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Originally Posted by Vandal /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Is this true? If so; why don't I see more W1000 users here?
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To get back to your original question -- Neither is better than the other, although as you have found out, people have strong preferences for one or the other, based on their musical tastes and sonic priorities.
Full disclosure first: I own both the W1000 and HD650.
The arguement as to which is better reminds me of a similar arguement back in the 1970's. Acoustic Research and KLH represented the laid-back, polite East Coast Sound and JB Lansing and Altec represented the up-front, punchy West Coast Sound. There were strong advocates for each approach and, like audiophiles today, the arguements persisted from those who saw this as polarizing, rather than opportunistic.
While I believe that there are quite a few W1000 (and W5000) users here, they simply may not choose to post as much due to the flames that sometimes come from the less open minded.
If you have ever performed a digital room correction/equalization on your listening room, you may have found out that accoustically flat may translate as lacking some low-end warmth and maybe a bit too much high end. I think the Audio Technica engineers have measured and designed their phones with a somewhat similar approach -- no artificial sweeteners -- "just the facts ma'am".
On the other hand, the Sennheisers have gotten a progressively more prominent "warming-up" when moving from the HD580 to the HD650 which sounds pleasing and is preferred by many to create a more enjoyable listening experience.
We could go on about how the original recording varies greatly from the truth, requiring headphones to compensate, but that's another time and another thread.
Bottom line, both are great phones driven by different design and listening philosophies. I enjoy both very much (when not listening to my Stax
).
