jjcoolaus
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2012
- Posts
- 70
- Likes
- 13
Hi All,
I received my Audio Technica ATH-A500X in the post yesterday, and early impressions are good. I was consdering buying the ATH-A900X all along, but didn't really wanted to spend $280 on something I might hate, so I bought the A500X as a bit of a test.
Now, just to get this out of the way: I use these as portable headphones - in fact out and about is the only way I listen to headphones. However after years of trying "portable" headphones and getting a lot of pain on my earlobes from using them, I prefer big headphones - infact the bigger the better. I wear glasses as well so comfort is a tough thing for me to get right.
I was using the Beyerdynamic DT-770 Pro's for a long time, but came to dislike carrying around a headphone amp with me all the time. However, those are the most comfortable, best sounding headphones i've purchased in years. Shame they aren't easier to drive but almost everything made by beyerdynamic requires an amp.
Then I got the Shure SRH440. These sound terrific particularly with my EQ'd settings. They can be worn for a long time without too much discomfort but they are quite heavy on the head and the cable can get in the way when walking around. I might end up going back to these, particularly on the weekends where i need something that can take a bit of a beating and doesn't have to be handled with much TLC.
The only thing I don't like about them is the cable is difficult to plug in to my phone and stay there in it's case - it falls out alot.
I was thinking about upgrading to the SRH840, but a lot of people say they have a "darker" sound which to me suggests they lack the excellent treble in the 440s, so i'm not spending another $200 (the cost in Australia) to have what i perceive to be a lower quality sound. Maybe my perception is wrong, but I don't have anywhere close to me where i can test these, otherwise I would.
Then I purchased the PSB Speakers M4U 2. These are good but can be a little uncomfortable after an hour and some days they just don't want to sit right on my ears, last night on the way home i wriggled them around several times getting a better fit. However, I love the fact these have a built in headphone amp, and they sound terrific.
That leads me to the ATH-A500. These are very comfortable, but the earcups have less room inside than the other two so they feel more like on-ear headphones than around the ear ones. The bass response is good, but I wouldn't want it any leaner than that as I already heavily EQ'd it for some extra bass and now it's quite good but if i drive them a bit louder it distorts badly (which i expect).
So overall the ATH-A500X sound really good. This morning after an early morning walk where i was listening to hardstyle on my ATH-TAD500 (i use open headphones when walking distance for excercise so i can still hear traffic etc) I put the A500X on the same track and difference in bass was definitely noticeable (A500X went deeper).
I did find this morning though that voices sound very different on these, i'm not sure if it's a lack of treble detail in the A500X or if this is the way they were supposed to sound all along
but on the weekend i might test some female voices talking with the A500X and the SRH-440 to get an idea if this is just my imagination.
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S3 to drive them, would prefer low impendence so i don't need an amp, and prefer a evenly balanced headphone that will respond with nice heavy bass if I EQ that way. I'm using DSPManager in a custom ROM for EQ. I listen to a lot of talk radio, drum and bass, hardcore/hardstyle, some hipho, some rock/alternative with all sorts of other genres, even jazz, on the side from time to time as well depending on my mood, but talk (both radio & tv shows) and dance (specifically D&B and hardcore) are what my headphones get the most.
So I have 2 questions for anyone who has onwed both the A500X and A900X:
1) Are the earcups any larger inside? I just measured the A500X inside diameter at 6cm (ie the length not including padding)
2) Is the bass response leaner on the A900X? I gather it is more detailed, but is it more forward at all. or just the same as the A500X?
Also if anyone has any other headphone reccomendations for my situation please let me know.
Maybe I should just fly to Perth or Melbourne and go into a professional headphone store and spend $600+ on something that is perfect for me - everything i've bought so far has been "sight unseen" off the internet.
Thanks for your time everyone,
Jason
I received my Audio Technica ATH-A500X in the post yesterday, and early impressions are good. I was consdering buying the ATH-A900X all along, but didn't really wanted to spend $280 on something I might hate, so I bought the A500X as a bit of a test.
Now, just to get this out of the way: I use these as portable headphones - in fact out and about is the only way I listen to headphones. However after years of trying "portable" headphones and getting a lot of pain on my earlobes from using them, I prefer big headphones - infact the bigger the better. I wear glasses as well so comfort is a tough thing for me to get right.
I was using the Beyerdynamic DT-770 Pro's for a long time, but came to dislike carrying around a headphone amp with me all the time. However, those are the most comfortable, best sounding headphones i've purchased in years. Shame they aren't easier to drive but almost everything made by beyerdynamic requires an amp.
Then I got the Shure SRH440. These sound terrific particularly with my EQ'd settings. They can be worn for a long time without too much discomfort but they are quite heavy on the head and the cable can get in the way when walking around. I might end up going back to these, particularly on the weekends where i need something that can take a bit of a beating and doesn't have to be handled with much TLC.
The only thing I don't like about them is the cable is difficult to plug in to my phone and stay there in it's case - it falls out alot.
I was thinking about upgrading to the SRH840, but a lot of people say they have a "darker" sound which to me suggests they lack the excellent treble in the 440s, so i'm not spending another $200 (the cost in Australia) to have what i perceive to be a lower quality sound. Maybe my perception is wrong, but I don't have anywhere close to me where i can test these, otherwise I would.
Then I purchased the PSB Speakers M4U 2. These are good but can be a little uncomfortable after an hour and some days they just don't want to sit right on my ears, last night on the way home i wriggled them around several times getting a better fit. However, I love the fact these have a built in headphone amp, and they sound terrific.
That leads me to the ATH-A500. These are very comfortable, but the earcups have less room inside than the other two so they feel more like on-ear headphones than around the ear ones. The bass response is good, but I wouldn't want it any leaner than that as I already heavily EQ'd it for some extra bass and now it's quite good but if i drive them a bit louder it distorts badly (which i expect).
So overall the ATH-A500X sound really good. This morning after an early morning walk where i was listening to hardstyle on my ATH-TAD500 (i use open headphones when walking distance for excercise so i can still hear traffic etc) I put the A500X on the same track and difference in bass was definitely noticeable (A500X went deeper).
I did find this morning though that voices sound very different on these, i'm not sure if it's a lack of treble detail in the A500X or if this is the way they were supposed to sound all along
but on the weekend i might test some female voices talking with the A500X and the SRH-440 to get an idea if this is just my imagination.I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S3 to drive them, would prefer low impendence so i don't need an amp, and prefer a evenly balanced headphone that will respond with nice heavy bass if I EQ that way. I'm using DSPManager in a custom ROM for EQ. I listen to a lot of talk radio, drum and bass, hardcore/hardstyle, some hipho, some rock/alternative with all sorts of other genres, even jazz, on the side from time to time as well depending on my mood, but talk (both radio & tv shows) and dance (specifically D&B and hardcore) are what my headphones get the most.
So I have 2 questions for anyone who has onwed both the A500X and A900X:
1) Are the earcups any larger inside? I just measured the A500X inside diameter at 6cm (ie the length not including padding)
2) Is the bass response leaner on the A900X? I gather it is more detailed, but is it more forward at all. or just the same as the A500X?
Also if anyone has any other headphone reccomendations for my situation please let me know.
Maybe I should just fly to Perth or Melbourne and go into a professional headphone store and spend $600+ on something that is perfect for me - everything i've bought so far has been "sight unseen" off the internet.
Thanks for your time everyone,
Jason
