[ecdw2]

W1000 and A1000

http://www.comeon.jp/shop/acc/images_at/ath-w1000.htm
http://www.comeon.jp/shop/acc/images_at/ath-a1000.htm

 

[Mallow005]

thanks for the links. That's weird how the headband doesn't connect.

 

[Pepsione1]

Quite teasing us with the nice pictures.

 

[pigmode]

The wood cups on the W1000 looks absolutely gorgeous. There's a "History of W Series" on the box cover. Where does the W2002 fit in?

That looks like imitation leather, BTW.

 

[RickG]

Quote:

Originally posted by pigmode That looks like imitation leather, BTW.

I dunno, piggy. I was just noticing how much the pads resemble the leather pads on my Omega II. Oh well, I guess we'll find out soon enough.

 

[pigmode]

You're probably right, Rick. I was comparing them to mine, which have a lot of wrinkles from use.

That W1000 looks to be a major score in the A-T line. At that price point I wouldn't be suprised if it's close or better than the W2002.

 

[kin3tix]

o0oh my ecdw2, i believe you have just made it worse for A-T drooling people..

 

[markl]

Well, looks like we're going to see a "boom" in ATH w1000 owners! I sure hope it lives up to all expectations. I think the crucial reviews will come from those that also have the W2002. That should be a real interesting comparison.

For those of you coming to the W1000 from the hi-end Grados or the HD600s, I predict you will have a new favorite headphone! Can't wait for the reviews!

Mark

 

[wallijonn]

DW, you'll have to wait for greG Freeman's & Matt's reviews. greG's busy putting them through their paces.

but as a teaser, the AD10's have (to me) a more forward midrange than the hd600's with the corda cable. sorry guys, the senn's still sound veiled (to me). or maybe i should say that the ad10's have an 'unveiled' midrange.

 

[DarkWolf]

Thanks, what about the rest of the sound. Are they laid back or agressive? Are they nuteral? How good is their bass and high end? Comfort? If I already think the 590s are pretty good all around, but am willing to spend more since I'm looking at amps too, do you think it would worth it to get the AD10 instead and get an amp a little later? If I end up with 590s and then get the equinox cable it would be about the same as the AD10 in price. How would they rate then? Thanks. I'm sorry about walking the line on thread crapping...
BTW. the W1000's look RALLY nice. If they sound as good as they look I'm in trouble. If the A1000s are really good too I might end up with those. Who knows.

 

[wallijonn]

DW, you'll just have to wait for gerG. i don't want to hurry him. i want him to do a complete, full, thourough review for the guys here. then Matt gets a shot at doing the review. i'm still looking for other guys in the Phoenix area to volunteer to do a review on the ad10's.

there's no way i could do justice to them with my review. and the last thing i want to do is get everyone excited and create a feeding frenzy as has been created by the a100ti/a1000/w1000. i'm surprised we didn't bring audiocube's site down.

my whole contention is that the AT's have a "certain" sound (just like every other headphone out there). and my initial impressions (after about three hours swapping between beyer 831's (gerG's favourite comfortable phone), senn600c (carda), grado sr80's, sony v6's and akg k1000) is that the midrange is unveiled. i usually audition with vocals and acoustic guitars. in that sense the acoustic guitars sounded better on the ad10's than they did on the senn600c, but NOWHERE near the akg k1000's. i kept moaning, "oh god, oh god, oh god". gerG, in his usual tongue in cheek fashion, looked over at me and said, "i take it you don't like the k1000's?" the guy's the cat's meow.

i can only wonder what the a100ti or the a1000 sound like having tasted AT sound from the ad10's. up until this time (in this forum), all the reviews weren't very enthusiastic about the a100's. so i wonder if it isn't all hype? and of course i got caught in the maelstrom...

if you can, see if there's someone in MA who has the akg k1000's. i'm a believer now. i just wish i could've picked them up from meier for $360 when he put them on sale 8/30. you know i'm gonna keep an eye on the for sale / trade section.

 

[JML]

Again, the pads are artificial leather. They are very nicely grained, and even smell like leather. They're so good I was surprised on the W100 to find they were fake. But they aren't real leather.

The split head rests are standard on this line from AT. They're lightly spring loaded. The design removes the vertical and horizontal clamping forces from each other, which is one reason why they're so comfortable.

I expect these to sound very much like the W2002; I wouldn't be surprised to find they are somewhere between the W100 and the W2002, which is a very nice place to be. Remember the cabling is different and the finish of the wood is different. Part of the lacquer may be for show, but it may also have sonic effects (in a violin, the lacquer contributes in major ways to the resonance of the body and the sound of the instrument).

If past experience with the AT wooden cans is any indicator, these headphones will need at least 75-100 hours of burn-in before they start to sound really good. They'll change as they burn-in. Normal levels of real music is fine.

If you're waiting for them, I recommend reading ALL the reviews and HeadFi strings on the W100 and W2002 beforehand. Not everyone liked these, and they're likely sound their best with certain amplifiers that work well with low impedance headphones.

 

[RickG]

Hey, thanks again, JML. I'm really jazzed about hearing these dudes. My only point of reference in regard to A-T phones are my EM-7. I really hope they sound similar...only bigger and better!

 

[markl]

I'm expecting this to be the mass-market version of the W2002. I doubt there's anything different about the driver (did they really develop a new one?) and not likely anything different about the rest of the parts, cable, plug. The wooden earpieces look the same as the W2002 (same size/shape), but without the fancy lacquer which didn't contribute to sound anyway.

But then i saw this on the audiocubes site:

Quote:

Predecessor to Audio-Technica's popular ATH-W100 wooden headphones

I think they meant "successor", not "predecessor", yes?

In any case, I think this will be one formidable headphone.

Mark

 

[gdahl]

There is only one significant difference that I am aware of between the W1000 driver and the W2002 driver.

The pole piece in the W1000's driver is Permalloy, which is mostly nickel.

The pole piece in the W2002's driver is Supermendur, an exotic alloy containing a substantial amount of cobalt.

In the world of transformer cores, Permalloy is used in situations where great low-level sensitivity is needed, and the signal level never becomes large. The nickel has excellent permeability at low flux densities, but it will saturate relatively easily at higher levels. It is often used in microphones and tape heads.

Supermendur combines excellent low-level permeability with exceptional headroom at high signal levels and can handle high flux densities--even higher than M6 silicon steel. It is often used in the aircraft industry, where it is worth the substantial extra cost to be able to use a smaller (and lighter) core for the same magnetic load.

In the magnetic circuit of a headphone driver, I don't think that Supermendur would provide any real-world advantage over Permalloy, because headphones run entirely at low signal levels.

However, I would imagine that the presence of Supermendur would be of great appeal to Japanese enthusiasts. An expensive and exotic material such as this would not go unnoticed by the most avid collectors.

Magnetic materials containing significant amounts of cobalt are normally not available in large quantities, because most of the cobalt is used in the nuclear industry. It is hideously expensive when you do find it.