SilverEars
Headphoneus Supremus
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Perhaps lack of demand for the effort put into them. I think these large companies prefer efficient manufacturing to sell high volume of units.
Audio Technica the master of WOOD
- Thread starter protoss
- Start date
TheMiddleSky
Headphoneus Supremus
The IEM market is going too strong nowadays for portable use. I still hope they produce ESW12 though!
AT only make and sell Limited editions of a product that's selling very well, M50x(s) and MSR7s are the one enjoying the abundance of variations for a good long while now.
on ES model tho, aint WP900 pretty good successor to them?
Piotr Michalak
500+ Head-Fier
A few photos for my favorite thread - dedicated to Protoss
Awesome thread! I wonder why nobody created one sooner. 
A-T woodies deserve way more recognition.
On a different note, I think it's kind of a shame they stopped using fabric-covered cables... but maybe that's just me.
A-T woodies deserve way more recognition.On a different note, I think it's kind of a shame they stopped using fabric-covered cables... but maybe that's just me.
protoss
Headphoneus Supremus
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PART 9
3 vs. 3 vs. 3 battle
W10VTG, W100 and W1000 (non-limited)
Vs
W10LTD, W11JPN, and W11R (limited)
Vs
Red vs. Orange
The non-limited version was a mass-produced edition of roughly 3000 units each. It consisted of the original Woodie (W10VTG), the refine fixed up version (W100), and again another improve edition ushering in the 2000 models (W1000). Even thou these were the mass-produced commercial version; they were superior in many ways. The sound is subjected and opinionated, but the quality that they had was always another step up.
The Limited versions were limited of 2000 thousand units for the W10LTD and W11JPN, they were special than the non-limited in many ways. From the constructions to sound but one unit was more elusive and more demanding and unique of a limited than all limited Woodie models combine, and that was the W11R. It had an 800-unit batch number. One of the lowest headphone batch counts in audiophile history at its time and the lowest woodie count in its natural form.
These 6 models combine had 2 recognizable colours. 3 of them were neon red to burgundy red to gloss red and the other 3 models were tangerine orange to marigold orange/yellow to honey orange. If this was Red vs Orange. It would be an extremely interesting match. And I will commence it now.
Red, W10VTG, W11JPN and W1000
Vs
Orange W10LTD, W11R and W100
If there was a competition, the match would of went like this;
Round 1:
Red - W10VTG, W11JPN
Orange - W10LTD, W11R
Round 2:
Red – W10VTG
Orange – W11R
3rd place
W11JPN winner
2nd place
W11R winner
1st
W10VTG winner
The winner to the color match is the W10VTG. This was an interesting match and an extremely hard pick to make. But my ears made the choice.
Out of the limited models, I have to pick the W11JPN edging out the W11R slightly. This was such a hard decision also.
Out of the non-limited the W10VTG wins.
If I total everything. It seems like I consider the W10VTG my favorite Woodie of all time. 2nd place I will place in a toss up to the W11JPN and W11R. After that it will be a based on my mood and feeling and I think I will always be reaching for the W100 out of them all.
My official Ranking:
1st – W10VTG
2nd – W11JPN
3rd – W11R
4th – W100
5th – W10LTD
6th – W1000
3 vs. 3 vs. 3 battle
W10VTG, W100 and W1000 (non-limited)
Vs
W10LTD, W11JPN, and W11R (limited)
Vs
Red vs. Orange
The non-limited version was a mass-produced edition of roughly 3000 units each. It consisted of the original Woodie (W10VTG), the refine fixed up version (W100), and again another improve edition ushering in the 2000 models (W1000). Even thou these were the mass-produced commercial version; they were superior in many ways. The sound is subjected and opinionated, but the quality that they had was always another step up.
The Limited versions were limited of 2000 thousand units for the W10LTD and W11JPN, they were special than the non-limited in many ways. From the constructions to sound but one unit was more elusive and more demanding and unique of a limited than all limited Woodie models combine, and that was the W11R. It had an 800-unit batch number. One of the lowest headphone batch counts in audiophile history at its time and the lowest woodie count in its natural form.
These 6 models combine had 2 recognizable colours. 3 of them were neon red to burgundy red to gloss red and the other 3 models were tangerine orange to marigold orange/yellow to honey orange. If this was Red vs Orange. It would be an extremely interesting match. And I will commence it now.
Red, W10VTG, W11JPN and W1000
Vs
Orange W10LTD, W11R and W100
If there was a competition, the match would of went like this;
Round 1:
Red - W10VTG, W11JPN
Orange - W10LTD, W11R
Round 2:
Red – W10VTG
Orange – W11R
3rd place
W11JPN winner
2nd place
W11R winner
1st
W10VTG winner
The winner to the color match is the W10VTG. This was an interesting match and an extremely hard pick to make. But my ears made the choice.
Out of the limited models, I have to pick the W11JPN edging out the W11R slightly. This was such a hard decision also.
Out of the non-limited the W10VTG wins.
If I total everything. It seems like I consider the W10VTG my favorite Woodie of all time. 2nd place I will place in a toss up to the W11JPN and W11R. After that it will be a based on my mood and feeling and I think I will always be reaching for the W100 out of them all.
My official Ranking:
1st – W10VTG
2nd – W11JPN
3rd – W11R
4th – W100
5th – W10LTD
6th – W1000
Last edited:
Piotr Michalak
500+ Head-Fier
It should be said that one of the most rare headphones are actually Final Lab II - a piece of titanium art limited 200 units, and then Final Sonorous X, not limited but only roughly 200-300 ever made. Both have beautiful mids, and I call Lab II “baby Sony R10“, also having the more neutral bass light version - so I know what I’m talking about
And L5000 is only 500 units, still much more than the above.
And L5000 is only 500 units, still much more than the above. 
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protoss
Headphoneus Supremus
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PART 10
...the finale
I will conclude with this and answer some questions along the way. With this being my last part, I do not see any interest in me going forward with the other woodies, but might sprinkle on "bonus specials post" as you see with Bonus 1 and 2 so far The most important of all woodies are actually the first 7.
Before the woodies, Audio-Technica had hundreds of headphones before it, but nothing like the first woodie. Audio Technica 1996 W10VTG was "AT" first try at a wooden headphone. And it was an interesting take and memorable one that took the company in a new direction. It was a successful one, to say the least. The "W series" has been in business for a good 25 + years as I write this post. Year after year, these wooden marvels have stunned many people, especially the Asian market, where it was only marketed towards.
The woodies were so unique that out of 26 Audio-Technica series, the W series and a few others had survived to continue making new editions to the line-up. With this, the "W series alone" had the most limited edition models out of all the other series. They were also the most expensive and extremely limited in amount to obtain. The limited amount of units made it extremely interesting to me and valuable to others.
The early 90s were full of top tier headphones and a limited amount of units for each model. We had the likes of R10 of 1300 units to, HP1000 of 1000 units to Omega of 600 units to HE90 of 300 + 25 units in total. The woodies started with 3000 units and dropped to 2000 to 800 to 500 and all the way to 50 units for the extremely rare woodie (L3000G). But of course, this isn't the lowest headphone to date. My Hifiman He Audio Jade has less than 12 units, and I own 2! Good luck in finding the JADE
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/he-...y-pre-hifiman-electrostatic-headphone.844733/
It just shows that limited models usually classified as a unique headphone in general. It can be good or bad. But non the less very unique.
The woodies themselves were not revolutionary by any degree or technically superior headphones. It seemed like they were never intended to be so. They were supposed to be the rival to the wooden R10, but I can not see it like this anymore. The woodies are more enjoyable and relaxing than the R10. The R10 is just an excellent natural reference headphone. There is nothing reference sounding to the woodies. This is not a hit or a smear against them. They should be praised for what they were trying to do than not try to be. Every headphone tried to be a reference pair—especially the early 90s headphones. But the euphoric nature of almost all the woodies made them extremely desirable for me to obtain and try out because of its non-reference signature. Even the W11R model, which the "R" stand for reference, was in no way reference at all lol. But if I think the opposite, I do consider it as a reference in a warm signature. Maybe this is philosophical? But can a warm dark headphone itself be a reference?
Can a dark warm headphone be an excellent reference headphone? Can it be an accurate reproduction of a warm euphoric non-bright sound? If the answer is yes? Than the W11R is a perfect reference for that
The wooden construction was one of the best I have seen around, with many forms of experimentation along with its way—the beautiful Japanese cherry wood to the strip ebony wood to American tree wood. The difference between the colors of the wood and the usage of the old Japanese Echizen Lacquered are some of my favorite things about the woodies. But the thing I liked the most was the ink paint job and the stylistically written words on the wooden cups. No other headphones did this and did it right like Audio Technica in the lettering department Continuing their experiments; they later strap expensive leather over the wooden cups to make it even more unique than all audiophile headphones combine. Suppose there was an award to attention to detail. The woodie series definitely will win.
Back to the sound department, we have some ideas about why people have problems with woodies. Its because they are not referenced quality headphones. Its the old age question of what's better, bright vs. dark. "What's better?" I notice people have problems with it because almost all of them were just warm and dark and midrange focus. It seems like the sound engineer was obsessed with female vocals lol. Even today, they are still pushing the female vocal approach? Has Audio-Technica figured something out? Is having an excellent female vocal reference the hidden Holy Gail for the ultimate sound signature? Cough it called the HE90...
The woodies got one thing I love about it, and that was having an excellent romantic specialist headphone for me to enjoy to horrible recordings these headphones are fabulous for lousy recording music A+ on this and of course it excels in an excellent record also.
Now, are these the best closed-back headphones to get? I will say it's some of the best-closed backs to ever get, especially in the warm signature section. Sadly, in my opinion, I will not just buy these for the sound. I will purchase these headphones as an ornament. Yes, you heard me I will buy these as a piece of furniture decorated item than a headphone for use.
If you are looking for reference-quality sound, all studio monitors are closed backs, and you will not go wrong with simple, cheap legendary headphones like the Sony V6/V7 etch headphones. To me, the woodies can easily be end game close backs for sure. There are other excellent additions like the discontinue wooden Denon D7000 or the discontinue wooden JVC DX1000, but the woodies definitely hold their own no doubt. The Ether, Z1R, and HD820 have no place in this conversation because they are not wood, and if you argue yes they do, you missed the whole point of the attention to detail aspect of the conversation.
Now the ultimate question.
R10 vs. all the woodies.
I am one of the biggest fans of the mighty R10, but I will not let bias override it. The woodies can easily handle themselves here, no doubt. Right away, I will inform you that the W11JPN, W11R, and even the original woodies can compete with the R10.
The real competition is the W10LTd, W100, W11R, and W1000 towards the R10 because they have somewhat a similar sound signature. But the Woodies has too much coloration in them to be precisely the same. And because of that, I will compare the W11JPN and W11R towards the R10 only.
What the R10 excels at is its natural reference quality, huge soundstage, and natural, real-life sound signature. Some pairs are trebly, and others are smooth and natural, similar to the W11R. The W11R can easily be Audio Technica's answer to the R10.
If I compare the W11JPN to the R10, I can tell that, on-off days I will prefer one over the other. For that to be the case, the W11JPN is a top-tier headphone.
The rest of the woodies falls short or have a few slight advantages over the R10, and that is mostly due to its color nature.
If the R10 was a Woodie, and I have to rank it with the woodies?
R10 to W11R to W11JPN to W10VTG to W10LTD etch…
I could comfortably live without the R10, now knowing the quality of the woodies. This comparison gave me a higher understanding of the sound signature.
Overall, its all about the wood! What if we have everything in wood? A wooden HD800? A Wooden Stax 009? A Wooden LCD4Z (the grill is wood, and the cups are wood? I understand why ZMF is so successful.
Now to the AWAS and AWAK. I actually have problems with these. I changed my opinion on these for a while now and did not like anything about them. I actually hate everything they did to these pairs. The headband I do not like at all. I was not too fond of the sound now. And I am not a fan of the whole experience of the attention to detail about these headphones. If you follow from Part 1 to 9, you will notice that these headphones lose all the magic of the past! And that is just wrong, in my opinion. Suppose I rank these to the original woodies. These will come close to dead last, and that is a darn shame. The L5000 seemed like it got it right with the constructions, but sadly, it deviated from the sound of the l3000.
Finally, I hope they did not eliminate the W series and replaced it with the weak AW series. I hope the AW is just another series, and later, we see another W series. Maybe W7000? With stylistic lettering and back to the 3D wing and attached cables with a wooden match coating plug at the end.
In conclusion, the woodies are a romantic specialist headphone. Euphoric non-bright headphones that sound great for people to relax and continue with their day. With beautiful cups and letters and drivers that are strong like an ox!
"May the woodies be with you."
...the finale
I will conclude with this and answer some questions along the way. With this being my last part, I do not see any interest in me going forward with the other woodies, but might sprinkle on "bonus specials post" as you see with Bonus 1 and 2 so far
The most important of all woodies are actually the first 7.
Before the woodies, Audio-Technica had hundreds of headphones before it, but nothing like the first woodie. Audio Technica 1996 W10VTG was "AT" first try at a wooden headphone. And it was an interesting take and memorable one that took the company in a new direction. It was a successful one, to say the least. The "W series" has been in business for a good 25 + years as I write this post. Year after year, these wooden marvels have stunned many people, especially the Asian market, where it was only marketed towards.
The woodies were so unique that out of 26 Audio-Technica series, the W series and a few others had survived to continue making new editions to the line-up. With this, the "W series alone" had the most limited edition models out of all the other series. They were also the most expensive and extremely limited in amount to obtain. The limited amount of units made it extremely interesting to me and valuable to others.
The early 90s were full of top tier headphones and a limited amount of units for each model. We had the likes of R10 of 1300 units to, HP1000 of 1000 units to Omega of 600 units to HE90 of 300 + 25 units in total. The woodies started with 3000 units and dropped to 2000 to 800 to 500 and all the way to 50 units for the extremely rare woodie (L3000G). But of course, this isn't the lowest headphone to date. My Hifiman He Audio Jade has less than 12 units, and I own 2! Good luck in finding the JADE
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/he-...y-pre-hifiman-electrostatic-headphone.844733/
It just shows that limited models usually classified as a unique headphone in general. It can be good or bad. But non the less very unique.
The woodies themselves were not revolutionary by any degree or technically superior headphones. It seemed like they were never intended to be so. They were supposed to be the rival to the wooden R10, but I can not see it like this anymore. The woodies are more enjoyable and relaxing than the R10. The R10 is just an excellent natural reference headphone. There is nothing reference sounding to the woodies. This is not a hit or a smear against them. They should be praised for what they were trying to do than not try to be. Every headphone tried to be a reference pair—especially the early 90s headphones. But the euphoric nature of almost all the woodies made them extremely desirable for me to obtain and try out because of its non-reference signature. Even the W11R model, which the "R" stand for reference, was in no way reference at all lol. But if I think the opposite, I do consider it as a reference in a warm signature. Maybe this is philosophical? But can a warm dark headphone itself be a reference?
Can a dark warm headphone be an excellent reference headphone? Can it be an accurate reproduction of a warm euphoric non-bright sound? If the answer is yes? Than the W11R is a perfect reference for that
The wooden construction was one of the best I have seen around, with many forms of experimentation along with its way—the beautiful Japanese cherry wood to the strip ebony wood to American tree wood. The difference between the colors of the wood and the usage of the old Japanese Echizen Lacquered are some of my favorite things about the woodies. But the thing I liked the most was the ink paint job and the stylistically written words on the wooden cups. No other headphones did this and did it right like Audio Technica in the lettering department
Continuing their experiments; they later strap expensive leather over the wooden cups to make it even more unique than all audiophile headphones combine. Suppose there was an award to attention to detail. The woodie series definitely will win.Back to the sound department, we have some ideas about why people have problems with woodies. Its because they are not referenced quality headphones. Its the old age question of what's better, bright vs. dark. "What's better?" I notice people have problems with it because almost all of them were just warm and dark and midrange focus. It seems like the sound engineer was obsessed with female vocals lol. Even today, they are still pushing the female vocal approach? Has Audio-Technica figured something out? Is having an excellent female vocal reference the hidden Holy Gail for the ultimate sound signature? Cough it called the HE90...
The woodies got one thing I love about it, and that was having an excellent romantic specialist headphone for me to enjoy to horrible recordings
these headphones are fabulous for lousy recording music A+ on this and of course it excels in an excellent record also.Now, are these the best closed-back headphones to get? I will say it's some of the best-closed backs to ever get, especially in the warm signature section. Sadly, in my opinion, I will not just buy these for the sound. I will purchase these headphones as an ornament. Yes, you heard me
I will buy these as a piece of furniture decorated item than a headphone for use.If you are looking for reference-quality sound, all studio monitors are closed backs, and you will not go wrong with simple, cheap legendary headphones like the Sony V6/V7 etch headphones. To me, the woodies can easily be end game close backs for sure. There are other excellent additions like the discontinue wooden Denon D7000 or the discontinue wooden JVC DX1000, but the woodies definitely hold their own no doubt. The Ether, Z1R, and HD820 have no place in this conversation because they are not wood, and if you argue yes they do, you missed the whole point of the attention to detail aspect of the conversation.
Now the ultimate question.
R10 vs. all the woodies.
I am one of the biggest fans of the mighty R10, but I will not let bias override it. The woodies can easily handle themselves here, no doubt. Right away, I will inform you that the W11JPN, W11R, and even the original woodies can compete with the R10.
The real competition is the W10LTd, W100, W11R, and W1000 towards the R10 because they have somewhat a similar sound signature. But the Woodies has too much coloration in them to be precisely the same. And because of that, I will compare the W11JPN and W11R towards the R10 only.
What the R10 excels at is its natural reference quality, huge soundstage, and natural, real-life sound signature. Some pairs are trebly, and others are smooth and natural, similar to the W11R. The W11R can easily be Audio Technica's answer to the R10.
If I compare the W11JPN to the R10, I can tell that, on-off days I will prefer one over the other. For that to be the case, the W11JPN is a top-tier headphone.
The rest of the woodies falls short or have a few slight advantages over the R10, and that is mostly due to its color nature.
If the R10 was a Woodie, and I have to rank it with the woodies?
R10 to W11R to W11JPN to W10VTG to W10LTD etch…
I could comfortably live without the R10, now knowing the quality of the woodies. This comparison gave me a higher understanding of the sound signature.
Overall, its all about the wood! What if we have everything in wood? A wooden HD800? A Wooden Stax 009? A Wooden LCD4Z (the grill is wood, and the cups are wood? I understand why ZMF is so successful.
Now to the AWAS and AWAK. I actually have problems with these. I changed my opinion on these for a while now and did not like anything about them. I actually hate everything they did to these pairs. The headband I do not like at all. I was not too fond of the sound now. And I am not a fan of the whole experience of the attention to detail about these headphones. If you follow from Part 1 to 9, you will notice that these headphones lose all the magic of the past! And that is just wrong, in my opinion. Suppose I rank these to the original woodies. These will come close to dead last, and that is a darn shame. The L5000 seemed like it got it right with the constructions, but sadly, it deviated from the sound of the l3000.
Finally, I hope they did not eliminate the W series and replaced it with the weak AW series. I hope the AW is just another series, and later, we see another W series. Maybe W7000? With stylistic lettering and back to the 3D wing and attached cables with a wooden match coating plug at the end.
In conclusion, the woodies are a romantic specialist headphone. Euphoric non-bright headphones that sound great for people to relax and continue with their day. With beautiful cups and letters and drivers that are strong like an ox!
"May the woodies be with you."
Last edited:
Didn’t expect the AWAS and AWAK took a turn for the worse.
I wouldn't say worse but different. I may be puting words in his mouth but based off what i understand protoss wants something like a a990z with smoothed out and rolling textures. Something I personally would absolutely hate.
A good compromise would be the earsuit esw9ltd I think with its heavy impactful bass and slow melodic vocals and natural treble extention. True it suffers when trying to play high bpm due to its relatively "slow" drivers but with genres like folk with impactful melodies is where it truely shine.
A good compromise would be the earsuit esw9ltd I think with its heavy impactful bass and slow melodic vocals and natural treble extention. True it suffers when trying to play high bpm due to its relatively "slow" drivers but with genres like folk with impactful melodies is where it truely shine.
Piotr Michalak
500+ Head-Fier
Actually they are great headphones, with AWAS being the more euphonic one (but has no bass extension and is slower), and AWKT a reference one, a great flagship.
6kHz spike is the coupler pinna spike, it's not as bad as it looks, every one of us has this but on a different, individual frequency. Also lacking 4kHz is the effect of EARS silicone ear on my IEC711 coupler, so again take that into account.
AWKT even measures quite similar to Sony R10 bass light, but has more bass extension:
One more thing, most of these woodies we talk about are not so "non-reference" and colored as Protoss says. They usually have quite neutral mids. Much more neutral than many headphones out there.
W10VTG has too much bass, for sure, W100 has too little and is bright, but they are some variations around neutrality. No v-shapes, etc. here.
W3000anv is the least neutral, most coloured one, with many spikes in the upper mids. Sub bass rolloff.
L5000 too, coloured upper mids, and superb extension on both ways.
W5000 is suprisingly neutral, you would be amazed reading all these reviews and then looking at the measurement.
Keep in mind that no headphone is completely flat in the upper registers, this wobbling is totally normal and SR-009 and other neutral references also have this. Just see Utopia and SR-009 here:
AWKT is probably the safest ATH out there right now. More neutral and less colored than L5000 in the upper mids, with good bass extension, great technicalities, huge soundstage.
L5000 still has superb technicalities and kills even Utopias. But they are tad bright.
I agree that the headband and earcups are not so nice as in the older ATHs. AWAS and AWKT have lost that magic touch, but they sound great.
Surgut2006
Head-Fier
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Except for the ATH-W series. There is also ATH-ESW and ATH-EW
And about the fact that there are 2 modifications of the ATH-W10VTG, it seems to me that this is unreliable information. Since there is no confirmation of this theory. I currently have 3 pairs of ATH-W10VTG headphones.
Well, in my opinion from the ATH-W series, the most interesting are 2002.
And about the fact that there are 2 modifications of the ATH-W10VTG, it seems to me that this is unreliable information. Since there is no confirmation of this theory. I currently have 3 pairs of ATH-W10VTG headphones.
Well, in my opinion from the ATH-W series, the most interesting are 2002.
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I joined to the wood gang, W1000Z was delivered to me two days ago... I've loved them so far. They look so pretty that I don't almost care how they sound, lol. Wood is good!
gto88
Headphoneus Supremus
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yeah, that is understandable.
But, is it a scratch in the up picture?
But, is it a scratch in the up picture?
Unfortunately it is... I bought a demo pair from local audio store so it's not totally mint pair. But "that's how the cookie crumbles". Fortunately it's visible only in proper lighting so it basically doesn't matter, I didn't spot that till I took the pic.
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