[Triggerfish]

No complaints here with my ES10 and Leckerton UHA 6 mk.ii.

 

[KT66]

So my ESW11 pads turned up today from Japan, I already have ESW9 pads on my ES10. Before I start surgery , what changes in sound can I expect ?

 

[ExpatinJapan]

So my ESW11 pads turned up today from Japan, I already have ESW9 pads on my ES10. Before I start surgery , what changes in sound can I expect ?

I did some pad swapping with ESW11, ES10 and ESW9 pads on my ESW11/10/9 cans also, I wrote up a blurb on the ESw11 thread.
 
But I would suggest you try with your own ears first, If you read others opinions before the test it may skewer what you hear.

 

[JHern]

I've been using ESW11LTD pads for 3 weeks now, and I thought I'd post some impressions...
1) Not much change in frequency response, but the mid-bass boom resonance with my footsteps when I would be walking down the street is gone…these are much better.
2) Better comfort, the pads seem to mold better to my ears. I've been careful to rotate them so that the seams will always be in the same place. I could get 1.5 hours without a break with the ES10 pads, with the lambskins I get about 2.5 hours…much better.
3) It takes a little while for them to break-in, I'm not sure if they are finished wearing yet even after 3 weeks with a good amount of use (3-4 hours/day). When I first put them on, the mids seemed to be a little airy/recessed, and the highs a bit brighter, but everything is trending back to ES10 pad sound over time.
4) I won't be going back to the ES10 pads any time soon…or maybe ever.
5) The change isn't revolutionary, just slight, but the gain in comfort and isolation is totally worth the small cost.
6) Audio-Technica should be making these for the ES10, and get over the silly notion that lambskins are only for woodies.
 
I also played with EQ for the first time with the ES10, and was amazed at how precisely they responded to every little change, even at the low FR (20 Hz). Simply awesome cans, glad to have better earpads!

 

[Aurorabase]

Loving es10, but could not help myself and modded it.
 
Basicly i replaced Philips L1 driver with es10s. More Pics are comming!
 
 

 

 

[baronkatz]

I love my ES10s since they are the best for EDM music, but at the same time, I feel after a while they get bright, depending on the source. Nowhere near as bright as most Beyers or Ultrasones, but still a bit sibilant. Reminds me a little of a mini portable version of the W1000X....

 

[lbbef]

  I love my ES10s since they are the best for EDM music, but at the same time, I feel after a while they get bright, depending on the source. Nowhere near as bright as most Beyers or Ultrasones, but still a bit sibilant. Reminds me a little of a mini portable version of the W1000X....

 
Have to agree that the ES10 is awesome for EDM.
The ESW11LTD is good too, but I feel that for EDM, the ES10 still stands out.
 
Even though I have gotten myself the A900XLTD for home use, I would still go back and listen to my ES10 and ESW11LTD sometimes.
I would just miss that sound and presentation that the ES10 and ESW11LTD gives.

 

[Bill-P]

  I love my ES10s since they are the best for EDM music, but at the same time, I feel after a while they get bright, depending on the source. Nowhere near as bright as most Beyers or Ultrasones, but still a bit sibilant. Reminds me a little of a mini portable version of the W1000X....

 
Haha, so I got my modded ES10 measured. Special thanks to Purrin for bringing us these graphs:
 

 

 
Slight channel imbalance... that's on me. But the general frequency response can still be seen.
 
For perspective, here's the stock frequency response:
 

 
So the mod reduced that treble pretty significantly, brought the midrange out a little bit more (especially upper midrange) than stock and also made bass more linear.
 
That's most likely why I felt like your ES10 had more bass impact... because sub bass on mine is just so linear that impact felt like it was reduced. Mine was probably hitting just as hard as yours, but sub bass was dominating a bit more.
 
Well, so I have always suspected those were the changes, but now the graphs are here to confirm my ears. Now to get on with my next mod. Hehehe

 

[JHern]

  For perspective, here's the stock frequency response:
 

 
Don't forget that this is only half the story, there is both an amplitude and phase spectrum…did you measure the latter? Phase will have a huge impact on bass punch, you can have very linear extension and punch if the bass end is working well in-phase.
 
Anyways, very nice representation for the amplitude spectrum for the ES-10, definitely similar to what I hear. The VHF peak is what I think of as the shininess…definitely present (especially cymbals), although not overwhelming to my ears. The 5K-10K trough tames the HF a lot, to my ears this is the kind of thing that separates more neutral monitor-like headphones like the Sony 7520 from the more colored ES-10, Senn Momentum, etc.. It also explains why the monitors sound so damn bright at first listen, I'm quite accustomed to the ES-10 sound.

 

[baronkatz]

 
So the mod reduced that treble pretty significantly, brought the midrange out a little bit more (especially upper midrange) than stock and also made bass more linear.
 
That's most likely why I felt like your ES10 had more bass impact... because sub bass on mine is just so linear that impact felt like it was reduced. Mine was probably hitting just as hard as yours, but sub bass was dominating a bit more.
 
Well, so I have always suspected those were the changes, but now the graphs are here to confirm my ears. Now to get on with my next mod. Hehehe

I actually found your modified ones to be more bright than the stock ones, to my ears at least and those to my friend Jon who also tried them.
 
As far as the bass, I actually prefer punchy mid-bass more than sub-bass. This is exactly what I don't like about my Edition 8s is the fact that they have a lot of Sub Bass and no low or mid-bass. It makes them sound bloated and unnatural.
 
My biggest problem with my ES10s is that over time I start to notice the sibilance and although it's far less bright than my DT770s, Edition 8s, T70Ps, etc... It's still present. I don't necessarily like warm headphones since I prefer these way over me ESW9s and find those have more reverberation of some sort and are less revealing. The ES10s are actually my favourite headphones of all the ones I have, but I wish they made them a bit more "open" sounding and WAYYY more comfortable. The ESW11 and ESW9 pads are great and all, but not enough, my ears still hurt after an hour. Why did they never make a fun but serious circumaural headphone? Maybe the W1000 comes close?

 

[ExpatinJapan]

The sibilance was why I sold the ES10s, loved the punchy bass though.
 
I also tried them with leather pads.
 
Ended up with the ATH-ESW11.

 

[Bill-P]

  I actually found your modified ones to be more bright than the stock ones, to my ears at least and those to my friend Jon who also tried them.
 
As far as the bass, I actually prefer punchy mid-bass more than sub-bass. This is exactly what I don't like about my Edition 8s is the fact that they have a lot of Sub Bass and no low or mid-bass. It makes them sound bloated and unnatural.
 
My biggest problem with my ES10s is that over time I start to notice the sibilance and although it's far less bright than my DT770s, Edition 8s, T70Ps, etc... It's still present. I don't necessarily like warm headphones since I prefer these way over me ESW9s and find those have more reverberation of some sort and are less revealing. The ES10s are actually my favourite headphones of all the ones I have, but I wish they made them a bit more "open" sounding and WAYYY more comfortable. The ESW11 and ESW9 pads are great and all, but not enough, my ears still hurt after an hour. Why did they never make a fun but serious circumaural headphone? Maybe the W1000 comes close?

 
I guess they were so bass-light that it felt like they were brighter, but it's quite apparent from the graphs that they are less bright than stock by a good margin. If there is still too much treble, I can still tune that.
 
Anyway... yeah, I think the W1000 is that fun but serious circumaural headphone. I have owned the W1000X before, and I have modded the thing. It still had a pretty unhealthy amount of bass that I couldn't dampen without losing the wood sound completely, and I couldn't tame that treble either. The W1000 has a very balanced sound signature right from the get-go. They sound so much better than the other ATH headphones I have heard. That's why I was so dead set on purchasing a pair... (and now I have, hahaha)
 
You could say my ATH collection is pretty much complete.

 

[baronkatz]

   
I guess they were so bass-light that it felt like they were brighter, but it's quite apparent from the graphs that they are less bright than stock by a good margin. If there is still too much treble, I can still tune that.
 
Anyway... yeah, I think the W1000 is that fun but serious circumaural headphone. I have owned the W1000X before, and I have modded the thing. It still had a pretty unhealthy amount of bass that I couldn't dampen without losing the wood sound completely, and I couldn't tame that treble either. The W1000 has a very balanced sound signature right from the get-go. They sound so much better than the other ATH headphones I have heard. That's why I was so dead set on purchasing a pair... (and now I have, hahaha)
 
You could say my ATH collection is pretty much complete.

I'm wondering how the bigger ESW10 and ESW11 compare to the W1000 and W1000X since they are all woodies. I'm wondering if either of those are just "portable versions" of the same thing. I really want to get my hands on the Ultrasone Signature DJ and Signature Pro. The Signature DJ's look like they might be similar in Sound Sig to the ES10s but in circumaural and much more comfortable and isolating form than the ES10s. I hope they aren't too much like my Edition 8s...

 

[dallan]

I have es10, Ed8 and SigPro now.  My choice for best closed is not listed here but all are good.  The Ed8 and Sig Pro are significantly better than the ES10 both in detail and dynamics, basically they are a league above.  However the es10 is lighter and smaller, more portable as well as easier to deal with on the go.  So there are trade offs as usual.  For what it is the ES10 is great.

 

[ExpatinJapan]

  I'm wondering how the bigger ESW10 and ESW11 compare to the W1000 and W1000X since they are all woodies. I'm wondering if either of those are just "portable versions" of the same thing. I really want to get my hands on the Ultrasone Signature DJ and Signature Pro. The Signature DJ's look like they might be similar in Sound Sig to the ES10s but in circumaural and much more comfortable and isolating form than the ES10s. I hope they aren't too much like my Edition 8s...

ESW10 had 40mm drivers.
 
ESW11 has 53mm drivers.
 
ESW9 has 42mm drivers.
 
and
 
ES10 has 53mm drivers.
 
In the ESW11 thread there are some comparisons with w1000 and w1000x. someone wrote that the esw11 had the same driver as one of the 1000 series.