[iFi audio]

I'll be 100% happy with hd600 or r70x.

Agreed, both are excellent choices considering their retail price.

 

[soundknight21]

Is the rotation of the earcups supposed to be loose and not firm? Can anybody answer this for me? I bought it new.

Mine came firm and they did not rotate easily. If it bothered you I would get in touch with the seller. The replacement lamb skin cups brainwavz are really good.

 

[soundknight21]

Agreed, both are excellent choices considering their retail price.

I've heard people say they are really similar and they like different things about them each. I haven't heard the hd600 series.

 

[soundknight21]

I have both. I can say the r70x in a certain degree can hold its own against the Clear.
Where the Clear is better: detail retreival. It's more resolving. If the r70x is a good 1080p monitor, the Clear is a 2k monitor. Bass extension on the Clear is better also., as well as more dynamic and punchy sound. Tonality wise is a tie... both headphones share the same warm/neutral tonality, just a bit different flavour.
Where the R70x is better: Biggest soundstage, Better separation, smoother yet resolving highs (some one found the clear fatiguing).
I think the r70x is the lost sister of the hd600 and hd650.

On a good system I bet the r70x can scale and the difference with the clear will be not so much (not 5 times the price). Anyway, listening to vocals for example, the Clear gives this "extra detail" that can be trilling for audiophiles.

Without the Clear I'll be 100% happy with hd600 or r70x.

Sounds like the r70x is the correct one for me then. I have found that if I drive and listen to my r70x at higher levels with a good headphone amp it becomes more alive. I like it with power powered supplies as well as higher.

 

[JdeFalconr]

Sounds like the r70x is the correct one for me then. I have found that if I drive and listen to my r70x at higher levels with a good headphone amp it becomes more alive. I like it with power powered supplies as well as higher.

I listen with an Asgaard3 amp and I've been quite pleased.

 

[Flognuts]

I'm convinced these sound better when you wear them as 'on ears' with the stock pads lol

 

[soundknight21]

I'm convinced these sound better when you wear them as 'on ears' with the stock pads lol

The stock pads breath more, allowing the bad to escape, the lamb leather pads increase the bass reflections so their is a lift in the decibel of the low end.

 

[Flognuts]

So what's everyone's experience of these after a year or two of ownership?
Probably the best $300au I spent on audio lol. They can be a tad flat and boring....but as a daily driver for everything they have exceeded my expectations.
Who would think audio-technica could make an open headphone with excellent bass.

 

[kRed]

So what's everyone's experience of these after a year or two of ownership?
Probably the best $300au I spent on audio lol. They can be a tad flat and boring....but as a daily driver for everything they have exceeded my expectations.
Who would think audio-technica could make an open headphone with excellent bass.

Sometime I feel like this headphone have two souls.

I don’t regret buying it and I found some use cases but… they are way, way behind the Sundara for everything except comfort (weight mainly) and fatigue.

I think, like football, some players have something magic, see something differently and can make plays normal player can’t even think about. The r70x is a pretty solid and functional player, but it will never make anything special or magic.

The best thing with headphones for me is when they are able to make you forget you are listening to a recording through an headphone; that moment when your brain hear the sounds as it is the real thing and not a mere reproduction. The r70x never did this for me. They are fine, they sound neutrally good and have a very pleasing tonality.

But their lack of spark in details, their lack of phisicality and their lack of stage depth/width will never take me to a different place.

 

[JdeFalconr]

So what's everyone's experience of these after a year or two of ownership?
Probably the best $300au I spent on audio lol. They can be a tad flat and boring....but as a daily driver for everything they have exceeded my expectations.
Who would think audio-technica could make an open headphone with excellent bass.

Very happy, especially for the price. I use mine primarily for gaming and they haven't disappointed. Positioning is excellent and I think detail is good. I've found the soundstage quite good, not quite as immense as my M1570 but still very good. Comfort, of course, is excellent given how amazingly light they are.

 

[soundknight21]

So what's everyone's experience of these after a year or two of ownership?
Probably the best $300au I spent on audio lol. They can be a tad flat and boring....but as a daily driver for everything they have exceeded my expectations.
Who would think audio-technica could make an open headphone with excellent bass.

I don't have a lot of experience with high end consumer audio equipment only with professional audio as a musician and recording artist. I have these headphones for about 3 or 4 years now I reckon we got them both from the same sale at $300 AUD. My experience with other headphones is primarily Koss Porta Pro and Audio Technica iem - Im01 and Im02. I have spent small amounts of time in shops with consumer headphones and have been fairly unimpressed by what they are offering for the price, I know these companies produced much better equipment but you won't see them on the shop floor at Harvey Norman or JB Hi-Fi. In fact I have been downright disappointed by the performance of consumer gear until I was in Japan and tried Audiotechnica's other offerings such as the AD SERIES of which I really liked the 900 and thought this would be fantastic for watching movies.

There's my background for you now what do I think of these headphones.... They hold a special place in my heart really, I love the sound of their chocolateyness, dark choc, mysteriousness... because they have 0 fatigue in both physical comfort and Sonic production I can listen to them all day even - badly produced YouTube MP3 from live cameras in windy locations. When I'm watching a movie I've often felt that I'm getting the fullest experience I need (I need), except maybe for an extension down to the lowest of the lows say 20 to 30 Hz. This leaves me a very happy chappy. My Sony phone can drive them fine and I don't need any external headphone amp and I enjoy watching videos on YouTube with these headphones on the weekends, all day.
Sometimes I listen to my Onkyo ha-300 and the Beautiful compression from the headphone amplifier Circuit to the natural chocolate sound of these headphones leaves me very pleased. I'm not a bass head, I'm actually a classical musician so I prefer clear treble sounds and nothing else to get in the way. The r70x has a very pleasing treble response that some might say is recessed, given that this is my preferred range of listening to my favourite baroque period music, the R70x have been very surprising as I never thought that a headphone like this would suit me so well. However, the treble isn't always clear in some of the media I watch (production quality issue) but the r70x has a sense of space and is never aggressive. Meanwhile the midrange has a warm and inviting compression that I just absolutely love and I think it works very well for small ensemble classical music.

The only curse of these headphones is the difficulty of finding a decent cable that's going to last. I have bought for cables from online boutique cable manufacturers and all have died between less than 1 year and less than 2 years. I don't abuse my equipment and I'm always careful when it's connected to objects. Subsequently I now have learnt how to wire and solder it myself.

So as someone who is not a pro consumer audio consumer and is rather a musician and listens to both YouTube and wave files constantly I have to say I can't imagine a better experience for me.

 

[soundknight21]

Sometime I feel like this headphone have two souls.

I don’t regret buying it and I found some use cases but… they are way, way behind the Sundara for everything except comfort (weight mainly) and fatigue.

I think, like football, some players have something magic, see something differently and can make plays normal player can’t even think about. The r70x is a pretty solid and functional player, but it will never make anything special or magic.

The best thing with headphones for me is when they are able to make you forget you are listening to a recording through an headphone; that moment when your brain hear the sounds as it is the real thing and not a mere reproduction. The r70x never did this for me. They are fine, they sound neutrally good and have a very pleasing tonality.

But their lack of spark in details, their lack of phisicality and their lack of stage depth/width will never take me to a different place.

I'm interested to hear what you would think has a similar chocolateyness (dark compressed) sound and would be an upgrade in the treble and weight of these cans sound? Thanks in advance.

 

[kRed]

I'm interested to hear what you would think has a similar chocolateyness (dark compressed) sound and would be an upgrade in the treble and weight of these cans sound? Thanks in advance.

I have a limited experience, so the only headphone that comes to mind is my ZMF Aeolus.

It has a different tuning in the mids, it can sound a bit weird in some recordings (like Opeth's Watershed, which I suspect has some weird peaks in the 3-6Khz area) but has a similar dark character and smooth sound.
What stands out is that the Aeolus can trick you into thinking you are hearing the real stuff; it can sometimes makes you feel that kind of bass weight and punch that just take you away from your room.
It has a good stage (which is one of the worst weakness of the r70x IMHO), the sounds don't get all crammed together and you will hear some space and a decent amount of isolation between them.

On clean recordings, like Steven Wilson's solo work or Jeff Buckley's Grace, they (the Aeolus) are just phenomenal.

The R70X are cool and I know I'll keep using them for gaming and when I need something light (like when I walk the dog) or just don't want to use the expensive stuff.

 

[kman1211]

So what's everyone's experience of these after a year or two of ownership?
Probably the best $300au I spent on audio lol. They can be a tad flat and boring....but as a daily driver for everything they have exceeded my expectations.
Who would think audio-technica could make an open headphone with excellent bass.

Have had these for well over a year now, they're one of my favorite headphones. They're a bit laid-back but I never found them boring like the HD 600/650 plus their imaging and bass is much better than those headphones. Some reason this headphone is very engaging to me. To me the R70x sounds like a better extending HD 600 with more delicate mids and treble with more air and some of the best imaging I've come across anywhere near this price. This headphone has honestly been my favorite headphone purchase at the $300-500 range. The R70x seems to be quite system picky though, never know what they will like.

 

[Mink]

I just ordered a pair. These will (probably) be the last pair of headphones I ever buy.
It was these R70Xs or a pair of HarmonicDyne Zeus's, Hifiman Sundara's or Meze Classics.
I think I made the right choice.