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- Jan 9, 2003
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Yay, after exactly 2-weeks of nail biting my ATH-L3000 arrived yeterday! Nail-biting because I bought them used off a Yahoo! Japan auction that I couldn't even fully read (well, the translation site OCN helped - a little), and I couldn't ask the seller questions: What if the condition was poor (despite the pics)? What if the drivers were damaged and the sound was terrible? What if the seller heavily smoked around them and they smelled like a high-end Connolly ashtray? What if they got dropped into the Pacific on the way from Japan? What if it was a scam where the dude only sent me a brochure on how to obtain an L3000 (and other great items, for free!)? 
Lucky for me the gamble paid off in spades as they're in like new condition, smell nice, and sound amazing.
What I think of 'em:
I haven't listened to these neary enough yet to give decent impressions
They are warm, rich sounding cans with lots of bass, lush midrange, and an excellent ability to separate out details and layers of music. Very very nice sonic signature that matches up with my personal preferences (I tend to dislike bright and/or bass-thin cans in the long run). Not a hint of brightness or harshness but it's got excellent treble, nice sparkle when necessary. I'd put the bass quantity somewhere between the RS-2 w/ Todd's flats (a bit too much bass for most material) and an HD650 (decent amount of bass), maybe slightly closer to the 650's - and that's right where I like it! The bass has a nice bloom to it but it remains well behaved. Midrange is awesome, excellent presence, vocals sounded noticeably smoother than on the 650, maybe not as much as the k340 but not far off. Tonality is great; instruments and vocals sound real! Headstage is not huge (like AKGs) but not too small either (like Grados), its a great intimate presentation that strikes a good balance - balance seems to be the theme of these cans. I should stress again how great the intimate presentation of these cans is!
I think the instrument separation on these cans is best I've heard, each instrument can play in its own space and its notes don't sound smeared or affected by the other instruments in any way. I guess that's what your get when you pay top $ for the really high end stuff. Sweet!
These cans seem like were designed with musicality as the ultimate goal, but they have the technical ability to back it up too (instrument separation, resolution, balance). It's been hard for me to find a set of cans that does both right, but I think the L3000 has pulled it off. Here's my experience so far:
K1000: Bright, fatiguing treble, not as smooth as other top cans.
K340 (unmodded or recabled): Insanely euphonic/musical cans, wonderful for vocals and orchestral, but bass can't keep up as well with the other dynamics when it's hitting hard and heavy.
Grado RS-2 w/flats: Fun groovy cans that don't always have enough technical ability to pull off a great listen. Stuff gets muddled together when the music gets complex. Can sound a bit "platic-y" at times IMO. Too much bass for some stuff. Tried vwaps too but the tonality sounded even more wonky.
HD650: Nice, well balanced cans but sometimes they're not quite musical enough and can sound just a little dry and lifeless. Vocals aren't the smoothest I've heard.
HP-2: Another well balanced can, uber-smooth, a bit more techincal ability than the HD650 but a bit less musical/euphonic as well (of course some treasure them for their neutrality and I can see why).
At this point I can't think of an L3000 deficiency, at least not of the magnitude of the problems I've listed above for the other cans. I do sometimes change my opinions of new cans over more extended listening but even if I discover minor nitpicks with the L3000 I don't think I'll cease to be impressed its balance and ability to be musical, accurate and resolving at the same time. Great stuff, I'm looking forward to exploring their sonics further in the coming weeks!
Pics Below! (Moved to next post)
Lucky for me the gamble paid off in spades as they're in like new condition, smell nice, and sound amazing. What I think of 'em:
I haven't listened to these neary enough yet to give decent impressions
They are warm, rich sounding cans with lots of bass, lush midrange, and an excellent ability to separate out details and layers of music. Very very nice sonic signature that matches up with my personal preferences (I tend to dislike bright and/or bass-thin cans in the long run). Not a hint of brightness or harshness but it's got excellent treble, nice sparkle when necessary. I'd put the bass quantity somewhere between the RS-2 w/ Todd's flats (a bit too much bass for most material) and an HD650 (decent amount of bass), maybe slightly closer to the 650's - and that's right where I like it! The bass has a nice bloom to it but it remains well behaved. Midrange is awesome, excellent presence, vocals sounded noticeably smoother than on the 650, maybe not as much as the k340 but not far off. Tonality is great; instruments and vocals sound real! Headstage is not huge (like AKGs) but not too small either (like Grados), its a great intimate presentation that strikes a good balance - balance seems to be the theme of these cans. I should stress again how great the intimate presentation of these cans is!
I think the instrument separation on these cans is best I've heard, each instrument can play in its own space and its notes don't sound smeared or affected by the other instruments in any way. I guess that's what your get when you pay top $ for the really high end stuff. Sweet!
These cans seem like were designed with musicality as the ultimate goal, but they have the technical ability to back it up too (instrument separation, resolution, balance). It's been hard for me to find a set of cans that does both right, but I think the L3000 has pulled it off. Here's my experience so far:
K1000: Bright, fatiguing treble, not as smooth as other top cans.
K340 (unmodded or recabled): Insanely euphonic/musical cans, wonderful for vocals and orchestral, but bass can't keep up as well with the other dynamics when it's hitting hard and heavy.
Grado RS-2 w/flats: Fun groovy cans that don't always have enough technical ability to pull off a great listen. Stuff gets muddled together when the music gets complex. Can sound a bit "platic-y" at times IMO. Too much bass for some stuff. Tried vwaps too but the tonality sounded even more wonky.
HD650: Nice, well balanced cans but sometimes they're not quite musical enough and can sound just a little dry and lifeless. Vocals aren't the smoothest I've heard.
HP-2: Another well balanced can, uber-smooth, a bit more techincal ability than the HD650 but a bit less musical/euphonic as well (of course some treasure them for their neutrality and I can see why).
At this point I can't think of an L3000 deficiency, at least not of the magnitude of the problems I've listed above for the other cans. I do sometimes change my opinions of new cans over more extended listening but even if I discover minor nitpicks with the L3000 I don't think I'll cease to be impressed its balance and ability to be musical, accurate and resolving at the same time. Great stuff, I'm looking forward to exploring their sonics further in the coming weeks!
Pics Below! (Moved to next post)
