First of all Id like to thank Headphones.com for the IEMs, I was the lucky and happy winner of the weekly giveaway a couple months ago and of course AudioTechnica.

 

Cosmetics

The IEMs have a very strong built quality, the exterior finish is nice and attractive with a brass like color, the cable is ok, but the way its coiled in the package makes it hard to manage once you start using them; its like it has a mind of its own and finally it is a bit noisy the microphonics are very present.

The ATH-ANC23 has a control attached to the cable that houses the noise canceling circuit and one AAA battery, this control is pretty simple, On and Off button, and a volume knob on the side and a belt clip on the back.

The package includes the IEMs, a battery, a small velour bag, a pair of foam tips, and silicon "olive" tips in small, medium and large sizes; and an airplane connector adapter.

 

Comfort

First I want to point out that I'm not an IEM user, I really like full size headphones and I had 4 over the ears pairs, so this is my second pair of IEMs, of course besides the apple earbuds and so.

Putting things inside your ear canal can be tricky and some people don't like it, in my case I'm not used to, but I can say that you can live with them, this is the first time I have them in my ears for more than 10 minutes and so far, they put some pressure on the ear canal specially on the right side, but only custom IEMs get rid of that issue. Maybe is my ear that has to get used to them.

 

Sound Quality

I let them burn for about 40hrs using my office system a MACBookPro - FiiOe7 - MeierCorda HeadFive (only 500 were made).  Just to be fair my main pair of cans are a DT990s so you understand that I like bass and treble and it is my main reference for comparison.

The first thing I noticed is that this IEMs are midcentric, with very forward mids, too much for my taste, I found a hump on the 1khz to 3khz. They are clean but not as detailed as the mids in DT990s.

The Highs have some sibilance around 8k and I expected some grain but there is not, they have great extent.  In some songs they can get kind of harsh. 

Lows had great extension and quality too, but I felt it a bit bloated, it has punch and you can hear the lower end very clear, of course not with the punch of a full size can, but if they are correctly inserted in you ear canal, they have a very interesting frequency response.

I coincide with DavidMahler from Head-Fi and Headphones.com about the soundstage on this IEMs, is great, good imaging, you don't feel the sound behind your eyes, in fact is more like the singer is singing 2 inches in front of you, the center image is a bit diffuse but I've heard some closed cans that can't even compete with the ANC23's soundstage quality.

 

Isolation

WOW! that resumes my experience with the isolation with this IEMs, in my case the Silicon "Olive" like tips isolated better than the foam tips. Im a frequent flyer, but I never thought of buying noise canceling HPs or IEMs, most of the flights I take are 2 hrs or shorter, so I really thought noise cancel was a luxury, I can wait 2 hrs to hear my music… OH I WAS SO WRONG!!!! as soon you turn on the noise cancel function the plane roar disappears, I did it first without music and you hear only a very low frequency hum, thats it… once you play some music the plane is completely gone, I mean TOTALY gone, the great thing is that you still can pick the voices around you but in a low level, and the ability to turn the volume up or down with the knob on the side of the noise cancel unit is a great feature, the noise canceling is kept but the music goes up or down.  I even took a trip to the plane's bathroom and let them on, without music cause my source was the macbookpro. I LOVE THEM… Im sure I'll never fly again without them…

 

Conclusion

Great sound for the price

Amazing soundstage for an IEM

Incredible isolation

This is a great option for the frequent traveler, they take very little space and have really good isolation, you wont regret buying a pair of this IEMs.

I must say that this headphones are very beautiful, the quality begins with the soft leather case that contains them. Once you open it, the blue color stands out but the real excitement comes when you lift them, they are extremely light and the headband has a very soft leather cover, the velour in the pads si very comfortable. The DT990 have a circular shape, so if you're used to a more elliptical headphone you'll notice a less "intrusive" shape, you'll get used to it very fast.
 
The sound is great, the bass is deep and the highs are very bright, some people find that kind of harsh, but very suitable for electronic, rock and some jazz, you should need some equalization for classical. On the other hand some male voices seem a little recessed, but not too much. The detail is amazing, the bass response doesn't covers the subtle details, you can spot very small details with them. I would tell this headphones are a little bit warm mainly because of the bass response, but very suitable for most music styles.
 
My recommendation is to take a listen to this headphones, specially if you are on portable sources or laptops I highly recommend to use an amp to really get the bass tight.