[K.I. Unlimited]

I recently bought one 2nd-hand. Interestingly enough I find the sound more 'natural' compared to my ESW9's. It also has better decay. The circumaural design is a plus too, I'm beginning to loathe supra-aural pressure on my pinna more and more now.
 
I also found these to be the first pair of cans for me that actually make the Contour on my Voyager's sound more awful. I never thought I'll find something that achieved that.
 
Any views from owners of the ART and AIR series of headphones?

 

[K.I. Unlimited]

Bump

 

[K.I. Unlimited]

Anybody owns these?

 

[darkswordsman17]

The A series was pretty popular several years ago. I think that the main two reasons they're not as much is that prices have gone up and there's a lot more competition now. Denon's, Ultrasone, and now the JVC HA-RX700/900 for instance. I directly compared the A900 and D2000, and while I still liked the A900 a lot, the D2000 did have a bit nicer bass and the earpads are much better. The JVC's have been compared to the A series, and well rated in general, and are only $30-70 so that's definitely had an impact. I got my first A900 for about $115 used, and the new one I got a couple of years back was only like $150. I think if the A700 was the same price as the AD700 it'd be a lot more popular. I think the M50 is sorta taking the place of the A series right now, which is why we haven't seen a real replacement for them.
 
There used to be a fair amount of A900 fanboys, which made the limited edition versions worthwhile for Audio-Technica to make. I was in this group (I started out as a Sennheiser fan, but loved the A900s when I tried them), and even bought the A900Ti brand new. I did like them, but they were fairly overpriced. Not long after that I nabbed a pair of W5000s and have been a fanboy of them since. I've actually only heard the A900s, but I should have a pair of A700s to listen to in a few days.
 
I have felt that the A series has been underappreciated though, and some of that might be that there's no high end modding like the Denon's have with Lawton and the DT770s have with Headphile. If I had the capability of making some nice cups, I probably would consider doing something similar for Audio-Technica headphones. Larry at Headphile actually did mod a pair of A900s, although I was surprised he replaced the whole cup/housing instead of just the end "cap", and I didn't find them especially aesthetically appealing because of it.

 

[K.I. Unlimited]

Are they that overpriced? I actually think my A700's sound better compared to my ESW9's.

 

[wind016]

I too thought the A700 sounded great. In some respects I thought the A700 sounded better than my ESW10JPN. The mids are a bit recessed compared to the ESW, but I thought the sound was more detailed and spacious. It was also more comfortable.
 
The W1000s I have are absolutely beautiful sounding headphones with a powerful tube amp. The vocals are the best I have ever heard.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Quote:

Are they that overpriced? I actually think my A700's sound better compared to my ESW9's.

Yes and no. There is that perception, and for people that were around when they were that cheap, then its difficult to not consider them that now. The D2000s have the same issue, they used to be able to be found for under $200 new. And having the JVC be that cheap also furthers that impression. Actually the AD700 too, as the MSRP is like $249 but you can find them new for $80 or so pretty easily.
 
But yeah, it boils down to your own personal opinion. I definitely like the A900s, but since I was used to them being quite a bit cheaper, I'd have a bit of a hangup paying $250 for them now.
 
I'm curious if Audio-Technica is going to update or replace the A series anytime. I'd like to see them at least put better earpads on them, as the stock ones aren't very good. A name change would probably help as well, and I like that they've reduced things to basically a single model in the US (they only list the A700 and AD700 on their website for the US market), as there was confusion about the differences between the 500/700/900.