Audio-Technica ATH-A900
This is my 2
nd pair of ATH-A900, which only shows my favorable view regarding these headphones. I owned them for a short while (bought strictly for evaluation purposes, in response to largely favorable reviews they gets), then sold them, then missed their soothing comfort and calm reassuring presentation, bought them again to re-evaluate what I have been missing, and now I’m in an indecisive agony once again :/. Do I need them or not? Obviously, I don’t need them, since they don't offer anything M50 or RH-300 don’t have, except for a bigger soundstage (it is huge on the A900) and the calmness they ooze (500 hz is also not as prominent as on M50 or RH-300). Generally they sound thinner, compared to M50 or RH-300, but they are really well balanced and enjoyable, more relaxing, in a way. A lot of people are complaining about the recessed mids (same as with the ATH-M50), but I would rather call them
not overblown, compared to some other headphones. The highs seem a bit subdued, compared to Dynaudio BM15 monitor, with one apparent discrepancy in the presentation freq. range of the A900 – a slight very narrow boost in the 12 khz region, which exaggerates some components of musical instruments that have high freq. content in them (like hi-hats or ride cymbals on some recordings), although to me it rarely spoiled the music enjoyment that this fine headphone provides, rather compensated for the ever so slightly subdued high frequency content (again - compared to BM15). If you want an example of this “mis-behaviour”, try this link of Deftones’ “Knife Party”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAP0w51Yjig and go to 3’24”, or slightly before that. The ride cymbal comes in at 3’24”, and it’s a bit too pronounced and piercing on A900, compared to M50 or BM15 (on these two it sounds more natural and not as sharp, you can clearly hear it, yet it doesn’t stand out and is not as piercing as on the A900. Overall the sound is full (while being a bit thin – get your heads around this one, sound lovers!
J) and enjoyable, there's a bit of muddiness to it, but I don't view this headphone as a mixing or monitoring tool, it sounds coherent enough and I’d say I prefer it to anything I’ve tried so far for casual music listening, especially before going to sleep - A900 lulls and calms you like no other headphone, but still has enough punch in its arsenal, if and when you need it!
The only other drawback of the A900 is aesthetical. It has a “plasticky” feel to it, which is misleading, as its ear cups are not made from plastic, they are actually aluminum, from what I have read. But the pleather ear pads are really cheap (I believe they are borrowed from its younger brother ATH-A700), and sub-par to the overall feel of this headphone. Because of them the overall quality feels lacking somehow. I know I could try replacing them with the ATH-A1000 pads, which are more leathery-like but, from my experience, it might change the sound and I might not like it
L Anyway, I’ll see, maybe I’ll try them out eventually, if I keep these headphones this time, that is, and not decide to buy another 5 pairs of headphones in search for the perfect one
J
If you are not as picky as I am – buy these headphones, you will not regret it!