Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7 Discussion Thread

[tolis626]

There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm (hype). How are these compared to AD2000 or W5000. Are they more detailed and transparent?

Honestly, no idea. But would it matter? The comparison is unfair to begin with. You're comparing them with cans triple their price, one of them open too.

With that said, they shouldn't be TOO far off. Details are plenty, the bass is fast and dynamic and tonal balance is great. They tend a bit to the cold and bright side of the spectrum, but slightly so. Also, they need burn in, a good amount of it too. At first they sound harsh and clamp too hard. A few hours of burn in (and stretching) later, they are a-OK. Also, they play well out of just about anything power wise, but will reward a better source.

Having said all that, that's about them stock. Modding them is so easy that I'd suggest it for the fun of it.

 

[ScareDe2]

One of those headphones that measure so well on a graph. Similar to what I think the new harman target response will look like. With a more decreased 6Khz region and perhaps a bit less bass. I think the reason why the 6Khz region appears so aggressive on the harman target is that studio monitor are placed above the head in a studio and I suspect that configuration of the monitor speakers decreases the 6Khz region. If any one can help me understand, when Tyll measured good speaker in good room, the frequency close to 6Khz decreased when he was lowering his dummy head? Or perhaps it is when the head got closer to the speaker. If that is the case, I hope the new target will fix that so we can graphically appreciate neutral headphones with a less aggressive 6khz region for what they truly achieve. Studio neutrality.

Not saying the msr7 is the best it just looks very good, graphically.

 

[shahkhan]

Have someone tried these big pads with msr7 available at aliexpress?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Sup...69dee2e&transAbTest=ae803_2&priceBeautifyAB=0

 

[Killcomic]

Have someone tried these big pads with msr7 available at aliexpress?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Sup...69dee2e&transAbTest=ae803_2&priceBeautifyAB=0

$14 earpads from Aliexpress. What could possibly go wrong?
Quality aside, looking at the size of them, I'd imagine they would have the same issue as HM5 pads, that’s to say increase in the highs and decrease in the lows.
But if someone has tried them, I'd love to know too.

 

[zazex]

Haven't read through this thread completely, but I have owned these headphones twice.

About a year ago, I guess - had read some glowing reviews and the price was attractive.
Bought them, was reasonably impressed with the build quality, and then began listening
after some break-in. I like the sound very much. Full, detailed...etc.
But > they were very uncomfortable. Too tight! I'd never experienced that before.
Certainly not with the AT headphones I'd owned over the years. For a few days
I tried talking myself into some possible causes - they'd loosen up, maybe I'd
missed some kind of secret adjustment - I wanted to keep them.
Very soon, though, practical reality set in. I couldn't wear these phones.

However, hope springs eternal. Perhaps I'd received a defective set!
Could be, I attempted to persuade myself. But I wasn't sure at the time
and returned them.

3-4 months later, I bit again.
Someplace was having a ridiculously low price on them, money back guarantee,
so I went for them again.

Sadly, my experience the second time was identical to the first. Very good sound,
great value, and - at least for me - unwearable.

I do recommend them if they fit comfortably, or even reasonably so.
Like all or most of us, I have several other headphones and can
certainly do without these AT's. But I found that they had a very
attractive sound, especially with rock, jazz > dynamic music with
plenty going on. I especially liked the way they did electronics
ranging from synths to electric guitar and plenty of other good stuff.

 

[435279]

Sadly, my experience the second time was identical to the first. Very good sound,
great value, and - at least for me - unwearable.

They are very "adjustable". There is a flexible metal band running from one ear cup to the other. It can be bent a lot to your shape and won't break. In Tyll from Innerfidelity's review of the msr7 on YouTube he mentions and demonstrates this.

I had to adjust mine too but now they are quite comfortable, not the most comfortable headphone I've tried but certainly not the worst.

 

[sling5s]

Honestly, no idea. But would it matter? The comparison is unfair to begin with. You're comparing them with cans triple their price, one of them open too.

With that said, they shouldn't be TOO far off. Details are plenty, the bass is fast and dynamic and tonal balance is great. They tend a bit to the cold and bright side of the spectrum, but slightly so. Also, they need burn in, a good amount of it too. At first they sound harsh and clamp too hard. A few hours of burn in (and stretching) later, they are a-OK. Also, they play well out of just about anything power wise, but will reward a better source.

Having said all that, that's about them stock. Modding them is so easy that I'd suggest it for the fun of it.

The reason for my post was that there's couple post by couple members who seem to suggest that it approaches or almost equals the detail and transparency of the HD800 in the the mids and treble regions. If this is true, then it would most likely be that it is more detailed and transparent than ad2000 and maybe even the w5000. I just ordered a pair yesterday so I'll compare for myself very soon.

 

[tolis626]

They are very "adjustable". There is a flexible metal band running from one ear cup to the other. It can be bent a lot to your shape and won't break. In Tyll from Innerfidelity's review of the msr7 on YouTube he mentions and demonstrates this.

I had to adjust mine too but now they are quite comfortable, not the most comfortable headphone I've tried but certainly not the worst.

This. The other option is to leave it stretched over something like a box while letting it burn in, but bending the headband a bit is much quicker. You just have to make sure to fully extend it and only bend the middle and, if needed, the parts closes to the cups. I think the mechanism that sits in the middle is plastic, so better not break that. The top most part, however, is metal, so it can be bent as needed.

The reason for my post was that there's couple post by couple members who seem to suggest that it approaches or almost equals the detail and transparency of the HD800 in the the mids and treble regions. If this is true, then it would most likely be that it is more detailed and transparent than ad2000 and maybe even the w5000. I just ordered a pair yesterday so I'll compare for myself very soon.

There's many people exaggerating here, me included probably. But the MSR7 really ARE good. It's an acquired taste, I'll give you this much, but damn they can perform. At first they aren't a pleasant sound, especially if you listen to "noisy" music like metal, but burn them in, get used to them and oh boy they sound good. Now, I don't know if they're AD-2000x good, although I think they have better bass, but still, they're an easy to power portable pair, so they don't even really need to win.

If you're after that last bit of performance, though, just do what I did. Get yourself a proper pair of pads, if you don't already have one, like the HM5s and remove the felt ring inside the cans. Compared to stock it's cleaner, warmer, wider sounding and much more comfortable to boot. Really, a small change goes a long way.

 

[zazex]

They are very "adjustable". There is a flexible metal band running from one ear cup to the other. It can be bent a lot to your shape and won't break. In Tyll from Innerfidelity's review of the msr7 on YouTube he mentions and demonstrates this.

I had to adjust mine too but now they are quite comfortable, not the most comfortable headphone I've tried but certainly not the worst.

Thanks for that info.
I've pretty much left them behind, though, after those disappointing experiences.
Currently, I'm looking at and listening too open back headphones pretty exclusively.
Ultimately found some closed backs that I liked (and still do), which are the
Shure 1540. Also picked up the Sony MDR-7520's. And still have the Senn
Amperior's (remember those?) which always startle me with how good they
sound for such tiny things.

OT, but I recently listened to the new Beyer 1990's and their "sister" headphones
the Amiron's. Not bad at all, but they didn't do it for me. Moved to the
Shure 1840's which I like very much.

So thanks again and happy listening.

 

[shahkhan]

Can you compare MSR7 to Dt 1990??

 

[ModiHiFi]

So, I got to modding the MSR7 so that they play better with the HM5 pads. And boy, oh boy, did I do just that... Let's start!

First thing you do is take the pads off, and undo the 8 screws underneath. Should be pretty self explanatory. Then you gently take the baffle off (GENTLY, unless you like soldering) and you can see a small hole covered by a felt in the center.

Then you have to take the middle plate off the cup. To do this, you lift the small piece of tape holding the wire (don't yank it because it may pull the wires with it, and save it somewhere safe) and then pull (again, gently, there's more soldered thin wires beneath that) the whole thing while wiggling it a bit. After a while the cup should be seperated from the middle plate. Line up the top baffle that holds the driver with the lower part so that the little wire is straight and pull the midplate upwards so that it goes away from the cup and closer to the baffle. Here you can see the little felt ring from behind.

Remove it gently, so that you don't rip it (although it does hold itself together well, even though the adhesive is quite strong) and save it somewhere in case you want to revert the whole thing. Then put the whole thing back together. Boom, that's it. No potentially distortion causing materials in front of the drivers, no nothing. Just added bass. I think that there's even more than stock, even when using the HM5 pads. I also think it sounds a bit more open and leaks a bit more sound, but that could be the pads, so I digress. Now I have to make the pads fit more snuggly in the groove somehow, 'cause they're big and they got stretched when I was using them over the whole cup and now the elastic band is a bit loose. Meh.

@ModiHiFi I think you more than anyone will appreciate this. Just give it a try, you're gonna love the result! Maybe even give it a shot with your own mods with the batting fleece over the driver and see what happens! Down the road I'm gonna experiment with filling the cups with cotton or, if I can find any, polyfill. But as it stands I'm more than happy with the result!

I must say that on initial listening tests, your modification is very good! I've converted my pair of MSR7s to their original configuration with the following mods;

1. Brainwavz HM5 leather pads installed.
2. Removed the 10mm diameter white sticky pads from the centre of the ear cup frame (as shown in your photos).
3. Fixomull Stretch (super sticky and flexible medical bandage) rings around the perimeter of the external driver shields (see my post on Page 158 of this thread). These help reduce the high frequencies normally associated with the HM5 pads. They were left in place mainly because they are incredibly tricky to cut and install. Very, very tricky material to use and time consuming to say the least, but essential.

I'll continue to listen with these mods in place and come back to you with a more in depth commentary on the noted setup. So far, so good!

 

[tolis626]

I must say that on initial listening tests, your modification is very good! I've converted my pair of MSR7s to their original configuration with the following mods;

1. Brainwavz HM5 leather pads installed.
2. Removed the 10mm diameter white sticky pads from the centre of the ear cup frame (as shown in your photos).
3. Fixomull Stretch (super sticky and flexible medical bandage) rings around the perimeter of the external driver shields (see my post on Page 158 of this thread). These help reduce the high frequencies normally associated with the HM5 pads. They were left in place mainly because they are incredibly tricky to cut and install. Very, very tricky material to use and time consuming to say the least, but essential.

I'll continue to listen with these mods in place and come back to you with a more in depth commentary on the noted setup. So far, so good!

Glad you liked it mate!

At this point, I don't even think it needs the Fixomull stuff. The highs are calmed with the mod. That or I don't push the volume as high as I did at first with the HM5 pads to get back some of my bass. But! And it's a big but. Maybe the difference in material on the pads accentuates the highs. Maybe the pleather pads give a warmer sound compared to the leather ones? I certainly hope that's not the case, because I really want to get the leather ones now that I found a way to make them work and I absolutely adore the sound with the pleather pads. I mean, apart from the issues I have with them. Is there any chance you have bigger, angled pads to try with them? I was also flirting with the idea of getting angled pads, but at this point I'm not willing to risk it with no other headphones in hand to put them on if they don't work with the MSR7. Although, I suppose with the drivers being already angled, the result wouldn't be so great, but I damn sure would like to give it a try!

Next up on my list of stuff to try is filling the cup with cotton or polyfill. Probably cotton because it's cheap, but I dunno. Filling the back with cotton is supposed to help increase the effective amount of air the driver gets to work with. Plus, I think it would somewhat dampen the back wave so that it doesn't directly hit the plastic. Or maybe that's what's helping the bass in the first place, but I have no idea. I could also remove the felt patch on the bass port, but I'm concerned because at this point I would actually be turning the headphones semi open and I don't know how the driver would handle that. I guess it's easy to reverse anyway, so I might as well give it a try at some point if I'm bored.

But all of that will have to wait for my pad issue to get corrected. The fact that I almost sent my cans to AT's service (great customer support as far as I'm concerned) because the pads are asymmetrical drives me mad. I mean, I don't know if it shows in the pictures, but look :
I don't know how well it shows in pictures, but the thickness difference and the shape difference are causing a big enough shift towards the thinner pad's size that it's infuriating to listen to. I hope I can sort it out with Brainwavz and they either replace the pads or at least give me the option to also get a single pleather pad with my leather ones when I buy them. I don't need another paid of pleathers. For now.

 

[shahkhan]

Have any one tried sony mdr-1A pads with Msr7?? May be they will rectify the comfort and less bass issues.

 

[ModiHiFi]

Have any one tried sony mdr-1A pads with Msr7?? May be they will rectify the comfort and less bass issues.

I haven't bought the MDR-1A pads but they seem to be the same shape and size of the standard MSR7 pads (perhaps a tad narrower by the look of them).

If you want larger, more comfortable pads without the treble and bass issues associated with the larger type ear pads, do two things;

1. Buy and install Brainwavz HM5 (pleather or leather) ear pads OR Dekoni Elite or Platinum Audio Technica style ear pads. DON'T get the velour or angled type of ear pads. I've tried both of these options and I do not recommend either of them - especially the velour pads, and
2. Buy and install Vlieseline Low Loft Batting 248 clothing material and install it within the rear cavity of each ear pad (reduces high tremble response and increases bass response to give a very pleasing signature), OR open up the ear cups and remove the 10mm diameter circular white sticky damping material from the centre of both the ear cup frames (reduces slightly more treble response, increases slightly more bass response, and provides noticeably more volume response than the Vlieseline material option does).

At the moment I'm modding my MSR7s with HM5 pads with the 10mm diameter circular white sticky damping material removed. I'm currently enjoying the reduced treble response and to a slightly lesser extent the extended bass and mid-bass response. I plan to do a couple more type of mods to my current setup to deal with the current bass response;

1. Put some acoustic absorbent material in the outer ear cup cavity to slightly lessen the increased bass response, and
2. Replace the 10mm diameter circular white sticky damping material with something less dense like Fixomull Stretch material.

More to come.

 

[Killcomic]

I've been using my MSR7 with a Fiio X1 2nd Gen, and although better than my phone, it's a bit too lean.
Looking through some old boxes I had, I found this and it matches beautifully.
Shame it's only 4GB and no lossless support, but hey, 256kbps m4a sound great!