[Kammerat Rebekka]

I really dig the Crinacle site. It’s a wonderful way of checking up on headphone tonality...and it can teach you a great deal about price to performance...mostly that the two seem to be wholly unrelated.
I use the graphs the most though...I find the reviews as well as the rankings to be very subjective and therefor only really ‘gospel’ to himself. That being said..I very much agree about the R70x being one of the biggest bangs for one’s buck. I prefer it over a number of pricier headphones including Audio Technica’s own openback flagship.
It’s just a rare thing to find a great neutral tuning in today’s market...outside of Sennheisers..yet they’re all weaksauce in da bass...except for the 58X of course.
The R70x to me is like a brilliant combo of the old and new Sennheiser: bass like the 58X yet delivered with a midrange tuning much much closer to the 600/650.

 

[llysender]

I would say HD560s is the best bang for buck since it has both the tonality and the bass detail and texture that rivals top tier headphones. That being said I would say yeah R70X scales very well if you are going deep and spending a good amount on your source. The level of detail and precision that can be unlocked is quite amazing. The problem at lest to me with HD600 is that it will always be a HD600 and providing better sources doesnt really make anything other than the mids more defined.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

I understand why many would prefer the HD560S but let’s be real here, as far as tonality goes it is a bright bugger and not really in the same ballpark as the R70x nor the old 6 series from Sennie. You can’t really see it on a frequency response because no dummy heads have human brains yet...but the angled drivers interact with the pinna and boost the frequencies from 3 to 6k.
Here’s the graph from Solderdude that showcases this:

https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/brands-s-se/hd-560s/

 

[Giru]

I have not heard the HD560S yet but I own the R70X and the HD650. I also had the HD600, HD660S and the AKG K712 Pro for interspersed periods of time. All these headphones are in relatively similar price brackets and each one of these enjoys a cult following of their own.

From the above; if I were asked to pick one headphone: it would be the R70X.
It is by far one of the most uncolored headphone I've ever owned. Not only this, it also scales much better with more expensive source equipment than any of the headphones above and that includes the HD650.

The reason why I would place this over the HD650 is because it resolves better, is more detailed, gives a better sub-bass performance and does not have that characteristic veil of the HD650. The soundstage is a bit larger too.

As rightly pointed out, the R70X is (sadly) extremely underrated. I have had some very expensive headphone amps come to my den in the last few weeks and frankly the R70X has never failed to amaze me with its performance. I would go even further and say that it is probably the best headphone (from a value perspective) I have in my collection (I also own the HE560, LCD4 and the Erzetich Phobos).

To any prospective buyer: get one before they go out of stock.

 

[llysender]

@Kammerat Rebekka true I guess its on the brighter side. Although I still think its sounds more neutural than the R70X which has a distinct warm tonality and as such I still stand by hd560s is the current best bang for buck as you dont even need to worry about source commitments.
But yeah I would also agree that R70X is the best bang for buck in that after R70X is basically killodoller and whichever colouration you choose to go with.

On to R70X, sadly it doesnt play nicely with quite a number of feliks tube amps. Sadly it seems that it wants a good hybrid amp for the tube colourasion but still maintaining the chrispness of the sound, kind of put a bumper on me getting a feliks echo. Any recs? I've had my eyes on the xduoo TA-20 but im open to options.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Hmmm I am probably the wrong person to ask as I tend to listen to gear blind...and well the last tube amp I owned was the Valhalla 2. Sounded wonderful and I thought I could hear all kinds of brilliant ‘tube-colourations’...untill I one day forgot what I was listening to (I lie down in a sofa some 9-10 feet away from the set-up): ‘hey man...what did I plug into?’
After that my friend (educated sound engineer) helped me set up yet another test between the Valhalla and my Magni...and woe and behold..I could not discern any difference...albeit for a faint high pitched noise on the ledt side that became audible between tracks. It would seem that the added sound quality all came from me looking at those fiery tubes and making stuff up in my mind...wouldn’t be the first time though
The fact of the matter is that there are quite a number of transparent tube amps out there...if you of course follow the golden rule ie the output impedance of the amp should at the very least be 1/8 of your headphone’s damping factor. If you want a tube amp that sounds different to solid state, you’ll want to look for an old school designed one with a high output impedance like fx the Bottlehead Crack.
Best of luck

 

[CJG888]

...or if you want a genuine “100% tube” amp which can cope with difficult loads, go transformer coupled, or with a 6S41S or 6S33S OTL amp. The latter two triodes both have plenty of power and a low output impedance.

 

[vlenbo]

I would say HD560s is the best bang for buck since it has both the tonality and the bass detail and texture that rivals top tier headphones. That being said I would say yeah R70X scales very well if you are going deep and spending a good amount on your source. The level of detail and precision that can be unlocked is quite amazing. The problem at lest to me with HD600 is that it will always be a HD600 and providing better sources doesnt really make anything other than the mids more defined.

Yeah best bang for buck would definitely be the hd560s. Its price bracket can beat above most 300-400 to even 500 headphones (word of mouth). Don't know if that includes against the r70xs though. Reason, while you say bass detail and texture is great, there are others who say its not so good compared to the hd6xx series. Personally haven't heard them and will like to try them one day, but seeing the conflicting reviews on them maybe not soon.

However based off reviews I read For, it seems that its a great contender against higher ones especially if you want to avoid amps. These ath r70x however, sound really good that I am wondering if the hd560 can even beat it in bass detail or texture. Some say its limp and not very dynamic, or that it sounds odd which, which is a big reason I'm thinking of not getting it yet.


Also for those pointing to the crinacle r70x ranking, playing fair here against my fav audio brand that usually screws up their latest product releases. Crinacle originally placed it at b+ tier for this reason: music sounds compressed, or at least audio did and I didnt know what he meant by that. I'm assuming its a weird resonance peak thqt made it sound not as spacious as it is, or maybe it's the weird grainiess that people spoke about. Whatever the case it upgraded when he included the Soundstage and imaging. So this makes me think that those two helped? I dont know and am left pretty confused.

 

[DivineCurrent]

I received an R70x from a member here, who just so happened to include XL perforated PU leather Brainwavz pads. I first tried the stock pads, which did sound pretty good compared to my other headphones, and really did remind me of the HD650 and 600 in many ways. However, I swapped to those extra large pads, and not only did the comfort increase, but the soundstage, imaging, and pretty much everything else improved. The Brainwavz pads add more treble extension, makes the bass a bit more present and impactful, and it's just incredible sounding. This is something you could never do with the Sennheiser HD600 headphones, only the stock pads sounded the best. Well, I have to say the R70x definitely jumps up a few levels with a pad swap, just make sure the seal is good by bending the headband to make it tighter. I actually prefer them now to the HD650 and 600, the Sennheisers sound almost claustrophobic in comparison when I got used to the more spacious pads. On top of this, the R70x is the lightest and most comfortable open back headphone I've used!

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Welcome to the club
Lightweight n comfy slippers-territory makes for long listening adventures.
I’m not really close to a pad swap yet but lean the most towards re-purchasing stock...which looks like a future order from Japan.
I hate it when companies sell their headphones in a wide variety of shops near you..but not spare parts like pads and cables.

 

[DivineCurrent]

I've had the R70X for a week now, and have put in about 9 or 10 total hours listening. To be honest with all of you, I'm quite upset... at how these headphones now make my trusted Sennheiser HD 600s and 650s sound like toys. Ok... maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit... but you have got to be kidding me! For the life of me, I cannot understand why some headphone reviewers I trust (Metal571 and Max Settings specifically) think that the R70x is inferior to the HD600 series headphones! 7 years ago when I first got into the headphone hobby, I tried the HD650 for the first time. It was amazing, because I sat there thinking to myself "finally, a headphone I can sit back and listen to, nothing is out of place and they sound so natural". They never force feed details and treble like other headphones I tried back then. Well, the R70x to me is now the lighter weight more comfortable successor to the HD650, and not only that, but to my ears it outperforms them. Also, I have been using the HD 58X every day for nearly a year now, because I prefer it to the 650 and 600. The R70x sounds a lot like my 58X but with a wider and more natural soundstage, which is pretty much exactly what I wanted for a while now. I can't believe that the R70X is not getting the hype they deserve... it makes me want to make my first video headphone review actually, perhaps I will get around to doing that soon. It's almost criminal how underrated they are. Look... I've listened to a lot of mid-fi and high end headphones over the years. I currently own a Focal Clear, Hifiman Sundara, HE-500, in addition to the Sennheisers. The natural tonality and openness of the R70x is better to me than all of them, except maybe for my equalized 58X. I tried them again with the stock pads, and they do sound almost as good as the XL Brainwavz pads I mentioned earlier, but I still prefer the Brainwavz. As far as I'm concerned, the R70x needs to have better marketing, so it can catch up to the HD6XX in popularity. I don't know if that will ever happen however, I really hope it does.

 

[Hooster]

I've had the R70X for a week now, and have put in about 9 or 10 total hours listening. To be honest with all of you, I'm quite upset... at how these headphones now make my trusted Sennheiser HD 600s and 650s sound like toys.

Agreed. I sold my 600s as soon I got these. These are not going anywhere. I am satisfied with these and it takes a lot to make me feel like that.

 

[ballard3]

I've had the R70X for a week now, and have put in about 9 or 10 total hours listening. To be honest with all of you, I'm quite upset... at how these headphones now make my trusted Sennheiser HD 600s and 650s sound like toys. Ok... maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit... but you have got to be kidding me! For the life of me, I cannot understand why some headphone reviewers I trust (Metal571 and Max Settings specifically) think that the R70x is inferior to the HD600 series headphones! 7 years ago when I first got into the headphone hobby, I tried the HD650 for the first time. It was amazing, because I sat there thinking to myself "finally, a headphone I can sit back and listen to, nothing is out of place and they sound so natural". They never force feed details and treble like other headphones I tried back then. Well, the R70x to me is now the lighter weight more comfortable successor to the HD650, and not only that, but to my ears it outperforms them. Also, I have been using the HD 58X every day for nearly a year now, because I prefer it to the 650 and 600. The R70x sounds a lot like my 58X but with a wider and more natural soundstage, which is pretty much exactly what I wanted for a while now. I can't believe that the R70X is not getting the hype they deserve... it makes me want to make my first video headphone review actually, perhaps I will get around to doing that soon. It's almost criminal how underrated they are. Look... I've listened to a lot of mid-fi and high end headphones over the years. I currently own a Focal Clear, Hifiman Sundara, HE-500, in addition to the Sennheisers. The natural tonality and openness of the R70x is better to me than all of them, except maybe for my equalized 58X. I tried them again with the stock pads, and they do sound almost as good as the XL Brainwavz pads I mentioned earlier, but I still prefer the Brainwavz. As far as I'm concerned, the R70x needs to have better marketing, so it can catch up to the HD6XX in popularity. I don't know if that will ever happen however, I really hope it does.

Did you find it difficult to swap to Brainwavz pads?

 

[DivineCurrent]

Did you find it difficult to swap to Brainwavz pads?

The XL ones were very easy to swap, they have a larger ring that is actually oversized for the earcup, but still it fits well. The normal sized round pads however, are somewhat difficult and you have to stretch them to get them to fit.

 

[KCXT]

... Look... I've listened to a lot of mid-fi and high end headphones over the years. I currently own a Focal Clear, Hifiman Sundara, HE-500, in addition to the Sennheisers. The natural tonality and openness of the R70x is better to me than all of them, except maybe for my equalized 58X. ...

Great comments. I've been very curious about these for quite some time now - how would you compare them to the HE-500 specifically? Perhaps I'm putting the cart before the hours if you're planning on a larger/more formal review