Had quite some time with this one, almost two months now;
Originally bought as a gift for a nephew, but trust young people not to appreciate what they've got, so naturally he didn't like it. At all. A conclusion he vehemently reached within the short span of a mere few hours. Anyhow.
2500 euro isn't small change for yours truly, so i thought i'd give it a shot myself. Not a stranger to Audio Technica, just have not had anything theirs since the Ikeda days.
If you can't be asked reading further?
Best dynamic headphone i have ever heard. By far. And close to five decades now as a professional, i've heard a
lot. E-xce-ptio-nal.
- This thing needs many, many days to reach its full potential. It showed me what it can fully do close to two weeks later -yes, really- and i do mean close to 2 full weeks later, playing non-stop all that time. So for those that listened to it and formed an opinion, should your impressions have been made prior to such a lengthy burn-in period, well, conclusions self-evident.
- The stock cable is
not microphonic. Seen this mentioned from various (different) people, not sure how i could phrase this politely, but after a point, one should perhaps grasp the basics prior to presuming they're in a position to make any judgements. Experts the lot of them mind, both here and in another forum.
- The stock cable does not need an upgrade IMHO. I find it perfect; it's well balanced, it suits the capabilities of the drivers, it compliments the auditory result, it doesn't cut or inhibit anywhere within the spectrum, it doesn't colour or lay over, in any a way.
* the XLR variant that's sold separately is made from the exact same cable, albeit obviously, we now have 2 separate earths. As such, you can expect what you'd expect in any such rare apples-to-apples comparison. The single-ended gives you a bit more 'cohesion' overall, the balanced a bit more spread-out and perhaps, case depending, 'dynamic' a representation. That's it,
unless
** your amp is built such that its single-ended output suffers. Say it's a truly balanced design, ergo its harmonics are.. what they are when you do that.. i won't go into the XLR craze here, but suffice it to say physics don't change no matter what boutique builders would like you to believe. If your amp is unfortunate enough to be a truly balanced design as is the trend for deaf people today, perhaps buying the balanced cable is truly an option. Otherwise, i'd stick to what AT intended.
As to the headphone itelf? You've more or less read all this elsewhere, but in my own words:
+ To use a term i disagree with but see written a lot? Timbre. Timbre. Timbre. Name the instrument, it doesn't matter, you haven't ever heard it so well and realistically defined before. We're firmly within proper, expensive loudspeakers territory;
that good.
+ Stupidly fast. For a dynamic mind. Saying this because i've seen two different people compare it to STAX's 009.. all i can say to both of them is that either their ears suffer, greatly, or their electrostatic amp is crap; or perhaps both? It's insanely fast a headphone, yes.
For a dynamic. The air it moves (for a dynamic) is truly staggering, at high volumes you experience it much the same way you would if close to a loudspeaker. Naught to do with volume (albeir it
is the cause), this is literally the air reaching your ears at speeds high enough to be felt physically, as an on the skin pressure. It's that fast.
+ Contrary to what graphs portray, empirically speaking it comes off as natural, well-balanced and even, in a very shall i say stereotypical "Japanese" quality sound way of approach.
+ A.C.C.U.R.A.T.E. Have you ever had a Graham or an SME tonearm and then switched to an 'SS' Ikeda?
That kind of accurate. Someone performs laser surgery, or could have.
+ On good recordings, and
only on good recordings, it comes alive. And it blows my bald skull out. Haven't sweated from excitement while listening to music in a looong time. Did and do now. I literally stop to wipe my bald pate, lol. It's.. moving an experience. Not STAX attack kind of alive, this is more like the kind of 'bam', you're now transported, fasten your seatbelts kind of alive. Everything expands, micro and macro blend better, attack and decay become more natural, the flow is crystal spring water-like.
+ It scales and scales and scales. All the way up to my main system's Zanden DAC -> TAD amp. First headphone i get that does that.
- Brutal on bad recordings. And i mean brutal. Most of you know this (the better the system and so on), but some of you may not quite grasp how pronounced this can be. Well, you will now
- Suffers greatly in a bad system. This isn't meant for small SMD-ridden amps (with or without "tubes") fed from iPhones or a PC. Not talking synergy or matching here, am talking cheap/bad system, advertising/hype for it notwithstanding.
- Anemic, flat and near dead on an amp lacking juice. Like proper juice, these headphones need power. The expensive kind.
-/+ Stage, depiction and/or placement thereof is very good, but not 2500 euro good. Its one and only achilles heel. Not average, not good, it really is very good. But at this price range you can find better elsewhere, albeit you'd literally lose on everything else. Mind, all this on a proper system. On anything subpar, i can see why some use the term "imagery".
Note to you folks, you may need a better system for this pair. Sorry :S
* Also, the above applies for, say a full orchestra piece, if like me you listen to 'classical'. For 3, 4 instruments tops? I doubt you'd find anything to complain about. Again, on a system worthy of such a pair of headphones.
-/+ For me a clear positive, but knowing the trends today, let's mark it a 'so so'; low frequencies are quality, not quantity, are well-driven STAX like. Texture, shape, sheen, growth and spread, correct staggered decay, but with no 'oomph' or artifical 'bloom', which masks other frequencies and as such is unwanted. Says i.
+ Slam is there, there is impact.
If your amp is solid; see above. "Boom", to use a nephew term, there is
not. And i thank the Lord for that too.
To say i recommend them is an understatement. Honestly the best dynamic i've ever heard and by far. And -since other types do exist- with the timbre where it is? Honestly not sure if i'd ever look at planars after this pair.
As for those such as myself listening with STAX headphones you'd ask? What about the other extreme? Dual answer.. You'll never, ever have the attack, air and responsiveness only STAX can provide you with (given a good amp). But what it amounts to? This wonderful juxtaposition of grace and speed without being tiring, detail and nuance without being jarring or icepicky? It's not realistic; it's not. It's a wonderful re..-re-presentation of an actuality you just won't get to hear.
To this day, nothing gives you the "timbre" a good dynamic can give you. Nothing.
So, you pick your poison
And thank you for reading my wall-o-text! Unless i've forgotten anything i think that's it, in nice and plain a langue hopefully
