[plainsong]

I grokked the a500, so I don't see it being an issue.

I had always ment to get the a900, but whenever I had the funds, I didn't have the niche for it in my headphone inventory. I guess technically I still don't, but I missed out on the a900ltd, and I didn't want to miss out on these. Somehow I think it's going to be the proline 650 and akg240s that will be finding new homes.

 

[slwiser]

If you ever get into tweaking the A950LTD think about the Fitz modification as implemented by SK138. I thought it made the A900LTD quite a bit more refined.

I only recommend this after burn-in and getting used to it. Also my experience with two A900LTDs was that between 75 and 100 hours the sound became worst than it had been and after about 150 hours the sound came back to what it was out of the box approximately.

Quote:

Originally Posted by plainsong /img/forum/go_quote.gif I grokked the a500, so I don't see it being an issue. I had always ment to get the a900, but whenever I had the funds, I didn't have the niche for it in my headphone inventory. I guess technically I still don't, but I missed out on the a900ltd, and I didn't want to miss out on these. Somehow I think it's going to be the proline 650 and akg240s that will be finding new homes.

 

[Elephas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tiramisu /img/forum/go_quote.gif I know that the portable ones like the ES7, SJ5 or even the Pro700 series studio monitors are perfect for directly connecting to your beloved MP3 player without the necessity of an amp but would the higher end models like the A900 series at 40ohms still be an excellent choice for portable players like some of the others concurred with the Senn HD595/555s at a greater resistance, 50ohms?

Yes, I think so.

The lower impedance of ATs often mean they can be driven by more humble amplification, but that doesn't mean they're impervious to amp changes. As you go up the AT lineup, I think they become more and more amp-dependent. The A700, for example, should be less sensitive than the A950LTD which is less sensitive than the W5000.

For use directly from a portable player, I would choose ATs or Grados such as the A950LTD, AD2000, MS2i or RS-1. The Senn HD595 also does OK. Despite their similar low impedance, I wouldn't use the W2002, W5000 or L3000 without an amp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by plainsong /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm curious about how source-friendly these are. Will the a950 scale up, or does it retain that characteristic from the a900 of sounding good from mostly anything?

I think the A950LTD sounds OK directly from an iPod. A bit dark and lacking in air. It's more similar to the AD2000 or RS-1 in this respect than the L3000, W2002 and W5000, which are more sensitive to amplification and source. Volume is very loud at about 80%, and I wouldn't listen above that.

I don't think the A950LTD scales as much as the W5000 or L3000; at least with my current gear. This can actually be good in some ways, because there's less need to be concerned about sources and amps where the price points hit diminishing returns hard. Of course, like other headphones it should keep improving as you go up in amp and source quality. Maybe a better source and balanced amp will make me prefer the A950LTD over the W5000+HA5000 combo.

The A950LTD doesn't sound very different driven by the Raptor or AT-HA5000, unlike the W5000. I would assume there are many amps at a lower price range that would serve the A950LTD admirably. At the audio shop, I also listened to a G&W AT-F100. It isn't very expensive, and did well driving the AD2000, A950LTD and A900LTD.

 

[plainsong]

Cool beans. It's often the way with headphones, there's a point where they often sound worse, then they settle down. I usually do interactive burn-in.

 

[d-cee]

shop@bluetin.com is the right way to contact em if the webpage is playing up (as you will see in this hilarious video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDQkFHEUeHY&eurl= ). I've caught minhwa replying at all strange hours of the night (as that's when i prefer to do my emailing) so he is quite the night owl

it is chinese new year tomorrw though (sunday 18th feb) so give him a couple of days too with regards that

 

[euclid]

has anyone heard if Price Japan will be getting stock? Bluetin prices are high for other Audio Technica, maybe the A950ltd are more expensive there too.

 

[user18]

Quote:

Originally Posted by euclid /img/forum/go_quote.gif has anyone heard if Price Japan will be getting stock? Bluetin prices are high for other Audio Technica, maybe the A950ltd are more expensive there too.

They are an authorized dealer, so their prices will be typically higher than pricejapan or audiocubes. As of now, Bluetin is the only place I see selling online. You may be able to get them at another shop in SG or HK. Right now, they don't seem to be released in Japan.

 

[d-cee]

IME bluetin is cheaper than audiocubes and marginally to a fair bit more expensive than pricejapan depending on the product, though this is an unfair comparison

 

[brn80]

Quote:

Originally Posted by euclid /img/forum/go_quote.gif has anyone heard if Price Japan will be getting stock? Bluetin prices are high for other Audio Technica, maybe the A950ltd are more expensive there too.

Price Japan does not stock anything, they're just an agent; so if you find the A950LTD on the search engines like kakaku or rakuten etc. they will be able to get them for you. That being said, I have not seen them on any of the Japan price searches, nor AT Japan. So it may be that they've initially been released in the SE asian market for now, with the other markets like Japan to follow later. Or maybe they've just been released in the SE asian market exclusively, which seems highly improbable and is just speculation on my part.

 

[evilking]

Well in the video (they look small for some reason) they said they're getting approx 80 in total so there's 1920 pairs of headphones being shipped somewhere else!

I ordered from Bluetin recently and all the extra charges really soured the "deal" I thought I was getting. They explain all of it on their website, which I read and calculated before purchase, but it's still crazy expensive by Paypal (I had some money already on there and I wasn't prepared to wait a week to transfer to my bank account + another 5 days to transfer to Moneybookers or whatever).

I just wish the whole ordering system was revamped so you didn't have to calculate delivery charges (how the hell am I supposed to know the exact shipping weight) AND the payment fees AND still have to email them with your order AND have to wait two days for a reply, which will probably have some pricing errors which will take another three emails to sort out.

No thanks.

EDIT: I'm so getting the A950LTD!!!

 

[plainsong]

The reason is, that the better e-commerce engine costs money. I don't know what the right choice is for Bluetin, I just know that if we didn't process stuff "by hand" we wouldn't be able to to afford to keep the shop open. The types of customers that fire off the snippy emails like your above post don't want to understand that.

It might be time for them to upgrade, it may not, I don't know, but I do know that it does cost...more than 6.4% that's for sure.

 

[Elephas]

I feel guilty I'm listening to the A950LTD while others are still waiting. Maybe I should stop posting about it for a while?

For those who're less familiar with AT headphones, here's a shot of the A950LTD and friends. It is up against very tough competition.

I hope this will make the wait go by faster?

 

[fureshi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elephas /img/forum/go_quote.gif I feel guilty I'm listening to the A950LTD while others are still waiting. Maybe I should stop posting about it for a while? For those who're less familiar with AT headphones, here's a shot of the A950LTD and friends. It is up against very tough competition. I hope this will make the wait go by faster?

oh, you are so evil elephas!!! and i have no business trip to japan planned anytime soon either. grrrr...

 

[slwiser]

Elephas

Nice set of cans.

What precentage of time is spent with each one for you listening.

What percentage just holding and tenderly caressing each one?

I guess you could multi-process, listen to one while caressing another. veryevil:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elephas /img/forum/go_quote.gif I feel guilty I'm listening to the A950LTD while others are still waiting. Maybe I should stop posting about it for a while? For those who're less familiar with AT headphones, here's a shot of the A950LTD and friends. It is up against very tough competition. I hope this will make the wait go by faster?

 

[animaal]

Is it just me, or do the W1000 look the best of the lot? That combination of metal and polished wood really twists my biscuit!