ASR-Briggs
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2011
- Posts
- 5
- Likes
- 0
Hello everybody!
Long time lurker, first time poster
I just want to start by saying that the combined knowledge and experience on these forums is truly astounding. You guys should be incredibly proud of what you have built up here.
Anyway, onto my story! I purchased the ATH-A900Ti's about 3 years ago as my first foray into the world of high end headphones. Set me back an arm and a leg (at least, by my standards!), and no one in my life could fathom why someone would spend $450 on a set of headphones, and there were times when I asked myself if I were crazy. Well after I received them, I can tell you that those doubts vanished. They were, without a doubt, the most amazing thing I had ever heard (probably the worst thing I could ever do, cause now everything else sounds like crap!). I have since bought my brother a pair of Beyerdynamic DT250's, but I rate the 900Ti's a bit better in terms of SQ, and 10x better in terms of comfort. I drive my HP from an ASUS Xonar HDAV 1.3 Deluxe, which I have also been incredibly impressed with. I don't believe I have the necessary skills to properly describe the sound of the 900Ti's, just that they are fantastic.
With that out of the way, I need to get on to the gripes I have with this headphone, and perhaps Audio Technica in general.
The build quality of the headphone, and even the quality control, ARE.JUST.AWFUL. There is something very very wrong with the composition of the plastic that the headband is made of. In less then a year, with NO harsh treatment, stress fractures and cracks started to appear in every concentration point. And now, at this stage of it's life, the plastic has completely gone brittle, and will literally crumble. The quality of the plastic is just awful, I really can't emphasise it enough. But even material quality aside, from a general engineering standpoint, I have to ask what they were possibly thinking on some parts. Inside the "3D wing" housing, there is the pin that holds the "wing" to the plastic housing. Holding this pin in, is 2 absolutely tiny bits of plastic. Now, these 2 tiny bits of plastic, are under a significant amount of loading 24/7 from a seriously stiff spring, which is part of the wing design. It is not a matter of *if* these 2 bits of plastic will fail, but *when*. And given how substandard the plastic is, for me is was fairly early. It's clear that these 'phones were not meant to last, which, for a pair of $450 limited edition cans, is just unacceptable to me.
I dearly love the quality these HP deliver and being limited edition i would dearly love to hang onto them, and everything up to the can swivel point is ok, so I am going to do my utmost to 'frankenstein' them with another headband and probably do a recable with black dragon. I'll see how I go. Could end up with some very interesting pictures In the meantime I've ordered a pair of Ultrasone Pro 900's. I've read a lot on them, and would like to try out Ultrasone's legendary bass, as I'd say I lean towards that.
Thanks for reading guys!
Long time lurker, first time poster
I just want to start by saying that the combined knowledge and experience on these forums is truly astounding. You guys should be incredibly proud of what you have built up here.Anyway, onto my story! I purchased the ATH-A900Ti's about 3 years ago as my first foray into the world of high end headphones. Set me back an arm and a leg (at least, by my standards!), and no one in my life could fathom why someone would spend $450 on a set of headphones, and there were times when I asked myself if I were crazy. Well after I received them, I can tell you that those doubts vanished. They were, without a doubt, the most amazing thing I had ever heard (probably the worst thing I could ever do, cause now everything else sounds like crap!). I have since bought my brother a pair of Beyerdynamic DT250's, but I rate the 900Ti's a bit better in terms of SQ, and 10x better in terms of comfort. I drive my HP from an ASUS Xonar HDAV 1.3 Deluxe, which I have also been incredibly impressed with. I don't believe I have the necessary skills to properly describe the sound of the 900Ti's, just that they are fantastic.
With that out of the way, I need to get on to the gripes I have with this headphone, and perhaps Audio Technica in general.
The build quality of the headphone, and even the quality control, ARE.JUST.AWFUL. There is something very very wrong with the composition of the plastic that the headband is made of. In less then a year, with NO harsh treatment, stress fractures and cracks started to appear in every concentration point. And now, at this stage of it's life, the plastic has completely gone brittle, and will literally crumble. The quality of the plastic is just awful, I really can't emphasise it enough. But even material quality aside, from a general engineering standpoint, I have to ask what they were possibly thinking on some parts. Inside the "3D wing" housing, there is the pin that holds the "wing" to the plastic housing. Holding this pin in, is 2 absolutely tiny bits of plastic. Now, these 2 tiny bits of plastic, are under a significant amount of loading 24/7 from a seriously stiff spring, which is part of the wing design. It is not a matter of *if* these 2 bits of plastic will fail, but *when*. And given how substandard the plastic is, for me is was fairly early. It's clear that these 'phones were not meant to last, which, for a pair of $450 limited edition cans, is just unacceptable to me.
I dearly love the quality these HP deliver and being limited edition i would dearly love to hang onto them, and everything up to the can swivel point is ok, so I am going to do my utmost to 'frankenstein' them with another headband and probably do a recable with black dragon. I'll see how I go. Could end up with some very interesting pictures
In the meantime I've ordered a pair of Ultrasone Pro 900's. I've read a lot on them, and would like to try out Ultrasone's legendary bass, as I'd say I lean towards that.Thanks for reading guys!
