[PPP]

I have been looking for a closed headphones for a while now. I almost bought a pair of bose triports. I heard that there are better phones in the same price range, but I figured they will be good enough for me. However, when I sampled them at a local bose store I almost had a heart attack. Both over the ear and on the ear headphones clearly exaggerated sound "s" (i think this is called sibilance) and because of that sounded worse than a pair of phones I got with my ipod

. I have heard that people have different tolerance level for sibilance... but I honestly cant imagine that someone may not notice this.

Anyway, after the fiasco with bose, I have started to read the reviews and came across Audio Technica ATH-A700. People seem to be happy with them, and they are within my budget. I just wanted to see if anyone tried them and can tell me a little about them. I mostly listen to jazz and instrumental music with lots of vocals. I am also wandering if they leak any sound, since I am planning on using them in the library. Will my ipod be enough to drive them, or do I need to buy a headphone amp? Lastly, are they forgiving enough to enjoy music from the lower quality sources such as Pandora.com or lower bit mp3's?

I know that this is a lot of questions to ask, especially for the first post. But I would be really grateful if someone could answer at least some of them. And if you think that there are better headphones within the same price range, I would be glad to hear your opinions

 

[Radioheadache]

Welcome to Head-Fi!

Based on my experience with them, I think the A700 provides good bang for the buck, especially if you're looking for an all purpose headphone. The overall sound isolation both in and out is good, along with the build quality. In terms of the actual sound, I recall it being rather clear, with a large soundstage, but I felt that the bass is a bit much.

I'm fairly certain that your iPod will be able to drive the A700s, although I'm not sure about how kind they are to low quality audio files, as I generally don't touch them.

 

[Equus]

Hello and welcome, PPP!

My limited experience is that if you have better equipment, it will reveal more of the problems with lower quality source files. Not so much always that it makes it sound horrible, but the problems will be a little more noticeable.

The main advantages that I think the A700 has is comfort, it's easy to drive without an amp, has overall good sound quality, and the closed nature of it means it leaks very little sound and isolates OK. Main disadvantages are that they're HUGE (like airport worker ear protection huge), some of the mid range is a bit recessed, and they do have a colored presentation (one example is the bass that Radioheadache mentioned).

 

[peteham]

Loved them, sold them, miss them.

 

[PPP]

Thanks for your comments. I ended up buying them.