[Carlsan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donunus /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'll be listening to an rs1 on the 9th. i'll compare that with the ad900s also

Would like to hear that comparison as well.

 

[coredump]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hot Pixel /img/forum/go_quote.gif @coredump: what are the settings you use with the compass? I found earth + soft2 to be the best compromise between clarity and comfort -if that makes sense-, but maybe that's because I haven't 'burned in' the others properly (tbh: I find it kind of hard to believe, since there are no moving parts _at all_, so that's why I haven't gotten around to it).

I started with bright and went to neutral. I'll be trying soft 1 and soft 2 in a few weeks. My exposure to DACs and amps is a bit limited but I'd have to say the Compass make a good match with AD900 if only for the extra bass slam.

 

[donunus]

whats soft 2? an amp setting? while earth, moon dac settings? this amp is getting very interesting. If only i didn't have a dac yet

 

[ExtraNice]

Soft-2's just a jumper setting. Changes the sound of the DAC a lil' bit.

 

[mobbaddict]

Just got mine!
First impression listening to "Lost without you" from Robin Thicke was awesome but right now i don't know what to think of the treble, i find it very agressive, maybe as much as my unamped DT880. Is it supposed to get better trough burn in? Bass seems perfect to my tastes though.
Otherwise i'm very impressed with the comfort, i can't even feel! And it looks better than on the pictures (especially the silver AT logo).

 

[Meliboeus]

Just seeking some impressions from ad900 owners, i realised that i need something substantially less harsh and aggressive than the sr225, my dt-990pro sound almost perfect, but i find them terribly uncomfortable. Mind that i don't care very much for the bass, even the "grado bass" is ok for me, what i absolutely want to avoid is the upper mid/treble harshness of the 225, a sound signature closer to my beyerdynamic than to my grados...has someone tried both ?

In addition to that the 3dwing support of the ATs seems quite different from any other phone around...i might try a pair because i tend to find any circumaural phone uncomfortable...

I listen mainly to progressive rock like ELP, Genesis, Tull, Yes etc, but i have started to grow tired of the the grados because they sound fatiguing on some recordings...i hope the AD900 to be different from them in that respect even if some users point out some similarities...

 

[mobbaddict]

Well i feel like the AD900 seems to improve through burn in, i've left it playing pink & white noise for the past hours and the harsh treble seems to have disappeared, but i'll have to audition more to be sure. I've tried the SR325 a few months ago (a brand new one, so maybe not burnt in) and i found a bit agressive as well, the AD900 may have a softer treble i think. As for bass it must be similar to Grados and it doens't lack punch, i've listened to a few rap tracks and it was really fine.
I feel like it's getting more and more similar soundwise to my Phonaks, which is exactly what i was expecting, with more soundstage of course

edit: ok i know what my problem was. There is a big difference soundwise between my sources, the AD900 sounds rather thin and fatiguing on my Sansa Clip or even my computer, whereas it sounds stellar on my cd player. The main difference is that the bass & mids are rather poor on weak sources, but fully bodied on good ones. The same goes for treble, it's harsh on my Clip but amazingly soft on my CDP. Soundstage & dynamic improve a lot as well. I think it's still better than my DT880 on my Clip, but i don't think i could deal with that thin SQ. I've ordered a Fiio E5 so let's hope it will fix the problem.

 

[Kropotkin]

Just recieved my AD900 3 hours ago, and i'm lovin it

So much better than my Grado SR80i on almost every genre. And with so much more comfort.

Only problem is that, the upper mids are a little too much sometimes. Maybe it is because of my source, which is my PC. I'll try it with my CD player tonight, and hope it won't sound this harsh anymore.

I loved the detail, soundstage and comfort. It is so good to listen to music :

 

[Meliboeus]

I pulled the trigger yesterday, i should receive them in a week or so, they are pretty darn hard to find... Will compare them to my sr225 and dt-990...if they sound anything like the reviews i read on head-fi, they'll become my main cans...i'm tired of the harshness of the grados, and the Beyerdynamic are extremely uncomfortable...

 

[Bengt77]

I did the fat pad mod a couple of days ago, with the suggested tubes from a diving shop. It sure does make the AD900 a lot more comfortable. There is now actually a small distance between my ears and the drivers. But it's the sound that matters most. Well, to cut a long story short, I hate it. The highs sing way too much, making the AD900 a really harsh sounding and even painful-to-listen-to headphone. The bass does sound a tad better with the mod, but the disadvantage of the horrible highs far outweighs the advantage of slightly better lows. I strongly suggest you all not trying this mod. The AD900 sounds way better, overall, unmodded.

 

[userlander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bengt77 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I did the fat pad mod a couple of days ago, with the suggested tubes from a diving shop. It sure does make the AD900 a lot more comfortable. There is now actually a small distance between my ears and the drivers. But it's the sound that matters most. Well, to cut a long story short, I hate it. The highs sing way too much, making the AD900 a really harsh sounding and even painful-to-listen-to headphone. The bass does sound a tad better with the mod, but the disadvantage of the horrible highs far outweighs the advantage of slightly better lows. I strongly suggest you all not trying this mod. The AD900 sounds way better, overall, unmodded.

Yep, no offense to whomever developed it, but that is about the worst mod I've ever seen (or in this case, heard

). Good thing it doesn't permanently change the phones and you can just take out the tubing.

For more bass strength, maybe something like the grado mod where you wrap electrical tape around the outside of the pads would help? Or maybe use something like velcro strips that are wide enough. I don't have the phones here anymore to test the idea, but it might give some interesting results. Anyone want to experiment?

 

[Meliboeus]

I just unexpectedly got my AD900, just tried them with my pc setup and begun with some metal albums just to see if they're actually as good as the sr225 as many Headfiers believe.

The bass is perfect for my tastes, just as fast and responsive as the grados, with the same impact if not a tad more, the deep bass of a drum kick is there, but never gets annoying ( like it frequently is with the otherwise perfect dt-990pro or other bassy cans ). The mid-bass is fast and controlled, i can hear bass guitar even in recordings where it's quite drown in the mix, right now i'm listening to Iron Maiden' Seventh Son andi can hear Harris's bass lines way more clearly than all my other phones.

The mids are not as aggressive as the Grado, but surely as enjoyable, distorted guitars sound just right, less fatiguing but not too distant. Vocals are a bit more recessed than the sr225, and that's a plus for me, i don' t always like to feel the singer "shout" right in my ears. This is particularly evident on Death's The sound of Perseverance, where Chuck's voice easily gets fatiguing with the grados. The Dt-990 get this problem solving, but are still inadequate for fast metal as they tend to deliver muddy bass.

More atmospheric bands like Opeth sounds just perfect thanks to the added soundstage and instrument separation, even the early albums which are known to be very harsh sounding, and are nearly unlistenable with the 225.

Now i'll proceed to listen to some sample tracks of my main genre of interest which is progressive rock, let's see if they correct all the Grado's shortcomings even there

So far i am really satisfied with my purchase, sound and feature wise, as build quality and comfort is top notch.

 

[JayB18]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meliboeus /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just unexpectedly got my AD900, just tried them with my pc setup and begun with some metal albums just to see if they're actually as good as the sr225 as many Headfiers believe. The bass is perfect for my tastes, just as fast and responsive as the grados, with the same impact if not a tad more, the deep bass of a drum kick is there, but never gets annoying ( like it frequently is with the otherwise perfect dt-990pro or other bassy cans ). The mid-bass is fast and controlled, i can hear bass guitar even in recordings where it's quite drown in the mix, right now i'm listening to Iron Maiden' Seventh Son andi can hear Harris's bass lines way more clearly than all my other phones. The mids are not as aggressive as the Grado, but surely as enjoyable, distorted guitars sound just right, less fatiguing but not too distant. Vocals are a bit more recessed than the sr225, and that's a plus for me, i don' t always like to feel the singer "shout" right in my ears. This is particularly evident on Death's The sound of Perseverance, where Chuck's voice easily gets fatiguing with the grados. The Dt-990 get this problem solving, but are still inadequate for fast metal as they tend to deliver muddy bass. More atmospheric bands like Opeth sounds just perfect thanks to the added soundstage and instrument separation, even the early albums which are known to be very harsh sounding, and are nearly unlistenable with the 225. Now i'll proceed to listen to some sample tracks of my main genre of interest which is progressive rock, let's see if they correct all the Grado's shortcomings even there So far i am really satisfied with my purchase, sound and feature wise, as build quality and comfort is top notch.

Great impressions. Be sure to post more when you can.

 

[mobbaddict]

I'm quite disappointed since i gave them a good burn in. They have opened up a lot which make them sound much better on my weakest sources, so that's a very good point. But on the other side their balance seems very different than when i first go them, at the beginning i found them very well balanced just like my Phonaks (which are supposed to be very similar to ER4), but now treble has become so proeminent that it sounds way too bright, looks like there's a big hole in the low mids. I really hope it will be fixed, otherwise they're just too bright for me.

 

[Kropotkin]

After listening from my onboard sound card for 2 days, i saw that onboard soundcard is the weak link in my system, and that AD900 needs more than that crappy source.

With my Grado SR80i's, this was not much important... It was a fun hp, but not detailed like AD900, so the loss of details were not much of a problem.

So yesterday i bought an Asus Xonar DX soundcard, and the difference is like day and night. I still can't believe how clear everything became.

Now my only problem is with my old 128-192 kbps mp3's, i have to get rid of them somehow

I can tell if it is a flac/320kbps mp3 or a 128 kbps mp3. Flac's and 320 kbps's sound so much better, live and airy than low quality rips.

I totally love this headphone