keanex
Keeper of The All-New Headphone Buyer's Guide
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
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Pros: Build quality, quickness, musicality, soundstage.
Cons: Comfort, lack of removable cable, sub-bass roll off.
Tonal Balance: Mild midrange focus
Style: Open circumaural headphones
Listening Set-Up: Musicbee -> Yulong U200
Cost at Time of Review: Discontinued, used market ranges from $300-$500
Reviewing Process
I have had the Ad2000 for a few months and have spent considerable amount of time with them. The Ad2000 are my daily listeners when I’m not working on a review product so I think that it’s fair to say that I’m quite acquainted with them. I feel confident in my opinions expressed here, but as always this is a subjective hobby. Reviews are always nice, but I encourage you to attempt to demo this product before buying it.Build & Fit
BuildThe Ad2000 are built from plastic and aluminum throughout, assembled to be sturdy with no creaks or unnecessary looseness throughout. The pads feel a bit cheap, especially considering the price, but they hold up to wear so I will give them that. Held in hands the Ad2000 feels like a high-end product comparable to everything near it in its price range.
My only criticism of the build is the lack of removable cables. For a $400+ item I would expect them to include removable cables, unfortunately even with the Ad2000x they haven’t added this feature.
Fit
Fit is the biggest complaint that people have with the Ad2000 and even as a fanboy I can understand why. The biggest complaint that I’ve read is that many users ears touch the housing of the drivers which can cause irritation. In addition, the pads are a bit thin and mildly abrasive which can cause mild irritation to the area around the ear. These two factors cause extended listening sessions to often be interrupted. The good news is that the increased clamping force, when compared to the lower-end models, has created a more stable fit on the head. This added stability allows for headbanging unlike with the Ad700 or Ad900.
The comfort issues have been solved in creative ways (modding) and more traditional ways (new pads) but I find that the stock pads help give the Ad2000 the sound that I crave so I deal with the discomfort. Just keep in mind that comfort is the biggest con to these and it doesn’t really get better over time, you either deal with it, fix the issue or sell these.
Sound Quality
I’ll be honest, these headphones are very hard for me to describe. In-fact the reason why I haven’t reviewed these until now is because I felt that I couldn’t fully convey the special qualities about them that made me fall in love with them. As a whole I would describe the sound as leaning focused on the midrange, not overly so, but I find myself drawn to the midrange when listening to music with the Ad2000.I find the sound to be incredibly engaging and musical, very hard to describe and much easier to sit back and experience. With that said, here is my attempt. You will find some contradictions and that’s just the nature of these headphones.
Bass
The Ad2000 are capable of digging very deeply in the bass regions, in-fact using the Ultimate Headphone Test’s bass shaker test I can easily hear driver rumble from the start of the test. Now this test isn’t indicative of real world bass presence, but it shows that the Ad2000 are certainly capable of reproducing deep bass notes. In real world listening the sub-bass is present but it certainly lacks rumble and authority. Bass heavy tracks like Jamie xx’s I’m New Here show a soft rainbow-esque rolloff as the bass extends from mid-bass to sub-bass and back. Meanwhile Kendrick Lamar’s Backseat Freestyle shows that the sub-bass is, at best, capable of providing a layer of warmth but not suitable for bassheads who want to envelop themselves in the lower frequencies.
Despite the lack of quantity and impact, the sub-bass carries wonderful texture. Deep bass notes carry the rumbling distorted textures that a sub-woofer would put out, without sounding bloated or muffled. The sub-bass is also incredibly quick, the quickly quavering sub-bass notes during James Blake’s Limit to Your Love dissipate quickly and cleanly by the next note. It’s very impressive how quick this driver is this low.
Despite the sub-bass being prominent, I still find myself enjoying dark leaning music like trip-hop and darkstep through the Ad2000. Their quickness, texture and cohesion in the lows makes them satisfying despite the lack of presence.
Unlike the sub-bass I can not find a fault with the mid-bass, that isn’t to say that this is the best mid-bass I’ve heard, rather that it fits perfectly with the sound as a whole. The mid-bass is quick and punchy with a slight thickness to it; the combination gives bass guitars and kick drums a sense of impact and warmth, while dissipating quickly, allowing them to keep the pace. This really gives a sense of liveliness to the lower regions when listening to all sorts of rock music from the Alabama Shakes to The Rolling Stones. The quick punch of the bass also allows the Ad2000 to excel at electronic dance music, sounding incredibly fun with Disclosure and Caribou alike.
Mids & Highs
I’ve heard people describe the midrange as romantic and as silly as that sounds it really makes sense to me due to the tonal characteristics and presentation of the midrange. The Ad2000 adds a soft and warm tone through the midrange that gives a sultry tone to vocals, working incredibly well with blues inspired singers whom already have these sultry qualities about them. Warmth within the midrange could potentially sound sluggish, causing blur or bloat within the midrange, but the speed and forward qualities of the Ad2000 counter these potential downfalls. The Ad2000 have a way of smoothing over harshness with a mildly warm glow in conjunction to being quick and forward to give them a lively, yet smooth, tonality to them. As I said blues inspired vocals shine here and stuff from Alabama Shakes, The Black Keys and Portishead have certainly caught my ear with the Ad2000.
These qualities also act in the same way for instruments, though electric guitars tend to lean more in the upper mids therefore they tend to not carry the same warmth that the lower portions of the midrange do. I’ve found that acoustic instruments or warm and mildly distorted guitars sound best, notably jazz guitarists like Wes Montgomery where I feel the characteristics of the midrange enhance the warm fuzziness of his guitar.
The higher frequencies maintain the quickness that’s consistent throughout the sound, while adding a mild brightness before subtly dropping off. They sit somewhere in between forward and natural, coming off slightly bright and colored, a little too hot and tizzy for them to be natural, but they aren’t so far as to sound artificial or sibilant. I feel that the highs are kept in check by their quick decay and by the warmth of the midrange. The treble is done rather well, I’m never struggling to hear anything going on unless I’m too focused on the mids.
Between the two frequency areas, these are not detail monsters. The Ad2000 has a soft glaze that smoothes over the spectrum which works in benefit for poorer recordings and adding musicality, while pushing away those who want a clinically detailed sound. The Ad2000 strikes a great balance between smoothness and detail to create a highly musical sound.
Presentation
I’ve heard many claims that the Ad2000 have wonky positioning and I can’t say I follow that, then again I don’t listen to much classical, which is where people seem to have this issue. To my ears the Ad2000 have a highly engaging soundstage about them, music seems to float within a 3d space coming from around my head, rather than a set position on the stage. Maybe that’s the wonky part? Either way I absolutely love how music is presented here, rather intimately but rarely congested, each instrument having great space on the stage with excellent depth of the stage and great vertical imaging. As I said, I get a very 3d like view of the music when listening through the Ad2000 which gives music a floating sensation that I find rather unique.
Conclusion
Yup, I’m in love with these. From the floating presentation of the music to the silky smooth mids, I believe that I have reached my end-game. By now I’ve heard a wide variety of headphones including some that are considered top of the line and none have brought my enjoyment of music to this level. The Ad2000 enhance my music experience unlike any other headphone and that’s the sole reason I started my journey into high-end audio to begin with. I’m very happy here.The Ad2000 aren’t for everyone due to their odd fit and their colored sound, but for those that do jive with the sound signature will be rewarded with a truly unique experience.
