly incredible headphones. In my opinion, if you feed it the right recordings, it simply sounds like the real thing.
It’s not as neutral as an HD800, HE90 or JH13 Pro... it’s quite hard to explain. What happens is that it sounds raw. That’s the word that better describes it. That’s why it doesn’t work with every genre, and I why wouldn’t want to live with them as my only headphones – its nude and crude reality is not always welcome.
An HD800, for example, has got reasonably present bass, sweet and cohesive mids but treble that’s slightly hot and with a detail retrieval that simply surpasses the limits of what would be natural. A JH13 Pro is like an extremely capable studio monitor, full of energy but with slightly accentuated bass and treble – which sound a bit wrong in terms of timbre.
The Orpheus is pure perfection, but has it’s euphonic signature and diffuse soundstage, also with a relatively unnatural detail retrieval in many cases. Like I said before, it seems to embellish the music. Don’t get me wrong – they’re still by far the best headphones I’ve ever heard, but in absolute terms, the HP1000s are just as neutral, though in a different way. An HE90 lets you hear every nuances of a female voice, for example: the breathing, the opening lips, as if the singer was there whispering to you. The Grados just leave them on the stage, doing whatever it is they want to do, their way, not looking to please you.
It’s really quite different. It sounds acoustic, analog – but not the warm-vinyl-analog, I mean analog in the sense that it sounds like a passive tool that conveys all the sonic and physic nature of instruments, with all their perfections and imperfections.
With the right recordings, they don’t sound like a studio recording. They just sound like the real deal.
Associated Equipment: HeadAmp GS-X, Meier Audio Eartube, Melos SHA-1, Woo Audio WA3, Electrocompaniet ECD-1, Abrahamsen V6.0, Cambridge Audio DacMagic.
Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much for your comment, devouringone. I've learned a lot about the HP1000s with your posts – it's clear that you are one of the Grado's conoisseur! So it makes me really happy that you liked my review!
I just read that link about your mod and it seems indeed very interesting! I used to have the yellow pads but now I don't (they were sold along with my former HP2s), although I became quite interested in your proposition and would be happy to buy a pair to try it out.
I tried every type of Grado pad and the TTVJ gave me the best sound, along with the yellow pads. The HP1000s were definitely made to be used with flats indeed.
Once again, thank you for your comment! It's really great to have some one this knowledgeable about these Grados around here. They truly deserve it!
devouringone3
TTVJ flats were also my favorite pads, behind the HD414's and the bowls in that order. Then Joseph Grado improved flat pads became my costly favorites, by a fair margin, because after that the TTVJ sounded pale (echo-y / unfocused / muffled) in comparison.
For all those pads I ended up preferring the sound of 3M Scotch tape around them. Except for the HD414's which don't behave as most Grado pads do. Tape modifying them the traditional way didn't change anything to their sound signature, so I invented the “Sunflower” Grado mod that I have yet to make official in a dedicated thread. I don't recommend applying the mod to any other pad than the HD414's.
My mod improves in the same direction Joseph Grado did with his improved flat pads. I have no hesitation recommending people to buy and modify those yellow sponges, because I think there will be no going back for anyone trying it.
The forwardness of the midrange has been thoroughly discussed (called “glare” by LCfiner and “shoutiness” by Purrin) and though I'm equalizing out presently, I will be trying HP 1000 drivers in wooden cups of various geometries (and in my full Symphones Magnum too) to rule out if whether the effect is coming from the drivers alone or the cups. Some have commented about possible benefits of suppressing that vocal highlighting the HP 1000 does. http://www.head-fi.org/t/596028/joe-grado-hp1000-modifications
Leonardo Drummond
Interesting, devouringone!
I'm very interesting in trying the mod. Not sure I want to get rid of the forwardness of the midrange though 
It's one of the things that make them a very special headphone!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Incredibly seductive and euphonic sound, luxurious look and feel
Cons: Not the last word in comfort, small differentiation to other AT products, slightly genre-selective
I’ve always been curious about the Audio-Technica woodies, and recently had the opportunity to spend some time with the latest one, the W3000ANV, thanks to an audiophile friend in Brazil.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
I’m slightly on the fence here. In terms of appearance this headphone is spectacularly pretty and luxurious. The wood is extremely tasteful but discreet, since there’s a thick layer of varnish and a burgundy paint, that seem to mask a little bit of the wood’s natural grain.
My slight reservations are towards the fact that, apart from the wooden cups and some other details – such as the pads, colours of the plastic structure and the cable cloth and the plug –, it’s pretty much identical to the A700X that I reviewed a short while ago (not here). The W3000ANV cost 10 times the A700Xs price, so I expected more distinct differences between them. I’m not sure if it’s the younger brother that’s better built than its price suggests, but I guess I’d expect some more differentiation between them – such as metal instead of plastic in some areas.
Another issue is that I found the W3000ANV a little heavy, and as the pads that act as headbands don’t offer a lot of support, the headphones end up not being very secure and falling a bit – consequently, the cups go down and the pads make more pressure on the lower part of my ears than what I’d be comfortable with. Therefore, to me, it’s not particularly comfortable. I’m aware, however, that this is a personal issue.
Regardless of those problems, there’s no denying that those headphones are quite spectacular physically. The same compliments can be made to the packaging and presentation: Audio-Technica really know how to present a TOTL product.
THE SOUND
The first impression I got was that it sounded pretty much like I expected: it had a very sweet, euphonic and delicious presentation. That comes, of course, at the cost of neutrality. But honestly, hearing what those headphones do to my music, I keep asking myself what the hell I’d want neutrality for. It’s quite difficult to put in words the sensation that the W3000ANV gives you... it’s a really incredible sweetness, and few times have I ever heard anything like it.
Another characteristic that’s immediately evident is the ability of not having any of the downsides normally associated with closed headphones. It doesn’t have the openness and sense of breath as open backed headphones, but then I see considerable spaciousness here and there doesn’t seem to be any nasal characteristics to the mids.
The bass is sensational, and just like with the AD700X, they remind me a lot the Sony EX1000 in-ear – that’s a compliment, as I find the bass on these to be fantastic. They have strong presence, at the proportion which I would consider ideal, but in a very subtle and delicate way, without sacrificing any definition. It very competently displays texture. There’s reasonable impact as well, but it’s not that usual dry, impactful bass –the lows are slow and silky. The only issue that I have here is that there’s a discreet lack of weight and substance. However, if this is a price to pay for the euphonic nature of the bass, so be it.
Regarding the mids... they’re also an example of how to enchant. The tonal balance is very natural and correct on these, therefore in terms of presence the mids are more or less precisely where I’d want them to be given the W3000ANV’s purpose. The timbre is irreprehensible, but what really makes the difference is the irresistible nature of the mids here. Once again there’s an incredible warmth that’s extremely seductive and makes the coldest systems sound like the most euphonic ones. Really, it makes it seem as if the cables and power outlet had tubes.
And that doesn’t come at the cost of transparency and definition. It goes quite a bit beyond what “sweet and euphonic” seem to usually suggest. Obviously these Audio-Technicas don’t present the levels of resolution of something like an HD800, but I was surprised to hear how it doesn’t make you feel like you’re missing anything. And if it does, really... I wouldn’t care.
However, there’s an issue here that’s quite hard to explain, but it sounds as if it didn’t have the mass that such warmth usually suggests – like I hear, for example, with the HiFiMAN HE500s. There’s also a significant tridimensional quality to these headphones, and it appears that those two characteristics and up making the presentation a wee bit light and distance. Consequently, I see myself frequently compensating by turning up the volume. It’s not a negative thing, just a characteristic, but I’m slightly on the fence about this.
The treble is, again, fantastic. Not for being perfect – they are undoubtedly coloured –, but for being totally in harmony with the W3000ANVs general sound and also for being what I’d precisely call euphonic highs. I think, in most cases, present highs are related to coldness, but in here this couldn’t be further from the truth. Not that they’re excessive or lacking – maybe it’s sounding a bit too good to be true, but I’ll once again refer to the classic “they are where they should be”.
Here, I’m impressed with these headphone’s ability to show perfectly present and well extended treble within a sonority well into the euphonic camp without causing any harm to this characteristic. Usually, I find that the sweetest headphones have relaxed highs, but the W3000ANV goes completely against this tendency with flying colours, and therefore doesn’t bring any of the disadvantages usually associated to it – such as lack of sparkle and of definition.
Speaking of sparkle, there seems to be a small peak – generally inoffensive, but that can, on rare ocasions, present some sibilance – that was put on the best spot possible. I really can’t explain well enough, but the highs in these headphones are also mesmerizing. They don’t have perfect timbre, but they can show presence, definition and extension along with subtleness and tenderness.
The results of all this, as should be clear by now, is that the W3000ANV is not an all-rounder. It wasn’t made to play rock or electronic music – it can, well enough, but it really shows what it’s made for playing Kind of Blue in a rainy afternoon. Any instrument that depends on sweet mids will find nirvana here.
CONCLUSIONS
I’m completely in love with it.
I’ve made an effort to show my enthusiasm in this review, but this is not because of a lack of it – quite the opposite. This is because the last thing I wanted to do with the W3000ANV was to analyze it. The only thing I feel like doing with it is to listen to music.
Frankly, to analyze this headphone is a bit nonsense. If there’s one thing it wasn’t made for, is to be analyzed. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such euphony and musicality in a sound equipment. It constantly reminds me the reason why I’m so much into music – because, to me, it was impossible not to be completely carried away by the way it presents it.
The W3000ANV is totally irresistible and is easily the most seductive means of listening to music I’ve ever had the chance of hearing. This makes it one of the best headphones I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to.
jjvvcckk
attractive looks! good review
NEETnoNEED
awesome review, thanks for sharing.
jujuju
Just caught up with this - A great review - I have a pair of these and they are lovely - I think you have summed the sound up very well !! These headphones may be destined to be Legends !!!
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INTRODUCTION As most of you should now, the Roxanne sits at the top of JH Audio’s line-up at 1.649 dollars, sporting 12 balanced armatures per ear in a three way configuration, the freqphase technology, passive bass control on the cable and the optional carbon fibre shell, at 500 dollars.
It brings, therefore, all the expertise that the maker has acquired over the last years.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS One of the things that surprised me when I saw the Unique Melody Mentor demo for the first time was how small it was for something that houses 10 BAs. The Roxanne only has two more, but it is considerably larger. It protrudes from the ears quite a bit more than my old JH13 Pro, but not enough to draw too much attention to itself.
Another difference is the cable which, because of the extra conductors (there are six in total, as opposed to the usual three) needed for the bass control, is a lot thicker than the norm for this type of product. However, it’s not heavy and it’s quite flexible. The plug looks simple but not low quality and the connector on the earpieces is well thought and efficient, despite the issues that it had with cracks – that has been solved with the use of metal nuts.
I also like the bass control. Fortunately it isn’t located close to the earpieces (something that would be terrible because of weight and microphonics), but close to the plug. This means that it can stay inside the pockets, along with my mobile or DAP, and adjustments can be made in a convenient fashion – just like we take the DAP out of the pockets to change tracks, we can do the same to adjust the bass. The only problem is that the knobs are quite small and require the small tool included to be adjusted. The upside to that is that it’s almost impossible to mess with it by accident.
The carbon fibre version of the Roxannes are, when well made, a piece of art. I won’t talk about aesthetic preferences, but this material is arguably sophisticated and it’s very unusual to see a custom earphone, made just for use, using a material that is usually reserved for high-performance sports car or in the aerospace industry.
The included case is also made of this material, with an aluminium outer structure and an internal piece that houses a negative impressions of the earpieces where they are stored. The writing on the case is made with lasers (I think), including the name of the owner – a big improvement over the sticker on the Otter cases that JH Audio used to use. Despite having shown problems with the resin in some units – such as bubbles and badly placed fibres –, this piece is seriously cool. It does look like it stores something rather special. However, I can’t deny that it’s also spectacularly inconvenient, and storing the earpieces in the correct manner is annoying and takes maybe about a minute. This made me buy their regular case as well – just a small metal rounded case.
The list of accessories included is rather slim, however. Apart from the case, you only get a velvet bag, a cleaning tool and the tool for the bass adjustment. No ¼ inch adapter or even a manual.
THE SOUND My first impression was, if I’m honest, of estrangement. I was expecting something like a JH13 on steroids, or at least something close to all the other high-end monitors I’ve ever auditioned, but what I heard was completely different. When I received the Roxannes I was auditioning the UM Mentor demo, and I was surprised with how different they were – especially since the Mentor sounded reasonably close to my old pre-freqphase JH13.
The way that I perceive the Roxanne has gone through several phases. I won’t spend much time with them so as not to bother the reader, but it suffices to say that at the beginning I heard a monitor with what seemed like exaggerated bass, even with the control at the minimum, thick and weighty mids, a somewhat claustrophobic presentation but, above all else, a big sound.
Today, however, I see it as a truly spectacular in-ear monitor: scarily natural and, like the JH13 Pro, it has the ability to excel in everything I ask it to play – however, in a different way.
I’ll start with the lower regions, which are somewhat complicated: while I like its bass performance, it’s not perfect and the bass control doesn’t really work like what I’d prefer. I’ll explain: the JH13 kept surprising me because it had the chamaleonic ability to sound small and think or big and authoritative solely depending on the recording, and that was most of all because of the bass. It sounded detached from the rest of the spectrum, and only appeared with extreme authority and weight when asked to. When it wasn’t asked, it seemed as if the bass drivers were simply turned off.
The Roxannes, however, always sound big and weighty. It’s always full and thick. At first, I thought this happened because of the bass (even with the bass control at the minimum). With time, I realized that this happened because of the mids, probably because of some mild mid-bass hump which, to be clear, did not impair clarity of transparency.
Consequently, the feeling I have is that, with the bass control at the minimum, the sound is not as light and airy as I expected. It still sounds thick, but with a sort of hole before the mids. As I increase the bass quantity, this frequency starts to fill a space that was already there waiting for it in the first place. What I would love, however, would be to have a thin and light presentation for some genres and, as I increased the bass control, the low frequencies would begin to appear and to form a firm and authoritative base, like I heard from the JH13 Pro in many situations. That way, I would be able to suit the bass to the music.
With the way that the bass control is implemented, however, I don’t see many options. It’s as if its sound was only one and I had the bass control simple to find not the sound that suits a particular moment, but the one that sounds coherent with its personality as a whole. So I just found my preferred position for the bass knob and left it alone. With less the sound is think but there seems to be something lacking, and with more I get a subwoofer in my ears.
Anyway, after I found my preferred position for the bass knob, I found that its performance in that region is excellent. The bass quantity becomes perfectly appropriate and coherent with the rest of the spectrum, and they possess startling definition, texture and extension. The bass is fat and rounded, but at the same time incredibly transparent.
This duality, which is still present in the mids, may be, to me, the most singular characteristic of the Roxannes. It is, along with the HE90, the only headphone or earphone I’ve ever heard that mixes this much mass, weight and body with extreme transparency. The only other headphones that possess this character to some extent are the Stax SR-007, which has the transparency but not the weight and the HiFiMAN HE500, which has the weight but not the transparency. Usually, when a headphone is this sweet and euphonic, it’s not particularly transparent. Not here. All the sounds seem to be perfectly in place and aligned somehow (maybe due to freqphase?), so it’s as if it was possible to “see deeper” in the recording. I know it’s a strange analogy, but it’s the closest I can get to explaining how I hear it.
This is somewhat surprising when I take into consideration that the thick personality of the Roxannes owes itself to the mids, which means that there’s probably a mid-bass hump somewhere. Fortunately, apart from the mild issues I have with the bass, there are no prices to pay. After all, this character – which reminds me of the Westone UM3X in a way – doesn’t hurt transparency and resolution. Quite the opposite: the result is that the mids sound exceptionally natural. This is what defines them. The timbre seems sport on, and this weighty and thick character, along with the feeling of alignment and transparency creates very tridimensional mids that seem to be alive. Another quality that helps is the absence of a plasticky character that is present in every other BA earphone I’ve heard so far.
All of those traits makes the Roxanne sound a lot closer than usual to full-sizes: it really sounds huge. The JH13s and the Mentors sound like earbuds next to these. However, despite all the spacial capabilities and the weighty but transparent character, there’s not denying: this is still and in-ear and it simply does not sound as spacial and as open as a headphone. There’s a lot of transparency and resolution, but the sounds are, despite considerably tridimensional, still close to each other. Considering the analogy I’ve made above: the sounds are close but perfectly aligned, so it’s possible to “see deep through the slits”. I don’t have this feeling with full-size headphones because the sounds are not close, so instead of having a slit between sounds, there’s a bigger space that doesn’t feel like a slit in the first place.
I’ve read pretty divergent opinions about the treble. Some consider them harsh, while many feel a lack of presence in that region. What I know is that Jerry Harvey seeked to overcome the limitations of the technology in balanced armatures – achieving highs with proper extension and providing a linear and neutral response in this end of the spectrum, with no artificial sparkle. In my opinion, he achieved that with flying colours. There’s no artificial sparkle as in most other headphones, so that’s why many will find the Roxannes to be lacking in clarity and brightness.
The result is that those IEMs don’t have prominent highs but, in my opinion, is spot on with regards to timbre and truthfulness of instruments that reside in this region. It reminds me a lot of the Grado HP1000s, but with slightly less withdrawn treble. The treble response is among the things that I appreciate the most in the Roxannes, as they provide a very accurate response along with a smooth and fatigue-free experience.
CONCLUSIONS Maybe, in this text, I have explicited more downsides of the Roxannes than you, the reader, might have been expecting. So I’ll just make it clear: this last masterpiece from Jerry Harvey is undoubtedly the best in-ear I’ve ever heard, by a wide margin.
The reasons are simple: everything in them, even the small issues, seem to build a distinct personality. It doesn’t sound like a dry, authoritative and fun monitor, but rather an earphone targeted at the audiophile crowd. It’s not that I consider it neutral, but it is, quite clearly, one of the most organic headphones I’ve ever auditioned – maybe even the most.
I’m not sure about how to define this character clearly, but I know that it’s exactly what the Roxannes portray. With it, music sounds alive, palpable and organic. Everything I hear with it is jut enchanting.
At the same time, however, I know that it isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t have the energy and the fun-factor that I used to have with the JH13s or that I heard with the Mentor or even with the Merlin. I know that I wouldn’t be able to live solely with either of them now since I’d consider it a downgrade – the Roxannes goes far ahead any IEM I’ve yet heard in some aspects –, but I’m not going to lie, I’d love to have something like an improved JH13 Pro (with regards to transparency and linearity of mids and highs) to complement the Roxannes as the “fun” earphone.
Nevertheless, I can’t forget that it’s impossible to have everything in one single headphone. Unfortunately, that’s not how our hobby works. That’s why I own many: Audio-Technica W3000ANV and M50, Grado HP1000, HiFiMAN HE500 and Sennheiser HD800 and Amperior. Big names.
These little earphones, however, are my favorites of them all.
Associated equipment:
Portable: iPod Classic, Sony NW-ZX1, Sony Xperia Z2
Desktop: iMac, Abrahamsen V6.0, B.M.C. PureDAC, HeadAmp GS-X
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Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much, Zorin
themad
Excellent and detailed review! Thanks for that and congrats for the acquisition!
Leonardo Drummond
Oh, look who's here! Thanks, man!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Extreme accuracy, life-like with reference acoustic recordings
Cons: Very uncomfortable, will not suit any genre, rare and expensive
INTRODUCTION
First of all, excuse my English if you find any mistakes – I'm not a native speaker.
I suppose these don’t need much introduction. They were the first Grados – all made by Joe Grado himself –, and are usually regarded as some of the best headphones ever made. Even by today’s standards they are a reference for neutrality.
Three variations were produced: HP1s (with polarity switch), HP2s (without polarity switch) and HP3s (without polarity switch and more tolerant driver matching). There were also at least two cables used during the HP1000s’ production: the Joseph Grado Signature Ultra-Wide Bandwith Reference Cable and the Grado Signature Laboratory Standard Audio Cable. From what I could gather, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus as to which is better or rarer. This review was done about an HP2 with the JGSUWBRC, but since then I replaced it with an HP1 with the GSLSAC (had both for a short period of time) and found that they sound exactly the same.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
The HP1000s are pretty much equal to other Grados, but with a few distinguishing details that make them, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful headphones ever made. The whole structure is made out of metal, unlike all other the other Grados, which have plastic and/or wood. Joseph Grado wasn’t fooling around: this is a tough old bird.
The headband is made of genuine leather, but that doesn’t mean it’s comfortable: it definitely isn’t. The weight is quite substantial and the headband has got pretty much no padding, so it exerts considerable pressure on the top of my head. The clamping force adjustment is a joke: you do it by bending (!) the headband. Yes. On a 1.5K headphone. Only those who have done it will know how scary it is to do such a thing on such a rare and expensive headphone. The up side is that you can pretty much adjust it to your liking, unlike most other headphones I know. Vertical adjustment is made by the traditional Grado rods – but in here the whole thing is made entirely out of metal and there are little screws that secure the rods in place.
The original pads are similar to current Grados flat pads, but have a more consistent foam and a hole in the middle. I’ve tried all other pads and these (which are now sold through TTVJ) undoubtedly give me the best sound. The trade-off is that they’re incredibly uncomfortable. I really can’t wear these headphones for more than 30 minutes without some rest.
THE SOUND
The HP1000s are usually regarded as being completely different from all other Grados. This was not my first impression, however. It is indeed more relaxed, less energetic and darker than the other Grados I know, but the crude and direct house sound is still intact. Tonal balance still seems to be centered on the mids, but the highs are much more relaxed than the brand’s recent offerings.
Regardless, I’ll go straight to the point: these are easily one of the most neutral headphones I’ve ever heard. Not long ago I reviewed the Orpheus, and my conclusion was that even though it might not be entirely neutral to the media, with its slight colorations it ends up being (accidentally or not) extremely natural and neutral do the original musical event. The Grados, to me, achieve a similar level of neutrality, but in a completely different way.
The Sennheisers seem to show you an embellished reality, putting you in the middle of a gorgeous and well decorated scenario, with beautiful musicians playing beautiful sounds around you. You appreciate every detail that is presented in great style. The HP1000s, on the other hand, show you a much cruder version of reality. It simply portrays an ugly reality, with tired and sweaty musicians playing on a dirty stage, after hours of recording.
Bass is very good. They’re not as strong as some other reviews made me believe, but they have good presence and excellent definition, impact and speed. However, extension is not that great – it’s good, but not spectacular. Integration of this region with the rest of the spectrum is seamless. In some cases I feel that they could be a little bit more present, but this is very recording-dependent. Reference recordings will find one of the best performances every, but artificial genres, such as electronic music, not so much. Some might find the bass to be a bit too dry.
The mids are the best – though the most complicated – aspect of the HP1000s. The thing is that to me they do sound forward, like other Grados, but the interesting thing is that this doesn’t seem to affect the way in which the tonal balance is translated to a truthful presentation. It’s as if we had mid-centered instruments (voices, guitars, pianos, etc.) more forward than the others in the Grado’s soundstage – something that usually happens in real performances, by the way. This is quite interesting, as something that initially sounds like an alteration of the tonal balance ends up sounding more adequate and real.
This characteristic is one of the biggest reasons for this raw character that the HP1000s possess. In some styles, this nude and crude reality is exactly what I want. There seems to be no artificialities, but at the same time the mids do sound forward, composing a personality that is borderline unpleasant – but it’s as if it was a reality that is borderline unpleasant, and this is the key here. It sounds like reality, so for a headphone, it’s almost pure perfection. That’s the HP1000s’ paradox. In acoustic reference recordings it sounds, well, like the reference, and in some cases, particularly with rock music, guitars just seem to attack your ears in a life-like way. It’s bloody fantastic.
The highs, just like the mids, are something special. I’m fairly sensitive to how treble should sound – I had a band for a while and I know how cymbals should sound, and the truth is that like 95% of the high-end headphones I know (that includes HD800s, JH13 Pros, SR-007, T1, HE500 and many others) just get them wrong. There seems to be some bright spots that completely distorts cymbals. I should say, though, that this is also highly dependent on the recording as well. There seems to be some peaks in the treble that somehow are in the wrong place, and the results frequently are cymbals that have no body. They simply don’t sound like the real deal.
I know of a few headphones that do get them right – HD600, HE90 and K1000 immediately spring to mind –, and to me, the HP1000s outclass them. They may be the most realistic treble I’ve ever heard on a headphone before. They are slightly laid back, especially compared to the forward mids, but in terms of timbre, they are simply spot-on. Cymbals have body, attack, presence and an extremely realistic decay. Some of my reference recordings for treble are Mogwai’s The Hawk is Howling and Hard Rock Will Never Die, But You Will and Esperanza Spalding’s Esperanza. With the Grados, I found what are the most realistic cymbals I’ve ever heard on headphones to date.
In terms of transparency the HP1000s are good but already show their age. It’s not nearly as transparent as something like an HD800, even though, to me, they do sound more realistic in its overall signature. The same can be said about speed: the Grados are somewhat quick for a dynamic of this age, but comparing them to may modern offerings will show you that they are indeed 20+ year old headphones.
Soundstage is considerably more expansive than the brand’s usual, but it’s still small and can’t be compared to something like an AKG K702 or an HD800. It resembles the LCD2 in that regard, though a bit better since the Audez’es have a fuller sound that seems to diminish their spacial capabilities.
CONCLUSIONS
The HP1000s are truly incredible headphones. In my opinion, if you feed it the right recordings, it simply sounds like the real thing.
It’s not as neutral as an HD800, HE90 or JH13 Pro... it’s quite hard to explain. What happens is that it sounds raw. That’s the word that better describes it. That’s why it doesn’t work with every genre, and I why wouldn’t want to live with them as my only headphones – its nude and crude reality is not always welcome.
An HD800, for example, has got reasonably present bass, sweet and cohesive mids but treble that’s slightly hot and with a detail retrieval that simply surpasses the limits of what would be natural. A JH13 Pro is like an extremely capable studio monitor, full of energy but with slightly accentuated bass and treble – which sound a bit wrong in terms of timbre.
The Orpheus is pure perfection, but has it’s euphonic signature and diffuse soundstage, also with a relatively unnatural detail retrieval in many cases. Like I said before, it seems to embellish the music. Don’t get me wrong – they’re still by far the best headphones I’ve ever heard, but in absolute terms, the HP1000s are just as neutral, though in a different way. An HE90 lets you hear every nuances of a female voice, for example: the breathing, the opening lips, as if the singer was there whispering to you. The Grados just leave them on the stage, doing whatever it is they want to do, their way, not looking to please you.
It’s really quite different. It sounds acoustic, analog – but not the warm-vinyl-analog, I mean analog in the sense that it sounds like a passive tool that conveys all the sonic and physic nature of instruments, with all their perfections and imperfections.
With the right recordings, they don’t sound like a studio recording. They just sound like the real deal.
Associated Equipment: HeadAmp GS-X, Meier Audio Eartube, Melos SHA-1, Woo Audio WA3, Electrocompaniet ECD-1, Abrahamsen V6.0, Cambridge Audio DacMagic.
Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much for your comment, devouringone. I've learned a lot about the HP1000s with your posts – it's clear that you are one of the Grado's conoisseur! So it makes me really happy that you liked my review!
I just read that link about your mod and it seems indeed very interesting! I used to have the yellow pads but now I don't (they were sold along with my former HP2s), although I became quite interested in your proposition and would be happy to buy a pair to try it out.
I tried every type of Grado pad and the TTVJ gave me the best sound, along with the yellow pads. The HP1000s were definitely made to be used with flats indeed.
Once again, thank you for your comment! It's really great to have some one this knowledgeable about these Grados around here. They truly deserve it!
devouringone3
TTVJ flats were also my favorite pads, behind the HD414's and the bowls in that order. Then Joseph Grado improved flat pads became my costly favorites, by a fair margin, because after that the TTVJ sounded pale (echo-y / unfocused / muffled) in comparison.
For all those pads I ended up preferring the sound of 3M Scotch tape around them. Except for the HD414's which don't behave as most Grado pads do. Tape modifying them the traditional way didn't change anything to their sound signature, so I invented the “Sunflower” Grado mod that I have yet to make official in a dedicated thread. I don't recommend applying the mod to any other pad than the HD414's.
My mod improves in the same direction Joseph Grado did with his improved flat pads. I have no hesitation recommending people to buy and modify those yellow sponges, because I think there will be no going back for anyone trying it.
The forwardness of the midrange has been thoroughly discussed (called “glare” by LCfiner and “shoutiness” by Purrin) and though I'm equalizing out presently, I will be trying HP 1000 drivers in wooden cups of various geometries (and in my full Symphones Magnum too) to rule out if whether the effect is coming from the drivers alone or the cups. Some have commented about possible benefits of suppressing that vocal highlighting the HP 1000 does. http://www.head-fi.org/t/596028/joe-grado-hp1000-modifications
Leonardo Drummond
Interesting, devouringone!
I'm very interesting in trying the mod. Not sure I want to get rid of the forwardness of the midrange though
It's one of the things that make them a very special headphone!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Incredibly seductive and euphonic sound, luxurious look and feel
Cons: Not the last word in comfort, small differentiation to other AT products, slightly genre-selective
I’ve always been curious about the Audio-Technica woodies, and recently had the opportunity to spend some time with the latest one, the W3000ANV, thanks to an audiophile friend in Brazil.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
I’m slightly on the fence here. In terms of appearance this headphone is spectacularly pretty and luxurious. The wood is extremely tasteful but discreet, since there’s a thick layer of varnish and a burgundy paint, that seem to mask a little bit of the wood’s natural grain.
My slight reservations are towards the fact that, apart from the wooden cups and some other details – such as the pads, colours of the plastic structure and the cable cloth and the plug –, it’s pretty much identical to the A700X that I reviewed a short while ago (not here). The W3000ANV cost 10 times the A700Xs price, so I expected more distinct differences between them. I’m not sure if it’s the younger brother that’s better built than its price suggests, but I guess I’d expect some more differentiation between them – such as metal instead of plastic in some areas.
Another issue is that I found the W3000ANV a little heavy, and as the pads that act as headbands don’t offer a lot of support, the headphones end up not being very secure and falling a bit – consequently, the cups go down and the pads make more pressure on the lower part of my ears than what I’d be comfortable with. Therefore, to me, it’s not particularly comfortable. I’m aware, however, that this is a personal issue.
Regardless of those problems, there’s no denying that those headphones are quite spectacular physically. The same compliments can be made to the packaging and presentation: Audio-Technica really know how to present a TOTL product.
THE SOUND
The first impression I got was that it sounded pretty much like I expected: it had a very sweet, euphonic and delicious presentation. That comes, of course, at the cost of neutrality. But honestly, hearing what those headphones do to my music, I keep asking myself what the hell I’d want neutrality for. It’s quite difficult to put in words the sensation that the W3000ANV gives you... it’s a really incredible sweetness, and few times have I ever heard anything like it.
Another characteristic that’s immediately evident is the ability of not having any of the downsides normally associated with closed headphones. It doesn’t have the openness and sense of breath as open backed headphones, but then I see considerable spaciousness here and there doesn’t seem to be any nasal characteristics to the mids.
The bass is sensational, and just like with the AD700X, they remind me a lot the Sony EX1000 in-ear – that’s a compliment, as I find the bass on these to be fantastic. They have strong presence, at the proportion which I would consider ideal, but in a very subtle and delicate way, without sacrificing any definition. It very competently displays texture. There’s reasonable impact as well, but it’s not that usual dry, impactful bass –the lows are slow and silky. The only issue that I have here is that there’s a discreet lack of weight and substance. However, if this is a price to pay for the euphonic nature of the bass, so be it.
Regarding the mids... they’re also an example of how to enchant. The tonal balance is very natural and correct on these, therefore in terms of presence the mids are more or less precisely where I’d want them to be given the W3000ANV’s purpose. The timbre is irreprehensible, but what really makes the difference is the irresistible nature of the mids here. Once again there’s an incredible warmth that’s extremely seductive and makes the coldest systems sound like the most euphonic ones. Really, it makes it seem as if the cables and power outlet had tubes.
And that doesn’t come at the cost of transparency and definition. It goes quite a bit beyond what “sweet and euphonic” seem to usually suggest. Obviously these Audio-Technicas don’t present the levels of resolution of something like an HD800, but I was surprised to hear how it doesn’t make you feel like you’re missing anything. And if it does, really... I wouldn’t care.
However, there’s an issue here that’s quite hard to explain, but it sounds as if it didn’t have the mass that such warmth usually suggests – like I hear, for example, with the HiFiMAN HE500s. There’s also a significant tridimensional quality to these headphones, and it appears that those two characteristics and up making the presentation a wee bit light and distance. Consequently, I see myself frequently compensating by turning up the volume. It’s not a negative thing, just a characteristic, but I’m slightly on the fence about this.
The treble is, again, fantastic. Not for being perfect – they are undoubtedly coloured –, but for being totally in harmony with the W3000ANVs general sound and also for being what I’d precisely call euphonic highs. I think, in most cases, present highs are related to coldness, but in here this couldn’t be further from the truth. Not that they’re excessive or lacking – maybe it’s sounding a bit too good to be true, but I’ll once again refer to the classic “they are where they should be”.
Here, I’m impressed with these headphone’s ability to show perfectly present and well extended treble within a sonority well into the euphonic camp without causing any harm to this characteristic. Usually, I find that the sweetest headphones have relaxed highs, but the W3000ANV goes completely against this tendency with flying colours, and therefore doesn’t bring any of the disadvantages usually associated to it – such as lack of sparkle and of definition.
Speaking of sparkle, there seems to be a small peak – generally inoffensive, but that can, on rare ocasions, present some sibilance – that was put on the best spot possible. I really can’t explain well enough, but the highs in these headphones are also mesmerizing. They don’t have perfect timbre, but they can show presence, definition and extension along with subtleness and tenderness.
The results of all this, as should be clear by now, is that the W3000ANV is not an all-rounder. It wasn’t made to play rock or electronic music – it can, well enough, but it really shows what it’s made for playing Kind of Blue in a rainy afternoon. Any instrument that depends on sweet mids will find nirvana here.
CONCLUSIONS
I’m completely in love with it.
I’ve made an effort to show my enthusiasm in this review, but this is not because of a lack of it – quite the opposite. This is because the last thing I wanted to do with the W3000ANV was to analyze it. The only thing I feel like doing with it is to listen to music.
Frankly, to analyze this headphone is a bit nonsense. If there’s one thing it wasn’t made for, is to be analyzed. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such euphony and musicality in a sound equipment. It constantly reminds me the reason why I’m so much into music – because, to me, it was impossible not to be completely carried away by the way it presents it.
The W3000ANV is totally irresistible and is easily the most seductive means of listening to music I’ve ever had the chance of hearing. This makes it one of the best headphones I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to.
jjvvcckk
attractive looks! good review
NEETnoNEED
awesome review, thanks for sharing.
jujuju
Just caught up with this - A great review - I have a pair of these and they are lovely - I think you have summed the sound up very well !! These headphones may be destined to be Legends !!!
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INTRODUCTION As most of you should now, the Roxanne sits at the top of JH Audio’s line-up at 1.649 dollars, sporting 12 balanced armatures per ear in a three way configuration, the freqphase technology, passive bass control on the cable and the optional carbon fibre shell, at 500 dollars.
It brings, therefore, all the expertise that the maker has acquired over the last years.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS One of the things that surprised me when I saw the Unique Melody Mentor demo for the first time was how small it was for something that houses 10 BAs. The Roxanne only has two more, but it is considerably larger. It protrudes from the ears quite a bit more than my old JH13 Pro, but not enough to draw too much attention to itself.
Another difference is the cable which, because of the extra conductors (there are six in total, as opposed to the usual three) needed for the bass control, is a lot thicker than the norm for this type of product. However, it’s not heavy and it’s quite flexible. The plug looks simple but not low quality and the connector on the earpieces is well thought and efficient, despite the issues that it had with cracks – that has been solved with the use of metal nuts.
I also like the bass control. Fortunately it isn’t located close to the earpieces (something that would be terrible because of weight and microphonics), but close to the plug. This means that it can stay inside the pockets, along with my mobile or DAP, and adjustments can be made in a convenient fashion – just like we take the DAP out of the pockets to change tracks, we can do the same to adjust the bass. The only problem is that the knobs are quite small and require the small tool included to be adjusted. The upside to that is that it’s almost impossible to mess with it by accident.
The carbon fibre version of the Roxannes are, when well made, a piece of art. I won’t talk about aesthetic preferences, but this material is arguably sophisticated and it’s very unusual to see a custom earphone, made just for use, using a material that is usually reserved for high-performance sports car or in the aerospace industry.
The included case is also made of this material, with an aluminium outer structure and an internal piece that houses a negative impressions of the earpieces where they are stored. The writing on the case is made with lasers (I think), including the name of the owner – a big improvement over the sticker on the Otter cases that JH Audio used to use. Despite having shown problems with the resin in some units – such as bubbles and badly placed fibres –, this piece is seriously cool. It does look like it stores something rather special. However, I can’t deny that it’s also spectacularly inconvenient, and storing the earpieces in the correct manner is annoying and takes maybe about a minute. This made me buy their regular case as well – just a small metal rounded case.
The list of accessories included is rather slim, however. Apart from the case, you only get a velvet bag, a cleaning tool and the tool for the bass adjustment. No ¼ inch adapter or even a manual.
THE SOUND My first impression was, if I’m honest, of estrangement. I was expecting something like a JH13 on steroids, or at least something close to all the other high-end monitors I’ve ever auditioned, but what I heard was completely different. When I received the Roxannes I was auditioning the UM Mentor demo, and I was surprised with how different they were – especially since the Mentor sounded reasonably close to my old pre-freqphase JH13.
The way that I perceive the Roxanne has gone through several phases. I won’t spend much time with them so as not to bother the reader, but it suffices to say that at the beginning I heard a monitor with what seemed like exaggerated bass, even with the control at the minimum, thick and weighty mids, a somewhat claustrophobic presentation but, above all else, a big sound.
Today, however, I see it as a truly spectacular in-ear monitor: scarily natural and, like the JH13 Pro, it has the ability to excel in everything I ask it to play – however, in a different way.
I’ll start with the lower regions, which are somewhat complicated: while I like its bass performance, it’s not perfect and the bass control doesn’t really work like what I’d prefer. I’ll explain: the JH13 kept surprising me because it had the chamaleonic ability to sound small and think or big and authoritative solely depending on the recording, and that was most of all because of the bass. It sounded detached from the rest of the spectrum, and only appeared with extreme authority and weight when asked to. When it wasn’t asked, it seemed as if the bass drivers were simply turned off.
The Roxannes, however, always sound big and weighty. It’s always full and thick. At first, I thought this happened because of the bass (even with the bass control at the minimum). With time, I realized that this happened because of the mids, probably because of some mild mid-bass hump which, to be clear, did not impair clarity of transparency.
Consequently, the feeling I have is that, with the bass control at the minimum, the sound is not as light and airy as I expected. It still sounds thick, but with a sort of hole before the mids. As I increase the bass quantity, this frequency starts to fill a space that was already there waiting for it in the first place. What I would love, however, would be to have a thin and light presentation for some genres and, as I increased the bass control, the low frequencies would begin to appear and to form a firm and authoritative base, like I heard from the JH13 Pro in many situations. That way, I would be able to suit the bass to the music.
With the way that the bass control is implemented, however, I don’t see many options. It’s as if its sound was only one and I had the bass control simple to find not the sound that suits a particular moment, but the one that sounds coherent with its personality as a whole. So I just found my preferred position for the bass knob and left it alone. With less the sound is think but there seems to be something lacking, and with more I get a subwoofer in my ears.
Anyway, after I found my preferred position for the bass knob, I found that its performance in that region is excellent. The bass quantity becomes perfectly appropriate and coherent with the rest of the spectrum, and they possess startling definition, texture and extension. The bass is fat and rounded, but at the same time incredibly transparent.
This duality, which is still present in the mids, may be, to me, the most singular characteristic of the Roxannes. It is, along with the HE90, the only headphone or earphone I’ve ever heard that mixes this much mass, weight and body with extreme transparency. The only other headphones that possess this character to some extent are the Stax SR-007, which has the transparency but not the weight and the HiFiMAN HE500, which has the weight but not the transparency. Usually, when a headphone is this sweet and euphonic, it’s not particularly transparent. Not here. All the sounds seem to be perfectly in place and aligned somehow (maybe due to freqphase?), so it’s as if it was possible to “see deeper” in the recording. I know it’s a strange analogy, but it’s the closest I can get to explaining how I hear it.
This is somewhat surprising when I take into consideration that the thick personality of the Roxannes owes itself to the mids, which means that there’s probably a mid-bass hump somewhere. Fortunately, apart from the mild issues I have with the bass, there are no prices to pay. After all, this character – which reminds me of the Westone UM3X in a way – doesn’t hurt transparency and resolution. Quite the opposite: the result is that the mids sound exceptionally natural. This is what defines them. The timbre seems sport on, and this weighty and thick character, along with the feeling of alignment and transparency creates very tridimensional mids that seem to be alive. Another quality that helps is the absence of a plasticky character that is present in every other BA earphone I’ve heard so far.
All of those traits makes the Roxanne sound a lot closer than usual to full-sizes: it really sounds huge. The JH13s and the Mentors sound like earbuds next to these. However, despite all the spacial capabilities and the weighty but transparent character, there’s not denying: this is still and in-ear and it simply does not sound as spacial and as open as a headphone. There’s a lot of transparency and resolution, but the sounds are, despite considerably tridimensional, still close to each other. Considering the analogy I’ve made above: the sounds are close but perfectly aligned, so it’s possible to “see deep through the slits”. I don’t have this feeling with full-size headphones because the sounds are not close, so instead of having a slit between sounds, there’s a bigger space that doesn’t feel like a slit in the first place.
I’ve read pretty divergent opinions about the treble. Some consider them harsh, while many feel a lack of presence in that region. What I know is that Jerry Harvey seeked to overcome the limitations of the technology in balanced armatures – achieving highs with proper extension and providing a linear and neutral response in this end of the spectrum, with no artificial sparkle. In my opinion, he achieved that with flying colours. There’s no artificial sparkle as in most other headphones, so that’s why many will find the Roxannes to be lacking in clarity and brightness.
The result is that those IEMs don’t have prominent highs but, in my opinion, is spot on with regards to timbre and truthfulness of instruments that reside in this region. It reminds me a lot of the Grado HP1000s, but with slightly less withdrawn treble. The treble response is among the things that I appreciate the most in the Roxannes, as they provide a very accurate response along with a smooth and fatigue-free experience.
CONCLUSIONS Maybe, in this text, I have explicited more downsides of the Roxannes than you, the reader, might have been expecting. So I’ll just make it clear: this last masterpiece from Jerry Harvey is undoubtedly the best in-ear I’ve ever heard, by a wide margin.
The reasons are simple: everything in them, even the small issues, seem to build a distinct personality. It doesn’t sound like a dry, authoritative and fun monitor, but rather an earphone targeted at the audiophile crowd. It’s not that I consider it neutral, but it is, quite clearly, one of the most organic headphones I’ve ever auditioned – maybe even the most.
I’m not sure about how to define this character clearly, but I know that it’s exactly what the Roxannes portray. With it, music sounds alive, palpable and organic. Everything I hear with it is jut enchanting.
At the same time, however, I know that it isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t have the energy and the fun-factor that I used to have with the JH13s or that I heard with the Mentor or even with the Merlin. I know that I wouldn’t be able to live solely with either of them now since I’d consider it a downgrade – the Roxannes goes far ahead any IEM I’ve yet heard in some aspects –, but I’m not going to lie, I’d love to have something like an improved JH13 Pro (with regards to transparency and linearity of mids and highs) to complement the Roxannes as the “fun” earphone.
Nevertheless, I can’t forget that it’s impossible to have everything in one single headphone. Unfortunately, that’s not how our hobby works. That’s why I own many: Audio-Technica W3000ANV and M50, Grado HP1000, HiFiMAN HE500 and Sennheiser HD800 and Amperior. Big names.
These little earphones, however, are my favorites of them all.
Associated equipment:
Portable: iPod Classic, Sony NW-ZX1, Sony Xperia Z2
Desktop: iMac, Abrahamsen V6.0, B.M.C. PureDAC, HeadAmp GS-X
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Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much, Zorin
themad
Excellent and detailed review! Thanks for that and congrats for the acquisition!
Leonardo Drummond
Oh, look who's here! Thanks, man!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Extreme accuracy, life-like with reference acoustic recordings
Cons: Very uncomfortable, will not suit any genre, rare and expensive
INTRODUCTION
First of all, excuse my English if you find any mistakes – I'm not a native speaker.
I suppose these don’t need much introduction. They were the first Grados – all made by Joe Grado himself –, and are usually regarded as some of the best headphones ever made. Even by today’s standards they are a reference for neutrality.
Three variations were produced: HP1s (with polarity switch), HP2s (without polarity switch) and HP3s (without polarity switch and more tolerant driver matching). There were also at least two cables used during the HP1000s’ production: the Joseph Grado Signature Ultra-Wide Bandwith Reference Cable and the Grado Signature Laboratory Standard Audio Cable. From what I could gather, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus as to which is better or rarer. This review was done about an HP2 with the JGSUWBRC, but since then I replaced it with an HP1 with the GSLSAC (had both for a short period of time) and found that they sound exactly the same.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
The HP1000s are pretty much equal to other Grados, but with a few distinguishing details that make them, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful headphones ever made. The whole structure is made out of metal, unlike all other the other Grados, which have plastic and/or wood. Joseph Grado wasn’t fooling around: this is a tough old bird.
The headband is made of genuine leather, but that doesn’t mean it’s comfortable: it definitely isn’t. The weight is quite substantial and the headband has got pretty much no padding, so it exerts considerable pressure on the top of my head. The clamping force adjustment is a joke: you do it by bending (!) the headband. Yes. On a 1.5K headphone. Only those who have done it will know how scary it is to do such a thing on such a rare and expensive headphone. The up side is that you can pretty much adjust it to your liking, unlike most other headphones I know. Vertical adjustment is made by the traditional Grado rods – but in here the whole thing is made entirely out of metal and there are little screws that secure the rods in place.
The original pads are similar to current Grados flat pads, but have a more consistent foam and a hole in the middle. I’ve tried all other pads and these (which are now sold through TTVJ) undoubtedly give me the best sound. The trade-off is that they’re incredibly uncomfortable. I really can’t wear these headphones for more than 30 minutes without some rest.
THE SOUND
The HP1000s are usually regarded as being completely different from all other Grados. This was not my first impression, however. It is indeed more relaxed, less energetic and darker than the other Grados I know, but the crude and direct house sound is still intact. Tonal balance still seems to be centered on the mids, but the highs are much more relaxed than the brand’s recent offerings.
Regardless, I’ll go straight to the point: these are easily one of the most neutral headphones I’ve ever heard. Not long ago I reviewed the Orpheus, and my conclusion was that even though it might not be entirely neutral to the media, with its slight colorations it ends up being (accidentally or not) extremely natural and neutral do the original musical event. The Grados, to me, achieve a similar level of neutrality, but in a completely different way.
The Sennheisers seem to show you an embellished reality, putting you in the middle of a gorgeous and well decorated scenario, with beautiful musicians playing beautiful sounds around you. You appreciate every detail that is presented in great style. The HP1000s, on the other hand, show you a much cruder version of reality. It simply portrays an ugly reality, with tired and sweaty musicians playing on a dirty stage, after hours of recording.
Bass is very good. They’re not as strong as some other reviews made me believe, but they have good presence and excellent definition, impact and speed. However, extension is not that great – it’s good, but not spectacular. Integration of this region with the rest of the spectrum is seamless. In some cases I feel that they could be a little bit more present, but this is very recording-dependent. Reference recordings will find one of the best performances every, but artificial genres, such as electronic music, not so much. Some might find the bass to be a bit too dry.
The mids are the best – though the most complicated – aspect of the HP1000s. The thing is that to me they do sound forward, like other Grados, but the interesting thing is that this doesn’t seem to affect the way in which the tonal balance is translated to a truthful presentation. It’s as if we had mid-centered instruments (voices, guitars, pianos, etc.) more forward than the others in the Grado’s soundstage – something that usually happens in real performances, by the way. This is quite interesting, as something that initially sounds like an alteration of the tonal balance ends up sounding more adequate and real.
This characteristic is one of the biggest reasons for this raw character that the HP1000s possess. In some styles, this nude and crude reality is exactly what I want. There seems to be no artificialities, but at the same time the mids do sound forward, composing a personality that is borderline unpleasant – but it’s as if it was a reality that is borderline unpleasant, and this is the key here. It sounds like reality, so for a headphone, it’s almost pure perfection. That’s the HP1000s’ paradox. In acoustic reference recordings it sounds, well, like the reference, and in some cases, particularly with rock music, guitars just seem to attack your ears in a life-like way. It’s bloody fantastic.
The highs, just like the mids, are something special. I’m fairly sensitive to how treble should sound – I had a band for a while and I know how cymbals should sound, and the truth is that like 95% of the high-end headphones I know (that includes HD800s, JH13 Pros, SR-007, T1, HE500 and many others) just get them wrong. There seems to be some bright spots that completely distorts cymbals. I should say, though, that this is also highly dependent on the recording as well. There seems to be some peaks in the treble that somehow are in the wrong place, and the results frequently are cymbals that have no body. They simply don’t sound like the real deal.
I know of a few headphones that do get them right – HD600, HE90 and K1000 immediately spring to mind –, and to me, the HP1000s outclass them. They may be the most realistic treble I’ve ever heard on a headphone before. They are slightly laid back, especially compared to the forward mids, but in terms of timbre, they are simply spot-on. Cymbals have body, attack, presence and an extremely realistic decay. Some of my reference recordings for treble are Mogwai’s The Hawk is Howling and Hard Rock Will Never Die, But You Will and Esperanza Spalding’s Esperanza. With the Grados, I found what are the most realistic cymbals I’ve ever heard on headphones to date.
In terms of transparency the HP1000s are good but already show their age. It’s not nearly as transparent as something like an HD800, even though, to me, they do sound more realistic in its overall signature. The same can be said about speed: the Grados are somewhat quick for a dynamic of this age, but comparing them to may modern offerings will show you that they are indeed 20+ year old headphones.
Soundstage is considerably more expansive than the brand’s usual, but it’s still small and can’t be compared to something like an AKG K702 or an HD800. It resembles the LCD2 in that regard, though a bit better since the Audez’es have a fuller sound that seems to diminish their spacial capabilities.
CONCLUSIONS
The HP1000s are truly incredible headphones. In my opinion, if you feed it the right recordings, it simply sounds like the real thing.
It’s not as neutral as an HD800, HE90 or JH13 Pro... it’s quite hard to explain. What happens is that it sounds raw. That’s the word that better describes it. That’s why it doesn’t work with every genre, and I why wouldn’t want to live with them as my only headphones – its nude and crude reality is not always welcome.
An HD800, for example, has got reasonably present bass, sweet and cohesive mids but treble that’s slightly hot and with a detail retrieval that simply surpasses the limits of what would be natural. A JH13 Pro is like an extremely capable studio monitor, full of energy but with slightly accentuated bass and treble – which sound a bit wrong in terms of timbre.
The Orpheus is pure perfection, but has it’s euphonic signature and diffuse soundstage, also with a relatively unnatural detail retrieval in many cases. Like I said before, it seems to embellish the music. Don’t get me wrong – they’re still by far the best headphones I’ve ever heard, but in absolute terms, the HP1000s are just as neutral, though in a different way. An HE90 lets you hear every nuances of a female voice, for example: the breathing, the opening lips, as if the singer was there whispering to you. The Grados just leave them on the stage, doing whatever it is they want to do, their way, not looking to please you.
It’s really quite different. It sounds acoustic, analog – but not the warm-vinyl-analog, I mean analog in the sense that it sounds like a passive tool that conveys all the sonic and physic nature of instruments, with all their perfections and imperfections.
With the right recordings, they don’t sound like a studio recording. They just sound like the real deal.
Associated Equipment: HeadAmp GS-X, Meier Audio Eartube, Melos SHA-1, Woo Audio WA3, Electrocompaniet ECD-1, Abrahamsen V6.0, Cambridge Audio DacMagic.
Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much for your comment, devouringone. I've learned a lot about the HP1000s with your posts – it's clear that you are one of the Grado's conoisseur! So it makes me really happy that you liked my review!
I just read that link about your mod and it seems indeed very interesting! I used to have the yellow pads but now I don't (they were sold along with my former HP2s), although I became quite interested in your proposition and would be happy to buy a pair to try it out.
I tried every type of Grado pad and the TTVJ gave me the best sound, along with the yellow pads. The HP1000s were definitely made to be used with flats indeed.
Once again, thank you for your comment! It's really great to have some one this knowledgeable about these Grados around here. They truly deserve it!
devouringone3
TTVJ flats were also my favorite pads, behind the HD414's and the bowls in that order. Then Joseph Grado improved flat pads became my costly favorites, by a fair margin, because after that the TTVJ sounded pale (echo-y / unfocused / muffled) in comparison.
For all those pads I ended up preferring the sound of 3M Scotch tape around them. Except for the HD414's which don't behave as most Grado pads do. Tape modifying them the traditional way didn't change anything to their sound signature, so I invented the “Sunflower” Grado mod that I have yet to make official in a dedicated thread. I don't recommend applying the mod to any other pad than the HD414's.
My mod improves in the same direction Joseph Grado did with his improved flat pads. I have no hesitation recommending people to buy and modify those yellow sponges, because I think there will be no going back for anyone trying it.
The forwardness of the midrange has been thoroughly discussed (called “glare” by LCfiner and “shoutiness” by Purrin) and though I'm equalizing out presently, I will be trying HP 1000 drivers in wooden cups of various geometries (and in my full Symphones Magnum too) to rule out if whether the effect is coming from the drivers alone or the cups. Some have commented about possible benefits of suppressing that vocal highlighting the HP 1000 does. http://www.head-fi.org/t/596028/joe-grado-hp1000-modifications
Leonardo Drummond
Interesting, devouringone!
I'm very interesting in trying the mod. Not sure I want to get rid of the forwardness of the midrange though
It's one of the things that make them a very special headphone!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Incredibly seductive and euphonic sound, luxurious look and feel
Cons: Not the last word in comfort, small differentiation to other AT products, slightly genre-selective
I’ve always been curious about the Audio-Technica woodies, and recently had the opportunity to spend some time with the latest one, the W3000ANV, thanks to an audiophile friend in Brazil.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
I’m slightly on the fence here. In terms of appearance this headphone is spectacularly pretty and luxurious. The wood is extremely tasteful but discreet, since there’s a thick layer of varnish and a burgundy paint, that seem to mask a little bit of the wood’s natural grain.
My slight reservations are towards the fact that, apart from the wooden cups and some other details – such as the pads, colours of the plastic structure and the cable cloth and the plug –, it’s pretty much identical to the A700X that I reviewed a short while ago (not here). The W3000ANV cost 10 times the A700Xs price, so I expected more distinct differences between them. I’m not sure if it’s the younger brother that’s better built than its price suggests, but I guess I’d expect some more differentiation between them – such as metal instead of plastic in some areas.
Another issue is that I found the W3000ANV a little heavy, and as the pads that act as headbands don’t offer a lot of support, the headphones end up not being very secure and falling a bit – consequently, the cups go down and the pads make more pressure on the lower part of my ears than what I’d be comfortable with. Therefore, to me, it’s not particularly comfortable. I’m aware, however, that this is a personal issue.
Regardless of those problems, there’s no denying that those headphones are quite spectacular physically. The same compliments can be made to the packaging and presentation: Audio-Technica really know how to present a TOTL product.
THE SOUND
The first impression I got was that it sounded pretty much like I expected: it had a very sweet, euphonic and delicious presentation. That comes, of course, at the cost of neutrality. But honestly, hearing what those headphones do to my music, I keep asking myself what the hell I’d want neutrality for. It’s quite difficult to put in words the sensation that the W3000ANV gives you... it’s a really incredible sweetness, and few times have I ever heard anything like it.
Another characteristic that’s immediately evident is the ability of not having any of the downsides normally associated with closed headphones. It doesn’t have the openness and sense of breath as open backed headphones, but then I see considerable spaciousness here and there doesn’t seem to be any nasal characteristics to the mids.
The bass is sensational, and just like with the AD700X, they remind me a lot the Sony EX1000 in-ear – that’s a compliment, as I find the bass on these to be fantastic. They have strong presence, at the proportion which I would consider ideal, but in a very subtle and delicate way, without sacrificing any definition. It very competently displays texture. There’s reasonable impact as well, but it’s not that usual dry, impactful bass –the lows are slow and silky. The only issue that I have here is that there’s a discreet lack of weight and substance. However, if this is a price to pay for the euphonic nature of the bass, so be it.
Regarding the mids... they’re also an example of how to enchant. The tonal balance is very natural and correct on these, therefore in terms of presence the mids are more or less precisely where I’d want them to be given the W3000ANV’s purpose. The timbre is irreprehensible, but what really makes the difference is the irresistible nature of the mids here. Once again there’s an incredible warmth that’s extremely seductive and makes the coldest systems sound like the most euphonic ones. Really, it makes it seem as if the cables and power outlet had tubes.
And that doesn’t come at the cost of transparency and definition. It goes quite a bit beyond what “sweet and euphonic” seem to usually suggest. Obviously these Audio-Technicas don’t present the levels of resolution of something like an HD800, but I was surprised to hear how it doesn’t make you feel like you’re missing anything. And if it does, really... I wouldn’t care.
However, there’s an issue here that’s quite hard to explain, but it sounds as if it didn’t have the mass that such warmth usually suggests – like I hear, for example, with the HiFiMAN HE500s. There’s also a significant tridimensional quality to these headphones, and it appears that those two characteristics and up making the presentation a wee bit light and distance. Consequently, I see myself frequently compensating by turning up the volume. It’s not a negative thing, just a characteristic, but I’m slightly on the fence about this.
The treble is, again, fantastic. Not for being perfect – they are undoubtedly coloured –, but for being totally in harmony with the W3000ANVs general sound and also for being what I’d precisely call euphonic highs. I think, in most cases, present highs are related to coldness, but in here this couldn’t be further from the truth. Not that they’re excessive or lacking – maybe it’s sounding a bit too good to be true, but I’ll once again refer to the classic “they are where they should be”.
Here, I’m impressed with these headphone’s ability to show perfectly present and well extended treble within a sonority well into the euphonic camp without causing any harm to this characteristic. Usually, I find that the sweetest headphones have relaxed highs, but the W3000ANV goes completely against this tendency with flying colours, and therefore doesn’t bring any of the disadvantages usually associated to it – such as lack of sparkle and of definition.
Speaking of sparkle, there seems to be a small peak – generally inoffensive, but that can, on rare ocasions, present some sibilance – that was put on the best spot possible. I really can’t explain well enough, but the highs in these headphones are also mesmerizing. They don’t have perfect timbre, but they can show presence, definition and extension along with subtleness and tenderness.
The results of all this, as should be clear by now, is that the W3000ANV is not an all-rounder. It wasn’t made to play rock or electronic music – it can, well enough, but it really shows what it’s made for playing Kind of Blue in a rainy afternoon. Any instrument that depends on sweet mids will find nirvana here.
CONCLUSIONS
I’m completely in love with it.
I’ve made an effort to show my enthusiasm in this review, but this is not because of a lack of it – quite the opposite. This is because the last thing I wanted to do with the W3000ANV was to analyze it. The only thing I feel like doing with it is to listen to music.
Frankly, to analyze this headphone is a bit nonsense. If there’s one thing it wasn’t made for, is to be analyzed. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such euphony and musicality in a sound equipment. It constantly reminds me the reason why I’m so much into music – because, to me, it was impossible not to be completely carried away by the way it presents it.
The W3000ANV is totally irresistible and is easily the most seductive means of listening to music I’ve ever had the chance of hearing. This makes it one of the best headphones I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to.
jjvvcckk
attractive looks! good review
NEETnoNEED
awesome review, thanks for sharing.
jujuju
Just caught up with this - A great review - I have a pair of these and they are lovely - I think you have summed the sound up very well !! These headphones may be destined to be Legends !!!
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As most of you should now, the Roxanne sits at the top of JH Audio’s line-up at 1.649 dollars, sporting 12 balanced armatures per ear in a three way configuration, the freqphase technology, passive bass control on the cable and the optional carbon fibre shell, at 500 dollars.
It brings, therefore, all the expertise that the maker has acquired over the last years.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS One of the things that surprised me when I saw the Unique Melody Mentor demo for the first time was how small it was for something that houses 10 BAs. The Roxanne only has two more, but it is considerably larger. It protrudes from the ears quite a bit more than my old JH13 Pro, but not enough to draw too much attention to itself.
Another difference is the cable which, because of the extra conductors (there are six in total, as opposed to the usual three) needed for the bass control, is a lot thicker than the norm for this type of product. However, it’s not heavy and it’s quite flexible. The plug looks simple but not low quality and the connector on the earpieces is well thought and efficient, despite the issues that it had with cracks – that has been solved with the use of metal nuts.
I also like the bass control. Fortunately it isn’t located close to the earpieces (something that would be terrible because of weight and microphonics), but close to the plug. This means that it can stay inside the pockets, along with my mobile or DAP, and adjustments can be made in a convenient fashion – just like we take the DAP out of the pockets to change tracks, we can do the same to adjust the bass. The only problem is that the knobs are quite small and require the small tool included to be adjusted. The upside to that is that it’s almost impossible to mess with it by accident.
The carbon fibre version of the Roxannes are, when well made, a piece of art. I won’t talk about aesthetic preferences, but this material is arguably sophisticated and it’s very unusual to see a custom earphone, made just for use, using a material that is usually reserved for high-performance sports car or in the aerospace industry.
The included case is also made of this material, with an aluminium outer structure and an internal piece that houses a negative impressions of the earpieces where they are stored. The writing on the case is made with lasers (I think), including the name of the owner – a big improvement over the sticker on the Otter cases that JH Audio used to use. Despite having shown problems with the resin in some units – such as bubbles and badly placed fibres –, this piece is seriously cool. It does look like it stores something rather special. However, I can’t deny that it’s also spectacularly inconvenient, and storing the earpieces in the correct manner is annoying and takes maybe about a minute. This made me buy their regular case as well – just a small metal rounded case.
The list of accessories included is rather slim, however. Apart from the case, you only get a velvet bag, a cleaning tool and the tool for the bass adjustment. No ¼ inch adapter or even a manual.
THE SOUND My first impression was, if I’m honest, of estrangement. I was expecting something like a JH13 on steroids, or at least something close to all the other high-end monitors I’ve ever auditioned, but what I heard was completely different. When I received the Roxannes I was auditioning the UM Mentor demo, and I was surprised with how different they were – especially since the Mentor sounded reasonably close to my old pre-freqphase JH13.
The way that I perceive the Roxanne has gone through several phases. I won’t spend much time with them so as not to bother the reader, but it suffices to say that at the beginning I heard a monitor with what seemed like exaggerated bass, even with the control at the minimum, thick and weighty mids, a somewhat claustrophobic presentation but, above all else, a big sound.
Today, however, I see it as a truly spectacular in-ear monitor: scarily natural and, like the JH13 Pro, it has the ability to excel in everything I ask it to play – however, in a different way.
I’ll start with the lower regions, which are somewhat complicated: while I like its bass performance, it’s not perfect and the bass control doesn’t really work like what I’d prefer. I’ll explain: the JH13 kept surprising me because it had the chamaleonic ability to sound small and think or big and authoritative solely depending on the recording, and that was most of all because of the bass. It sounded detached from the rest of the spectrum, and only appeared with extreme authority and weight when asked to. When it wasn’t asked, it seemed as if the bass drivers were simply turned off.
The Roxannes, however, always sound big and weighty. It’s always full and thick. At first, I thought this happened because of the bass (even with the bass control at the minimum). With time, I realized that this happened because of the mids, probably because of some mild mid-bass hump which, to be clear, did not impair clarity of transparency.
Consequently, the feeling I have is that, with the bass control at the minimum, the sound is not as light and airy as I expected. It still sounds thick, but with a sort of hole before the mids. As I increase the bass quantity, this frequency starts to fill a space that was already there waiting for it in the first place. What I would love, however, would be to have a thin and light presentation for some genres and, as I increased the bass control, the low frequencies would begin to appear and to form a firm and authoritative base, like I heard from the JH13 Pro in many situations. That way, I would be able to suit the bass to the music.
With the way that the bass control is implemented, however, I don’t see many options. It’s as if its sound was only one and I had the bass control simple to find not the sound that suits a particular moment, but the one that sounds coherent with its personality as a whole. So I just found my preferred position for the bass knob and left it alone. With less the sound is think but there seems to be something lacking, and with more I get a subwoofer in my ears.
Anyway, after I found my preferred position for the bass knob, I found that its performance in that region is excellent. The bass quantity becomes perfectly appropriate and coherent with the rest of the spectrum, and they possess startling definition, texture and extension. The bass is fat and rounded, but at the same time incredibly transparent.
This duality, which is still present in the mids, may be, to me, the most singular characteristic of the Roxannes. It is, along with the HE90, the only headphone or earphone I’ve ever heard that mixes this much mass, weight and body with extreme transparency. The only other headphones that possess this character to some extent are the Stax SR-007, which has the transparency but not the weight and the HiFiMAN HE500, which has the weight but not the transparency. Usually, when a headphone is this sweet and euphonic, it’s not particularly transparent. Not here. All the sounds seem to be perfectly in place and aligned somehow (maybe due to freqphase?), so it’s as if it was possible to “see deeper” in the recording. I know it’s a strange analogy, but it’s the closest I can get to explaining how I hear it.
This is somewhat surprising when I take into consideration that the thick personality of the Roxannes owes itself to the mids, which means that there’s probably a mid-bass hump somewhere. Fortunately, apart from the mild issues I have with the bass, there are no prices to pay. After all, this character – which reminds me of the Westone UM3X in a way – doesn’t hurt transparency and resolution. Quite the opposite: the result is that the mids sound exceptionally natural. This is what defines them. The timbre seems sport on, and this weighty and thick character, along with the feeling of alignment and transparency creates very tridimensional mids that seem to be alive. Another quality that helps is the absence of a plasticky character that is present in every other BA earphone I’ve heard so far.
All of those traits makes the Roxanne sound a lot closer than usual to full-sizes: it really sounds huge. The JH13s and the Mentors sound like earbuds next to these. However, despite all the spacial capabilities and the weighty but transparent character, there’s not denying: this is still and in-ear and it simply does not sound as spacial and as open as a headphone. There’s a lot of transparency and resolution, but the sounds are, despite considerably tridimensional, still close to each other. Considering the analogy I’ve made above: the sounds are close but perfectly aligned, so it’s possible to “see deep through the slits”. I don’t have this feeling with full-size headphones because the sounds are not close, so instead of having a slit between sounds, there’s a bigger space that doesn’t feel like a slit in the first place.
I’ve read pretty divergent opinions about the treble. Some consider them harsh, while many feel a lack of presence in that region. What I know is that Jerry Harvey seeked to overcome the limitations of the technology in balanced armatures – achieving highs with proper extension and providing a linear and neutral response in this end of the spectrum, with no artificial sparkle. In my opinion, he achieved that with flying colours. There’s no artificial sparkle as in most other headphones, so that’s why many will find the Roxannes to be lacking in clarity and brightness.
The result is that those IEMs don’t have prominent highs but, in my opinion, is spot on with regards to timbre and truthfulness of instruments that reside in this region. It reminds me a lot of the Grado HP1000s, but with slightly less withdrawn treble. The treble response is among the things that I appreciate the most in the Roxannes, as they provide a very accurate response along with a smooth and fatigue-free experience.
CONCLUSIONS Maybe, in this text, I have explicited more downsides of the Roxannes than you, the reader, might have been expecting. So I’ll just make it clear: this last masterpiece from Jerry Harvey is undoubtedly the best in-ear I’ve ever heard, by a wide margin.
The reasons are simple: everything in them, even the small issues, seem to build a distinct personality. It doesn’t sound like a dry, authoritative and fun monitor, but rather an earphone targeted at the audiophile crowd. It’s not that I consider it neutral, but it is, quite clearly, one of the most organic headphones I’ve ever auditioned – maybe even the most.
I’m not sure about how to define this character clearly, but I know that it’s exactly what the Roxannes portray. With it, music sounds alive, palpable and organic. Everything I hear with it is jut enchanting.
At the same time, however, I know that it isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t have the energy and the fun-factor that I used to have with the JH13s or that I heard with the Mentor or even with the Merlin. I know that I wouldn’t be able to live solely with either of them now since I’d consider it a downgrade – the Roxannes goes far ahead any IEM I’ve yet heard in some aspects –, but I’m not going to lie, I’d love to have something like an improved JH13 Pro (with regards to transparency and linearity of mids and highs) to complement the Roxannes as the “fun” earphone.
Nevertheless, I can’t forget that it’s impossible to have everything in one single headphone. Unfortunately, that’s not how our hobby works. That’s why I own many: Audio-Technica W3000ANV and M50, Grado HP1000, HiFiMAN HE500 and Sennheiser HD800 and Amperior. Big names.
These little earphones, however, are my favorites of them all.
Associated equipment:
Portable: iPod Classic, Sony NW-ZX1, Sony Xperia Z2
Desktop: iMac, Abrahamsen V6.0, B.M.C. PureDAC, HeadAmp GS-X
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Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much, Zorin
themad
Excellent and detailed review! Thanks for that and congrats for the acquisition!
Leonardo Drummond
Oh, look who's here! Thanks, man!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Extreme accuracy, life-like with reference acoustic recordings
Cons: Very uncomfortable, will not suit any genre, rare and expensive
INTRODUCTION
First of all, excuse my English if you find any mistakes – I'm not a native speaker.
I suppose these don’t need much introduction. They were the first Grados – all made by Joe Grado himself –, and are usually regarded as some of the best headphones ever made. Even by today’s standards they are a reference for neutrality.
Three variations were produced: HP1s (with polarity switch), HP2s (without polarity switch) and HP3s (without polarity switch and more tolerant driver matching). There were also at least two cables used during the HP1000s’ production: the Joseph Grado Signature Ultra-Wide Bandwith Reference Cable and the Grado Signature Laboratory Standard Audio Cable. From what I could gather, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus as to which is better or rarer. This review was done about an HP2 with the JGSUWBRC, but since then I replaced it with an HP1 with the GSLSAC (had both for a short period of time) and found that they sound exactly the same.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
The HP1000s are pretty much equal to other Grados, but with a few distinguishing details that make them, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful headphones ever made. The whole structure is made out of metal, unlike all other the other Grados, which have plastic and/or wood. Joseph Grado wasn’t fooling around: this is a tough old bird.
The headband is made of genuine leather, but that doesn’t mean it’s comfortable: it definitely isn’t. The weight is quite substantial and the headband has got pretty much no padding, so it exerts considerable pressure on the top of my head. The clamping force adjustment is a joke: you do it by bending (!) the headband. Yes. On a 1.5K headphone. Only those who have done it will know how scary it is to do such a thing on such a rare and expensive headphone. The up side is that you can pretty much adjust it to your liking, unlike most other headphones I know. Vertical adjustment is made by the traditional Grado rods – but in here the whole thing is made entirely out of metal and there are little screws that secure the rods in place.
The original pads are similar to current Grados flat pads, but have a more consistent foam and a hole in the middle. I’ve tried all other pads and these (which are now sold through TTVJ) undoubtedly give me the best sound. The trade-off is that they’re incredibly uncomfortable. I really can’t wear these headphones for more than 30 minutes without some rest.
THE SOUND
The HP1000s are usually regarded as being completely different from all other Grados. This was not my first impression, however. It is indeed more relaxed, less energetic and darker than the other Grados I know, but the crude and direct house sound is still intact. Tonal balance still seems to be centered on the mids, but the highs are much more relaxed than the brand’s recent offerings.
Regardless, I’ll go straight to the point: these are easily one of the most neutral headphones I’ve ever heard. Not long ago I reviewed the Orpheus, and my conclusion was that even though it might not be entirely neutral to the media, with its slight colorations it ends up being (accidentally or not) extremely natural and neutral do the original musical event. The Grados, to me, achieve a similar level of neutrality, but in a completely different way.
The Sennheisers seem to show you an embellished reality, putting you in the middle of a gorgeous and well decorated scenario, with beautiful musicians playing beautiful sounds around you. You appreciate every detail that is presented in great style. The HP1000s, on the other hand, show you a much cruder version of reality. It simply portrays an ugly reality, with tired and sweaty musicians playing on a dirty stage, after hours of recording.
Bass is very good. They’re not as strong as some other reviews made me believe, but they have good presence and excellent definition, impact and speed. However, extension is not that great – it’s good, but not spectacular. Integration of this region with the rest of the spectrum is seamless. In some cases I feel that they could be a little bit more present, but this is very recording-dependent. Reference recordings will find one of the best performances every, but artificial genres, such as electronic music, not so much. Some might find the bass to be a bit too dry.
The mids are the best – though the most complicated – aspect of the HP1000s. The thing is that to me they do sound forward, like other Grados, but the interesting thing is that this doesn’t seem to affect the way in which the tonal balance is translated to a truthful presentation. It’s as if we had mid-centered instruments (voices, guitars, pianos, etc.) more forward than the others in the Grado’s soundstage – something that usually happens in real performances, by the way. This is quite interesting, as something that initially sounds like an alteration of the tonal balance ends up sounding more adequate and real.
This characteristic is one of the biggest reasons for this raw character that the HP1000s possess. In some styles, this nude and crude reality is exactly what I want. There seems to be no artificialities, but at the same time the mids do sound forward, composing a personality that is borderline unpleasant – but it’s as if it was a reality that is borderline unpleasant, and this is the key here. It sounds like reality, so for a headphone, it’s almost pure perfection. That’s the HP1000s’ paradox. In acoustic reference recordings it sounds, well, like the reference, and in some cases, particularly with rock music, guitars just seem to attack your ears in a life-like way. It’s bloody fantastic.
The highs, just like the mids, are something special. I’m fairly sensitive to how treble should sound – I had a band for a while and I know how cymbals should sound, and the truth is that like 95% of the high-end headphones I know (that includes HD800s, JH13 Pros, SR-007, T1, HE500 and many others) just get them wrong. There seems to be some bright spots that completely distorts cymbals. I should say, though, that this is also highly dependent on the recording as well. There seems to be some peaks in the treble that somehow are in the wrong place, and the results frequently are cymbals that have no body. They simply don’t sound like the real deal.
I know of a few headphones that do get them right – HD600, HE90 and K1000 immediately spring to mind –, and to me, the HP1000s outclass them. They may be the most realistic treble I’ve ever heard on a headphone before. They are slightly laid back, especially compared to the forward mids, but in terms of timbre, they are simply spot-on. Cymbals have body, attack, presence and an extremely realistic decay. Some of my reference recordings for treble are Mogwai’s The Hawk is Howling and Hard Rock Will Never Die, But You Will and Esperanza Spalding’s Esperanza. With the Grados, I found what are the most realistic cymbals I’ve ever heard on headphones to date.
In terms of transparency the HP1000s are good but already show their age. It’s not nearly as transparent as something like an HD800, even though, to me, they do sound more realistic in its overall signature. The same can be said about speed: the Grados are somewhat quick for a dynamic of this age, but comparing them to may modern offerings will show you that they are indeed 20+ year old headphones.
Soundstage is considerably more expansive than the brand’s usual, but it’s still small and can’t be compared to something like an AKG K702 or an HD800. It resembles the LCD2 in that regard, though a bit better since the Audez’es have a fuller sound that seems to diminish their spacial capabilities.
CONCLUSIONS
The HP1000s are truly incredible headphones. In my opinion, if you feed it the right recordings, it simply sounds like the real thing.
It’s not as neutral as an HD800, HE90 or JH13 Pro... it’s quite hard to explain. What happens is that it sounds raw. That’s the word that better describes it. That’s why it doesn’t work with every genre, and I why wouldn’t want to live with them as my only headphones – its nude and crude reality is not always welcome.
An HD800, for example, has got reasonably present bass, sweet and cohesive mids but treble that’s slightly hot and with a detail retrieval that simply surpasses the limits of what would be natural. A JH13 Pro is like an extremely capable studio monitor, full of energy but with slightly accentuated bass and treble – which sound a bit wrong in terms of timbre.
The Orpheus is pure perfection, but has it’s euphonic signature and diffuse soundstage, also with a relatively unnatural detail retrieval in many cases. Like I said before, it seems to embellish the music. Don’t get me wrong – they’re still by far the best headphones I’ve ever heard, but in absolute terms, the HP1000s are just as neutral, though in a different way. An HE90 lets you hear every nuances of a female voice, for example: the breathing, the opening lips, as if the singer was there whispering to you. The Grados just leave them on the stage, doing whatever it is they want to do, their way, not looking to please you.
It’s really quite different. It sounds acoustic, analog – but not the warm-vinyl-analog, I mean analog in the sense that it sounds like a passive tool that conveys all the sonic and physic nature of instruments, with all their perfections and imperfections.
With the right recordings, they don’t sound like a studio recording. They just sound like the real deal.
Associated Equipment: HeadAmp GS-X, Meier Audio Eartube, Melos SHA-1, Woo Audio WA3, Electrocompaniet ECD-1, Abrahamsen V6.0, Cambridge Audio DacMagic.
Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much for your comment, devouringone. I've learned a lot about the HP1000s with your posts – it's clear that you are one of the Grado's conoisseur! So it makes me really happy that you liked my review!
I just read that link about your mod and it seems indeed very interesting! I used to have the yellow pads but now I don't (they were sold along with my former HP2s), although I became quite interested in your proposition and would be happy to buy a pair to try it out.
I tried every type of Grado pad and the TTVJ gave me the best sound, along with the yellow pads. The HP1000s were definitely made to be used with flats indeed.
Once again, thank you for your comment! It's really great to have some one this knowledgeable about these Grados around here. They truly deserve it!
devouringone3
TTVJ flats were also my favorite pads, behind the HD414's and the bowls in that order. Then Joseph Grado improved flat pads became my costly favorites, by a fair margin, because after that the TTVJ sounded pale (echo-y / unfocused / muffled) in comparison.
For all those pads I ended up preferring the sound of 3M Scotch tape around them. Except for the HD414's which don't behave as most Grado pads do. Tape modifying them the traditional way didn't change anything to their sound signature, so I invented the “Sunflower” Grado mod that I have yet to make official in a dedicated thread. I don't recommend applying the mod to any other pad than the HD414's.
My mod improves in the same direction Joseph Grado did with his improved flat pads. I have no hesitation recommending people to buy and modify those yellow sponges, because I think there will be no going back for anyone trying it.
The forwardness of the midrange has been thoroughly discussed (called “glare” by LCfiner and “shoutiness” by Purrin) and though I'm equalizing out presently, I will be trying HP 1000 drivers in wooden cups of various geometries (and in my full Symphones Magnum too) to rule out if whether the effect is coming from the drivers alone or the cups. Some have commented about possible benefits of suppressing that vocal highlighting the HP 1000 does. http://www.head-fi.org/t/596028/joe-grado-hp1000-modifications
Leonardo Drummond
Interesting, devouringone!
I'm very interesting in trying the mod. Not sure I want to get rid of the forwardness of the midrange though
It's one of the things that make them a very special headphone!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Incredibly seductive and euphonic sound, luxurious look and feel
Cons: Not the last word in comfort, small differentiation to other AT products, slightly genre-selective
I’ve always been curious about the Audio-Technica woodies, and recently had the opportunity to spend some time with the latest one, the W3000ANV, thanks to an audiophile friend in Brazil.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
I’m slightly on the fence here. In terms of appearance this headphone is spectacularly pretty and luxurious. The wood is extremely tasteful but discreet, since there’s a thick layer of varnish and a burgundy paint, that seem to mask a little bit of the wood’s natural grain.
My slight reservations are towards the fact that, apart from the wooden cups and some other details – such as the pads, colours of the plastic structure and the cable cloth and the plug –, it’s pretty much identical to the A700X that I reviewed a short while ago (not here). The W3000ANV cost 10 times the A700Xs price, so I expected more distinct differences between them. I’m not sure if it’s the younger brother that’s better built than its price suggests, but I guess I’d expect some more differentiation between them – such as metal instead of plastic in some areas.
Another issue is that I found the W3000ANV a little heavy, and as the pads that act as headbands don’t offer a lot of support, the headphones end up not being very secure and falling a bit – consequently, the cups go down and the pads make more pressure on the lower part of my ears than what I’d be comfortable with. Therefore, to me, it’s not particularly comfortable. I’m aware, however, that this is a personal issue.
Regardless of those problems, there’s no denying that those headphones are quite spectacular physically. The same compliments can be made to the packaging and presentation: Audio-Technica really know how to present a TOTL product.
THE SOUND
The first impression I got was that it sounded pretty much like I expected: it had a very sweet, euphonic and delicious presentation. That comes, of course, at the cost of neutrality. But honestly, hearing what those headphones do to my music, I keep asking myself what the hell I’d want neutrality for. It’s quite difficult to put in words the sensation that the W3000ANV gives you... it’s a really incredible sweetness, and few times have I ever heard anything like it.
Another characteristic that’s immediately evident is the ability of not having any of the downsides normally associated with closed headphones. It doesn’t have the openness and sense of breath as open backed headphones, but then I see considerable spaciousness here and there doesn’t seem to be any nasal characteristics to the mids.
The bass is sensational, and just like with the AD700X, they remind me a lot the Sony EX1000 in-ear – that’s a compliment, as I find the bass on these to be fantastic. They have strong presence, at the proportion which I would consider ideal, but in a very subtle and delicate way, without sacrificing any definition. It very competently displays texture. There’s reasonable impact as well, but it’s not that usual dry, impactful bass –the lows are slow and silky. The only issue that I have here is that there’s a discreet lack of weight and substance. However, if this is a price to pay for the euphonic nature of the bass, so be it.
Regarding the mids... they’re also an example of how to enchant. The tonal balance is very natural and correct on these, therefore in terms of presence the mids are more or less precisely where I’d want them to be given the W3000ANV’s purpose. The timbre is irreprehensible, but what really makes the difference is the irresistible nature of the mids here. Once again there’s an incredible warmth that’s extremely seductive and makes the coldest systems sound like the most euphonic ones. Really, it makes it seem as if the cables and power outlet had tubes.
And that doesn’t come at the cost of transparency and definition. It goes quite a bit beyond what “sweet and euphonic” seem to usually suggest. Obviously these Audio-Technicas don’t present the levels of resolution of something like an HD800, but I was surprised to hear how it doesn’t make you feel like you’re missing anything. And if it does, really... I wouldn’t care.
However, there’s an issue here that’s quite hard to explain, but it sounds as if it didn’t have the mass that such warmth usually suggests – like I hear, for example, with the HiFiMAN HE500s. There’s also a significant tridimensional quality to these headphones, and it appears that those two characteristics and up making the presentation a wee bit light and distance. Consequently, I see myself frequently compensating by turning up the volume. It’s not a negative thing, just a characteristic, but I’m slightly on the fence about this.
The treble is, again, fantastic. Not for being perfect – they are undoubtedly coloured –, but for being totally in harmony with the W3000ANVs general sound and also for being what I’d precisely call euphonic highs. I think, in most cases, present highs are related to coldness, but in here this couldn’t be further from the truth. Not that they’re excessive or lacking – maybe it’s sounding a bit too good to be true, but I’ll once again refer to the classic “they are where they should be”.
Here, I’m impressed with these headphone’s ability to show perfectly present and well extended treble within a sonority well into the euphonic camp without causing any harm to this characteristic. Usually, I find that the sweetest headphones have relaxed highs, but the W3000ANV goes completely against this tendency with flying colours, and therefore doesn’t bring any of the disadvantages usually associated to it – such as lack of sparkle and of definition.
Speaking of sparkle, there seems to be a small peak – generally inoffensive, but that can, on rare ocasions, present some sibilance – that was put on the best spot possible. I really can’t explain well enough, but the highs in these headphones are also mesmerizing. They don’t have perfect timbre, but they can show presence, definition and extension along with subtleness and tenderness.
The results of all this, as should be clear by now, is that the W3000ANV is not an all-rounder. It wasn’t made to play rock or electronic music – it can, well enough, but it really shows what it’s made for playing Kind of Blue in a rainy afternoon. Any instrument that depends on sweet mids will find nirvana here.
CONCLUSIONS
I’m completely in love with it.
I’ve made an effort to show my enthusiasm in this review, but this is not because of a lack of it – quite the opposite. This is because the last thing I wanted to do with the W3000ANV was to analyze it. The only thing I feel like doing with it is to listen to music.
Frankly, to analyze this headphone is a bit nonsense. If there’s one thing it wasn’t made for, is to be analyzed. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such euphony and musicality in a sound equipment. It constantly reminds me the reason why I’m so much into music – because, to me, it was impossible not to be completely carried away by the way it presents it.
The W3000ANV is totally irresistible and is easily the most seductive means of listening to music I’ve ever had the chance of hearing. This makes it one of the best headphones I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to.
jjvvcckk
attractive looks! good review
NEETnoNEED
awesome review, thanks for sharing.
jujuju
Just caught up with this - A great review - I have a pair of these and they are lovely - I think you have summed the sound up very well !! These headphones may be destined to be Legends !!!
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PHYSICAL ASPECTS One of the things that surprised me when I saw the Unique Melody Mentor demo for the first time was how small it was for something that houses 10 BAs. The Roxanne only has two more, but it is considerably larger. It protrudes from the ears quite a bit more than my old JH13 Pro, but not enough to draw too much attention to itself.
Another difference is the cable which, because of the extra conductors (there are six in total, as opposed to the usual three) needed for the bass control, is a lot thicker than the norm for this type of product. However, it’s not heavy and it’s quite flexible. The plug looks simple but not low quality and the connector on the earpieces is well thought and efficient, despite the issues that it had with cracks – that has been solved with the use of metal nuts.
I also like the bass control. Fortunately it isn’t located close to the earpieces (something that would be terrible because of weight and microphonics), but close to the plug. This means that it can stay inside the pockets, along with my mobile or DAP, and adjustments can be made in a convenient fashion – just like we take the DAP out of the pockets to change tracks, we can do the same to adjust the bass. The only problem is that the knobs are quite small and require the small tool included to be adjusted. The upside to that is that it’s almost impossible to mess with it by accident.
The carbon fibre version of the Roxannes are, when well made, a piece of art. I won’t talk about aesthetic preferences, but this material is arguably sophisticated and it’s very unusual to see a custom earphone, made just for use, using a material that is usually reserved for high-performance sports car or in the aerospace industry.
The included case is also made of this material, with an aluminium outer structure and an internal piece that houses a negative impressions of the earpieces where they are stored. The writing on the case is made with lasers (I think), including the name of the owner – a big improvement over the sticker on the Otter cases that JH Audio used to use. Despite having shown problems with the resin in some units – such as bubbles and badly placed fibres –, this piece is seriously cool. It does look like it stores something rather special. However, I can’t deny that it’s also spectacularly inconvenient, and storing the earpieces in the correct manner is annoying and takes maybe about a minute. This made me buy their regular case as well – just a small metal rounded case.
The list of accessories included is rather slim, however. Apart from the case, you only get a velvet bag, a cleaning tool and the tool for the bass adjustment. No ¼ inch adapter or even a manual.
THE SOUND My first impression was, if I’m honest, of estrangement. I was expecting something like a JH13 on steroids, or at least something close to all the other high-end monitors I’ve ever auditioned, but what I heard was completely different. When I received the Roxannes I was auditioning the UM Mentor demo, and I was surprised with how different they were – especially since the Mentor sounded reasonably close to my old pre-freqphase JH13.
The way that I perceive the Roxanne has gone through several phases. I won’t spend much time with them so as not to bother the reader, but it suffices to say that at the beginning I heard a monitor with what seemed like exaggerated bass, even with the control at the minimum, thick and weighty mids, a somewhat claustrophobic presentation but, above all else, a big sound.
Today, however, I see it as a truly spectacular in-ear monitor: scarily natural and, like the JH13 Pro, it has the ability to excel in everything I ask it to play – however, in a different way.
I’ll start with the lower regions, which are somewhat complicated: while I like its bass performance, it’s not perfect and the bass control doesn’t really work like what I’d prefer. I’ll explain: the JH13 kept surprising me because it had the chamaleonic ability to sound small and think or big and authoritative solely depending on the recording, and that was most of all because of the bass. It sounded detached from the rest of the spectrum, and only appeared with extreme authority and weight when asked to. When it wasn’t asked, it seemed as if the bass drivers were simply turned off.
The Roxannes, however, always sound big and weighty. It’s always full and thick. At first, I thought this happened because of the bass (even with the bass control at the minimum). With time, I realized that this happened because of the mids, probably because of some mild mid-bass hump which, to be clear, did not impair clarity of transparency.
Consequently, the feeling I have is that, with the bass control at the minimum, the sound is not as light and airy as I expected. It still sounds thick, but with a sort of hole before the mids. As I increase the bass quantity, this frequency starts to fill a space that was already there waiting for it in the first place. What I would love, however, would be to have a thin and light presentation for some genres and, as I increased the bass control, the low frequencies would begin to appear and to form a firm and authoritative base, like I heard from the JH13 Pro in many situations. That way, I would be able to suit the bass to the music.
With the way that the bass control is implemented, however, I don’t see many options. It’s as if its sound was only one and I had the bass control simple to find not the sound that suits a particular moment, but the one that sounds coherent with its personality as a whole. So I just found my preferred position for the bass knob and left it alone. With less the sound is think but there seems to be something lacking, and with more I get a subwoofer in my ears.
Anyway, after I found my preferred position for the bass knob, I found that its performance in that region is excellent. The bass quantity becomes perfectly appropriate and coherent with the rest of the spectrum, and they possess startling definition, texture and extension. The bass is fat and rounded, but at the same time incredibly transparent.
This duality, which is still present in the mids, may be, to me, the most singular characteristic of the Roxannes. It is, along with the HE90, the only headphone or earphone I’ve ever heard that mixes this much mass, weight and body with extreme transparency. The only other headphones that possess this character to some extent are the Stax SR-007, which has the transparency but not the weight and the HiFiMAN HE500, which has the weight but not the transparency. Usually, when a headphone is this sweet and euphonic, it’s not particularly transparent. Not here. All the sounds seem to be perfectly in place and aligned somehow (maybe due to freqphase?), so it’s as if it was possible to “see deeper” in the recording. I know it’s a strange analogy, but it’s the closest I can get to explaining how I hear it.
This is somewhat surprising when I take into consideration that the thick personality of the Roxannes owes itself to the mids, which means that there’s probably a mid-bass hump somewhere. Fortunately, apart from the mild issues I have with the bass, there are no prices to pay. After all, this character – which reminds me of the Westone UM3X in a way – doesn’t hurt transparency and resolution. Quite the opposite: the result is that the mids sound exceptionally natural. This is what defines them. The timbre seems sport on, and this weighty and thick character, along with the feeling of alignment and transparency creates very tridimensional mids that seem to be alive. Another quality that helps is the absence of a plasticky character that is present in every other BA earphone I’ve heard so far.
All of those traits makes the Roxanne sound a lot closer than usual to full-sizes: it really sounds huge. The JH13s and the Mentors sound like earbuds next to these. However, despite all the spacial capabilities and the weighty but transparent character, there’s not denying: this is still and in-ear and it simply does not sound as spacial and as open as a headphone. There’s a lot of transparency and resolution, but the sounds are, despite considerably tridimensional, still close to each other. Considering the analogy I’ve made above: the sounds are close but perfectly aligned, so it’s possible to “see deep through the slits”. I don’t have this feeling with full-size headphones because the sounds are not close, so instead of having a slit between sounds, there’s a bigger space that doesn’t feel like a slit in the first place.
I’ve read pretty divergent opinions about the treble. Some consider them harsh, while many feel a lack of presence in that region. What I know is that Jerry Harvey seeked to overcome the limitations of the technology in balanced armatures – achieving highs with proper extension and providing a linear and neutral response in this end of the spectrum, with no artificial sparkle. In my opinion, he achieved that with flying colours. There’s no artificial sparkle as in most other headphones, so that’s why many will find the Roxannes to be lacking in clarity and brightness.
The result is that those IEMs don’t have prominent highs but, in my opinion, is spot on with regards to timbre and truthfulness of instruments that reside in this region. It reminds me a lot of the Grado HP1000s, but with slightly less withdrawn treble. The treble response is among the things that I appreciate the most in the Roxannes, as they provide a very accurate response along with a smooth and fatigue-free experience.
CONCLUSIONS Maybe, in this text, I have explicited more downsides of the Roxannes than you, the reader, might have been expecting. So I’ll just make it clear: this last masterpiece from Jerry Harvey is undoubtedly the best in-ear I’ve ever heard, by a wide margin.
The reasons are simple: everything in them, even the small issues, seem to build a distinct personality. It doesn’t sound like a dry, authoritative and fun monitor, but rather an earphone targeted at the audiophile crowd. It’s not that I consider it neutral, but it is, quite clearly, one of the most organic headphones I’ve ever auditioned – maybe even the most.
I’m not sure about how to define this character clearly, but I know that it’s exactly what the Roxannes portray. With it, music sounds alive, palpable and organic. Everything I hear with it is jut enchanting.
At the same time, however, I know that it isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t have the energy and the fun-factor that I used to have with the JH13s or that I heard with the Mentor or even with the Merlin. I know that I wouldn’t be able to live solely with either of them now since I’d consider it a downgrade – the Roxannes goes far ahead any IEM I’ve yet heard in some aspects –, but I’m not going to lie, I’d love to have something like an improved JH13 Pro (with regards to transparency and linearity of mids and highs) to complement the Roxannes as the “fun” earphone.
Nevertheless, I can’t forget that it’s impossible to have everything in one single headphone. Unfortunately, that’s not how our hobby works. That’s why I own many: Audio-Technica W3000ANV and M50, Grado HP1000, HiFiMAN HE500 and Sennheiser HD800 and Amperior. Big names.
These little earphones, however, are my favorites of them all.
Associated equipment:
Portable: iPod Classic, Sony NW-ZX1, Sony Xperia Z2
Desktop: iMac, Abrahamsen V6.0, B.M.C. PureDAC, HeadAmp GS-X
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Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much, Zorin
themad
Excellent and detailed review! Thanks for that and congrats for the acquisition!
Leonardo Drummond
Oh, look who's here! Thanks, man!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Extreme accuracy, life-like with reference acoustic recordings
Cons: Very uncomfortable, will not suit any genre, rare and expensive
INTRODUCTION
First of all, excuse my English if you find any mistakes – I'm not a native speaker.
I suppose these don’t need much introduction. They were the first Grados – all made by Joe Grado himself –, and are usually regarded as some of the best headphones ever made. Even by today’s standards they are a reference for neutrality.
Three variations were produced: HP1s (with polarity switch), HP2s (without polarity switch) and HP3s (without polarity switch and more tolerant driver matching). There were also at least two cables used during the HP1000s’ production: the Joseph Grado Signature Ultra-Wide Bandwith Reference Cable and the Grado Signature Laboratory Standard Audio Cable. From what I could gather, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus as to which is better or rarer. This review was done about an HP2 with the JGSUWBRC, but since then I replaced it with an HP1 with the GSLSAC (had both for a short period of time) and found that they sound exactly the same.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
The HP1000s are pretty much equal to other Grados, but with a few distinguishing details that make them, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful headphones ever made. The whole structure is made out of metal, unlike all other the other Grados, which have plastic and/or wood. Joseph Grado wasn’t fooling around: this is a tough old bird.
The headband is made of genuine leather, but that doesn’t mean it’s comfortable: it definitely isn’t. The weight is quite substantial and the headband has got pretty much no padding, so it exerts considerable pressure on the top of my head. The clamping force adjustment is a joke: you do it by bending (!) the headband. Yes. On a 1.5K headphone. Only those who have done it will know how scary it is to do such a thing on such a rare and expensive headphone. The up side is that you can pretty much adjust it to your liking, unlike most other headphones I know. Vertical adjustment is made by the traditional Grado rods – but in here the whole thing is made entirely out of metal and there are little screws that secure the rods in place.
The original pads are similar to current Grados flat pads, but have a more consistent foam and a hole in the middle. I’ve tried all other pads and these (which are now sold through TTVJ) undoubtedly give me the best sound. The trade-off is that they’re incredibly uncomfortable. I really can’t wear these headphones for more than 30 minutes without some rest.
THE SOUND
The HP1000s are usually regarded as being completely different from all other Grados. This was not my first impression, however. It is indeed more relaxed, less energetic and darker than the other Grados I know, but the crude and direct house sound is still intact. Tonal balance still seems to be centered on the mids, but the highs are much more relaxed than the brand’s recent offerings.
Regardless, I’ll go straight to the point: these are easily one of the most neutral headphones I’ve ever heard. Not long ago I reviewed the Orpheus, and my conclusion was that even though it might not be entirely neutral to the media, with its slight colorations it ends up being (accidentally or not) extremely natural and neutral do the original musical event. The Grados, to me, achieve a similar level of neutrality, but in a completely different way.
The Sennheisers seem to show you an embellished reality, putting you in the middle of a gorgeous and well decorated scenario, with beautiful musicians playing beautiful sounds around you. You appreciate every detail that is presented in great style. The HP1000s, on the other hand, show you a much cruder version of reality. It simply portrays an ugly reality, with tired and sweaty musicians playing on a dirty stage, after hours of recording.
Bass is very good. They’re not as strong as some other reviews made me believe, but they have good presence and excellent definition, impact and speed. However, extension is not that great – it’s good, but not spectacular. Integration of this region with the rest of the spectrum is seamless. In some cases I feel that they could be a little bit more present, but this is very recording-dependent. Reference recordings will find one of the best performances every, but artificial genres, such as electronic music, not so much. Some might find the bass to be a bit too dry.
The mids are the best – though the most complicated – aspect of the HP1000s. The thing is that to me they do sound forward, like other Grados, but the interesting thing is that this doesn’t seem to affect the way in which the tonal balance is translated to a truthful presentation. It’s as if we had mid-centered instruments (voices, guitars, pianos, etc.) more forward than the others in the Grado’s soundstage – something that usually happens in real performances, by the way. This is quite interesting, as something that initially sounds like an alteration of the tonal balance ends up sounding more adequate and real.
This characteristic is one of the biggest reasons for this raw character that the HP1000s possess. In some styles, this nude and crude reality is exactly what I want. There seems to be no artificialities, but at the same time the mids do sound forward, composing a personality that is borderline unpleasant – but it’s as if it was a reality that is borderline unpleasant, and this is the key here. It sounds like reality, so for a headphone, it’s almost pure perfection. That’s the HP1000s’ paradox. In acoustic reference recordings it sounds, well, like the reference, and in some cases, particularly with rock music, guitars just seem to attack your ears in a life-like way. It’s bloody fantastic.
The highs, just like the mids, are something special. I’m fairly sensitive to how treble should sound – I had a band for a while and I know how cymbals should sound, and the truth is that like 95% of the high-end headphones I know (that includes HD800s, JH13 Pros, SR-007, T1, HE500 and many others) just get them wrong. There seems to be some bright spots that completely distorts cymbals. I should say, though, that this is also highly dependent on the recording as well. There seems to be some peaks in the treble that somehow are in the wrong place, and the results frequently are cymbals that have no body. They simply don’t sound like the real deal.
I know of a few headphones that do get them right – HD600, HE90 and K1000 immediately spring to mind –, and to me, the HP1000s outclass them. They may be the most realistic treble I’ve ever heard on a headphone before. They are slightly laid back, especially compared to the forward mids, but in terms of timbre, they are simply spot-on. Cymbals have body, attack, presence and an extremely realistic decay. Some of my reference recordings for treble are Mogwai’s The Hawk is Howling and Hard Rock Will Never Die, But You Will and Esperanza Spalding’s Esperanza. With the Grados, I found what are the most realistic cymbals I’ve ever heard on headphones to date.
In terms of transparency the HP1000s are good but already show their age. It’s not nearly as transparent as something like an HD800, even though, to me, they do sound more realistic in its overall signature. The same can be said about speed: the Grados are somewhat quick for a dynamic of this age, but comparing them to may modern offerings will show you that they are indeed 20+ year old headphones.
Soundstage is considerably more expansive than the brand’s usual, but it’s still small and can’t be compared to something like an AKG K702 or an HD800. It resembles the LCD2 in that regard, though a bit better since the Audez’es have a fuller sound that seems to diminish their spacial capabilities.
CONCLUSIONS
The HP1000s are truly incredible headphones. In my opinion, if you feed it the right recordings, it simply sounds like the real thing.
It’s not as neutral as an HD800, HE90 or JH13 Pro... it’s quite hard to explain. What happens is that it sounds raw. That’s the word that better describes it. That’s why it doesn’t work with every genre, and I why wouldn’t want to live with them as my only headphones – its nude and crude reality is not always welcome.
An HD800, for example, has got reasonably present bass, sweet and cohesive mids but treble that’s slightly hot and with a detail retrieval that simply surpasses the limits of what would be natural. A JH13 Pro is like an extremely capable studio monitor, full of energy but with slightly accentuated bass and treble – which sound a bit wrong in terms of timbre.
The Orpheus is pure perfection, but has it’s euphonic signature and diffuse soundstage, also with a relatively unnatural detail retrieval in many cases. Like I said before, it seems to embellish the music. Don’t get me wrong – they’re still by far the best headphones I’ve ever heard, but in absolute terms, the HP1000s are just as neutral, though in a different way. An HE90 lets you hear every nuances of a female voice, for example: the breathing, the opening lips, as if the singer was there whispering to you. The Grados just leave them on the stage, doing whatever it is they want to do, their way, not looking to please you.
It’s really quite different. It sounds acoustic, analog – but not the warm-vinyl-analog, I mean analog in the sense that it sounds like a passive tool that conveys all the sonic and physic nature of instruments, with all their perfections and imperfections.
With the right recordings, they don’t sound like a studio recording. They just sound like the real deal.
Associated Equipment: HeadAmp GS-X, Meier Audio Eartube, Melos SHA-1, Woo Audio WA3, Electrocompaniet ECD-1, Abrahamsen V6.0, Cambridge Audio DacMagic.
Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much for your comment, devouringone. I've learned a lot about the HP1000s with your posts – it's clear that you are one of the Grado's conoisseur! So it makes me really happy that you liked my review!
I just read that link about your mod and it seems indeed very interesting! I used to have the yellow pads but now I don't (they were sold along with my former HP2s), although I became quite interested in your proposition and would be happy to buy a pair to try it out.
I tried every type of Grado pad and the TTVJ gave me the best sound, along with the yellow pads. The HP1000s were definitely made to be used with flats indeed.
Once again, thank you for your comment! It's really great to have some one this knowledgeable about these Grados around here. They truly deserve it!
devouringone3
TTVJ flats were also my favorite pads, behind the HD414's and the bowls in that order. Then Joseph Grado improved flat pads became my costly favorites, by a fair margin, because after that the TTVJ sounded pale (echo-y / unfocused / muffled) in comparison.
For all those pads I ended up preferring the sound of 3M Scotch tape around them. Except for the HD414's which don't behave as most Grado pads do. Tape modifying them the traditional way didn't change anything to their sound signature, so I invented the “Sunflower” Grado mod that I have yet to make official in a dedicated thread. I don't recommend applying the mod to any other pad than the HD414's.
My mod improves in the same direction Joseph Grado did with his improved flat pads. I have no hesitation recommending people to buy and modify those yellow sponges, because I think there will be no going back for anyone trying it.
The forwardness of the midrange has been thoroughly discussed (called “glare” by LCfiner and “shoutiness” by Purrin) and though I'm equalizing out presently, I will be trying HP 1000 drivers in wooden cups of various geometries (and in my full Symphones Magnum too) to rule out if whether the effect is coming from the drivers alone or the cups. Some have commented about possible benefits of suppressing that vocal highlighting the HP 1000 does. http://www.head-fi.org/t/596028/joe-grado-hp1000-modifications
Leonardo Drummond
Interesting, devouringone!
I'm very interesting in trying the mod. Not sure I want to get rid of the forwardness of the midrange though
It's one of the things that make them a very special headphone!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Incredibly seductive and euphonic sound, luxurious look and feel
Cons: Not the last word in comfort, small differentiation to other AT products, slightly genre-selective
I’ve always been curious about the Audio-Technica woodies, and recently had the opportunity to spend some time with the latest one, the W3000ANV, thanks to an audiophile friend in Brazil.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
I’m slightly on the fence here. In terms of appearance this headphone is spectacularly pretty and luxurious. The wood is extremely tasteful but discreet, since there’s a thick layer of varnish and a burgundy paint, that seem to mask a little bit of the wood’s natural grain.
My slight reservations are towards the fact that, apart from the wooden cups and some other details – such as the pads, colours of the plastic structure and the cable cloth and the plug –, it’s pretty much identical to the A700X that I reviewed a short while ago (not here). The W3000ANV cost 10 times the A700Xs price, so I expected more distinct differences between them. I’m not sure if it’s the younger brother that’s better built than its price suggests, but I guess I’d expect some more differentiation between them – such as metal instead of plastic in some areas.
Another issue is that I found the W3000ANV a little heavy, and as the pads that act as headbands don’t offer a lot of support, the headphones end up not being very secure and falling a bit – consequently, the cups go down and the pads make more pressure on the lower part of my ears than what I’d be comfortable with. Therefore, to me, it’s not particularly comfortable. I’m aware, however, that this is a personal issue.
Regardless of those problems, there’s no denying that those headphones are quite spectacular physically. The same compliments can be made to the packaging and presentation: Audio-Technica really know how to present a TOTL product.
THE SOUND
The first impression I got was that it sounded pretty much like I expected: it had a very sweet, euphonic and delicious presentation. That comes, of course, at the cost of neutrality. But honestly, hearing what those headphones do to my music, I keep asking myself what the hell I’d want neutrality for. It’s quite difficult to put in words the sensation that the W3000ANV gives you... it’s a really incredible sweetness, and few times have I ever heard anything like it.
Another characteristic that’s immediately evident is the ability of not having any of the downsides normally associated with closed headphones. It doesn’t have the openness and sense of breath as open backed headphones, but then I see considerable spaciousness here and there doesn’t seem to be any nasal characteristics to the mids.
The bass is sensational, and just like with the AD700X, they remind me a lot the Sony EX1000 in-ear – that’s a compliment, as I find the bass on these to be fantastic. They have strong presence, at the proportion which I would consider ideal, but in a very subtle and delicate way, without sacrificing any definition. It very competently displays texture. There’s reasonable impact as well, but it’s not that usual dry, impactful bass –the lows are slow and silky. The only issue that I have here is that there’s a discreet lack of weight and substance. However, if this is a price to pay for the euphonic nature of the bass, so be it.
Regarding the mids... they’re also an example of how to enchant. The tonal balance is very natural and correct on these, therefore in terms of presence the mids are more or less precisely where I’d want them to be given the W3000ANV’s purpose. The timbre is irreprehensible, but what really makes the difference is the irresistible nature of the mids here. Once again there’s an incredible warmth that’s extremely seductive and makes the coldest systems sound like the most euphonic ones. Really, it makes it seem as if the cables and power outlet had tubes.
And that doesn’t come at the cost of transparency and definition. It goes quite a bit beyond what “sweet and euphonic” seem to usually suggest. Obviously these Audio-Technicas don’t present the levels of resolution of something like an HD800, but I was surprised to hear how it doesn’t make you feel like you’re missing anything. And if it does, really... I wouldn’t care.
However, there’s an issue here that’s quite hard to explain, but it sounds as if it didn’t have the mass that such warmth usually suggests – like I hear, for example, with the HiFiMAN HE500s. There’s also a significant tridimensional quality to these headphones, and it appears that those two characteristics and up making the presentation a wee bit light and distance. Consequently, I see myself frequently compensating by turning up the volume. It’s not a negative thing, just a characteristic, but I’m slightly on the fence about this.
The treble is, again, fantastic. Not for being perfect – they are undoubtedly coloured –, but for being totally in harmony with the W3000ANVs general sound and also for being what I’d precisely call euphonic highs. I think, in most cases, present highs are related to coldness, but in here this couldn’t be further from the truth. Not that they’re excessive or lacking – maybe it’s sounding a bit too good to be true, but I’ll once again refer to the classic “they are where they should be”.
Here, I’m impressed with these headphone’s ability to show perfectly present and well extended treble within a sonority well into the euphonic camp without causing any harm to this characteristic. Usually, I find that the sweetest headphones have relaxed highs, but the W3000ANV goes completely against this tendency with flying colours, and therefore doesn’t bring any of the disadvantages usually associated to it – such as lack of sparkle and of definition.
Speaking of sparkle, there seems to be a small peak – generally inoffensive, but that can, on rare ocasions, present some sibilance – that was put on the best spot possible. I really can’t explain well enough, but the highs in these headphones are also mesmerizing. They don’t have perfect timbre, but they can show presence, definition and extension along with subtleness and tenderness.
The results of all this, as should be clear by now, is that the W3000ANV is not an all-rounder. It wasn’t made to play rock or electronic music – it can, well enough, but it really shows what it’s made for playing Kind of Blue in a rainy afternoon. Any instrument that depends on sweet mids will find nirvana here.
CONCLUSIONS
I’m completely in love with it.
I’ve made an effort to show my enthusiasm in this review, but this is not because of a lack of it – quite the opposite. This is because the last thing I wanted to do with the W3000ANV was to analyze it. The only thing I feel like doing with it is to listen to music.
Frankly, to analyze this headphone is a bit nonsense. If there’s one thing it wasn’t made for, is to be analyzed. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such euphony and musicality in a sound equipment. It constantly reminds me the reason why I’m so much into music – because, to me, it was impossible not to be completely carried away by the way it presents it.
The W3000ANV is totally irresistible and is easily the most seductive means of listening to music I’ve ever had the chance of hearing. This makes it one of the best headphones I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to.
jjvvcckk
attractive looks! good review
NEETnoNEED
awesome review, thanks for sharing.
jujuju
Just caught up with this - A great review - I have a pair of these and they are lovely - I think you have summed the sound up very well !! These headphones may be destined to be Legends !!!
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One of the things that surprised me when I saw the Unique Melody Mentor demo for the first time was how small it was for something that houses 10 BAs. The Roxanne only has two more, but it is considerably larger. It protrudes from the ears quite a bit more than my old JH13 Pro, but not enough to draw too much attention to itself.
Another difference is the cable which, because of the extra conductors (there are six in total, as opposed to the usual three) needed for the bass control, is a lot thicker than the norm for this type of product. However, it’s not heavy and it’s quite flexible. The plug looks simple but not low quality and the connector on the earpieces is well thought and efficient, despite the issues that it had with cracks – that has been solved with the use of metal nuts.
I also like the bass control. Fortunately it isn’t located close to the earpieces (something that would be terrible because of weight and microphonics), but close to the plug. This means that it can stay inside the pockets, along with my mobile or DAP, and adjustments can be made in a convenient fashion – just like we take the DAP out of the pockets to change tracks, we can do the same to adjust the bass. The only problem is that the knobs are quite small and require the small tool included to be adjusted. The upside to that is that it’s almost impossible to mess with it by accident.
The carbon fibre version of the Roxannes are, when well made, a piece of art. I won’t talk about aesthetic preferences, but this material is arguably sophisticated and it’s very unusual to see a custom earphone, made just for use, using a material that is usually reserved for high-performance sports car or in the aerospace industry.
The included case is also made of this material, with an aluminium outer structure and an internal piece that houses a negative impressions of the earpieces where they are stored. The writing on the case is made with lasers (I think), including the name of the owner – a big improvement over the sticker on the Otter cases that JH Audio used to use. Despite having shown problems with the resin in some units – such as bubbles and badly placed fibres –, this piece is seriously cool. It does look like it stores something rather special. However, I can’t deny that it’s also spectacularly inconvenient, and storing the earpieces in the correct manner is annoying and takes maybe about a minute. This made me buy their regular case as well – just a small metal rounded case.
The list of accessories included is rather slim, however. Apart from the case, you only get a velvet bag, a cleaning tool and the tool for the bass adjustment. No ¼ inch adapter or even a manual.
THE SOUND My first impression was, if I’m honest, of estrangement. I was expecting something like a JH13 on steroids, or at least something close to all the other high-end monitors I’ve ever auditioned, but what I heard was completely different. When I received the Roxannes I was auditioning the UM Mentor demo, and I was surprised with how different they were – especially since the Mentor sounded reasonably close to my old pre-freqphase JH13.
The way that I perceive the Roxanne has gone through several phases. I won’t spend much time with them so as not to bother the reader, but it suffices to say that at the beginning I heard a monitor with what seemed like exaggerated bass, even with the control at the minimum, thick and weighty mids, a somewhat claustrophobic presentation but, above all else, a big sound.
Today, however, I see it as a truly spectacular in-ear monitor: scarily natural and, like the JH13 Pro, it has the ability to excel in everything I ask it to play – however, in a different way.
I’ll start with the lower regions, which are somewhat complicated: while I like its bass performance, it’s not perfect and the bass control doesn’t really work like what I’d prefer. I’ll explain: the JH13 kept surprising me because it had the chamaleonic ability to sound small and think or big and authoritative solely depending on the recording, and that was most of all because of the bass. It sounded detached from the rest of the spectrum, and only appeared with extreme authority and weight when asked to. When it wasn’t asked, it seemed as if the bass drivers were simply turned off.
The Roxannes, however, always sound big and weighty. It’s always full and thick. At first, I thought this happened because of the bass (even with the bass control at the minimum). With time, I realized that this happened because of the mids, probably because of some mild mid-bass hump which, to be clear, did not impair clarity of transparency.
Consequently, the feeling I have is that, with the bass control at the minimum, the sound is not as light and airy as I expected. It still sounds thick, but with a sort of hole before the mids. As I increase the bass quantity, this frequency starts to fill a space that was already there waiting for it in the first place. What I would love, however, would be to have a thin and light presentation for some genres and, as I increased the bass control, the low frequencies would begin to appear and to form a firm and authoritative base, like I heard from the JH13 Pro in many situations. That way, I would be able to suit the bass to the music.
With the way that the bass control is implemented, however, I don’t see many options. It’s as if its sound was only one and I had the bass control simple to find not the sound that suits a particular moment, but the one that sounds coherent with its personality as a whole. So I just found my preferred position for the bass knob and left it alone. With less the sound is think but there seems to be something lacking, and with more I get a subwoofer in my ears.
Anyway, after I found my preferred position for the bass knob, I found that its performance in that region is excellent. The bass quantity becomes perfectly appropriate and coherent with the rest of the spectrum, and they possess startling definition, texture and extension. The bass is fat and rounded, but at the same time incredibly transparent.
This duality, which is still present in the mids, may be, to me, the most singular characteristic of the Roxannes. It is, along with the HE90, the only headphone or earphone I’ve ever heard that mixes this much mass, weight and body with extreme transparency. The only other headphones that possess this character to some extent are the Stax SR-007, which has the transparency but not the weight and the HiFiMAN HE500, which has the weight but not the transparency. Usually, when a headphone is this sweet and euphonic, it’s not particularly transparent. Not here. All the sounds seem to be perfectly in place and aligned somehow (maybe due to freqphase?), so it’s as if it was possible to “see deeper” in the recording. I know it’s a strange analogy, but it’s the closest I can get to explaining how I hear it.
This is somewhat surprising when I take into consideration that the thick personality of the Roxannes owes itself to the mids, which means that there’s probably a mid-bass hump somewhere. Fortunately, apart from the mild issues I have with the bass, there are no prices to pay. After all, this character – which reminds me of the Westone UM3X in a way – doesn’t hurt transparency and resolution. Quite the opposite: the result is that the mids sound exceptionally natural. This is what defines them. The timbre seems sport on, and this weighty and thick character, along with the feeling of alignment and transparency creates very tridimensional mids that seem to be alive. Another quality that helps is the absence of a plasticky character that is present in every other BA earphone I’ve heard so far.
All of those traits makes the Roxanne sound a lot closer than usual to full-sizes: it really sounds huge. The JH13s and the Mentors sound like earbuds next to these. However, despite all the spacial capabilities and the weighty but transparent character, there’s not denying: this is still and in-ear and it simply does not sound as spacial and as open as a headphone. There’s a lot of transparency and resolution, but the sounds are, despite considerably tridimensional, still close to each other. Considering the analogy I’ve made above: the sounds are close but perfectly aligned, so it’s possible to “see deep through the slits”. I don’t have this feeling with full-size headphones because the sounds are not close, so instead of having a slit between sounds, there’s a bigger space that doesn’t feel like a slit in the first place.
I’ve read pretty divergent opinions about the treble. Some consider them harsh, while many feel a lack of presence in that region. What I know is that Jerry Harvey seeked to overcome the limitations of the technology in balanced armatures – achieving highs with proper extension and providing a linear and neutral response in this end of the spectrum, with no artificial sparkle. In my opinion, he achieved that with flying colours. There’s no artificial sparkle as in most other headphones, so that’s why many will find the Roxannes to be lacking in clarity and brightness.
The result is that those IEMs don’t have prominent highs but, in my opinion, is spot on with regards to timbre and truthfulness of instruments that reside in this region. It reminds me a lot of the Grado HP1000s, but with slightly less withdrawn treble. The treble response is among the things that I appreciate the most in the Roxannes, as they provide a very accurate response along with a smooth and fatigue-free experience.
CONCLUSIONS Maybe, in this text, I have explicited more downsides of the Roxannes than you, the reader, might have been expecting. So I’ll just make it clear: this last masterpiece from Jerry Harvey is undoubtedly the best in-ear I’ve ever heard, by a wide margin.
The reasons are simple: everything in them, even the small issues, seem to build a distinct personality. It doesn’t sound like a dry, authoritative and fun monitor, but rather an earphone targeted at the audiophile crowd. It’s not that I consider it neutral, but it is, quite clearly, one of the most organic headphones I’ve ever auditioned – maybe even the most.
I’m not sure about how to define this character clearly, but I know that it’s exactly what the Roxannes portray. With it, music sounds alive, palpable and organic. Everything I hear with it is jut enchanting.
At the same time, however, I know that it isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t have the energy and the fun-factor that I used to have with the JH13s or that I heard with the Mentor or even with the Merlin. I know that I wouldn’t be able to live solely with either of them now since I’d consider it a downgrade – the Roxannes goes far ahead any IEM I’ve yet heard in some aspects –, but I’m not going to lie, I’d love to have something like an improved JH13 Pro (with regards to transparency and linearity of mids and highs) to complement the Roxannes as the “fun” earphone.
Nevertheless, I can’t forget that it’s impossible to have everything in one single headphone. Unfortunately, that’s not how our hobby works. That’s why I own many: Audio-Technica W3000ANV and M50, Grado HP1000, HiFiMAN HE500 and Sennheiser HD800 and Amperior. Big names.
These little earphones, however, are my favorites of them all.
Associated equipment:
Portable: iPod Classic, Sony NW-ZX1, Sony Xperia Z2
Desktop: iMac, Abrahamsen V6.0, B.M.C. PureDAC, HeadAmp GS-X
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Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much, Zorin
themad
Excellent and detailed review! Thanks for that and congrats for the acquisition!
Leonardo Drummond
Oh, look who's here! Thanks, man!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Extreme accuracy, life-like with reference acoustic recordings
Cons: Very uncomfortable, will not suit any genre, rare and expensive
INTRODUCTION
First of all, excuse my English if you find any mistakes – I'm not a native speaker.
I suppose these don’t need much introduction. They were the first Grados – all made by Joe Grado himself –, and are usually regarded as some of the best headphones ever made. Even by today’s standards they are a reference for neutrality.
Three variations were produced: HP1s (with polarity switch), HP2s (without polarity switch) and HP3s (without polarity switch and more tolerant driver matching). There were also at least two cables used during the HP1000s’ production: the Joseph Grado Signature Ultra-Wide Bandwith Reference Cable and the Grado Signature Laboratory Standard Audio Cable. From what I could gather, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus as to which is better or rarer. This review was done about an HP2 with the JGSUWBRC, but since then I replaced it with an HP1 with the GSLSAC (had both for a short period of time) and found that they sound exactly the same.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
The HP1000s are pretty much equal to other Grados, but with a few distinguishing details that make them, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful headphones ever made. The whole structure is made out of metal, unlike all other the other Grados, which have plastic and/or wood. Joseph Grado wasn’t fooling around: this is a tough old bird.
The headband is made of genuine leather, but that doesn’t mean it’s comfortable: it definitely isn’t. The weight is quite substantial and the headband has got pretty much no padding, so it exerts considerable pressure on the top of my head. The clamping force adjustment is a joke: you do it by bending (!) the headband. Yes. On a 1.5K headphone. Only those who have done it will know how scary it is to do such a thing on such a rare and expensive headphone. The up side is that you can pretty much adjust it to your liking, unlike most other headphones I know. Vertical adjustment is made by the traditional Grado rods – but in here the whole thing is made entirely out of metal and there are little screws that secure the rods in place.
The original pads are similar to current Grados flat pads, but have a more consistent foam and a hole in the middle. I’ve tried all other pads and these (which are now sold through TTVJ) undoubtedly give me the best sound. The trade-off is that they’re incredibly uncomfortable. I really can’t wear these headphones for more than 30 minutes without some rest.
THE SOUND
The HP1000s are usually regarded as being completely different from all other Grados. This was not my first impression, however. It is indeed more relaxed, less energetic and darker than the other Grados I know, but the crude and direct house sound is still intact. Tonal balance still seems to be centered on the mids, but the highs are much more relaxed than the brand’s recent offerings.
Regardless, I’ll go straight to the point: these are easily one of the most neutral headphones I’ve ever heard. Not long ago I reviewed the Orpheus, and my conclusion was that even though it might not be entirely neutral to the media, with its slight colorations it ends up being (accidentally or not) extremely natural and neutral do the original musical event. The Grados, to me, achieve a similar level of neutrality, but in a completely different way.
The Sennheisers seem to show you an embellished reality, putting you in the middle of a gorgeous and well decorated scenario, with beautiful musicians playing beautiful sounds around you. You appreciate every detail that is presented in great style. The HP1000s, on the other hand, show you a much cruder version of reality. It simply portrays an ugly reality, with tired and sweaty musicians playing on a dirty stage, after hours of recording.
Bass is very good. They’re not as strong as some other reviews made me believe, but they have good presence and excellent definition, impact and speed. However, extension is not that great – it’s good, but not spectacular. Integration of this region with the rest of the spectrum is seamless. In some cases I feel that they could be a little bit more present, but this is very recording-dependent. Reference recordings will find one of the best performances every, but artificial genres, such as electronic music, not so much. Some might find the bass to be a bit too dry.
The mids are the best – though the most complicated – aspect of the HP1000s. The thing is that to me they do sound forward, like other Grados, but the interesting thing is that this doesn’t seem to affect the way in which the tonal balance is translated to a truthful presentation. It’s as if we had mid-centered instruments (voices, guitars, pianos, etc.) more forward than the others in the Grado’s soundstage – something that usually happens in real performances, by the way. This is quite interesting, as something that initially sounds like an alteration of the tonal balance ends up sounding more adequate and real.
This characteristic is one of the biggest reasons for this raw character that the HP1000s possess. In some styles, this nude and crude reality is exactly what I want. There seems to be no artificialities, but at the same time the mids do sound forward, composing a personality that is borderline unpleasant – but it’s as if it was a reality that is borderline unpleasant, and this is the key here. It sounds like reality, so for a headphone, it’s almost pure perfection. That’s the HP1000s’ paradox. In acoustic reference recordings it sounds, well, like the reference, and in some cases, particularly with rock music, guitars just seem to attack your ears in a life-like way. It’s bloody fantastic.
The highs, just like the mids, are something special. I’m fairly sensitive to how treble should sound – I had a band for a while and I know how cymbals should sound, and the truth is that like 95% of the high-end headphones I know (that includes HD800s, JH13 Pros, SR-007, T1, HE500 and many others) just get them wrong. There seems to be some bright spots that completely distorts cymbals. I should say, though, that this is also highly dependent on the recording as well. There seems to be some peaks in the treble that somehow are in the wrong place, and the results frequently are cymbals that have no body. They simply don’t sound like the real deal.
I know of a few headphones that do get them right – HD600, HE90 and K1000 immediately spring to mind –, and to me, the HP1000s outclass them. They may be the most realistic treble I’ve ever heard on a headphone before. They are slightly laid back, especially compared to the forward mids, but in terms of timbre, they are simply spot-on. Cymbals have body, attack, presence and an extremely realistic decay. Some of my reference recordings for treble are Mogwai’s The Hawk is Howling and Hard Rock Will Never Die, But You Will and Esperanza Spalding’s Esperanza. With the Grados, I found what are the most realistic cymbals I’ve ever heard on headphones to date.
In terms of transparency the HP1000s are good but already show their age. It’s not nearly as transparent as something like an HD800, even though, to me, they do sound more realistic in its overall signature. The same can be said about speed: the Grados are somewhat quick for a dynamic of this age, but comparing them to may modern offerings will show you that they are indeed 20+ year old headphones.
Soundstage is considerably more expansive than the brand’s usual, but it’s still small and can’t be compared to something like an AKG K702 or an HD800. It resembles the LCD2 in that regard, though a bit better since the Audez’es have a fuller sound that seems to diminish their spacial capabilities.
CONCLUSIONS
The HP1000s are truly incredible headphones. In my opinion, if you feed it the right recordings, it simply sounds like the real thing.
It’s not as neutral as an HD800, HE90 or JH13 Pro... it’s quite hard to explain. What happens is that it sounds raw. That’s the word that better describes it. That’s why it doesn’t work with every genre, and I why wouldn’t want to live with them as my only headphones – its nude and crude reality is not always welcome.
An HD800, for example, has got reasonably present bass, sweet and cohesive mids but treble that’s slightly hot and with a detail retrieval that simply surpasses the limits of what would be natural. A JH13 Pro is like an extremely capable studio monitor, full of energy but with slightly accentuated bass and treble – which sound a bit wrong in terms of timbre.
The Orpheus is pure perfection, but has it’s euphonic signature and diffuse soundstage, also with a relatively unnatural detail retrieval in many cases. Like I said before, it seems to embellish the music. Don’t get me wrong – they’re still by far the best headphones I’ve ever heard, but in absolute terms, the HP1000s are just as neutral, though in a different way. An HE90 lets you hear every nuances of a female voice, for example: the breathing, the opening lips, as if the singer was there whispering to you. The Grados just leave them on the stage, doing whatever it is they want to do, their way, not looking to please you.
It’s really quite different. It sounds acoustic, analog – but not the warm-vinyl-analog, I mean analog in the sense that it sounds like a passive tool that conveys all the sonic and physic nature of instruments, with all their perfections and imperfections.
With the right recordings, they don’t sound like a studio recording. They just sound like the real deal.
Associated Equipment: HeadAmp GS-X, Meier Audio Eartube, Melos SHA-1, Woo Audio WA3, Electrocompaniet ECD-1, Abrahamsen V6.0, Cambridge Audio DacMagic.
Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much for your comment, devouringone. I've learned a lot about the HP1000s with your posts – it's clear that you are one of the Grado's conoisseur! So it makes me really happy that you liked my review!
I just read that link about your mod and it seems indeed very interesting! I used to have the yellow pads but now I don't (they were sold along with my former HP2s), although I became quite interested in your proposition and would be happy to buy a pair to try it out.
I tried every type of Grado pad and the TTVJ gave me the best sound, along with the yellow pads. The HP1000s were definitely made to be used with flats indeed.
Once again, thank you for your comment! It's really great to have some one this knowledgeable about these Grados around here. They truly deserve it!
devouringone3
TTVJ flats were also my favorite pads, behind the HD414's and the bowls in that order. Then Joseph Grado improved flat pads became my costly favorites, by a fair margin, because after that the TTVJ sounded pale (echo-y / unfocused / muffled) in comparison.
For all those pads I ended up preferring the sound of 3M Scotch tape around them. Except for the HD414's which don't behave as most Grado pads do. Tape modifying them the traditional way didn't change anything to their sound signature, so I invented the “Sunflower” Grado mod that I have yet to make official in a dedicated thread. I don't recommend applying the mod to any other pad than the HD414's.
My mod improves in the same direction Joseph Grado did with his improved flat pads. I have no hesitation recommending people to buy and modify those yellow sponges, because I think there will be no going back for anyone trying it.
The forwardness of the midrange has been thoroughly discussed (called “glare” by LCfiner and “shoutiness” by Purrin) and though I'm equalizing out presently, I will be trying HP 1000 drivers in wooden cups of various geometries (and in my full Symphones Magnum too) to rule out if whether the effect is coming from the drivers alone or the cups. Some have commented about possible benefits of suppressing that vocal highlighting the HP 1000 does. http://www.head-fi.org/t/596028/joe-grado-hp1000-modifications
Leonardo Drummond
Interesting, devouringone!
I'm very interesting in trying the mod. Not sure I want to get rid of the forwardness of the midrange though
It's one of the things that make them a very special headphone!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Incredibly seductive and euphonic sound, luxurious look and feel
Cons: Not the last word in comfort, small differentiation to other AT products, slightly genre-selective
I’ve always been curious about the Audio-Technica woodies, and recently had the opportunity to spend some time with the latest one, the W3000ANV, thanks to an audiophile friend in Brazil.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
I’m slightly on the fence here. In terms of appearance this headphone is spectacularly pretty and luxurious. The wood is extremely tasteful but discreet, since there’s a thick layer of varnish and a burgundy paint, that seem to mask a little bit of the wood’s natural grain.
My slight reservations are towards the fact that, apart from the wooden cups and some other details – such as the pads, colours of the plastic structure and the cable cloth and the plug –, it’s pretty much identical to the A700X that I reviewed a short while ago (not here). The W3000ANV cost 10 times the A700Xs price, so I expected more distinct differences between them. I’m not sure if it’s the younger brother that’s better built than its price suggests, but I guess I’d expect some more differentiation between them – such as metal instead of plastic in some areas.
Another issue is that I found the W3000ANV a little heavy, and as the pads that act as headbands don’t offer a lot of support, the headphones end up not being very secure and falling a bit – consequently, the cups go down and the pads make more pressure on the lower part of my ears than what I’d be comfortable with. Therefore, to me, it’s not particularly comfortable. I’m aware, however, that this is a personal issue.
Regardless of those problems, there’s no denying that those headphones are quite spectacular physically. The same compliments can be made to the packaging and presentation: Audio-Technica really know how to present a TOTL product.
THE SOUND
The first impression I got was that it sounded pretty much like I expected: it had a very sweet, euphonic and delicious presentation. That comes, of course, at the cost of neutrality. But honestly, hearing what those headphones do to my music, I keep asking myself what the hell I’d want neutrality for. It’s quite difficult to put in words the sensation that the W3000ANV gives you... it’s a really incredible sweetness, and few times have I ever heard anything like it.
Another characteristic that’s immediately evident is the ability of not having any of the downsides normally associated with closed headphones. It doesn’t have the openness and sense of breath as open backed headphones, but then I see considerable spaciousness here and there doesn’t seem to be any nasal characteristics to the mids.
The bass is sensational, and just like with the AD700X, they remind me a lot the Sony EX1000 in-ear – that’s a compliment, as I find the bass on these to be fantastic. They have strong presence, at the proportion which I would consider ideal, but in a very subtle and delicate way, without sacrificing any definition. It very competently displays texture. There’s reasonable impact as well, but it’s not that usual dry, impactful bass –the lows are slow and silky. The only issue that I have here is that there’s a discreet lack of weight and substance. However, if this is a price to pay for the euphonic nature of the bass, so be it.
Regarding the mids... they’re also an example of how to enchant. The tonal balance is very natural and correct on these, therefore in terms of presence the mids are more or less precisely where I’d want them to be given the W3000ANV’s purpose. The timbre is irreprehensible, but what really makes the difference is the irresistible nature of the mids here. Once again there’s an incredible warmth that’s extremely seductive and makes the coldest systems sound like the most euphonic ones. Really, it makes it seem as if the cables and power outlet had tubes.
And that doesn’t come at the cost of transparency and definition. It goes quite a bit beyond what “sweet and euphonic” seem to usually suggest. Obviously these Audio-Technicas don’t present the levels of resolution of something like an HD800, but I was surprised to hear how it doesn’t make you feel like you’re missing anything. And if it does, really... I wouldn’t care.
However, there’s an issue here that’s quite hard to explain, but it sounds as if it didn’t have the mass that such warmth usually suggests – like I hear, for example, with the HiFiMAN HE500s. There’s also a significant tridimensional quality to these headphones, and it appears that those two characteristics and up making the presentation a wee bit light and distance. Consequently, I see myself frequently compensating by turning up the volume. It’s not a negative thing, just a characteristic, but I’m slightly on the fence about this.
The treble is, again, fantastic. Not for being perfect – they are undoubtedly coloured –, but for being totally in harmony with the W3000ANVs general sound and also for being what I’d precisely call euphonic highs. I think, in most cases, present highs are related to coldness, but in here this couldn’t be further from the truth. Not that they’re excessive or lacking – maybe it’s sounding a bit too good to be true, but I’ll once again refer to the classic “they are where they should be”.
Here, I’m impressed with these headphone’s ability to show perfectly present and well extended treble within a sonority well into the euphonic camp without causing any harm to this characteristic. Usually, I find that the sweetest headphones have relaxed highs, but the W3000ANV goes completely against this tendency with flying colours, and therefore doesn’t bring any of the disadvantages usually associated to it – such as lack of sparkle and of definition.
Speaking of sparkle, there seems to be a small peak – generally inoffensive, but that can, on rare ocasions, present some sibilance – that was put on the best spot possible. I really can’t explain well enough, but the highs in these headphones are also mesmerizing. They don’t have perfect timbre, but they can show presence, definition and extension along with subtleness and tenderness.
The results of all this, as should be clear by now, is that the W3000ANV is not an all-rounder. It wasn’t made to play rock or electronic music – it can, well enough, but it really shows what it’s made for playing Kind of Blue in a rainy afternoon. Any instrument that depends on sweet mids will find nirvana here.
CONCLUSIONS
I’m completely in love with it.
I’ve made an effort to show my enthusiasm in this review, but this is not because of a lack of it – quite the opposite. This is because the last thing I wanted to do with the W3000ANV was to analyze it. The only thing I feel like doing with it is to listen to music.
Frankly, to analyze this headphone is a bit nonsense. If there’s one thing it wasn’t made for, is to be analyzed. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such euphony and musicality in a sound equipment. It constantly reminds me the reason why I’m so much into music – because, to me, it was impossible not to be completely carried away by the way it presents it.
The W3000ANV is totally irresistible and is easily the most seductive means of listening to music I’ve ever had the chance of hearing. This makes it one of the best headphones I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to.
jjvvcckk
attractive looks! good review
NEETnoNEED
awesome review, thanks for sharing.
jujuju
Just caught up with this - A great review - I have a pair of these and they are lovely - I think you have summed the sound up very well !! These headphones may be destined to be Legends !!!
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My first impression was, if I’m honest, of estrangement. I was expecting something like a JH13 on steroids, or at least something close to all the other high-end monitors I’ve ever auditioned, but what I heard was completely different. When I received the Roxannes I was auditioning the UM Mentor demo, and I was surprised with how different they were – especially since the Mentor sounded reasonably close to my old pre-freqphase JH13.
The way that I perceive the Roxanne has gone through several phases. I won’t spend much time with them so as not to bother the reader, but it suffices to say that at the beginning I heard a monitor with what seemed like exaggerated bass, even with the control at the minimum, thick and weighty mids, a somewhat claustrophobic presentation but, above all else, a big sound.
Today, however, I see it as a truly spectacular in-ear monitor: scarily natural and, like the JH13 Pro, it has the ability to excel in everything I ask it to play – however, in a different way.
I’ll start with the lower regions, which are somewhat complicated: while I like its bass performance, it’s not perfect and the bass control doesn’t really work like what I’d prefer. I’ll explain: the JH13 kept surprising me because it had the chamaleonic ability to sound small and think or big and authoritative solely depending on the recording, and that was most of all because of the bass. It sounded detached from the rest of the spectrum, and only appeared with extreme authority and weight when asked to. When it wasn’t asked, it seemed as if the bass drivers were simply turned off.
The Roxannes, however, always sound big and weighty. It’s always full and thick. At first, I thought this happened because of the bass (even with the bass control at the minimum). With time, I realized that this happened because of the mids, probably because of some mild mid-bass hump which, to be clear, did not impair clarity of transparency.
Consequently, the feeling I have is that, with the bass control at the minimum, the sound is not as light and airy as I expected. It still sounds thick, but with a sort of hole before the mids. As I increase the bass quantity, this frequency starts to fill a space that was already there waiting for it in the first place. What I would love, however, would be to have a thin and light presentation for some genres and, as I increased the bass control, the low frequencies would begin to appear and to form a firm and authoritative base, like I heard from the JH13 Pro in many situations. That way, I would be able to suit the bass to the music.
With the way that the bass control is implemented, however, I don’t see many options. It’s as if its sound was only one and I had the bass control simple to find not the sound that suits a particular moment, but the one that sounds coherent with its personality as a whole. So I just found my preferred position for the bass knob and left it alone. With less the sound is think but there seems to be something lacking, and with more I get a subwoofer in my ears.
Anyway, after I found my preferred position for the bass knob, I found that its performance in that region is excellent. The bass quantity becomes perfectly appropriate and coherent with the rest of the spectrum, and they possess startling definition, texture and extension. The bass is fat and rounded, but at the same time incredibly transparent.
This duality, which is still present in the mids, may be, to me, the most singular characteristic of the Roxannes. It is, along with the HE90, the only headphone or earphone I’ve ever heard that mixes this much mass, weight and body with extreme transparency. The only other headphones that possess this character to some extent are the Stax SR-007, which has the transparency but not the weight and the HiFiMAN HE500, which has the weight but not the transparency. Usually, when a headphone is this sweet and euphonic, it’s not particularly transparent. Not here. All the sounds seem to be perfectly in place and aligned somehow (maybe due to freqphase?), so it’s as if it was possible to “see deeper” in the recording. I know it’s a strange analogy, but it’s the closest I can get to explaining how I hear it.
This is somewhat surprising when I take into consideration that the thick personality of the Roxannes owes itself to the mids, which means that there’s probably a mid-bass hump somewhere. Fortunately, apart from the mild issues I have with the bass, there are no prices to pay. After all, this character – which reminds me of the Westone UM3X in a way – doesn’t hurt transparency and resolution. Quite the opposite: the result is that the mids sound exceptionally natural. This is what defines them. The timbre seems sport on, and this weighty and thick character, along with the feeling of alignment and transparency creates very tridimensional mids that seem to be alive. Another quality that helps is the absence of a plasticky character that is present in every other BA earphone I’ve heard so far.
All of those traits makes the Roxanne sound a lot closer than usual to full-sizes: it really sounds huge. The JH13s and the Mentors sound like earbuds next to these. However, despite all the spacial capabilities and the weighty but transparent character, there’s not denying: this is still and in-ear and it simply does not sound as spacial and as open as a headphone. There’s a lot of transparency and resolution, but the sounds are, despite considerably tridimensional, still close to each other. Considering the analogy I’ve made above: the sounds are close but perfectly aligned, so it’s possible to “see deep through the slits”. I don’t have this feeling with full-size headphones because the sounds are not close, so instead of having a slit between sounds, there’s a bigger space that doesn’t feel like a slit in the first place.
I’ve read pretty divergent opinions about the treble. Some consider them harsh, while many feel a lack of presence in that region. What I know is that Jerry Harvey seeked to overcome the limitations of the technology in balanced armatures – achieving highs with proper extension and providing a linear and neutral response in this end of the spectrum, with no artificial sparkle. In my opinion, he achieved that with flying colours. There’s no artificial sparkle as in most other headphones, so that’s why many will find the Roxannes to be lacking in clarity and brightness.
The result is that those IEMs don’t have prominent highs but, in my opinion, is spot on with regards to timbre and truthfulness of instruments that reside in this region. It reminds me a lot of the Grado HP1000s, but with slightly less withdrawn treble. The treble response is among the things that I appreciate the most in the Roxannes, as they provide a very accurate response along with a smooth and fatigue-free experience.
CONCLUSIONS Maybe, in this text, I have explicited more downsides of the Roxannes than you, the reader, might have been expecting. So I’ll just make it clear: this last masterpiece from Jerry Harvey is undoubtedly the best in-ear I’ve ever heard, by a wide margin.
The reasons are simple: everything in them, even the small issues, seem to build a distinct personality. It doesn’t sound like a dry, authoritative and fun monitor, but rather an earphone targeted at the audiophile crowd. It’s not that I consider it neutral, but it is, quite clearly, one of the most organic headphones I’ve ever auditioned – maybe even the most.
I’m not sure about how to define this character clearly, but I know that it’s exactly what the Roxannes portray. With it, music sounds alive, palpable and organic. Everything I hear with it is jut enchanting.
At the same time, however, I know that it isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t have the energy and the fun-factor that I used to have with the JH13s or that I heard with the Mentor or even with the Merlin. I know that I wouldn’t be able to live solely with either of them now since I’d consider it a downgrade – the Roxannes goes far ahead any IEM I’ve yet heard in some aspects –, but I’m not going to lie, I’d love to have something like an improved JH13 Pro (with regards to transparency and linearity of mids and highs) to complement the Roxannes as the “fun” earphone.
Nevertheless, I can’t forget that it’s impossible to have everything in one single headphone. Unfortunately, that’s not how our hobby works. That’s why I own many: Audio-Technica W3000ANV and M50, Grado HP1000, HiFiMAN HE500 and Sennheiser HD800 and Amperior. Big names.
These little earphones, however, are my favorites of them all.
Associated equipment:
Portable: iPod Classic, Sony NW-ZX1, Sony Xperia Z2
Desktop: iMac, Abrahamsen V6.0, B.M.C. PureDAC, HeadAmp GS-X
View previous replies…
Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much, Zorin
themad
Excellent and detailed review! Thanks for that and congrats for the acquisition!
Leonardo Drummond
Oh, look who's here! Thanks, man!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Extreme accuracy, life-like with reference acoustic recordings
Cons: Very uncomfortable, will not suit any genre, rare and expensive
INTRODUCTION
First of all, excuse my English if you find any mistakes – I'm not a native speaker.
I suppose these don’t need much introduction. They were the first Grados – all made by Joe Grado himself –, and are usually regarded as some of the best headphones ever made. Even by today’s standards they are a reference for neutrality.
Three variations were produced: HP1s (with polarity switch), HP2s (without polarity switch) and HP3s (without polarity switch and more tolerant driver matching). There were also at least two cables used during the HP1000s’ production: the Joseph Grado Signature Ultra-Wide Bandwith Reference Cable and the Grado Signature Laboratory Standard Audio Cable. From what I could gather, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus as to which is better or rarer. This review was done about an HP2 with the JGSUWBRC, but since then I replaced it with an HP1 with the GSLSAC (had both for a short period of time) and found that they sound exactly the same.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
The HP1000s are pretty much equal to other Grados, but with a few distinguishing details that make them, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful headphones ever made. The whole structure is made out of metal, unlike all other the other Grados, which have plastic and/or wood. Joseph Grado wasn’t fooling around: this is a tough old bird.
The headband is made of genuine leather, but that doesn’t mean it’s comfortable: it definitely isn’t. The weight is quite substantial and the headband has got pretty much no padding, so it exerts considerable pressure on the top of my head. The clamping force adjustment is a joke: you do it by bending (!) the headband. Yes. On a 1.5K headphone. Only those who have done it will know how scary it is to do such a thing on such a rare and expensive headphone. The up side is that you can pretty much adjust it to your liking, unlike most other headphones I know. Vertical adjustment is made by the traditional Grado rods – but in here the whole thing is made entirely out of metal and there are little screws that secure the rods in place.
The original pads are similar to current Grados flat pads, but have a more consistent foam and a hole in the middle. I’ve tried all other pads and these (which are now sold through TTVJ) undoubtedly give me the best sound. The trade-off is that they’re incredibly uncomfortable. I really can’t wear these headphones for more than 30 minutes without some rest.
THE SOUND
The HP1000s are usually regarded as being completely different from all other Grados. This was not my first impression, however. It is indeed more relaxed, less energetic and darker than the other Grados I know, but the crude and direct house sound is still intact. Tonal balance still seems to be centered on the mids, but the highs are much more relaxed than the brand’s recent offerings.
Regardless, I’ll go straight to the point: these are easily one of the most neutral headphones I’ve ever heard. Not long ago I reviewed the Orpheus, and my conclusion was that even though it might not be entirely neutral to the media, with its slight colorations it ends up being (accidentally or not) extremely natural and neutral do the original musical event. The Grados, to me, achieve a similar level of neutrality, but in a completely different way.
The Sennheisers seem to show you an embellished reality, putting you in the middle of a gorgeous and well decorated scenario, with beautiful musicians playing beautiful sounds around you. You appreciate every detail that is presented in great style. The HP1000s, on the other hand, show you a much cruder version of reality. It simply portrays an ugly reality, with tired and sweaty musicians playing on a dirty stage, after hours of recording.
Bass is very good. They’re not as strong as some other reviews made me believe, but they have good presence and excellent definition, impact and speed. However, extension is not that great – it’s good, but not spectacular. Integration of this region with the rest of the spectrum is seamless. In some cases I feel that they could be a little bit more present, but this is very recording-dependent. Reference recordings will find one of the best performances every, but artificial genres, such as electronic music, not so much. Some might find the bass to be a bit too dry.
The mids are the best – though the most complicated – aspect of the HP1000s. The thing is that to me they do sound forward, like other Grados, but the interesting thing is that this doesn’t seem to affect the way in which the tonal balance is translated to a truthful presentation. It’s as if we had mid-centered instruments (voices, guitars, pianos, etc.) more forward than the others in the Grado’s soundstage – something that usually happens in real performances, by the way. This is quite interesting, as something that initially sounds like an alteration of the tonal balance ends up sounding more adequate and real.
This characteristic is one of the biggest reasons for this raw character that the HP1000s possess. In some styles, this nude and crude reality is exactly what I want. There seems to be no artificialities, but at the same time the mids do sound forward, composing a personality that is borderline unpleasant – but it’s as if it was a reality that is borderline unpleasant, and this is the key here. It sounds like reality, so for a headphone, it’s almost pure perfection. That’s the HP1000s’ paradox. In acoustic reference recordings it sounds, well, like the reference, and in some cases, particularly with rock music, guitars just seem to attack your ears in a life-like way. It’s bloody fantastic.
The highs, just like the mids, are something special. I’m fairly sensitive to how treble should sound – I had a band for a while and I know how cymbals should sound, and the truth is that like 95% of the high-end headphones I know (that includes HD800s, JH13 Pros, SR-007, T1, HE500 and many others) just get them wrong. There seems to be some bright spots that completely distorts cymbals. I should say, though, that this is also highly dependent on the recording as well. There seems to be some peaks in the treble that somehow are in the wrong place, and the results frequently are cymbals that have no body. They simply don’t sound like the real deal.
I know of a few headphones that do get them right – HD600, HE90 and K1000 immediately spring to mind –, and to me, the HP1000s outclass them. They may be the most realistic treble I’ve ever heard on a headphone before. They are slightly laid back, especially compared to the forward mids, but in terms of timbre, they are simply spot-on. Cymbals have body, attack, presence and an extremely realistic decay. Some of my reference recordings for treble are Mogwai’s The Hawk is Howling and Hard Rock Will Never Die, But You Will and Esperanza Spalding’s Esperanza. With the Grados, I found what are the most realistic cymbals I’ve ever heard on headphones to date.
In terms of transparency the HP1000s are good but already show their age. It’s not nearly as transparent as something like an HD800, even though, to me, they do sound more realistic in its overall signature. The same can be said about speed: the Grados are somewhat quick for a dynamic of this age, but comparing them to may modern offerings will show you that they are indeed 20+ year old headphones.
Soundstage is considerably more expansive than the brand’s usual, but it’s still small and can’t be compared to something like an AKG K702 or an HD800. It resembles the LCD2 in that regard, though a bit better since the Audez’es have a fuller sound that seems to diminish their spacial capabilities.
CONCLUSIONS
The HP1000s are truly incredible headphones. In my opinion, if you feed it the right recordings, it simply sounds like the real thing.
It’s not as neutral as an HD800, HE90 or JH13 Pro... it’s quite hard to explain. What happens is that it sounds raw. That’s the word that better describes it. That’s why it doesn’t work with every genre, and I why wouldn’t want to live with them as my only headphones – its nude and crude reality is not always welcome.
An HD800, for example, has got reasonably present bass, sweet and cohesive mids but treble that’s slightly hot and with a detail retrieval that simply surpasses the limits of what would be natural. A JH13 Pro is like an extremely capable studio monitor, full of energy but with slightly accentuated bass and treble – which sound a bit wrong in terms of timbre.
The Orpheus is pure perfection, but has it’s euphonic signature and diffuse soundstage, also with a relatively unnatural detail retrieval in many cases. Like I said before, it seems to embellish the music. Don’t get me wrong – they’re still by far the best headphones I’ve ever heard, but in absolute terms, the HP1000s are just as neutral, though in a different way. An HE90 lets you hear every nuances of a female voice, for example: the breathing, the opening lips, as if the singer was there whispering to you. The Grados just leave them on the stage, doing whatever it is they want to do, their way, not looking to please you.
It’s really quite different. It sounds acoustic, analog – but not the warm-vinyl-analog, I mean analog in the sense that it sounds like a passive tool that conveys all the sonic and physic nature of instruments, with all their perfections and imperfections.
With the right recordings, they don’t sound like a studio recording. They just sound like the real deal.
Associated Equipment: HeadAmp GS-X, Meier Audio Eartube, Melos SHA-1, Woo Audio WA3, Electrocompaniet ECD-1, Abrahamsen V6.0, Cambridge Audio DacMagic.
Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much for your comment, devouringone. I've learned a lot about the HP1000s with your posts – it's clear that you are one of the Grado's conoisseur! So it makes me really happy that you liked my review!
I just read that link about your mod and it seems indeed very interesting! I used to have the yellow pads but now I don't (they were sold along with my former HP2s), although I became quite interested in your proposition and would be happy to buy a pair to try it out.
I tried every type of Grado pad and the TTVJ gave me the best sound, along with the yellow pads. The HP1000s were definitely made to be used with flats indeed.
Once again, thank you for your comment! It's really great to have some one this knowledgeable about these Grados around here. They truly deserve it!
devouringone3
TTVJ flats were also my favorite pads, behind the HD414's and the bowls in that order. Then Joseph Grado improved flat pads became my costly favorites, by a fair margin, because after that the TTVJ sounded pale (echo-y / unfocused / muffled) in comparison.
For all those pads I ended up preferring the sound of 3M Scotch tape around them. Except for the HD414's which don't behave as most Grado pads do. Tape modifying them the traditional way didn't change anything to their sound signature, so I invented the “Sunflower” Grado mod that I have yet to make official in a dedicated thread. I don't recommend applying the mod to any other pad than the HD414's.
My mod improves in the same direction Joseph Grado did with his improved flat pads. I have no hesitation recommending people to buy and modify those yellow sponges, because I think there will be no going back for anyone trying it.
The forwardness of the midrange has been thoroughly discussed (called “glare” by LCfiner and “shoutiness” by Purrin) and though I'm equalizing out presently, I will be trying HP 1000 drivers in wooden cups of various geometries (and in my full Symphones Magnum too) to rule out if whether the effect is coming from the drivers alone or the cups. Some have commented about possible benefits of suppressing that vocal highlighting the HP 1000 does. http://www.head-fi.org/t/596028/joe-grado-hp1000-modifications
Leonardo Drummond
Interesting, devouringone!
I'm very interesting in trying the mod. Not sure I want to get rid of the forwardness of the midrange though
It's one of the things that make them a very special headphone!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Incredibly seductive and euphonic sound, luxurious look and feel
Cons: Not the last word in comfort, small differentiation to other AT products, slightly genre-selective
I’ve always been curious about the Audio-Technica woodies, and recently had the opportunity to spend some time with the latest one, the W3000ANV, thanks to an audiophile friend in Brazil.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
I’m slightly on the fence here. In terms of appearance this headphone is spectacularly pretty and luxurious. The wood is extremely tasteful but discreet, since there’s a thick layer of varnish and a burgundy paint, that seem to mask a little bit of the wood’s natural grain.
My slight reservations are towards the fact that, apart from the wooden cups and some other details – such as the pads, colours of the plastic structure and the cable cloth and the plug –, it’s pretty much identical to the A700X that I reviewed a short while ago (not here). The W3000ANV cost 10 times the A700Xs price, so I expected more distinct differences between them. I’m not sure if it’s the younger brother that’s better built than its price suggests, but I guess I’d expect some more differentiation between them – such as metal instead of plastic in some areas.
Another issue is that I found the W3000ANV a little heavy, and as the pads that act as headbands don’t offer a lot of support, the headphones end up not being very secure and falling a bit – consequently, the cups go down and the pads make more pressure on the lower part of my ears than what I’d be comfortable with. Therefore, to me, it’s not particularly comfortable. I’m aware, however, that this is a personal issue.
Regardless of those problems, there’s no denying that those headphones are quite spectacular physically. The same compliments can be made to the packaging and presentation: Audio-Technica really know how to present a TOTL product.
THE SOUND
The first impression I got was that it sounded pretty much like I expected: it had a very sweet, euphonic and delicious presentation. That comes, of course, at the cost of neutrality. But honestly, hearing what those headphones do to my music, I keep asking myself what the hell I’d want neutrality for. It’s quite difficult to put in words the sensation that the W3000ANV gives you... it’s a really incredible sweetness, and few times have I ever heard anything like it.
Another characteristic that’s immediately evident is the ability of not having any of the downsides normally associated with closed headphones. It doesn’t have the openness and sense of breath as open backed headphones, but then I see considerable spaciousness here and there doesn’t seem to be any nasal characteristics to the mids.
The bass is sensational, and just like with the AD700X, they remind me a lot the Sony EX1000 in-ear – that’s a compliment, as I find the bass on these to be fantastic. They have strong presence, at the proportion which I would consider ideal, but in a very subtle and delicate way, without sacrificing any definition. It very competently displays texture. There’s reasonable impact as well, but it’s not that usual dry, impactful bass –the lows are slow and silky. The only issue that I have here is that there’s a discreet lack of weight and substance. However, if this is a price to pay for the euphonic nature of the bass, so be it.
Regarding the mids... they’re also an example of how to enchant. The tonal balance is very natural and correct on these, therefore in terms of presence the mids are more or less precisely where I’d want them to be given the W3000ANV’s purpose. The timbre is irreprehensible, but what really makes the difference is the irresistible nature of the mids here. Once again there’s an incredible warmth that’s extremely seductive and makes the coldest systems sound like the most euphonic ones. Really, it makes it seem as if the cables and power outlet had tubes.
And that doesn’t come at the cost of transparency and definition. It goes quite a bit beyond what “sweet and euphonic” seem to usually suggest. Obviously these Audio-Technicas don’t present the levels of resolution of something like an HD800, but I was surprised to hear how it doesn’t make you feel like you’re missing anything. And if it does, really... I wouldn’t care.
However, there’s an issue here that’s quite hard to explain, but it sounds as if it didn’t have the mass that such warmth usually suggests – like I hear, for example, with the HiFiMAN HE500s. There’s also a significant tridimensional quality to these headphones, and it appears that those two characteristics and up making the presentation a wee bit light and distance. Consequently, I see myself frequently compensating by turning up the volume. It’s not a negative thing, just a characteristic, but I’m slightly on the fence about this.
The treble is, again, fantastic. Not for being perfect – they are undoubtedly coloured –, but for being totally in harmony with the W3000ANVs general sound and also for being what I’d precisely call euphonic highs. I think, in most cases, present highs are related to coldness, but in here this couldn’t be further from the truth. Not that they’re excessive or lacking – maybe it’s sounding a bit too good to be true, but I’ll once again refer to the classic “they are where they should be”.
Here, I’m impressed with these headphone’s ability to show perfectly present and well extended treble within a sonority well into the euphonic camp without causing any harm to this characteristic. Usually, I find that the sweetest headphones have relaxed highs, but the W3000ANV goes completely against this tendency with flying colours, and therefore doesn’t bring any of the disadvantages usually associated to it – such as lack of sparkle and of definition.
Speaking of sparkle, there seems to be a small peak – generally inoffensive, but that can, on rare ocasions, present some sibilance – that was put on the best spot possible. I really can’t explain well enough, but the highs in these headphones are also mesmerizing. They don’t have perfect timbre, but they can show presence, definition and extension along with subtleness and tenderness.
The results of all this, as should be clear by now, is that the W3000ANV is not an all-rounder. It wasn’t made to play rock or electronic music – it can, well enough, but it really shows what it’s made for playing Kind of Blue in a rainy afternoon. Any instrument that depends on sweet mids will find nirvana here.
CONCLUSIONS
I’m completely in love with it.
I’ve made an effort to show my enthusiasm in this review, but this is not because of a lack of it – quite the opposite. This is because the last thing I wanted to do with the W3000ANV was to analyze it. The only thing I feel like doing with it is to listen to music.
Frankly, to analyze this headphone is a bit nonsense. If there’s one thing it wasn’t made for, is to be analyzed. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such euphony and musicality in a sound equipment. It constantly reminds me the reason why I’m so much into music – because, to me, it was impossible not to be completely carried away by the way it presents it.
The W3000ANV is totally irresistible and is easily the most seductive means of listening to music I’ve ever had the chance of hearing. This makes it one of the best headphones I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to.
jjvvcckk
attractive looks! good review
NEETnoNEED
awesome review, thanks for sharing.
jujuju
Just caught up with this - A great review - I have a pair of these and they are lovely - I think you have summed the sound up very well !! These headphones may be destined to be Legends !!!
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Maybe, in this text, I have explicited more downsides of the Roxannes than you, the reader, might have been expecting. So I’ll just make it clear: this last masterpiece from Jerry Harvey is undoubtedly the best in-ear I’ve ever heard, by a wide margin.
The reasons are simple: everything in them, even the small issues, seem to build a distinct personality. It doesn’t sound like a dry, authoritative and fun monitor, but rather an earphone targeted at the audiophile crowd. It’s not that I consider it neutral, but it is, quite clearly, one of the most organic headphones I’ve ever auditioned – maybe even the most.
I’m not sure about how to define this character clearly, but I know that it’s exactly what the Roxannes portray. With it, music sounds alive, palpable and organic. Everything I hear with it is jut enchanting.
At the same time, however, I know that it isn’t for everyone. It doesn’t have the energy and the fun-factor that I used to have with the JH13s or that I heard with the Mentor or even with the Merlin. I know that I wouldn’t be able to live solely with either of them now since I’d consider it a downgrade – the Roxannes goes far ahead any IEM I’ve yet heard in some aspects –, but I’m not going to lie, I’d love to have something like an improved JH13 Pro (with regards to transparency and linearity of mids and highs) to complement the Roxannes as the “fun” earphone.
Nevertheless, I can’t forget that it’s impossible to have everything in one single headphone. Unfortunately, that’s not how our hobby works. That’s why I own many: Audio-Technica W3000ANV and M50, Grado HP1000, HiFiMAN HE500 and Sennheiser HD800 and Amperior. Big names.
These little earphones, however, are my favorites of them all.
Associated equipment:
Portable: iPod Classic, Sony NW-ZX1, Sony Xperia Z2
Desktop: iMac, Abrahamsen V6.0, B.M.C. PureDAC, HeadAmp GS-X
View previous replies…
Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much, Zorin
themad
Excellent and detailed review! Thanks for that and congrats for the acquisition!
Leonardo Drummond
Oh, look who's here! Thanks, man!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Extreme accuracy, life-like with reference acoustic recordings
Cons: Very uncomfortable, will not suit any genre, rare and expensive
INTRODUCTION
First of all, excuse my English if you find any mistakes – I'm not a native speaker.I suppose these don’t need much introduction. They were the first Grados – all made by Joe Grado himself –, and are usually regarded as some of the best headphones ever made. Even by today’s standards they are a reference for neutrality.
Three variations were produced: HP1s (with polarity switch), HP2s (without polarity switch) and HP3s (without polarity switch and more tolerant driver matching). There were also at least two cables used during the HP1000s’ production: the Joseph Grado Signature Ultra-Wide Bandwith Reference Cable and the Grado Signature Laboratory Standard Audio Cable. From what I could gather, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus as to which is better or rarer. This review was done about an HP2 with the JGSUWBRC, but since then I replaced it with an HP1 with the GSLSAC (had both for a short period of time) and found that they sound exactly the same.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
The HP1000s are pretty much equal to other Grados, but with a few distinguishing details that make them, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful headphones ever made. The whole structure is made out of metal, unlike all other the other Grados, which have plastic and/or wood. Joseph Grado wasn’t fooling around: this is a tough old bird.
The headband is made of genuine leather, but that doesn’t mean it’s comfortable: it definitely isn’t. The weight is quite substantial and the headband has got pretty much no padding, so it exerts considerable pressure on the top of my head. The clamping force adjustment is a joke: you do it by bending (!) the headband. Yes. On a 1.5K headphone. Only those who have done it will know how scary it is to do such a thing on such a rare and expensive headphone. The up side is that you can pretty much adjust it to your liking, unlike most other headphones I know. Vertical adjustment is made by the traditional Grado rods – but in here the whole thing is made entirely out of metal and there are little screws that secure the rods in place.
The original pads are similar to current Grados flat pads, but have a more consistent foam and a hole in the middle. I’ve tried all other pads and these (which are now sold through TTVJ) undoubtedly give me the best sound. The trade-off is that they’re incredibly uncomfortable. I really can’t wear these headphones for more than 30 minutes without some rest.
THE SOUND
The HP1000s are usually regarded as being completely different from all other Grados. This was not my first impression, however. It is indeed more relaxed, less energetic and darker than the other Grados I know, but the crude and direct house sound is still intact. Tonal balance still seems to be centered on the mids, but the highs are much more relaxed than the brand’s recent offerings.
Regardless, I’ll go straight to the point: these are easily one of the most neutral headphones I’ve ever heard. Not long ago I reviewed the Orpheus, and my conclusion was that even though it might not be entirely neutral to the media, with its slight colorations it ends up being (accidentally or not) extremely natural and neutral do the original musical event. The Grados, to me, achieve a similar level of neutrality, but in a completely different way.
The Sennheisers seem to show you an embellished reality, putting you in the middle of a gorgeous and well decorated scenario, with beautiful musicians playing beautiful sounds around you. You appreciate every detail that is presented in great style. The HP1000s, on the other hand, show you a much cruder version of reality. It simply portrays an ugly reality, with tired and sweaty musicians playing on a dirty stage, after hours of recording.
Bass is very good. They’re not as strong as some other reviews made me believe, but they have good presence and excellent definition, impact and speed. However, extension is not that great – it’s good, but not spectacular. Integration of this region with the rest of the spectrum is seamless. In some cases I feel that they could be a little bit more present, but this is very recording-dependent. Reference recordings will find one of the best performances every, but artificial genres, such as electronic music, not so much. Some might find the bass to be a bit too dry.
The mids are the best – though the most complicated – aspect of the HP1000s. The thing is that to me they do sound forward, like other Grados, but the interesting thing is that this doesn’t seem to affect the way in which the tonal balance is translated to a truthful presentation. It’s as if we had mid-centered instruments (voices, guitars, pianos, etc.) more forward than the others in the Grado’s soundstage – something that usually happens in real performances, by the way. This is quite interesting, as something that initially sounds like an alteration of the tonal balance ends up sounding more adequate and real.
This characteristic is one of the biggest reasons for this raw character that the HP1000s possess. In some styles, this nude and crude reality is exactly what I want. There seems to be no artificialities, but at the same time the mids do sound forward, composing a personality that is borderline unpleasant – but it’s as if it was a reality that is borderline unpleasant, and this is the key here. It sounds like reality, so for a headphone, it’s almost pure perfection. That’s the HP1000s’ paradox. In acoustic reference recordings it sounds, well, like the reference, and in some cases, particularly with rock music, guitars just seem to attack your ears in a life-like way. It’s bloody fantastic.
The highs, just like the mids, are something special. I’m fairly sensitive to how treble should sound – I had a band for a while and I know how cymbals should sound, and the truth is that like 95% of the high-end headphones I know (that includes HD800s, JH13 Pros, SR-007, T1, HE500 and many others) just get them wrong. There seems to be some bright spots that completely distorts cymbals. I should say, though, that this is also highly dependent on the recording as well. There seems to be some peaks in the treble that somehow are in the wrong place, and the results frequently are cymbals that have no body. They simply don’t sound like the real deal.
I know of a few headphones that do get them right – HD600, HE90 and K1000 immediately spring to mind –, and to me, the HP1000s outclass them. They may be the most realistic treble I’ve ever heard on a headphone before. They are slightly laid back, especially compared to the forward mids, but in terms of timbre, they are simply spot-on. Cymbals have body, attack, presence and an extremely realistic decay. Some of my reference recordings for treble are Mogwai’s The Hawk is Howling and Hard Rock Will Never Die, But You Will and Esperanza Spalding’s Esperanza. With the Grados, I found what are the most realistic cymbals I’ve ever heard on headphones to date.
In terms of transparency the HP1000s are good but already show their age. It’s not nearly as transparent as something like an HD800, even though, to me, they do sound more realistic in its overall signature. The same can be said about speed: the Grados are somewhat quick for a dynamic of this age, but comparing them to may modern offerings will show you that they are indeed 20+ year old headphones.
Soundstage is considerably more expansive than the brand’s usual, but it’s still small and can’t be compared to something like an AKG K702 or an HD800. It resembles the LCD2 in that regard, though a bit better since the Audez’es have a fuller sound that seems to diminish their spacial capabilities.
CONCLUSIONS
The HP1000s are truly incredible headphones. In my opinion, if you feed it the right recordings, it simply sounds like the real thing.
It’s not as neutral as an HD800, HE90 or JH13 Pro... it’s quite hard to explain. What happens is that it sounds raw. That’s the word that better describes it. That’s why it doesn’t work with every genre, and I why wouldn’t want to live with them as my only headphones – its nude and crude reality is not always welcome.
An HD800, for example, has got reasonably present bass, sweet and cohesive mids but treble that’s slightly hot and with a detail retrieval that simply surpasses the limits of what would be natural. A JH13 Pro is like an extremely capable studio monitor, full of energy but with slightly accentuated bass and treble – which sound a bit wrong in terms of timbre.
The Orpheus is pure perfection, but has it’s euphonic signature and diffuse soundstage, also with a relatively unnatural detail retrieval in many cases. Like I said before, it seems to embellish the music. Don’t get me wrong – they’re still by far the best headphones I’ve ever heard, but in absolute terms, the HP1000s are just as neutral, though in a different way. An HE90 lets you hear every nuances of a female voice, for example: the breathing, the opening lips, as if the singer was there whispering to you. The Grados just leave them on the stage, doing whatever it is they want to do, their way, not looking to please you.
It’s really quite different. It sounds acoustic, analog – but not the warm-vinyl-analog, I mean analog in the sense that it sounds like a passive tool that conveys all the sonic and physic nature of instruments, with all their perfections and imperfections.
With the right recordings, they don’t sound like a studio recording. They just sound like the real deal.
Associated Equipment: HeadAmp GS-X, Meier Audio Eartube, Melos SHA-1, Woo Audio WA3, Electrocompaniet ECD-1, Abrahamsen V6.0, Cambridge Audio DacMagic.
Associated Equipment: HeadAmp GS-X, Meier Audio Eartube, Melos SHA-1, Woo Audio WA3, Electrocompaniet ECD-1, Abrahamsen V6.0, Cambridge Audio DacMagic.
Leonardo Drummond
Thank you very much for your comment, devouringone. I've learned a lot about the HP1000s with your posts – it's clear that you are one of the Grado's conoisseur! So it makes me really happy that you liked my review!
I just read that link about your mod and it seems indeed very interesting! I used to have the yellow pads but now I don't (they were sold along with my former HP2s), although I became quite interested in your proposition and would be happy to buy a pair to try it out.
I tried every type of Grado pad and the TTVJ gave me the best sound, along with the yellow pads. The HP1000s were definitely made to be used with flats indeed.
Once again, thank you for your comment! It's really great to have some one this knowledgeable about these Grados around here. They truly deserve it!
I just read that link about your mod and it seems indeed very interesting! I used to have the yellow pads but now I don't (they were sold along with my former HP2s), although I became quite interested in your proposition and would be happy to buy a pair to try it out.
I tried every type of Grado pad and the TTVJ gave me the best sound, along with the yellow pads. The HP1000s were definitely made to be used with flats indeed.
Once again, thank you for your comment! It's really great to have some one this knowledgeable about these Grados around here. They truly deserve it!
devouringone3
TTVJ flats were also my favorite pads, behind the HD414's and the bowls in that order. Then Joseph Grado improved flat pads became my costly favorites, by a fair margin, because after that the TTVJ sounded pale (echo-y / unfocused / muffled) in comparison.
For all those pads I ended up preferring the sound of 3M Scotch tape around them. Except for the HD414's which don't behave as most Grado pads do. Tape modifying them the traditional way didn't change anything to their sound signature, so I invented the “Sunflower” Grado mod that I have yet to make official in a dedicated thread. I don't recommend applying the mod to any other pad than the HD414's.
My mod improves in the same direction Joseph Grado did with his improved flat pads. I have no hesitation recommending people to buy and modify those yellow sponges, because I think there will be no going back for anyone trying it.
The forwardness of the midrange has been thoroughly discussed (called “glare” by LCfiner and “shoutiness” by Purrin) and though I'm equalizing out presently, I will be trying HP 1000 drivers in wooden cups of various geometries (and in my full Symphones Magnum too) to rule out if whether the effect is coming from the drivers alone or the cups. Some have commented about possible benefits of suppressing that vocal highlighting the HP 1000 does. http://www.head-fi.org/t/596028/joe-grado-hp1000-modifications
For all those pads I ended up preferring the sound of 3M Scotch tape around them. Except for the HD414's which don't behave as most Grado pads do. Tape modifying them the traditional way didn't change anything to their sound signature, so I invented the “Sunflower” Grado mod that I have yet to make official in a dedicated thread. I don't recommend applying the mod to any other pad than the HD414's.
My mod improves in the same direction Joseph Grado did with his improved flat pads. I have no hesitation recommending people to buy and modify those yellow sponges, because I think there will be no going back for anyone trying it.
The forwardness of the midrange has been thoroughly discussed (called “glare” by LCfiner and “shoutiness” by Purrin) and though I'm equalizing out presently, I will be trying HP 1000 drivers in wooden cups of various geometries (and in my full Symphones Magnum too) to rule out if whether the effect is coming from the drivers alone or the cups. Some have commented about possible benefits of suppressing that vocal highlighting the HP 1000 does. http://www.head-fi.org/t/596028/joe-grado-hp1000-modifications
Leonardo Drummond
Interesting, devouringone!
I'm very interesting in trying the mod. Not sure I want to get rid of the forwardness of the midrange though
It's one of the things that make them a very special headphone!
I'm very interesting in trying the mod. Not sure I want to get rid of the forwardness of the midrange though
It's one of the things that make them a very special headphone!
Leonardo Drummond
100+ Head-Fier
Pros: Incredibly seductive and euphonic sound, luxurious look and feel
Cons: Not the last word in comfort, small differentiation to other AT products, slightly genre-selective
I’ve always been curious about the Audio-Technica woodies, and recently had the opportunity to spend some time with the latest one, the W3000ANV, thanks to an audiophile friend in Brazil.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
I’m slightly on the fence here. In terms of appearance this headphone is spectacularly pretty and luxurious. The wood is extremely tasteful but discreet, since there’s a thick layer of varnish and a burgundy paint, that seem to mask a little bit of the wood’s natural grain.
My slight reservations are towards the fact that, apart from the wooden cups and some other details – such as the pads, colours of the plastic structure and the cable cloth and the plug –, it’s pretty much identical to the A700X that I reviewed a short while ago (not here). The W3000ANV cost 10 times the A700Xs price, so I expected more distinct differences between them. I’m not sure if it’s the younger brother that’s better built than its price suggests, but I guess I’d expect some more differentiation between them – such as metal instead of plastic in some areas.
Another issue is that I found the W3000ANV a little heavy, and as the pads that act as headbands don’t offer a lot of support, the headphones end up not being very secure and falling a bit – consequently, the cups go down and the pads make more pressure on the lower part of my ears than what I’d be comfortable with. Therefore, to me, it’s not particularly comfortable. I’m aware, however, that this is a personal issue.
Regardless of those problems, there’s no denying that those headphones are quite spectacular physically. The same compliments can be made to the packaging and presentation: Audio-Technica really know how to present a TOTL product.
THE SOUND
The first impression I got was that it sounded pretty much like I expected: it had a very sweet, euphonic and delicious presentation. That comes, of course, at the cost of neutrality. But honestly, hearing what those headphones do to my music, I keep asking myself what the hell I’d want neutrality for. It’s quite difficult to put in words the sensation that the W3000ANV gives you... it’s a really incredible sweetness, and few times have I ever heard anything like it.
Another characteristic that’s immediately evident is the ability of not having any of the downsides normally associated with closed headphones. It doesn’t have the openness and sense of breath as open backed headphones, but then I see considerable spaciousness here and there doesn’t seem to be any nasal characteristics to the mids.
The bass is sensational, and just like with the AD700X, they remind me a lot the Sony EX1000 in-ear – that’s a compliment, as I find the bass on these to be fantastic. They have strong presence, at the proportion which I would consider ideal, but in a very subtle and delicate way, without sacrificing any definition. It very competently displays texture. There’s reasonable impact as well, but it’s not that usual dry, impactful bass –the lows are slow and silky. The only issue that I have here is that there’s a discreet lack of weight and substance. However, if this is a price to pay for the euphonic nature of the bass, so be it.
Regarding the mids... they’re also an example of how to enchant. The tonal balance is very natural and correct on these, therefore in terms of presence the mids are more or less precisely where I’d want them to be given the W3000ANV’s purpose. The timbre is irreprehensible, but what really makes the difference is the irresistible nature of the mids here. Once again there’s an incredible warmth that’s extremely seductive and makes the coldest systems sound like the most euphonic ones. Really, it makes it seem as if the cables and power outlet had tubes.
And that doesn’t come at the cost of transparency and definition. It goes quite a bit beyond what “sweet and euphonic” seem to usually suggest. Obviously these Audio-Technicas don’t present the levels of resolution of something like an HD800, but I was surprised to hear how it doesn’t make you feel like you’re missing anything. And if it does, really... I wouldn’t care.
However, there’s an issue here that’s quite hard to explain, but it sounds as if it didn’t have the mass that such warmth usually suggests – like I hear, for example, with the HiFiMAN HE500s. There’s also a significant tridimensional quality to these headphones, and it appears that those two characteristics and up making the presentation a wee bit light and distance. Consequently, I see myself frequently compensating by turning up the volume. It’s not a negative thing, just a characteristic, but I’m slightly on the fence about this.
The treble is, again, fantastic. Not for being perfect – they are undoubtedly coloured –, but for being totally in harmony with the W3000ANVs general sound and also for being what I’d precisely call euphonic highs. I think, in most cases, present highs are related to coldness, but in here this couldn’t be further from the truth. Not that they’re excessive or lacking – maybe it’s sounding a bit too good to be true, but I’ll once again refer to the classic “they are where they should be”.
Here, I’m impressed with these headphone’s ability to show perfectly present and well extended treble within a sonority well into the euphonic camp without causing any harm to this characteristic. Usually, I find that the sweetest headphones have relaxed highs, but the W3000ANV goes completely against this tendency with flying colours, and therefore doesn’t bring any of the disadvantages usually associated to it – such as lack of sparkle and of definition.
Speaking of sparkle, there seems to be a small peak – generally inoffensive, but that can, on rare ocasions, present some sibilance – that was put on the best spot possible. I really can’t explain well enough, but the highs in these headphones are also mesmerizing. They don’t have perfect timbre, but they can show presence, definition and extension along with subtleness and tenderness.
The results of all this, as should be clear by now, is that the W3000ANV is not an all-rounder. It wasn’t made to play rock or electronic music – it can, well enough, but it really shows what it’s made for playing Kind of Blue in a rainy afternoon. Any instrument that depends on sweet mids will find nirvana here.
CONCLUSIONS
I’m completely in love with it.
I’ve made an effort to show my enthusiasm in this review, but this is not because of a lack of it – quite the opposite. This is because the last thing I wanted to do with the W3000ANV was to analyze it. The only thing I feel like doing with it is to listen to music.
Frankly, to analyze this headphone is a bit nonsense. If there’s one thing it wasn’t made for, is to be analyzed. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such euphony and musicality in a sound equipment. It constantly reminds me the reason why I’m so much into music – because, to me, it was impossible not to be completely carried away by the way it presents it.
The W3000ANV is totally irresistible and is easily the most seductive means of listening to music I’ve ever had the chance of hearing. This makes it one of the best headphones I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS
I’m slightly on the fence here. In terms of appearance this headphone is spectacularly pretty and luxurious. The wood is extremely tasteful but discreet, since there’s a thick layer of varnish and a burgundy paint, that seem to mask a little bit of the wood’s natural grain.My slight reservations are towards the fact that, apart from the wooden cups and some other details – such as the pads, colours of the plastic structure and the cable cloth and the plug –, it’s pretty much identical to the A700X that I reviewed a short while ago (not here). The W3000ANV cost 10 times the A700Xs price, so I expected more distinct differences between them. I’m not sure if it’s the younger brother that’s better built than its price suggests, but I guess I’d expect some more differentiation between them – such as metal instead of plastic in some areas.
Another issue is that I found the W3000ANV a little heavy, and as the pads that act as headbands don’t offer a lot of support, the headphones end up not being very secure and falling a bit – consequently, the cups go down and the pads make more pressure on the lower part of my ears than what I’d be comfortable with. Therefore, to me, it’s not particularly comfortable. I’m aware, however, that this is a personal issue.
Regardless of those problems, there’s no denying that those headphones are quite spectacular physically. The same compliments can be made to the packaging and presentation: Audio-Technica really know how to present a TOTL product.
THE SOUND
The first impression I got was that it sounded pretty much like I expected: it had a very sweet, euphonic and delicious presentation. That comes, of course, at the cost of neutrality. But honestly, hearing what those headphones do to my music, I keep asking myself what the hell I’d want neutrality for. It’s quite difficult to put in words the sensation that the W3000ANV gives you... it’s a really incredible sweetness, and few times have I ever heard anything like it.
Another characteristic that’s immediately evident is the ability of not having any of the downsides normally associated with closed headphones. It doesn’t have the openness and sense of breath as open backed headphones, but then I see considerable spaciousness here and there doesn’t seem to be any nasal characteristics to the mids.
The bass is sensational, and just like with the AD700X, they remind me a lot the Sony EX1000 in-ear – that’s a compliment, as I find the bass on these to be fantastic. They have strong presence, at the proportion which I would consider ideal, but in a very subtle and delicate way, without sacrificing any definition. It very competently displays texture. There’s reasonable impact as well, but it’s not that usual dry, impactful bass –the lows are slow and silky. The only issue that I have here is that there’s a discreet lack of weight and substance. However, if this is a price to pay for the euphonic nature of the bass, so be it.
Regarding the mids... they’re also an example of how to enchant. The tonal balance is very natural and correct on these, therefore in terms of presence the mids are more or less precisely where I’d want them to be given the W3000ANV’s purpose. The timbre is irreprehensible, but what really makes the difference is the irresistible nature of the mids here. Once again there’s an incredible warmth that’s extremely seductive and makes the coldest systems sound like the most euphonic ones. Really, it makes it seem as if the cables and power outlet had tubes.
And that doesn’t come at the cost of transparency and definition. It goes quite a bit beyond what “sweet and euphonic” seem to usually suggest. Obviously these Audio-Technicas don’t present the levels of resolution of something like an HD800, but I was surprised to hear how it doesn’t make you feel like you’re missing anything. And if it does, really... I wouldn’t care.
However, there’s an issue here that’s quite hard to explain, but it sounds as if it didn’t have the mass that such warmth usually suggests – like I hear, for example, with the HiFiMAN HE500s. There’s also a significant tridimensional quality to these headphones, and it appears that those two characteristics and up making the presentation a wee bit light and distance. Consequently, I see myself frequently compensating by turning up the volume. It’s not a negative thing, just a characteristic, but I’m slightly on the fence about this.
The treble is, again, fantastic. Not for being perfect – they are undoubtedly coloured –, but for being totally in harmony with the W3000ANVs general sound and also for being what I’d precisely call euphonic highs. I think, in most cases, present highs are related to coldness, but in here this couldn’t be further from the truth. Not that they’re excessive or lacking – maybe it’s sounding a bit too good to be true, but I’ll once again refer to the classic “they are where they should be”.
Here, I’m impressed with these headphone’s ability to show perfectly present and well extended treble within a sonority well into the euphonic camp without causing any harm to this characteristic. Usually, I find that the sweetest headphones have relaxed highs, but the W3000ANV goes completely against this tendency with flying colours, and therefore doesn’t bring any of the disadvantages usually associated to it – such as lack of sparkle and of definition.
Speaking of sparkle, there seems to be a small peak – generally inoffensive, but that can, on rare ocasions, present some sibilance – that was put on the best spot possible. I really can’t explain well enough, but the highs in these headphones are also mesmerizing. They don’t have perfect timbre, but they can show presence, definition and extension along with subtleness and tenderness.
The results of all this, as should be clear by now, is that the W3000ANV is not an all-rounder. It wasn’t made to play rock or electronic music – it can, well enough, but it really shows what it’s made for playing Kind of Blue in a rainy afternoon. Any instrument that depends on sweet mids will find nirvana here.
CONCLUSIONS
I’m completely in love with it.
I’ve made an effort to show my enthusiasm in this review, but this is not because of a lack of it – quite the opposite. This is because the last thing I wanted to do with the W3000ANV was to analyze it. The only thing I feel like doing with it is to listen to music.
Frankly, to analyze this headphone is a bit nonsense. If there’s one thing it wasn’t made for, is to be analyzed. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such euphony and musicality in a sound equipment. It constantly reminds me the reason why I’m so much into music – because, to me, it was impossible not to be completely carried away by the way it presents it.
The W3000ANV is totally irresistible and is easily the most seductive means of listening to music I’ve ever had the chance of hearing. This makes it one of the best headphones I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to.
jjvvcckk
attractive looks! good review
NEETnoNEED
awesome review, thanks for sharing.
jujuju
Just caught up with this - A great review - I have a pair of these and they are lovely - I think you have summed the sound up very well !! These headphones may be destined to be Legends !!!