These are some amazing headphones! Super happy to see MD pick these up. I will say these are kinda picky with amplification. A nice thicker tube would do well or a Chord DAC product paired with a hybrid like the CTH.
Non the less, compared to the W1000X/Z this is a lot more resolving I feel but it can be very shouty on the wrong system. The improvements in resolve and overall response time from the driver come with a serious lack of decay or body. The bass is punchy but the sounds is really aggressive and kind of thin, so again Chord Mojo owners, any of you with the iFi iDSD Nano Black Label or any tube dac will likely enjoy the sound!
But if your running a solid state system or anything built around an ESS Sabre DAC you'll like not enjoy it. I would again recommend this headphone for any one with a DAC built around either a AK 449X, PCM, BurrBrown of any of Chords crazy FPGA Dacs pair'd with a thicker sounding tube will likely appreciate the great speed and unique envelope of this special wood back Audio Technica!
MshenayInitial impressions(<10min) running from a Schiit Fulla 2
Sounds thin and treble happy, light on bass but whats there is tight and clean. Sound stage is definitely very limited(even binaural recordings don't pan out as wide as they should). Very comfy to wear, probably because of my large head
Left driver rattles when 'Bass shaker' test is run from below link. May be it will go away with burn-in
http://www.audiocheck.net/soundtests_headphones.php
MshenayYup
with my G1217 Project Sunrise 3, it sounds lot better although treble is still forward
oh btw, ebay has a 15% off coupon today 3/20 if anyone is interested in the Project Sunrise
Non the less, compared to the W1000X/Z this is a lot more resolving I feel but it can be very shouty on the wrong system. The improvements in resolve and overall response time from the driver come with a serious lack of decay or body. The bass is punchy but the sounds is really aggressive and kind of thin, so again Chord Mojo owners, any of you with the iFi iDSD Nano Black Label or any tube dac will likely enjoy the sound!
But if your running a solid state system or anything built around an ESS Sabre DAC you'll like not enjoy it. I would again recommend this headphone for any one with a DAC built around either a AK 449X, PCM, BurrBrown of any of Chords crazy FPGA Dacs pair'd with a thicker sounding tube will likely appreciate the great speed and unique envelope of this special wood back Audio Technica!