My new headphones arrived! Audio Technica ATH-ESW9

[aphex]

I should really start amassing a list of all the headphones i've owned over the years, its growing quite long now. I think this is my 7th or 8th budget audiophile headphone in about two years 🙂

Anyway, I picked these up as I'm looking for a great all around headphone for the home & for travel. As much as I would love to walk around with HD595's, my wife would kill me. Got em lightly used in perfect condition for a great price. They are basically the next step up from the ATH-ES7's.

Audio Technica ATH-ESW9

Wooden housings made of African Paddock not only look great?they contribute to the superior acoustic reproduction that these beautiful headphones offer. Audio-Technica?s specially designed 42 mm neodymium drivers project powerfully. Luxurious earpads deliver for long-wearing comfort. The headphones fold for compact storage.

* Wooden housings made of African Paddock for superior acoustic reproduction

* Specially designed 42 mm drivers deliver outstanding audio

* Soft earpads provide luxurious comfort

* Headphones fold for compact portability

* Includes protective pouch

They weren't sold in the US anywhere except audiocubes who imports them directly from Japan. All the other sellers were based on Japan or Singapore. As a result, they were a bit difficult to find here in the US. Looks as though they came out with a US version recently though, the ATH-ESW9A (which I linked to above).

I'll be posting my early review of these shortly, but so far i'm very impressed. I don't think i've heard mids this strong ever, its impressive. Bass is on par with the DT770's I had previously, again impressive.

 

[Oyeve]

I almost bought the wooden clipons just for the cool looking factor. Wish I could get these. I have heard them and they sound great.

 

[Tiamat]

interesting! They seem to be easy to drive compared to the senns. May not even need an amplifier for these puppies! Looks pretty nice too. Its a closed design, can you comment on the difference in "airyness" to the sound from the standard open-air Senn or grado?

 

[Muadib]

You wife would allow these over the HD595?😕 Why, does she have a thing for wood?


That didn't come out right...😛

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Muadib
You wife would allow these over the HD595?😕 Why, does she have a thing for wood?


That didn't come out right...😛

lol. The HD595 do let out quite a bit of sound due to their open design. These AT's probably contain most of their sound. Plus, they probably isolate noise from the surroundings much better so he wouldn't be able to hear her complain anyways 😛

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Muadib
You wife would allow these over the HD595?😕 Why, does she have a thing for wood?


That didn't come out right...😛

lol. The HD595 do let out quite a bit of sound due to their open design. These AT's probably contain most of their sound. Plus, they probably isolate noise from the surroundings much better so he wouldn't be able to hear her complain anyways 😛

Well not only the open design, but my said I look like a airline pilot with down syndrome when I wore my HD595's. 🙁

The ATH-ESW9 are considerably more portable (smaller, closed, foldable)

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
interesting! They seem to be easy to drive compared to the senns. May not even need an amplifier for these puppies! Looks pretty nice too. Its a closed design, can you comment on the difference in "airyness" to the sound from the standard open-air Senn or grado?

They sound fantastic so far unamped, hope to have my new amp built this sunday so i'll let you know how they sound with an OPA 2227.

The bass is just sick, i haven't found out how low it goes yet because it just keeps going and going.

I haven't heard Grado's yet (surprisingly), but I have had a few senns. To be honest, I do prefer some classical on Senn's (Orchestral/Strings), but not all. The 'airiness' you speak off with the Senns wasn't something I was able to quantify until I've moved along to different headphones. The Senns were so smooth and sweet sounding with such little discomfort on the ears, I could easily swear I was sitting IN the theater listening to a live performance. Personally, I combine much of the discussion of airiness with the discussion of soundstage. The ESW9's aren't nearly as open and airy (not surprisingly), but they add quite a bit more warmth and lower register which works better for me on most everything else.

The best way I can describe how these compare to the Senn's i've owned;
Sennheiser HD595/HD580 - Sitting front row at an amazing live concert with perfect acoustics
ATH-ESW9 (and DT770) - Sitting in a recording studio with a professional running the board

For me, the airiness of the HD595's make me feel like i'm there (fantastic for classical, not so good for other genres), while the ESW9's make me feel like I have kickass headphones listening to a great studio recording.

I will say one thing before the full review in a day or two, the sheer depth and weight to the bass and mids on these ESW9's REALLY matches well with classical piano.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: Tiamat
interesting! They seem to be easy to drive compared to the senns. May not even need an amplifier for these puppies! Looks pretty nice too. Its a closed design, can you comment on the difference in "airyness" to the sound from the standard open-air Senn or grado?

They sound fantastic so far unamped, hope to have my new amp built this sunday so i'll let you know how they sound with an OPA 2227.

The bass is just sick, i haven't found out how low it goes yet because it just keeps going and going.

I haven't heard Grado's yet (surprisingly), but I have had a few senns. To be honest, I do prefer some classical on Senn's (Orchestral/Strings), but not all. The 'airiness' you speak off with the Senns wasn't something I was able to quantify until I've moved along to different headphones. The Senns were so smooth and sweet sounding with such little discomfort on the ears, I could easily swear I was sitting IN the theater listening to a live performance. Personally, I combine much of the discussion of airiness with the discussion of soundstage. The ESW9's aren't nearly as open and airy (not surprisingly), but they add quite a bit more warmth and lower register which works better for me on most everything else.

The best way I can describe how these compare to the Senn's i've owned;
Sennheiser HD595/HD580 - Sitting front row at an amazing live concert with perfect acoustics
ATH-ESW9 (and DT770) - Sitting in a recording studio with a professional running the board

For me, the airiness of the HD595's make me feel like i'm there (fantastic for classical, not so good for other genres), while the ESW9's make me feel like I have kickass headphones listening to a great studio recording.

I will say one thing before the full review in a day or two, the sheer depth and weight to the bass and mids on these ESW9's REALLY matches well with classical piano.

Interesting...

I've only compared Sennheiser HD555 vs. Grado SR125 and Koss Portapro. The Sennheiser had less air, very laid back and was back a few rows compared to the grado which had quite a bit of air and put you very much in front, although had a little more bass warmth that seemed to really enhance the tone come from plucked orchestral bass, as well as any bass for that matter.

Frankly, for me, I think the perfect balance would be to keep the bass warmth of the grado, but have the average of the two in terms of treble. There are some music (especially poorly recorded ones) where the grados become shrill.

Since the grados fault lies in having too much of something (senn has too little) it would seem that it would be easy to have some sort of parametric equilization to play around with without adding to amplifier requirements. The grados do not require an amplifier due to their ease of drive, so they almost seem the "perfect" headphone for playing around with PEQ or DSP. Any comments here? I've looked around, but all of the DSP/PEQ options I have seen are very price prohibitive (in terms of better off just trying to find the better headphone).

The koss has almost no air, overly warm in the mid bass, very limited cymbal action, but great for on-the-go listening at high SPL, a fun sound without any tiring of the ears, but not critical at all to the music.

 

[aphex]

Wow, I just sat down and made a list of all the headphones and amp's i've owned over the past few years.... Kinda scary when I write it out like that;

Phones:
Audio Technica ATH-ESW9
Audio Technica ATH-ES7
Klipsch Image X10
Sennheiser CX300 Sennheiser
Sennheiser HD580 (sold)
Sennheiser HD595 (sold)
AKG K81 DJ (sold)
Westone UM2 (sold)
Shure E500 (sold)
V-Moda Vibes (sold)
Jays Q-Jays (sold)
Sennheiser PX100 (sold)

Amps:
cMoy
Meier Corda Porta III (sold)
PA2V2 (sold)
Little Dot MKIII (sold)
Little Dot II+ (sold)

Sources:
iPhone 3G ? MacBook

 

[Baked]

I see you tried a lot of portable amps. I had a Ray Samuels Audio Emmeline SR-71 for a bit, but it's too bulky for portable usage and the lack of AC power makes home usage cumbersome. Do you have another source other than ones listed? Ever tried a full size home amp?

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Baked
I see you tried a lot of portable amps. I had a Ray Samuels Audio Emmeline SR-71 for a bit, but it's too bulky for portable usage and the lack of AC power makes home usage cumbersome. Do you have another source other than ones listed? Ever tried a full size home amp?

Yea, but its in my home theater downstairs so its not practical for me to use it most of the time. I've heard really good things about the SR-71, but a bit out of my price range for amps.

I think i'm gonna get the parts and build a mini3 within the next few weeks.

 

[aphex]

So its a few days later and I am still LOVING these headphones. My only wish is the soundstage could be a bit wider, but overall I love em. Strong bass, Strong Mids, High Trebles. For now? Very satisfied 🙂

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: aphex
So its a few days later and I am still LOVING these headphones. My only wish is the soundstage could be a bit wider, but overall I love em. Strong bass, Strong Mids, High Trebles. For now? Very satisfied 🙂

Cool! I haven't found a sealed phone yet that has as great of a soundstage as open-air headphones yet.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: aphex
So its a few days later and I am still LOVING these headphones. My only wish is the soundstage could be a bit wider, but overall I love em. Strong bass, Strong Mids, High Trebles. For now? Very satisfied 🙂

Cool! I haven't found a sealed phone yet that has as great of a soundstage as open-air headphones yet.

Yea, i think the final solution (that just sounds bad) is going to be to keep these and pick up one of the HD595/HD600/HD650 again 🙂

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: aphex
So its a few days later and I am still LOVING these headphones. My only wish is the soundstage could be a bit wider, but overall I love em. Strong bass, Strong Mids, High Trebles. For now? Very satisfied 🙂

Cool! I haven't found a sealed phone yet that has as great of a soundstage as open-air headphones yet.

Yea, i think the final solution (that just sounds bad) is going to be to keep these and pick up one of the HD595/HD600/HD650 again 🙂

Have you tried the higher end AKG headphones? I'm dying to hear the new AKG K702. In my experience the higher end AKG is kind of a cross between the standard grado and standard sennheiser sound quality.