Received the Audio Technica ATH-1 today. I might actually like them a bit more than my ATH-2 (which good lord, I spent a quite a bit of time and effort on them to only sound "alright").
First impressions: Surprising amount of bass though seems loose, vocals sound a bit unnatural - a bit shouty?
I've kept the stock damping. I cut out some Mr Clean magic eraser sponge, cut them in half so the driver still fits, and plopped them into each earcup. Put a piece of blu-tack for front dampening (if that's what it's called) on the middle port. I then slapped on Beats Solo 2 Dekoni earpads onto them.
The result? Surprisingly good. A bit v-shaped though vocals sound fairly natural - maybe a dip in the upper mids, bass seems to have tightened up a bit, a bit bright surprisingly - I thought the Beats Solo 2 pads would kill the treble or something.
Overall, I really like them. Lightweight, fairly natural sounding with a bit of v-shape, orthodynamic, and it's an Audio Technica (which is a huge plus for me). Interested in seeing how ESW9 or ESW11 pads are on these. Probably going to slap on an HD600/HD650 headband padding on these.
Does anyone know whether the drivers are Sawafuji drivers like the ATH-2? Does anyone have specs on the ATH-1?
Here are some pictures: