[Xymordos]

Quote:

Well, it was certainly disclosed, but made out to be something pleasant and musical... until, that is, a few tentative notes of doubt were raised (by Muppetface and ZenErik, to name two), which I (admittedly) discounted as outlier opinions. I'm just adding my voice to the mix to suggest that perhaps they weren't such outlier opinions after all.
 
I gave it another listen this evening, just to be sure, and confirmed that it's more weird than nice for my tastes--at one point it made a male falsetto actually sound like a woman. It also has one of the most annoying cables I've ever encountered--stiff and tangle-prone.

This is actually a known case for most Audio Technica Headphones. Their headphones are tuned generally for Japanese Pop, which all singers (both male and female) have high and thin voices. Listen to Yui, X Japan, Nishino Kana and you'll realize why.

 

[AppleheadMay]

Quote:

This is actually a known case for most Audio Technica Headphones. Their headphones are tuned generally for Japanese Pop, which all singers (both male and female) have high and thin voices. Listen to Yui, X Japan, Nishino Kana and you'll realize why.

 
Do you think some Japanese phones are tuned differently for Asia than for US and EU markets?
I heard Marantz does that with their amps.

 

[TheOtus]

This is actually a known case for most Audio Technica Headphones. Their headphones are tuned generally for Japanese Pop, which all singers (both male and female) have high and thin voices. Listen to Yui, X Japan, Nishino Kana and you'll realize why.

 
If that's so, no wonder that YUI sounded nothing short of heavenly with these phones. = )
 

 

[uelover]

Quote:

This is actually a known case for most Audio Technica Headphones. Their headphones are tuned generally for Japanese Pop, which all singers (both male and female) have high and thin voices. Listen to Yui, X Japan, Nishino Kana and you'll realize why.

 
Only female I think. Lol.

 

[ZenErik]

Well, my Wadia 121 is in. Just need to try it out in about 6 hours when I get home! After which I may purchase the W3000ANV again. If I feel like the Wadia smoothes out the highs enough with my W5000 and AD2000.

 

[radioplay]

Quote:

This is actually a known case for most Audio Technica Headphones. Their headphones are tuned generally for Japanese Pop, which all singers (both male and female) have high and thin voices. Listen to Yui, X Japan, Nishino Kana and you'll realize why.

 
I can still tell that X Japan's Toshi is a man. The formants give it away, at least on every single sound reproduction system I've ever heard him on (I didn't listen to him on the W3000 tho).
 
I know a lot of people say that AT phones go well with J-Pop, but I'd be curious to see someone from AT actually confirm that they deliberately tune their headphones for it.

 

[TheOtus]

It's hard to say because I have no experience, but it seems bit harsh to claim that these headphones would make a male falsetto sound like a woman. To begin with, I don't see the issue. Of course if you have done a compare with some other headphone to confirm this and it's clearly in the phones... In my opinion, these do well with most vocals I've heard and are just excellent with some.
 
By the way, I'm on the edge of getting an USB to coaxial converter. Any opinions, should a quality one do a clearly audible difference? And if, in what way? I do understand the advantages over an optical connection between my PC and DAC though.

 

[radioplay]

Quote:

It's hard to say because I have no experience, but it seems bit harsh to claim that these headphones would make a male falsetto sound like a woman. To begin with, I don't see the issue. Of course if you have done a compare with some other headphone to confirm this and it's clearly in the phones... In my opinion, these do well with most vocals I've heard and are just excellent with some.
 
By the way, I'm on the edge of getting an USB to coaxial converter. Any opinions, should a quality one do a clearly audible difference? And if, in what way? I do understand the advantages over an optical connection between my PC and DAC though.

 
I'm not saying it happens every single time, but it did happen in one tricky passage where the falsetto was layered over another male voice that had been digitally pitched lower. I compared it with the LCD-2, D7000, and HD650, all of which made it clearer that it was a male falsetto.

 

[TheOtus]

Without a doubt ATH-W3000ANV sounds brighter than any of the others so that's very well possible.

 

[purrin]

Quote:

 
I'm not saying it happens every single time, but it did happen in one tricky passage where the falsetto was layered over another male voice that had been digitally pitched lower. I compared it with the LCD-2, D7000, and HD650, all of which made it clearer that it was a male falsetto.

 
Don't worry. 75% of people who hear my W3000ANV's for the first time end up having a funny "What" smile on their face. And only because they are being polite.
 
It's kind of like stinky-tofu.

 

[TheOtus]

100% of the people who have heard my ATH-W3000ANV have been rather impressed. =D Maybe it just suited them or the music was right.

 

[AppleheadMay]

I usually get the jaw-dropping effect but I don't know any people over here that are used to headphones.

 

[Skylab]

I brought them to a meet recently and everyone who heard them was floored. I was playing them on a Fisher tube amp, though, which is pretty warm sounding.

 

[moodyrn]

You know you can't post anything about "the fisher" without me responding lol.

  But in all seriousness, for me there's just something magical about the fisher AT combo. My marantz 2325 is my best sounding vintage piece, but I don't know if it's the classic, vintage warmness, the fact that it's transformer coupled, or just tubes in general. But the combo just sounds sublime to my ears.

 

[shimmer n roar]

i gave a friend a listen and she described it as muddy.

oh well.