[Forever8895]

Hi all,
my E40 cable is wearing out. I’m wondering if there is any recommendation for a good quality cable around 25€ that does not change the sound signature (i just love the E40 sound!). Thank you very much!

 

[Jazz Format]

Hi all,
my E40 cable is wearing out. I’m wondering if there is any recommendation for a good quality cable around 25€ that does not change the sound signature (i just love the E40 sound!). Thank you very much!

Look for DIYers in your country

 

[llysender]

Sigh I was told to say away from audio technica IEMs because they suck. And yet when I tried the iem collection because I was running out of stuff to test at the audio technica store the E70 stood out as a very good iem with such a nice sound sig. Trebble on the E70 could be slightly sharper but otherwise its the perfect companion portable companion to the r70x.

To people with experence with the e70, are there other earphones I should check out or is the soundsig unique enough to just buy?

 

[James Shoegazer]

@llysender

ATH don’t suck, just that they haven’t been able to compete out of their price bracket for quite a while now. Their incorporation of patented designs like the air-horn as seen in CK90, push-pull in CKR9/10, the massive 53MM headphone DDs are cool but will only stay as technologies they haven’t been able to propel further. Can’t say for sure but comparing with other big brands they’re falling short in R&D to incorporate better sound with their products.

Their IM series hit the market well at an affordable price back then and managed to build traction with quite a large fanbase. LS series didn’t brought huge changes to the table, similar lacklustre plasticky design when companies are able to offer fancy faceplate, customisable designs competitively. Sadly I think they fall short of today’s standard, especially with the high influx of chifi products. It’s not worth the premium price of ATH now, unless you’re able to get a good deal.

What stayed true however is how they faithfully retained a recognisable signature: musical, high-mid elevated with natural timbre very oriented towards female vocals. That’s why it’s more involving for Asian pop in general and more popular in Japan. For example IM03 has an unique sonic body and musical coloration, delicate and well extended. IM02 was once lauded as the trump card which punches beyond its price, but not really anymore. This naturalness and lack of heavy coloration I would say is sublime by itself, besting BGVP DM7 and Audiosense T800 which I had compared with. Bass of E50 for example stood out for me, hitting hard low and impactful which reminiscent the IERM7/M9s. E70 was able to bring more coherency and balance. Even the ancient CK10 has its unique, forward and expansive tuning.

many IEM can have it’s own unique individuality, so “what is unique” you’re asking in this sense is rly subjective, highly dependent on what you prefer that is different to how each of us perceive of what is “unique”. Perhaps you could better specify what tuning you are going for and what kind of music?

*hint: obvious ATH fanboyism*

 

[llysender]

@James Shoegazer
Thanks for the lenghtly expose. Personally im a ATH fanboy myself with AWKT and r70x as my home daily drivers and msr7 gen 1 as my mobile daily.

Personally i have a shozy form 1.1 which i find to be one of the better chifi but still suffers from artificially hyped bass and treble.

As to what i listen to its mainly normal weeb jcore/metal/harder style jpop/visual kei and some more vocal westen pop.

As such i would prefer something slighty bassy darkish but still neutual with high detail in the bass and mids.

Personally i find the E40 and E50 not really suitable. Will check out the IM series

Maybe im just used to chifi iem tuning but but majority of them seems to just be varients on the same general V tuning

 

[Sp12er3]

I'm basically in with AT for its Vocal tuning, even this late I haven't really heard any manufacturer other than AT that can nail this part as I'd like it. chifi or other brands.
That's why even with a lot of other stuff, I still have an AT IEM, Fullsize Open and Closed to cover all my bases.

 

[Jazz Format]

I'm basically in with AT for its Vocal tuning, even this late I haven't really seen any manufacturer other than AT that can nail this part as I'd like it. chifi or other brands.
That's why even with a lot of other stuff, I still have an AT IEM, Fullsize Open and Closed to cover all my bases.

plus not boomy bass

 

[James Shoegazer]

@James Shoegazer

As to what i listen to its mainly normal weeb jcore/metal/harder style jpop/visual kei and some more vocal westen pop.

As such i would prefer something slighty bassy darkish but still neutual with high detail in the bass and mids.

Personally i find the E40 and E50 not really suitable. Will check out the IM series

If you're coming out of R70X, you prolly have a more neutral preference for you music tastes. R70X bass extends pretty low if driven properly and could be quite fast, more potent than the AD2000 if you ask me which lacks any bass body. Don't know about AWKT (seems like a revised W5000) but I had the W1000X and W1000Z woodies, not sure if they share similar signatures.

I don't think many ATH IEMs have a great combination of bass body + texture + PRAT for metal, rock etc. I generally prefer a warm, wholesome and explosive low end for such music. If you're looking for ATH which doesn't have such character, best bet would be CKR100, CK100, E70 (dark but messy transients on fast music). If you're willing to spend exuberantly you likely can get better options like HYLA CE5, Earsonics, Westone UM50pro, or 64Audio.

 

[llysender]

If you're coming out of R70X, you prolly have a more neutral preference for you music tastes. R70X bass extends pretty low if driven properly and could be quite fast, more potent than the AD2000 if you ask me which lacks any bass body. Don't know about AWKT (seems like a revised W5000) but I had the W1000X and W1000Z woodies, not sure if they share similar signatures.

I don't think many ATH IEMs have a great combination of bass body + texture + PRAT for metal, rock etc. I generally prefer a warm, wholesome and explosive low end for such music. If you're looking for ATH which doesn't have such character, best bet would be CKR100, CK100, E70 (dark but messy transients on fast music). If you're willing to spend exuberantly you likely can get better options like HYLA CE5, Earsonics, Westone UM50pro, or 64Audio.

Thanks for the recs. Personally I prefer explosive bass only when the song calls for it which alot of iems including the shozy fails to do and slams even when its not supposed to slam. Sadly looking around both the CKR100 and CK100 are out of stock but hopefully I'll get to listen to them one day. That being said I found a e70 going for really cheap so I'll likely get that first.

Once again thank you for the recs. Interesting, I never had the chance to listen to the AD2000 but the AD2000x had pretty nice bass. That being said personally I would go for the A2000z which has a significantly darker tonality but still has very audio technica vocals.

I'll most likely never get into TOTL iems since they arent really my thing but I'll have a listen to those as well when I get the chance.

 

[James Shoegazer]

Great choice for a cheap price and cheap is always good!
That being said the E50/70 are the black sheep of ATH classic signature.
E50 is especially good for hip hop/electronic. E70 has better mids and soundstage.

 

[Sp12er3]

E50/E70/R70x and ADX5000 are all "outlier" basically.
it also make them a but more popular for non AT tuning fans tho
as they say, "don't always create new stuffs to satisfy your fanbase, create new stuff to attract new people". and especially on R70x and ADX5000 they are doing quite well there.

 

[llysender]

Tried the LS line out and now im conflicted. Do i get the LS200 for that super clean vocals or the E70 for the overall sound and the bass.

Hmmm...at least based off the current lineup for audio technica the only house sound sound seems to be those nice vocals and they seem to play around with the mids from can to can as well.

I guess thats what makes audio technica so good is that they are able to create different sound profiles that catter to different groups of people while still maintaining quality.

 

[Sp12er3]

LS200 and IM02 is very close in sound sig and performance, if you can buy a used IM02 AND a E70 id recommend that , I found a couple going just around 80-120 usd depending on condition.

Lachlan is one of the guy that started IM-02's climb to popularity

 

[llysender]

Sigh my a/b testing was cut short by the lock down of singapore. Either ways i got the e70 for really cheap at 140sgd as the guy was looking for a ultra quick sale by the end of the day.

Looking foward to using it on my way to work(f&b) from next week on.

 

[Lionlian]

I would give E40 on Bass section is 11/10 - extreme tight, very punchy, realistic quality bass
and dynamic 9.5/10 - very loud and realism very wide range dynamic

on Female Vocal if ATH IM02 around 11/10 'Sweetest Goddess', e-40 would be around 9/10 'Clear Angel Bell-tone'


bass on e40 was especially dynamic masterpiece