So I was asked to go try the new Audio Technica ATH-CM2000Ti a while ago and finally got around to go to the store and try it out for a few minutes.
Here are my thoughts on it.
For the fit, they were not that great. They were slightly bigger than the traditional buds, and kind of had that floating feeling in the ears. They were secure and didn't fall out, but they just didn't feel very secure or comfortable. It might be better with foams though, since the metal did feel quite cold and rigid as well.
The first thing that struck me when I put them on was that the soundstage was really deep. The music seemed to be coming from far away. I was expecting the mids to suffer a little because of this, but they came in crystal clear, and the highs were well extended and didn't sound sibilant or muted in any way. The bass didn't really have any impact though. The display version didn't have foams, so with foams it might be decent, but there was really almost no bass impact to speak of, and they didn't have any discerning "Wow!" factor at first, like I had with the Willsound MK2.
I started by listening to Blink-182's "All the small things" and was not really impressed by the rendition. I think that the bass and lower mids were not the best part, and my ears were still adjusting to the sound.
I moved on and listened to Panic at the Disco's "High Hopes" and enjoyed the trumpets, and started noticing just how clear the mids were even though they seemed so far away.
I noticed that the upper mids and treble was particularly nice, so I played a few songs by Adele, both studio and live, and really enjoyed the texture of her voice. The imaging and layering was very nice, and the live renditions sounded really realistic with the deep soundstage.
I wanted to see the width of the soundstage with "How Far I'll go" from Moana, and it was very detailed and satisfying, but the store was a little noisy to get just how good it was.
I decided to test the soundstage a little more by listening to Kanye West's "Black Skinhead", and can honestly say this was where I was completely blown away. The layering and imaging is stronger than most earbuds, and with that extremely deep and reasonably wide soundstage, it was possible to differentiate all the instruments and the layered screams in the song in a way that is very rare with other gear I have.
After that, I put them back, looked at the price again, and decided to try other earbuds they had on display. That is when I realized that the ATH-CM2000Tis are really good, because they made me instantly notice just how flawed some of them were. The cymbals felt muted as the highs were not fully extended, and the music overall just sounded too close. The imaging of the other earbuds was no where near as good, and they feel less realistic.
I really enjoyed them, but not enough to drop 500$ on. If they were 300$, I would definitely feel that they were worth it, and would be tempted to pick up a pair just for that super deep soundstage and those crystal clear mids and highs. I am usre they sound even better in a quiet environment!
Feel free to ask any questions and I will try to recall it. I will probably be looking at them for price drops in the future. Not perfect, but a very nice experience, especially for complex music with a lot of different sources. Maybe not for simple music or bass intensive music...
Here are my thoughts on it.
For the fit, they were not that great. They were slightly bigger than the traditional buds, and kind of had that floating feeling in the ears. They were secure and didn't fall out, but they just didn't feel very secure or comfortable. It might be better with foams though, since the metal did feel quite cold and rigid as well.
The first thing that struck me when I put them on was that the soundstage was really deep. The music seemed to be coming from far away. I was expecting the mids to suffer a little because of this, but they came in crystal clear, and the highs were well extended and didn't sound sibilant or muted in any way. The bass didn't really have any impact though. The display version didn't have foams, so with foams it might be decent, but there was really almost no bass impact to speak of, and they didn't have any discerning "Wow!" factor at first, like I had with the Willsound MK2.
I started by listening to Blink-182's "All the small things" and was not really impressed by the rendition. I think that the bass and lower mids were not the best part, and my ears were still adjusting to the sound.
I moved on and listened to Panic at the Disco's "High Hopes" and enjoyed the trumpets, and started noticing just how clear the mids were even though they seemed so far away.
I noticed that the upper mids and treble was particularly nice, so I played a few songs by Adele, both studio and live, and really enjoyed the texture of her voice. The imaging and layering was very nice, and the live renditions sounded really realistic with the deep soundstage.
I wanted to see the width of the soundstage with "How Far I'll go" from Moana, and it was very detailed and satisfying, but the store was a little noisy to get just how good it was.
I decided to test the soundstage a little more by listening to Kanye West's "Black Skinhead", and can honestly say this was where I was completely blown away. The layering and imaging is stronger than most earbuds, and with that extremely deep and reasonably wide soundstage, it was possible to differentiate all the instruments and the layered screams in the song in a way that is very rare with other gear I have.
After that, I put them back, looked at the price again, and decided to try other earbuds they had on display. That is when I realized that the ATH-CM2000Tis are really good, because they made me instantly notice just how flawed some of them were. The cymbals felt muted as the highs were not fully extended, and the music overall just sounded too close. The imaging of the other earbuds was no where near as good, and they feel less realistic.
I really enjoyed them, but not enough to drop 500$ on. If they were 300$, I would definitely feel that they were worth it, and would be tempted to pick up a pair just for that super deep soundstage and those crystal clear mids and highs. I am usre they sound even better in a quiet environment!
Feel free to ask any questions and I will try to recall it. I will probably be looking at them for price drops in the future. Not perfect, but a very nice experience, especially for complex music with a lot of different sources. Maybe not for simple music or bass intensive music...
How are you finding them??
