I hope you like them! Let us know when you receive them.
This was my second time purchasing them, so I know what I was buying sonically and wasn't disappointed. But I guess my tolerance for discomfort shrunk over the years lol.
Audio-Technica ATH-R70x - In-Depth Review & Impressions
- Thread starter earfonia
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This was my second time purchasing them, so I know what I was buying sonically and wasn't disappointed. But I guess my tolerance for discomfort shrunk over the years lol.
Yanto
100+ Head-Fier
Will do. Fingers crossed. My other pair are Grado’s so I guess I can handle discomfort!
Never would've guessed something this light could be so uncomfortable.
Saw someone else here mention about Senn. HD600 - I just 'upgraded' to the ATH r70x after a whopping 7 years with the HD600, along with nice silver aftermarket cable no less, and it makes the HD600 sound quite DULL and limp and like a toy that lacks transient attack and real lifelike vibrancy with individual character to the instruments as the r70x does... well, a lot of that is also thanks to my beefy Ultrasonic Studios tube amp and my DAC plus DDC source chain, along with 6-8 special quality ferrite clamps on the r70x cable.
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Honestly while I enjoyed the HD 6xx series in many ways I always grew dissatisfied with them with time, always felt something was missing. It was immediately obvious to me the R70X had better transients than the Senns. The reason I always preferred Beyer to Senns was their superior transients but most Beyers had that treble spike, luckily the pairs I currently have don’t have that spike.
I can tell there is a bit of a wall on the R70X that needs to be overcome it takes the right system and synergy to do it but it’s definitely special once you achieve it; it sounds kind of restrained until then. The R70X is very sensitive to subtle system changes in my experience. In terms of a traditionally neutral tuning, it’s probably the best I’ve come across, thankfully the R70X doesn’t have the somewhat too forward and slightly uncomfortable texture of the upper mids of the Senns which fatigued me over time on the HD 600/650/660 S. I was happy to find a headphone with this type of tuning but also excellent transients and vibrancy like I found in Beyers with the R70X. This is my go to neutral headphone and it will likely stay that way for a while. Does it have the best transients of my headphones? No it doesn’t but it’s great in this aspect and is a big reason it’s in my top 3 headphones I own in terms of how much I enjoy their sound. Good transients and vibrancy are probably the most important aspect of sound to me. Spending time with some headphones that do this exceptionally well completely changed how I evaluated headphones.
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Agreed. I did feel like the headphone bottoms out technically somewhat, unlike say the Elex which I was comparing to, but the tonality is just right. If only there were earpads that offered more depth without changing the sound, because no matter which Brainwavz, ZMF or Dekoni earpad I tried that I owned, it changed the sound too much. Not to mention the installation process sucks
I’m not sure if there are pads that would work quite right on that sadly. Maybe if Yaxi made some pads specifically for the R70X then it may work. But afaik they don’t make pads for the R70X despite making pads for varying AT models.
JdeFalconr
100+ Head-Fier
Incredible, tracking just updated and my cable will be here tomorrow, nearly eleven days after it "departed shipping partner facility." I think what must have happened is that they failed to scan it in Compton (probably way too busy), it took several days to be sorted into the USPS system, it made its way up here to the Seattle area (doesn't take ten days to go from Compton to Seattle area), and my local post office did what they were supposed to do and scanned it upon arrival, thus updating tracking.
Too bad I already gave up on it and ordered a cable from Hart. Guess I'll be putting this one up for sale shortly =)
JM
New Head-Fier
I'm quite intrigued by these. Does anyone know if Crinacle's description as 'neutral' is accurate?
Others describe it is overly bright so I'm a little confused.
Others describe it is overly bright so I'm a little confused.
That's the description of the M70X, a closed back headphone.I'm quite intrigued by these. Does anyone know if Crinacle's description as 'neutral' is accurate?
Others describe it is overly bright so I'm a little confused.
The R70x are definitely not bright. Neutral-warm is what I would say.
Yes, definitely not bright, very natural and smooth. Wish every headphone was tuned this linearly
I would consider it as totally linear sound with bass that extends deep, but that focuses more on the treble detail which packs with serious force, and has a slightly off-kilter tonality somewhere in the upper mids or highs, but it is a very engaging and welcome sound signature, especially with the right system. And it seems to excel at defining every instrument in it's own space of the the sound picture.
So, the R70x arrived some days ago and I'm ready to share some impressions after listening to them for around 20 hours. Please note that this is just my honest thoughts and experience, which is very limited and pretty subjective (been in the hobby for 3-4 years only).
Ok, so this HP is incredibly light and comfortable, except for the rather small cups. I can wear them for hours and hours with just some adjustments from time to time to change the part that pushes on my ears inside the cup. To me, that's actually remarkable. With the HD560s after an hour I already start getting headache.
The wing suspension system is amazing, the materials seems fine for the price. Overall, it's almost perfect for long listening sessions.
Now, the sound did not impress me very much out of the box.
This HP, at least my unit, has a pretty substantial upper bass/low mid bump that makes some kind of music just not enjoyable. Around 200Hz I'll say.
I've experimented a bit, listened to some specific tracks and music style (production-wise, at least) and found that it happens mostly with metal tracks with lots of layers and presence of electric guitars. Opeth's Watershed is a prime example, but also porcupine tree's last album sounds very boxy and compressed with the stock tuning.
Simpler music like Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb was pretty ok, generally acoustic or "clean" produced stuff was all right. It still lacked a bit of air, but was enjoyable.
If you guys want, I can give more example of tracks that didn't work for me.
I'm actually against EQ for serious listening, I feel it takes more than what it gives, but since I really liked the build and comfort of the R70x and wanted It to work I've played with it a bit.
My preferred target for general sound and tonal balance is the Hifiman Arya SE, which I find just damn perfect. So this is the filters I'm using:
-1dB@70Hz Peak - This helps to keep the sub-bass in control
4dB@105Hz Low Shelf - This brings the bass impact and slam closer to the Arya SE
-3dB@195Hz Peak - This is the crucial one, as it tame most of the boxy and compressed feeling I had. It also removes some light bass-bleeding.
-3dB@1900Hz Peak - This is optional, and it's about getting closer to the Arya SE upper-mid/low treble presentation. It works without it, but I just like it.
1dB@10000Hz High Shelf - This extract a bit more details and gives a little air to the sound.
With this setting I'm just loving the R70x.
It still retain all the mid information: all the chorus, keyboard carpets, all the effects and the subtle sounds, it seems like it has lost zero information in the "music meat". It just has a cleaner bass and some more details (which honestly I found a bit lacking compared to the Sundara, but I sure am a planar guy).
I've also made some blind testing with my GF and she confirms it sounds better with EQ!
Ok, so this HP is incredibly light and comfortable, except for the rather small cups. I can wear them for hours and hours with just some adjustments from time to time to change the part that pushes on my ears inside the cup. To me, that's actually remarkable. With the HD560s after an hour I already start getting headache.
The wing suspension system is amazing, the materials seems fine for the price. Overall, it's almost perfect for long listening sessions.
Now, the sound did not impress me very much out of the box.
This HP, at least my unit, has a pretty substantial upper bass/low mid bump that makes some kind of music just not enjoyable. Around 200Hz I'll say.
I've experimented a bit, listened to some specific tracks and music style (production-wise, at least) and found that it happens mostly with metal tracks with lots of layers and presence of electric guitars. Opeth's Watershed is a prime example, but also porcupine tree's last album sounds very boxy and compressed with the stock tuning.
Simpler music like Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb was pretty ok, generally acoustic or "clean" produced stuff was all right. It still lacked a bit of air, but was enjoyable.
If you guys want, I can give more example of tracks that didn't work for me.
I'm actually against EQ for serious listening, I feel it takes more than what it gives, but since I really liked the build and comfort of the R70x and wanted It to work I've played with it a bit.
My preferred target for general sound and tonal balance is the Hifiman Arya SE, which I find just damn perfect. So this is the filters I'm using:
-1dB@70Hz Peak - This helps to keep the sub-bass in control
4dB@105Hz Low Shelf - This brings the bass impact and slam closer to the Arya SE
-3dB@195Hz Peak - This is the crucial one, as it tame most of the boxy and compressed feeling I had. It also removes some light bass-bleeding.
-3dB@1900Hz Peak - This is optional, and it's about getting closer to the Arya SE upper-mid/low treble presentation. It works without it, but I just like it.
1dB@10000Hz High Shelf - This extract a bit more details and gives a little air to the sound.
With this setting I'm just loving the R70x.
It still retain all the mid information: all the chorus, keyboard carpets, all the effects and the subtle sounds, it seems like it has lost zero information in the "music meat". It just has a cleaner bass and some more details (which honestly I found a bit lacking compared to the Sundara, but I sure am a planar guy).
I've also made some blind testing with my GF and she confirms it sounds better with EQ!
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JdeFalconr
100+ Head-Fier
I can report back that the cable from Lunashops is excellent. It's flexible, soft, lightweight and affordable. I can easily recommend it. For myself, unfortunately, they shipped the wrong size (I ordered 2m and got 1.25m) but customer service is working with me.
Link: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256804183900981.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.784518029kPrBX
Link: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256804183900981.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.784518029kPrBX
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