[Brackaus]

Hi All, so I tried a couple of daps and ending up falling in love with the Sony wm1am2… mostly the price helped. Also paired with the ATH-WP900. Really loving the sound, but I want an open back headphone so I have the ability to swap when I feel like a different style of music. Any recommendations?

 

[earmonger]

I'm very happy with Audio-Technica ATH-R70X. Unbeatable comfort, transparent and natural sound.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/6/17535412/audio-technica-r70x-review-professional-headphones

But they are 470 ohm impedance -- don't know how much power the Sony puts out.

 

[pbui44]

check out the Sony MDR-MV1.

 

[Brackaus]

I'm very happy with Audio-Technica ATH-R70X. Unbeatable comfort, transparent and natural sound.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/6/17535412/audio-technica-r70x-review-professional-headphones

But they are 470 ohm impedance -- don't know how much power the Sony puts out.

I tried these with my fio btr7 and yeah they couldn’t power it that well. I think the Sony (Jpn version) might. They are so light! I’ll check these out again.

 

[Brackaus]

check out the Sony MDR-MV1.

Never thought Sony had an open back like that. That’s for the suggestion. I’ll add these to the list.

 

[pbui44]

Never thought Sony had an open back like that. That’s for the suggestion. I’ll add these to the list.

This model was released globally within the past 12 months.

 

[Brackaus]

So Update:

Went and played with a bunch of systems in Japan.. some if found out where around $4000 aud.. bit more than I wanted..but Viper brand? can't remember now.
The Sony MDR-MV1 were really nice and I would of end up getting one of them if I didn't already buy

Audio-Technica ATH-WP900
Audio-Technica ATH-R70x

Dammit these both were so dam good, and the price in Japan were like already opening my wallet 2nd song in. With the ATH-WP900 on balanced with the Sony Wm1am2, it's pretty easy to drive, I'm current on high/58.

I got myself some balanced cables for the r70x (stupid special cables) and I can run them loud around high/79.

Really happy with the Audio-Technica system. Thanks heaps for the suggestions peeps.

 

[pbui44]

So Update:

Went and played with a bunch of systems in Japan.. some if found out where around $4000 aud.. bit more than I wanted..but Viper brand? can't remember now.
The Sony MDR-MV1 were really nice and I would of end up getting one of them if I didn't already buy

Audio-Technica ATH-WP900
Audio-Technica ATH-R70x

Dammit these both were so dam good, and the price in Japan were like already opening my wallet 2nd song in. With the ATH-WP900 on balanced with the Sony Wm1am2, it's pretty easy to drive, I'm current on high/58.

I got myself some balanced cables for the r70x (stupid special cables) and I can run them loud around high/79.

Really happy with the Audio-Technica system. Thanks heaps for the suggestions peeps.

You’re welcome. I had recommended the Sony MDR-MW1 because of its recent release and how Sony stuff typically plays at least a decent synergy together (not just for audio, too), but I am really happy hearing about you going to Japan and trying all of this stuff out yourself. Feel free on sharing more about how your trip to Japan and demoing/auditioning went for you on whatever you tried.

So I know that you did purchase a ATH-R70x, but you do have a Sony DAP, so hopefully this review can help you EQ the settings out to your liking with the specific section in italics:

https://www.samma3a.com/tech/en/product-reviews/sony-walkman-a55-review/

Ok, I know, that is quite an exaggeration, but that is honestly how I felt at the time. My HD58X just sounded so good and my music collection has never sounded better…for the most part.

You see, what this ClearAudiio+ effect does is to widen the stereo image and apply what seemed to be a w-shaped equalisation curve.
Now, when I say that my music collection sounded great for the most part, the only area where I found this effect to interfere too much is when listening to a binaural album. Afterall, the entire point of a binaural recording is to give headphone users the most realistic stereo image, so by adding another layer of processing just messes around with it too much. But, for the rest of my music, this effect was damn near-perfect. It was almost perfect because I felt that it increased the bass just a little bit too much, but unfortunately you cannot edit this effect manually. This got me thinking though if I could perhaps recreate it with the other effects that are available in the settings. Maybe the ClearAudio+ was just somewhat of a preset. Thankfully, I think I figured it out.

With the help of a few frequency response measurements I eventually got an exact match of the ClearAudio+ effect when I use the Studio setting for the VPT (Surround) effect, enabled the DC Phase Linearizer, and setup a custom equalization curve of +6 at 60Hz, +3 at 1kHz, -3 at 6.3kHz, and another +6 at 16kHz.

This was a big step because now I could tweak the EQ curve to better suit my HD58X whilst still enjoying the bigger perceived stereo image provided by the VPT (Surround) setting.