[Xymordos]

I'm quite disappointed that you've put the W5000s on the bottom of the list. The W series of ATH are designed to listen to Jpop, and generally doesn't sound any good outside of that. In fact the ones before W1kx and W3k were only used to listen to young female Jpop. 

 

[paradoxper]

I can't quite understand why you would be disappointed in his opinions.
 
If we were all fortunate enough to accumulate all the listed gear, we'd all be writing our own 
mini reviews. Again, they're his opinions so take it with salt. YMMV, of course.

 

[donunus]

If its designed for jpop only then its not a good headphone LOL. Good headphones should sound good with all music.

 

[acadplotting]

Best review here in head-fi!

 

[streetdragon]

Quote:

If its designed for jpop only then its not a good headphone LOL. Good headphones should sound good with all music.

agree for that, natural headphones will display music transparently without a sepia tone that only works for certain art/music works

 

[alota]

i´m thinking about this wonderful review...
obviously, if a i had some money i have the possibility to buy a lot of headphones, amplifiers, etc.etc.
but if i have not a lot of money, this review is a very good guide to buy one or two headphones, one amplifier and i have a very good result.
according to me, this is the great strengt and essence of this review

 

[rawrster]

David, with all those cans how do you get the chance to listen to them all? I have reduced my cans to 3 in the HD800, HE6 and AD2k and still have trouble listening to them all namely the AD2k which is a glorified home for dust when it is not on loan. I am curious about what your favorite headphone in your setup would be.

 

[streetdragon]

Quote:

This review and the whole thread makes me a sick... far of from professional. I died a little every time he used the word neutral on obvious treble heavy cans instead of colored...

maybe you're just sensitive to treble, its preference

 

[ericohgb]

I do have to congratulate David for the review.
But there's something I quite do not understand: he clearly said that would not recommend buying the He90, since there are a lot of options out there that can do a similar job costing a fraction of the He90, but says nothing about a 40k Dac... I believe that the Dac is incredible, but find difficult to recommend one paying that amount for a Dac. I'd prefer to pay 12k on the He90.
Nice review
Erico

 

[TMRaven]

If it's any consolation, he considered what he called a 'dark' headphone like the LCD2 rev1 to be perhaps more transparent than HE-6 and HD800-- contrary to popular opinion on head-fi and contrary to his description of the LCD2 being colored and the HE-6/HD800 being very neutral.
 
I got no issue with that statement (screw popular head-fi opinion), but perhaps it tells you what he thinks is most important for an actually realistic sounding headphone, and that perhaps his view on neutrality might be slightly off.  I know I certainly don't think HD800 is neutral.  It's not about being sensitive to treble or not, it definitely has a glare to its treble.  I guess you'd need a very cooperative and dark amp to take that edge off though, to make the HD800 more natural sounding.  

 

[mikek200]

Quote:

David, with all those cans how do you get the chance to listen to them all? I have reduced my cans to 3 in the HD800, HE6 and AD2k and still have trouble listening to them all namely the AD2k which is a glorified home for dust when it is not on loan. I am curious about what your favorite headphone in your setup would be.

Yes,& then ,comparing them with different amps..
Surprised it only took him 6 months.,would have taken most people 1 year,maybe longer.

 

[Quimi]

Congratulations on the review, David!
I have the HD650.
I had the HD800, but too bright for me.

 

[Xymordos]

Quote:

agree for that, natural headphones will display music transparently without a sepia tone that only works for certain art/music works

I understand it is his own preference. Unfortunately my preference is in headphones that excel in one area. Most people prefer balanced and flat cans, which I do like, since I have a UERM. However, extremities like ATH cans lets you enjoy music in a different way. If I don't listen to classical, flat cans won't sound very good. 
 
Also I disagree about what he thinks about amps and how they don't change the signature much. The HA5000 I heard completely changes the W5000 from cold to warm. Its bass increases significantly. This is why many reviews said that the HA5000 can only power W5000, since on any other headphone the sound signature will be completely altered beyond recognition.

 

[bizkid]

Quote:

I understand it is his own preference. Unfortunately my preference is in headphones that excel in one area. Most people prefer balanced and flat cans, which I do like, since I have a UERM. However, extremities like ATH cans lets you enjoy music in a different way. If I don't listen to classical, flat cans won't sound very good. 
 
Also I disagree about what he thinks about amps and how they don't change the signature much. The HA5000 I heard completely changes the W5000 from cold to warm. Its bass increases significantly. This is why many reviews said that the HA5000 can only power W5000, since on any other headphone the sound signature will be completely altered beyond recognition.

That's strange, i didnt hear any tonal change in the W5000 when powered by the HA5000. Especially nothing which comes close to "warm", it's a very transparent amp. Maybe your source?

 

[DavidMahler]

Quote:

I'm quite disappointed that you've put the W5000s on the bottom of the list. The W series of ATH are designed to listen to Jpop, and generally doesn't sound any good outside of that. In fact the ones before W1kx and W3k were only used to listen to young female Jpop. 

If the W5000 was marketed as a Jpop headphone, I was not aware of this.  I am curious, what specifically about the W5000 do you find specifically suited to JPop?   Of course, my assessments are based on my own ears and listening preferences.  If someone else finds the W5000 to offer a wonderful sound for their listening preferences, my opinion should not devalue their own first hand experience.
 
Quote:

David, with all those cans how do you get the chance to listen to them all? I have reduced my cans to 3 in the HD800, HE6 and AD2k and still have trouble listening to them all namely the AD2k which is a glorified home for dust when it is not on loan. I am curious about what your favorite headphone in your setup would be.

Obviously, apart from this review, not all headphones get equal headtime.  A lot of these headphones I bought with the intention of reviewing for this evaluation and then if I loved them, I'd keep them.  Obviously, I don't feel the same way about all of them, and as such I may be selling quite a few in the upcoming months.  I haven't yet decided.  If I update the review further, I may want to hang on to them all to give each a fair shake.
 
 
Quote:

I do have to congratulate David for the review.
But there's something I quite do not understand: he clearly said that would not recommend buying the He90, since there are a lot of options out there that can do a similar job costing a fraction of the He90, but says nothing about a 40k Dac... I believe that the Dac is incredible, but find difficult to recommend one paying that amount for a Dac. I'd prefer to pay 12k on the He90.
Nice review
Erico

This post is very observant.  I didn't discuss the value of the amps and DACs because I treated this as a headphone review and as such, I only sought to determine my opinion of the headphones' price-to performance.  I think its self evident that a 40k DAC is not a great value, by the standards of cost of living.  I should also mention that MSB sells 3 different levels of their DAC (at different pricepoints) and I am convinced that each one is sounds great.  I can say this without having heard them all because the other two models are quite similar to my own, and are all a design evolution of the Platinum DAC III which I did own.