[Mink]

I live in the Netherlands, the A900X's are 399 Euro (=516 US Dollar) over here, so I have to order them via Amazon.com to at least get a reasonable deal.
But shipping from the US can take a long time, I have found out with my D5000's. Add import duty and taxes to the overall cost (I had to pay 60 euro extra when I got my D5000s)...I just want to be a bit more confident before buying them.

 

[Beagle]

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Saying "I dont EQ" is the headfi version of e-peen. Ridiculous and moronic. Every component in your system, including the headphones, changes the sound in some way. Only the sound producer/engineer knows exactly what the recording sounds like.

 
So how would you know how to EQ it then?

 

[doctorjazz]

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I am interested in these new ATH-A900Xs, since the pleather of the pads of my old ATH-A500s is coming of...
However...I am wondering, how much improvement do the A900Xs have over the A900s? I found the difference between the A500s and the A900s not that significant.
 
Another thing that worries me is the hype-factor about these headphones, I remember very clearly when I was lurking this forum for the fist time the Denon D2000s had just came out and everyone who owned the A900s sold them and went for the D2000s, which were far superior. All of the sudden the mids of the A900s were sucked out, the sound was hollow and little cohesive etc.
 
Fast forward: everyone who loved the D2000s now feel the A900Xs 'blow the D2000's out of the water'???
What is happening here?
 
I have read a couple of posts that say the A900Xs are a tiny improvement over the A900s. If so I don't think I am interested in them. Could anyone shed a light on this one?

Haven't heard the A900's, do have the A700's. The A900x is a much better sounding headphone IMO. Better mids, tighter bass, a significant upgrade to me.

 

[Wintersxx866]

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So how would you know how to EQ it then?

Hey hey hey lol Guys there is no point in arguing on if EQing is worth it or not.  I personally EQ all of my headphones from my ATH A900x, HE400, Pro700 MK2s, etc etc and my past time AKG K550 to make them sound the way I wanted.  It is truly about whatever floats your boat.  If EQ is not your thing then that is totally okay and if you do EQ, it is about making something your own like customizing a car.  Point being though the mids on the HE400 are just not as good as the stock mids on the A900x without EQing lol  

 

[Wintersxx866]

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I live in the Netherlands, the A900X's are 399 Euro (=516 US Dollar) over here, so I have to order them via Amazon.com to at least get a reasonable deal.
But shipping from the US can take a long time, I have found out with my D5000's. Add import duty and taxes to the overall cost (I had to pay 60 euro extra when I got my D5000s)...I just want to be a bit more confident before buying them.

Although the A900x is a VERY good headphone, there are flaws I found in the headphone quite immediately that I kinda wanted to fix... The errors in the headphone are that even though the drivers produce INSANELY good mids, vocals at times cannot be reproduced correctly as in if for example, a vocal is layered with three different voices (positioned in a tight triangle if you can imagine this) the drivers will make the vocals sound sort of muddled together.  When this happens the vocals take on a rather electronic and metallic sound that isn't natural.  This is RARELY the case though as not a lot of songs have this kind of positioning.  But when this does occur it is rather unbearable of a sound.  The ATH M50 never had this problem because the sound stage was so small the vocals usually just get meshed into one no matter how it was positioned in the track.  The A900x's sound stage and imagining at times can also hurt itself as the soundstage and imagining at times can be slightly below what is needed to make complex songs sound the way it should.  With this said, I feel like I came off a little too negatively sounding on the headphone.  Please note though that this headphone is VERY GOOD for the price and I am actually VERY in love with the A900x.  I just wanted to note a weakness in the headphone.  Other than this, the only other flaw I could find really was the lack of transparency, but common, it is a closed headphone lol For a closed headphone the transparency is still pretty dang good!  You have to understand though that I listen to HE400s which are planar magnetic drivers that deliver extremely accurate sound.  When I say extremely accurate sound, I mean VERY accurate sound.  With this being said, it has been noted that people with both the HE400 and Denon D5000, after listening to the HE400, the Denon D5000 didn't sound right anymore due to how accurately the HE400s can reproduce sound.  I am sorry if I sound like I am too judgemental of the A900x but please note that I am VERY confident to say that they are one of the most ENGAGING and FULL BODIED headphones I have ever listened to below the $400 price range!  The A900x just uses its sheer ability to reproduce BEAUTIFUL mids to make the headphone very engaging along with its great bass that makes the headphone perfect for EDM even!  Tell you the truth, I have never heard the Denon D2000 nor D5000 but I can say that even after listening to the mids of the HE400 EQed to have the same sonic qualities of the A900x, The A900x still holds its ground VERY well to a planar magnetic driver in terms of note accuracy, body, vocal crispness, and clarity.  The only thing the A900x lacks is sometimes an incorrect display of vocals due to the limitations of the design of dynamic drivers themselves.  Dynamic drivers can only do so much where as planar magnetic drivers can deliver sound from pinpoint spots all around the membrane between the two planar magnets.  
 
The A900x also beats the AKG K550 as well! The neutrality of the K550 just wasn't for me but the mids also just weren't as full bodied on the K550 
 
In conclusion, the A900x is a VERY GOOD DEAL and I would seriously pay $250 for these bad boys!
 
I Also apologize for the double post! That was my bad! I didn't realize I was using two seperate browsers 

 

[Mink]

Thanks for the reply, I just ordered a pair via Amazon.
Luckily I found a seller who ships to the Netherlands (I had to "add to cart" 5 different sellers, choose address before I finally found one who would ship to my address).
Shipping costs are huge! 69 Euro, but a total price of 199 Euro is still only the half of what it would have cost me here in the Netherlands!
 
I had a hard time choosing between the A900X and AKG K550.
The AKG's look better and although I am a sucker for aesthetics, the consensus is that the K550's are rather thin sounding and I really need some body (low mids) to the music to enjoy. Especially with classical music, no I am not that audio purist kinda guy who feels big bass doesn't suit classical musical, I like my music big, full bodied, and lush and natural sounding.

 

[Digital DJ]

Quote:

Thanks for the reply, I just ordered a pair via Amazon.
Luckily I found a seller who ships to the Netherlands (I had to "add to cart" 5 different sellers, choose address before I finally found one who would ship to my address).
Shipping costs are huge! 69 Euro, but a total price of 199 Euro is still only the half of what it would have cost me here in the Netherlands!
 
I had a hard time choosing between the A900X and AKG K550.
The AKG's look better and although I am a sucker for aesthetics, the consensus is that the K550's are rather thin sounding and I really need some body (low mids) to the music to enjoy. Especially with classical music, no I am not that audio purist kinda guy who feels big bass doesn't suit classical musical, I like my music big, full bodied, and lush and natural sounding.

I also considered saving up for an AKG 550, but the more I studied the sound qualities of the A900X, the more I leaned towards choosing those over the AKG 550's. I bought mine from amazon as well, it ran me $180 (an extra $6 for shipping). These headphones are located in the Elite/Audiophile section of Audio Technica's website, plus they're 3rd from the best that you can buy, so these headphones must be excellent for closed/sealed design. These things MSRP for $300, it's good to see that the street price is lower. I'm currently waiting for mine to arrive in the mail, and I'm also going to purchase a Fiio E11 to help bring out it's full potential

 

[BbOO]

Aren't the AD900X supposed to be better? And they can be had for less through Japanese ebay sellers (although i am not sure which sellers can be trusted).

 

[Wintersxx866]

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I also considered saving up for an AKG 550, but the more I studied the sound qualities of the A900X, the more I leaned towards choosing those over the AKG 550's. I bought mine from amazon as well, it ran me $180 (an extra $6 for shipping). These headphones are located in the Elite/Audiophile section of Audio Technica's website, plus they're 3rd from the best that you can buy, so these headphones must be excellent for closed/sealed design. These things MSRP for $300, it's good to see that the street price is lower. I'm currently waiting for mine to arrive in the mail, and I'm also going to purchase a Fiio E11 to help bring out it's full potential

Ehhh... I'd forego buying the Fiio E11... Its a decent portable amp but when it comes to bit rate, it runs pretty low I remember which was the reason why I ended up selling mine.  Also the sound stage sounds condensed on the Fiio E11.  I literally remember buying a $4 mini usb sound card and it sounded better than the E11...  The Fiio E10 is a MUCH better option for you as I found the improvement of the E10 over the E11 to be DRASTIC.  I currently use a Fiio E17 and the only sound difference that the E17 had over the E10 was that for some reason the E17 sounds more neutral than the E10?  Not sure if it was my setup or what but this was one of the differences I noticed.  When I say the E17 is more neutral, the E10 actually makes music sound more engaging out of the box.  With the treble and bass boost options of the E17, you can match the sonic qualities of the E10 but my goodness the E10 sounds mighty good out of the box! I was very impressed!  PLEASE DO NOT BUY THE E11... It is just not that great of an amp for home use... On the move its decent but you can do MUCH better with the E10 if you're on a tight budget or even just get the E17 like I did and have a home amp/dac and a portable all in one! 

 
Also BbOO the AD900x vs the A900x is like apples to oranges.  The AD900x is an open headphone where the A900x are closed.  The A900x handles EDM MUCH better than the AD900x and the AD900x can sometimes be silibant on vocals where the A900x, and I seriously don't know how the heck they did this but it is VERY VERY hard for the A900x to silibant!  I have never in my life heard a headphone with so much power, body, and detail but yet have NEARLY ZERO silibance unless the track was recorded that way.

 

[Mink]

@ Digital DJ
Did you say you considered saving up for an AKG 550?
That's funny, because in the Netherlands I can get the AKG K550s for 199 Euro, whereas the A900Xs cost a whopping 399 Euro.
So it would have been more convenient for me to get the AKG's
 
@BbOO
Yes the AD900X probably are better but I prefer closed-back over open-back headphones.

 

[Digital DJ]

Quote:

@ Digital DJ
Did you say you considered saving up for an AKG 550?
That's funny, because in the Netherlands I can get the AKG K550s for 199 Euro, whereas the A900Xs cost a whopping 399 Euro.
So it would have been more convenient for me to get the AKG's
 
@BbOO
Yes the AD900X probably are better but I prefer closed-back over open-back headphones.

Oh really? Wow, I had no idea that AGK 550's were cheaper where you're from, cuz the ATH-A900X's are definitely on the cheaper side in North America. Mine ran me $185, the AKG 550's would have been about $240. Personally though, I would have probably gone with the A900X's even if I had the money to buy the 550's. The only thing I'm debating on is what portable amp to buy with my A900X's.

 

[BbOO]

Did anyone purchase AD900X from Japan ebay sellers? Any idea which ones i should trust?

 

[Wintersxx866]

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Did anyone purchase AD900X from Japan ebay sellers? Any idea which ones i should trust?

Ehhh from what I've seen ebay has the AD900x for around 190 to 200+... Amazon has them for $185 from a seller right now and you get backed by Amazon's customer service.  Yes Amazon's customer service is quite killer when it comes to problems submitted by the customer.  You submit a single complaint and it most likely results in a full refund for you XD
 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B009S331VU/sr=8-1/qid=1369895248/ref=olp_tab_new?ie=UTF8&colid=&coliid=&condition=new&me=&qid=1369895248&seller=&sr=8-1
 
scroll down to see the vendors from japan
 
hmmm or this ebay vendor, ships from hong kong and has 98% positive reviews!
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SALE-BRAND-NEW-AUDIO-TECHNICA-ATH-AD900X-AUDIOPHILE-OPEN-AIR-HEADPHONE-/271200121331?pt=US_Headphones&hash=item3f24c971f3
 
Also if I may ask, what kind of music do you usually listen to? The AD900x and A900x handle different genres 

 

[Smugsie]

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Oh really? Wow, I had no idea that AGK 550's were cheaper where you're from, cuz the ATH-A900X's are definitely on the cheaper side in North America. Mine ran me $185, the AKG 550's would have been about $240. Personally though, I would have probably gone with the A900X's even if I had the money to buy the 550's. The only thing I'm debating on is what portable amp to buy with my A900X's.

I'm wondering if anyone on headfi actually had benefit from amping the a900x. I purchased the FiiO E07K and I couldn't hear a day and night difference (or a difference at all for that matter) when it was amped.

 

[CJG888]

I have found the A900X to work extremely well with the O2. A cost-effective, synergistic match!