atrain Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 quick look at the ATH-A500s. been burning now for about 15 hours. mostly listening to some UK hiphop @192kbs & grand theft auto: vice city. i've come to a point months ago where music has taken a backseat in my life, at home i mostly listen to newsradio/bbc worldservice/NPR - i like to know what's going on & given i'm online about 10-17 hours a day due to poor health confining me to my house. my major music interests are east coast hip-hop, UK hip-hop, new wave & 80s synth pop & some reggae.almost all of my music was coming in the car via cds & a mdlp player running through a cassette into the a poor stereo i thought it was time to get some nice headphones for home, get me listening to more tunes. my criteria was decent quality without being anal, i'm no 'audiophile' nor do i aspire to be one, so a pair of lowend-highend was about my requirements. all of my 200+ md collection is in LP2, my [unused] ipod is in 256 mp3. audio technicas ATH-A500s fit my bill perfectly they are the cheapest of the floating wing D sound closed series, the affordable end for me, unlike those sexy cherry wood ear cups on the w100 & w1000s. i'd never heard them & didn't have a store locally where i could preview them so this purchase was on faith, there are no decent reviews of them online, even headfi only offers a scant comparison with beyers & grados in a similar price range. i purchased them from http://www.bluetin.com whose prices when they have stock are excellent, this is my sixth or seventh purchase from them & i can't recommend them highly enough.the sound is excellent compared to the d66 eggos, both muddier & clearer at the same time, better definition but the bass notes are a little muddied although strong. the sound signature is taking some getting used to with the mids quite forward yet the vocals taking somewhat of a backseat in hip-hop, even in some classic crooners stuff (the rat pack live in vegas). they drive well from both ipods & my soundblaster live! soundcard, on my <a href="http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sharp_MD-ST770.html">sharp st770</a> with it's 5mw headphone amp they drive cleanly, my only issue is that the forward mids make the metallic artefacts in LP2 more 'visible' although as these are not portable phones it's no big deal. with the ipod they give more to bass heavy music & no eq than any other phones i've tried px100, ex71, dr22, dr66, mdr-g74, mdr-g82.They are quite large, not too heavy but not something you can slip into a small bag for public transport users. you could walk around in them, they don't seems to squeak much but we'll see about that.next to an axia md as a comparison of the audio technicas sizethe ear cup material is soft & comfortable, does get warm & may be prone to soaking up sweat. they on the head but not super tight. head shaking desn't move them. along with my fingers you can see the 'floating wing' - the system used to keep the phones on the head. rather than have adjusting sliders on the frame these sit on the top of the head keeping the pads in the right place. the first photo shows this well.the cup is dark grey shiny plastic. doesn't seem prone to scratching.the cord is woven fabric & very flexible although wont roll as tight as plastic coated. the cord length is about three meters with a 3.5mm [1/8th inch] gold plug & comes with a plug converter for the 1/4 inch size.conclusionprosexcellent phone for the price. decent build quality, no squeaks. comfortable enough to wear all day without to much fatigue although you would need heat breaks.consno case. fabric cord doesn't store as well as plastic types. as a remote person i prefer short cord plus extender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananatree Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 Mine tend to squeek from time to time, probably from wearing outside in the cold, cold canadian weather.But these are pretty nice headphones wot wot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-EJ915 Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 (edited) lol, the cord is quite lengthy. I remember mine like I had them yesterday, a truly great pair of headphones...powered through my E50 I was like WHOA at the bass, it was rediculous.Here's a cleaner photograph (and a really old one, lol): Edited May 30, 2005 by D-EJ915 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 Very nice review, adrian - your words have a very personal touch to them and stray from the usual monotonious reviews of audio equipment that litter the 'net. I feel like I'm slipping into an old pair of shoes upon reading your compositions, when you're troubled to make them. I sure would like to try out some AT phones someday, but good lord this series seem like something out of Star Wars on your head.I know I've truly accomplished something in my time here as Administrator if I can get an Aussie such as yourself to do a full review and pictorial. *beams* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrain Posted May 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 no sweat kurisu, happy to. the two other posters who also own them had given me some pointers about these phones but it just seemed there wasn;t many irl pics on the net, let alone someone's opinion of them.maybe other prospective buyers will find this useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sushi Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 They're too small !!!! I prefer bigger headphones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MZ-NH1 Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 They look really good! How much you get them for?I am looking for a Home pair of headphones... still looking...Are wireless headphones like Sennheisers any good?Or would corded headphones whoop wireless any day? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrain Posted May 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 corded whips wireless due to bandwidth iircthese cost $133 plus postage from bluetin in singapore as noted in the review. it's cheaper to buy from them via direct bank transfer as you pay australian dollar prices, paypal you have to use the world store, i think you lose about $10 in the conversion process atm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishiyoshi Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 Most brilliant review Adrian; the accompanying pictures were very thoughtful. Thread moved to pinned section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sony_man Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 (edited) so the bass is good? did u compare using an amp or through player directly and soundcard? im a bass head, tell me if it is boomier or in some way better than the sony EX buds. i kno they arent in the same xategory but if u were forced to compare anways lol.i cant find the shopping cart or the add to cart kind of button lol....EDIT: nevermind, they have an interesting order fill out. Edited June 12, 2005 by sony_man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-EJ915 Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 There's no way on earth they're gonna be as boomy/craptastic as the EX series, those things are known for bass. The A500s are not. I'd suggest getting a CMOY amplifier and the Beyerdynamic DT770 if you want lots of bass, they're the "bassmonsters." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sony_man Posted June 12, 2005 Report Share Posted June 12, 2005 ive been getting a lot of that, but the thing is i need money. i also want to work my way up the bassmaster line-up. so i guess A500's are another one of those analytical heeadphones with more balanced sound. phooey... maybe i should just go with the AKG K240S plus PA2 amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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