[hentai]

I feel its overrated. I went to a local store that has a variety of headphones and a marantz cd5001 and higher fidelity amp ( can't remember the model no.)
I think you may start to think of reasons such as the cheap source or ' unburned' to explain why it didn'tmovedme but i won't buy based on what i hear in the shop unless i can bring it home and listen it on my rig and be able to return the phone. I really want to add this to my collection but nope i see no point.

Comfort

When i put on the ad2000 , i felt it was comfortable but not for long. After 20 minutes later , it got even more uncomfortable than my akg k701 and rs1. What i couldn't enjoy it. I couldn't specifically describe why it was uncomfortable but i could only pin point on the design of the cushion.

Sound
I can only describe it as a more alive hd650 , not as dark. The bass is abit overly done, The vocal is abit dull and lack clarity compared to the akg 701. Its dynamic and smooth but not analytical. Who says Jpop sounds good with ad2000? I was pretty disappointed when i listened to Globe's departure with ad2000. The vocal lacks the emotion , the energy that keiko is capable of. It is smooth no doubt but i won't be satisfied in the long run. Probably you think that burning in will improve the highs but i am skeptical with burning in theory.

In short i prefer akg 701 and rs-1 to it based on what i listen. It may be better than hd650 but i think adding a bright sounding cable to hd650 will be a challenge to ad2000. I won't say its a bad headphone , neither i will trash it like a dirt unlike some folks who hate akg 701 but its not as terrific as i thought. So what if i can listen to Ad2000 for longer period of time than rs1, i will not be happy. i rather use the money to get me a good portable rig like ety4s with a portable amp or improve on the already quite good system i have than buying ad2000.

A good headphone but it doesn't impress me anyway. Maybe i will try ' burned in ' ad2000 on my system one day but i am not optimistic on this.

The purpose of this thread is not to invite flames from ad2000 lovers , just treat it as another perpective or view on this highly regarded headphone.

 

[rb67]

Very interesting post indeed. It's nice to see a post like this as headphones as highly regarded as those tend to never receive bad reviews.

 

[newguru]

Very interesting post there! I was actually considering selling my K701s for this headset. I think I'm going to wait until after the next Dallas meet now and hope someone has a pair I can listen to myself.

I was looking at these and the new Denon headphones skylab bought.

 

[hentai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by newguru /img/forum/go_quote.gif Very interesting post there! I was actually considering selling my K701s for this headset. I think I'm going to wait until after the next Dallas meet now and hope someone has a pair I can listen to myself. I was looking at these and the new Denon headphones skylab bought.

Maybe the gs1 matches my k701 or my ear is more suited to airy , analytical, brighter sound. K701 has its flaws ( which headphone doesn't) but i will not sell them.

 

[Asr]

I don't have any experience with burn-in for the AD2000 but that probably doesn't matter much - I guess you win some, you lose some.

I like the K701 too, it has a lot of virtues on its own, but I'm confused by the "The vocal lacks the emotion , the energy that keiko is capable of" - are you implying there that the K701 doesn't lack emotion & energy? Because I think a lot of people here would dissent with that, including me.

 

[tuatara]

My experience is totally the opposite, I find the 701s pretty uninvolving which is why I'm getting rid of them for a pair of AD2000s. Maybe I'm just an AT fanboy.

 

[Veniogenesis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asr /img/forum/go_quote.gif I like the K701 too, it has a lot of virtues on its own, but I'm confused by the "The vocal lacks the emotion , the energy that keiko is capable of" - are you implying there that the K701 doesn't lack emotion & energy? Because I think a lot of people here would dissent with that, including me.

He is saying the AD2000 is the one that lacks emotion & energy.

It's may perhaps be true; the AD2000 is too airy to be intimate perhaps? I'm going to have to pay more attention to that the next time I listen to the AD2000.

 

[hentai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asr /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't have any experience with burn-in for the AD2000 but that probably doesn't matter much - I guess you win some, you lose some. I like the K701 too, it has a lot of virtues on its own, but I'm confused by the "The vocal lacks the emotion , the energy that keiko is capable of" - are you implying there that the K701 doesn't lack emotion & energy? Because I think a lot of people here would dissent with that, including me.

I just feel that k701 sounds more alive and clearer than ad2000 especially female vocal but lacks some warmth which can make k701 sound lean at times. Ad2000 has the warmth that i sometimes desire in k701 but loses in some aspect that i cannot tolerate.

 

[billinkansas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hentai /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ad2000 has the warmth that i sometimes desire in k701 but loses in some aspect that i cannot tolerate.

My thoughts as well, and the same when also compared the to the HD600.

I really liked a lot about the AD2000 - the nicest deep bass I've heard yet in a headphone, and the probably the most comfortable that I've owned. In the end though, I just couldn't get my ears around the colored mids and lack of top end extension. I think they are a good can alright, but certainly overpriced.

 

[spinali]

Thanks for the reactions. They coincide with mine, and the A/Ts lack the clean sound of the AKGs. But it was kind of surprising how similar they were, too, especially in the upper-end detail and balance. I might have kept Audio Technicas if they looked a little sharper.

 

[socrates63]

I think the AD2000 needs a good matching amp to sound good. With some amps that I have, the AD2000 sounds plain bad or weird.

I've no experience with the GS-1 but if my GLite + DPS combo is any indication, then the AD2000 isn't a good match for the Headamp amps. I prefer the AD2000 with my pre-M Hornet, which sounds great with the AD2000, over the GLite which sounds OK at best.

Don't read my comments as an indictment of the GS-1 or GLite. Rather, unlike Sennheiser or Grado headphones that I own, I find the AD2000 to be rather finnicky when it comes to amps.

I hope you get a chance to listen to the AD2000 with the HA5000 or M^3 or other amps that have good synergy with the AD2000. But then again, it just could be the case that the AD2000 isn't right for you.

 

[tomjonesrocks]

The AD2000 is not a perfect headphone. It's the best I've heard so far though. And $500 is a lot of cash so it's understandable to be critical.

The fit of the AD2000 *is* strange for me though. I had to add foam to the pads to provide leaking sound and even with that the inner radius of the earpads are so big (I'm not a particularly large man at 5'9") I constantly fiddle with the fit. They're not *un*comfortable by any stretch, and are extremely lightweight, but the fit does feel unusual. If I had a larger head or larger ears I suspect the fit would be much more natural.

Saying the bass is "overly done" to me is interesting though. I wish they had more bass quantity actually. The one thing I think they lack is a pronounced deep bass throughout tracks. They'll extend low but not continuously. I wish the sound was a tad "fuller" on an ongoing basis actually. The rest of the spectrum is near incredible as far as I'm concerned.

I couldn't comment on the comparisons too much. I heard K701 at a meet and I thought the AD2000 was easily superior to those. HD650 I really can't stand because you're so far away from the music--but to say the AD2000 is a "forward" HD650 might not be a totally incorrect description.

RS1 may be a different matter--but AD2000s are *not* fatiguing and so I've steered clear of the RS1, which I've heard is overly bright and fatiguing. I am curious about MS-PRO and MS2i, however. Anyway, I haven't heard the RS1, and that phone has plenty of detractors, so my sense is your opinion might not be in the majority on that one. The AD2000 and RS1 are similarly priced though so I guess it's fair to say they are direct competitors.

I do not think you're going to be helped by burn-in though--I don't happen to think that has much effect on the AD2000. You might get a little bit more bass if anything but that's about it. I wouldn't expect your opinion to change much over time.

 

[Asr]

Clearly the issue of amp synergy should be taken into account. Most people who own the AD2000 have said it's amp-dependent (including me), but some of us appear to have varying opinions of the AD2000 and how it should sound.

While it's true the Gilmore Lite stack may not be the "best" amp for the AD2000 (whatever "best" means, as I try to avoid using subjective words), I use that combo a lot - very often in fact. The main reason I use the combo is so I can take musical involvement to the highest possible level - with the combo I find a huge range of frequencies gets pushed forward, and this is highly desirable if I just want to listen and relax. Note that I'm not saying it's a good amp for the headphones, just that I usually prefer it over the GS-1.

However, what works for the AD2K for me, doesn't work for the K701 - the Gilmore Lite has adequate power to drive the K701, but I prefer K701 on the GS-1 by far. There's so much inner-scoping of space and air with the combo that it's eerie.

I have heard an M^3 with my personal AD2000 twice and didn't really like what I heard. I found the M^3 to alter the sound beyond what I was used to & desired - it suppressed qualities of the AD2000 that I liked while adding nothing special of note.

I think there might be two camps here when it comes to the subject of the AD2000 and amps - it would seem most people here want an amp that attempts to re-balance, control, or energize the frequency response, but me, I'm in a different camp that just wants the amp to do nothing apart from acting as a wire with gain and let the headphones do all the work.

Lastly I should probably add that I had a very similar reaction to yours upon initial listen to the AD2K back when I got them. I already owned the K701 when I got the AD2K and had owned them for a few months too, so I was extremely used to them - the first couple hours I listened to the AD2K, it really weirded me out, to the point where I was really disappointed about having spent almost $500 on them. Not that I believe in burn-in for the AD2K but after that first listen I then proceeded to put them on a huge unattended burn-in cycle regardless. Today, I can say without reservation that both the K701 and AD2K are my favorite headphones - I've been through a lot of others and the length of time I've owned them speaks for itself.

I've owned my K701 since 4-14-06, the AD2K since July '06.

 

[coolshot]

the ad2000 can be fatiguing when EQ'ed bad. Im a basshead but i had the stupid notion of putting heavy bass eq AND bass boost on my x-fi at very loud levels. I literally pulled them off my head as i felt like sledgehammers were assualting my ear drums. Left to their own devices such as straight out of CDP/amp, IMO these are the all arounders money can buy for that price.

 

[vcoheda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomjonesrocks /img/forum/go_quote.gif RS1 may be a different matter--but AD2000s are *not* fatiguing and so I've steered clear of the RS1, which I've heard is overly bright and fatiguing.

i disagree. the rs1 is not a bright headphone. if anything, it is a headphone tending toward the warm side. the presentation is forward, but this does not mean that the headphone is bright or fatiguing. the dt880 has some of these characteristics, but i have never had to remove my rs1 due to fatigue, only pain.

try to go 4 hours with those things on. your ears hurt (and i don't mean because of the sound).