[williamchc]

You may not know even two pairs of brand new Q010 earpads purchased from Sony can have such a big colour difference.

L3000G and some early batch of L3000 (S/N <70) get much less bass from my experience. So I guess most of you are referring to those heavy bass (aka normal batch) L3000.

 

[protoss]

Just spent a couple of hours with the W11R, stock pads and then Yaxi AD2000 pads.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audio-technica-the-master-of-wood.928704/page-3

Page 3, a few posts down, I did my review. The only problem is I was following the woodies in order and studying and understanding its history and design.
The W11R was technically a complete departure in sound compared to the other 4 woodie headphones before it.
After the chronological review order of woodies, I landed on my 7th review. From here, I understood what AT was doing. They even wrote about their own frequency for W11R.

Audio Tehnica Ath W11R “R” for Reference.

You will immediately realize it is supposed to be a bass light headphone. A bassless, natural musical headphone. Smooth that it shows no treble, punch, slam, or dynamic range. I noticed AT talked about its wood pick and its bass response of it. I believe they are not talking about the same idea of bass we modern folks think, but a more decaying, layering level of bass density. Something different, something to a reference level.
It's funny, @mulveling will be laughing, and say, schiit, this sound like an r10 bass light and run away.
Even the color of the headphone explains its sound frequency.

@ScornDefeat you can always pm me, Ill take special care of it

 

[protoss]

What's your take on the W5000? I've owned it a few times. Really loved the clarity and tone, but the fit was so finicky. If it was off just a bit it sounded entirely wonky. Ultimately sold it both times because of that. But it was my first woodie AT. Lot of good memories.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audio-technica-the-master-of-wood.928704/page-4

Page 4, I did the W5000 review, the order was getting messed up, and I called it Bonus 1.
I repost the exact wording of the small review, Here:

"Sadly the color of the cups does not correlate to the sound. This headphone is a reference headphone with a bright, analytical-sounding headphone than the typical AT house signature of its warm, musical sound.
The W5000 is undoubtedly a very airy, open, spacious sound signature. A fresh, bright headphone that is not dull and mellow like some AT of the past.
This headphone sounds very detail, accurate, and has an exciting clarity to it. It is a very good reference headphone. It is not perfect but good and fun. It is not dull or neutral. It still has the AT signature but without the warmness."

My approach was different because I was going step by step with the woodies and noticing departures of sound frequencies and add-on features. I was even associating color with sound, as the other woodies were nailing color and sound together.
The W5000 was another u-turn for Audio Technica. Probably after the complaints of the L3000, AT did a 180 and made a complete opposite of its sound frequencies.

I think the worst thing about the W5000 was the god damn awful ear seal. Just horrible. Probably 60% with no seal. The dang thing just couldn’t sit at all on my ears. I believe this must be the main complaint, issue, and attack against the W5000. With the lack of a proper seal, this thing is wonky and funky sounding.
The craziest thing is that the L5000 has the same damn seal problem. Use the OG pads, the pads it comes with, and you have an identical W5000 issue. Very strange AT reintroduced this problem with the L5000.

W5000 and L5000 must be blood related because of this can be fix with 3rd pads, but that's not the point.

 

[goldwerger]

The craziest thing is that the L5000 has the same damn seal problem.

I only repeat it again because it may help others as it has for me: replacing the stock pads of the L5000 with a ZMF’s universe lamb solid pads has been nothing less than a transformer experience. The fit has become instantaneously comfortable with these plush pads, comfortably surrounding your ears and offering excellent seal, which in turn results in the sound now being great with deep bass that is fast and clean, punchy and satisfying. Such a small mod to make for this headphone with such instant results. It is transformative in my experience, and allowed the L5000 to become one of my favorite all-time headphones. I would recommend for anyone to try and get it with those pads .

 

[number1sixerfan]

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audio-technica-the-master-of-wood.928704/page-4

Page 4, I did the W5000 review, the order was getting messed up, and I called it Bonus 1.
I repost the exact wording of the small review, Here:

"Sadly the color of the cups does not correlate to the sound. This headphone is a reference headphone with a bright, analytical-sounding headphone than the typical AT house signature of its warm, musical sound.
The W5000 is undoubtedly a very airy, open, spacious sound signature. A fresh, bright headphone that is not dull and mellow like some AT of the past.
This headphone sounds very detail, accurate, and has an exciting clarity to it. It is a very good reference headphone. It is not perfect but good and fun. It is not dull or neutral. It still has the AT signature but without the warmness."

My approach was different because I was going step by step with the woodies and noticing departures of sound frequencies and add-on features. I was even associating color with sound, as the other woodies were nailing color and sound together.
The W5000 was another u-turn for Audio Technica. Probably after the complaints of the L3000, AT did a 180 and made a complete opposite of its sound frequencies.

I think the worst thing about the W5000 was the god damn awful ear seal. Just horrible. Probably 60% with no seal. The dang thing just couldn’t sit at all on my ears. I believe this must be the main complaint, issue, and attack against the W5000. With the lack of a proper seal, this thing is wonky and funky sounding.
The craziest thing is that the L5000 has the same damn seal problem. Use the OG pads, the pads it comes with, and you have an identical W5000 issue. Very strange AT reintroduced this problem with the L5000.

W5000 and L5000 must be blood related because of this can be fix with 3rd pads, but that's not the point.

Yea, all fair thoughts and very similar to mine. They are definitely a brighter woodie. The thing I really loved about them was the air and clarity. It was incredible, despite not having the best timbre/body and being a bit bright. But agreed, the seal was so inconsistent that it frustrated me multiple times into selling. It's really a shame, as they were excellent at their price point when you could get a good seal.

 

[ScornDefeat]

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audio-technica-the-master-of-wood.928704/page-3

Page 3, a few posts down, I did my review. The only problem is I was following the woodies in order and studying and understanding its history and design.
The W11R was technically a complete departure in sound compared to the other 4 woodie headphones before it.
After the chronological review order of woodies, I landed on my 7th review. From here, I understood what AT was doing. They even wrote about their own frequency for W11R.

Audio Tehnica Ath W11R “R” for Reference.

You will immediately realize it is supposed to be a bass light headphone. A bassless, natural musical headphone. Smooth that it shows no treble, punch, slam, or dynamic range..

@ScornDefeat you can always pm me, Ill take special care of it

Thank you for sharing your review of the W11R, great stuff.

I share the same sentiments with you on the W11R mentioned in both your review and above comments; it certainly is a reference tuning, very smooth, very balanced, and pleasing to listen to. Many headphones do heavy bass, strong impact and big dynamics, but this headphone is trying (and achieving) something different; pure smoothness. It does it well.

Happy to be part of the few left in the W11R club....just need to one-day get into the L3000 club too

 

[Saberpunch]

Just curious, do anyone a picture of the L3000 with no pads so you can see it’s driver when the L3000 was first release? All this talk in the Sony MDR-R10 forum on replacing foam got me thinking of my old phones. I check my W10VTG, borrowed friend W5000, and recently acquired W1000 and found something interesting in the W1000 that might turn it into a bass beast headphone.

Edit: I saw one of Protoss post in the history of Audio Technica headphones and found out what most of the wooden Audio Technica headphone is suppose to look like dissected. So I think I got my answer already. And confirmed what I saw the W1000 may actually how it is stock. Kind of liked the way they did that, might apply the same technique on the W10VTG.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audio-technica-the-master-of-wood.928704/post-16810790

 

[williamchc]

Three pairs in a row, W2022 too bassy for my preference but still looks really beautiful.