[GRod]

I was just able to pick mine up from my dealer on Thursday (S/N 337) and tested them for over an hour or so last night. Some quick notes:

I used a Leben CS300XS and I didn’t find these headphones to be bass lacking at all (we’ll test with solid state later). Bass felt right to me, maybe dry (meaning with fast decay) and very well defined. I was also afraid these would be too bright, but I experienced no sibilance at all; cymbals intitially felt maybe too incisive but my brain adjusted quickly (these are Audio Technica after all, so you can expect a tonality leaning towards brightness).

Overall I found the L5000 to be very well balanced and engaging and probably one of the best (especially closed) headphones out there. Bass hits you where it needs too, but it’s no Z1R of course. Soundstage is very good (not only for a closed headphone), especially the very well layered depth (It may be the best or among the best I’ve heard, pretty impressive), imaging is also excellent and they are very detail revealing (offer a great sense of clarity).

They felt comfortable to me, (I don’t have a big head) and they are smaller than I thought. I have small ears and they could touch the earpad a bit depending on positioning.

I was just able to pick mine up from my dealer on Thursday (S/N 337) and tested them for over an hour or so last night. Some quick notes:

I used a Leben CS300XS and I didn’t find these headphones to be bass lacking at all (we’ll test with solid state later). Bass felt right to me, maybe dry (meaning with fast decay) and very well defined. I was also afraid these would be too bright, but I experienced no sibilance at all; cymbals intitially felt maybe too incisive but my brain adjusted quickly (these are Audio Technica after all, so you can expect a tonality leaning towards brightness).

Overall I found the L5000 to be very well balanced and engaging and probably one of the best (especially closed) headphones out there. Bass hits you where it needs too, but it’s no Z1R of course. Soundstage is very good (not only for a closed headphone), especially the very well layered depth (It may be the best or among the best I’ve heard, pretty impressive), imaging is also excellent and they are very detail revealing (offer a great sense of clarity).

They felt comfortable to me, (I don’t have a big head) and they are smaller than I thought. I have small ears and they could touch the earpad a bit depending on positioning.

I was just able to pick mine up from my dealer on Thursday (S/N 337) and tested them for over an hour or so last night. Some quick notes:

I used a Leben CS300XS and I didn’t find these headphones to be bass lacking at all (we’ll test with solid state later). Bass felt right to me, maybe dry (meaning with fast decay) and very well defined. I was also afraid these would be too bright, but I experienced no sibilance at all; cymbals intitially felt maybe too incisive but my brain adjusted quickly (these are Audio Technica after all, so you can expect a tonality leaning towards brightness).

Overall I found the L5000 to be very well balanced and engaging and probably one of the best (especially closed) headphones out there. Bass hits you where it needs too, but it’s no Z1R of course. Soundstage is very good (not only for a closed headphone), especially the very well layered depth (It may be the best or among the best I’ve heard, pretty impressive), imaging is also excellent and they are very detail revealing (offer a great sense of clarity).

They felt comfortable to me, (I don’t have a big head) and they are smaller than I thought. I have small ears and they could touch the

 

[jp11801]

Hi has anyone compared the w3000 to the L5000, while the w3000 may not be neutral I do love the sound. I'd love to hear from someone that has both

 

[urs]

Here my very subjective opinion.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/foc...-any-direct-comparisons.907428/#post-15156727

Urs

 

[protoss]

Excellent review! Should be a stable for all L5000 enthusiast

 

[iamoneagain]

Excellent review! Should be a stable for all L5000 enthusiast

Great review. Wish he had the L3000 to compare. Like how he said you buy some headphones to do something special others can’t for a certain type of music. That’s how I feel about the L3000. It’s perfect for rock with its rhythm and prat. Great punch and weight to the music.

Wasn’t sure what the L5000 was great at other than female vocals.

Review also gave me some idea what the Focal Stellia sounds like.

 

[purk]

I didn’t see the L5000 in Japan during my visit. Stock must be depleting fast.

 

[skylinedo]

What how did I miss this?

 

[JMR77]

YMMV, but here's a recommendation to other L5000 owners which may experience comfort fit and/or need a better seal, more bass and/or soundstage. Simply consider changing the stock pads.

I just replaced the stock pads with Brainwavz sheepskin pads and the sound improved drastically in my case, in every aspect, including much better soundstage and better bass but without losing detail retrieval (which is still outstanding).

I was constantly readjusting the L5000, it became too annoying, to the point where it ruined listening to music. With the new pads, which are about 1cm thicker and have a 0,5cm bigger ear hole, I achiever better sealing and I don't need to readjust the headphones on my head anymore. I got a proper over-ear fit, compared to the slight on-ear fit provided by the stock pads, which was annoying to me.

I was about to sell these headphones and now I can't put them down, they work great with many music styles.

 

[Mister Crash]

Which pads in particular? It looks like they've got a wide variety of sheepskin pads available.

 

[JMR77]

I tried the regular round pads (10cm x 10cm with an ear-hole of 5,5cm x 5,5cm)

https://www.brainwavzaudio.com/coll...e-memory-foam-earpads-round-sheepskin-leather

But note that these require some work to fit on the L5000 (I used a small curved hair clip to help me in the process), so be careful and patient. The ideal ones would be the round XL version, which is 11cm x 11cm (closer to the stock L5000 pads size) but the ear-hole of the XL is 6,5cm x 6,5cm, so maybe they alter the sound too much. The L5000 stock pads have an ear hole of 5cm x 5cm so I wanted to try the regular Brainwavz round pads first because the ear-hole was closer to the stock pads and I thought it should maintain the L5000 sound signature better.

The Brainwavz pads are about 1cm thicker, so your ears will more far away from the driver, therefore voices may seem a bit more recessed, but you may also gain comfort and better seal, which may give you more bass and soundstage.

I was just comparing the HD800S with the L5000 again and now I get a bit more bass with the L5000, with the stock pads I was getting less bass than with the HD800S. The HD800S may still have bigger soundstage, but not by that much and now the L5000 does not sound like a closed headphone to me.

I will try to post a picture tomorrow for reference.

IMHO this little mod is well worth a try, you just need to spend about 1% of the cost of the L5000 to see if it works for you.

 

[Piotr Michalak]

L5000 arrived just yesterday and I'm sharing. Measured on IEC 711 compliant mic with (unfortunately) silicone ear from EARS, so take this with a grain of salt, and also that's why I'm publishing comparisons too.


Very much dependent on seal and pressure to the ear.


Probably the most accurate average graph. I would say it's neutral-ish moderate U-shape with some clean 0-5 dB bass boost (depending on seal and clamp force = your head shape) and 3-5 dB highs boost which may sometimes be sibilant on some tracks. Superb higher highs extension, a slight roll off on sub bass. Nicely presented higher mids with usual spikes giving colorization and spatial cues (as in a reverb room, obviously no reverb here). Personally I love these mids and highs but YMMV. Vocals are just beautiful.




Note that HD669, K260 and K501 have been upgraded with Brainwavz pads here, so they do not represent measurements on factory pads. We also see L5k is not as harsh as it could be.



N90Q is a very much underestimated neutral headphone from AKG offering flagship sound reproduction level but sometimes it's tiring and we see why - a bump on higher highs. We see how similar (in a good way) L5000 is to both N90Q and N60 in regards of neutrality (or rather "coloured" variations thereof).

Remember, FR measurements are not everything. It doesn't show how L5k sounds quality wise, and it does sound great, with superb holography and resolution. Also the stage is not very wide, rather intimate, but goes very deep, with outstanding layering capabilities. Very happy with my purchase.

 

[Piotr Michalak]

Hi has anyone compared the w3000 to the L5000, while the w3000 may not be neutral I do love the sound. I'd love to hear from someone that has both

I had W3000anv and it's also coloured neutral but with a bass roll-off, from what I remembered (and measured). Lower resolution. Not as much euphony (for me) especially with beautiful, coherent, airy mids offered by L5k. Both need an amp, but W3k really strongly does, and L5k may sound quite good from a DAP. Actually W3k looks nicer with the wood than the combination of two colours of leather on L5k.

 

[Piotr Michalak]

Brand new L5000 arrived today. It is not an investment, purchased them purely to enjoy my beloved music ;')
btw. the serial number is 484, therefore 16 more units should be still available.

Wow. I also got a nice serial number. Lo and behold: 333!

BTW. They sometimes are bought by distribution and sit on shelves so don't bother counting serial numbers tracking availability

 

[Piotr Michalak]

Guys, I urge every L5000 owner to try them with Dekoni ATH pads. There were 3 types when I was buying. And I'm recommending velour only. On sheepskin, they are a bit too bassy for me. But on velour, they're super comfy, and ultra-diffuse-field-neutral. Bright, but coherent. Not sibilant, just much upper mids. Super spacious and holographic with much air because of that. So it's kind of aggressive, being diffuse-field neutral, but very comfortable and I like it. Also more coherent than on original pads (with spikes throughout upper mids), so doesn't tire my hearing, can listen to it for hours.

 

[protoss]

I urge every L5000 owner

all 500 owners sadly

Wheres your full review? It be nice to have a nice critical review on it.