Okay I had the ad700 4 days already. At first I had my doubt if I like them are not. Now I learned and grew to like them. At first I was listening to them at a higher volume (the same volume as to what I was listening to whenever I am listening to the ath M50) and quickly learned that the ad700 sounds better at a lower volume. My initial was "how in the world do people listen to these headphones when they sound so bright and sparkly." Well once I lowered the volume everything make sense. The vocal become softer, natural, the sound stage become present with less chaoticness, and the high teeth clenching pitchness goes away.
These do have a lighter and tighter bass. It could be a good thing or a bad thing. The bad part is that because of this nature they don't perform as well as they could for rap/ hip hop genre. what they do well are on genre such as classical, country, soft rock like the eagles, 80's like madonna, and others genre such as jason mraz, colbie calliat, sixties music such as peggy march, the supremes and so on. Anything that requires acurate voice, guitar, instrumental music, and maybe piano (I haven't determine this yet piano performance with these can be subjective). I love the way how it sounds with hotel california by the eagles. The guitar with colbie calliat "I never told you" or really just guitar in general. I found AT does well with guitar IMO. This is a comparision with the headphones I own. after listen to these, I can see how comparing the ad700 to the M50's bass, the m50 bass can sound bloated, the mids (vocal) can sound darker then actual presentation. By all means, this does not mean that the M50 does not sound right. I still think the M50 sound lush and sweet. This is what I notices. and I can still say I like the M50s a lot. The m50 has a heavier and slightly more aggressive sound than the ad700.
This is my first open headphones and I can say the ad700 3d wings combine with the velvet pad, weightless band and cups, plus the large soundstage really make these earphones really comfortable and graceful. I do not get sweaty ears after hours of wearing, no clamping force feel on the side of my head, and best of all I can't even feel the headband because of the 3d wings. They really do float on top of your head. I can say that these does not isolate well with background noise, but hey they are open headphones.
So far I am really satisfy of being an owner of both audio technica ad700 and M50. Both are really good headphones for $100 and under headphones. I guess I should also say this about the ad700, The purple isn't too bad, it's the size of the headphone. They are really big, but really light. Since they are huge, I can't see how they could ever be considered looking good on your head. Also, the 3d wings looks funny flat out. I can see the main focus of audio technica design when making these headphones, to make them sound good and to make sure they are comfortable.
I'm still hearing them out, but this is my intial reaction toward the ad700. I maybe not the most experienced with headphones but this is what I hear through my ears and so far my ears like em. So far Audio Technica has not dissappoint me yet, but I think it's time to move on. Now lets see what is my next step in hp's, maybe grado sr80/sr225 or senn 600/650 or akg 701?
I figure it's time to move away from AT and see what else is out there.
