MaloS
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2004
- Posts
- 4,670
- Likes
- 13
Yes, its the time to mention the little woody clip-on again...mostly because I feel there is a lack of solid information about it.
I stole these pictures from other sites cause I can't take good ones of my own. Besides, who cares what mine looks like
.
Lets get some quick preliminary information down:
Headphone: Audio-Technica ATH-EW9
Price: ~$150 (varying depending on the retailer)
Type: Dynamic, Supra-Aural, Clip-On
Housing: Wood/Plastic/Metal
Equipment Train used to review the headphones (not the standard way I use these):
Stello DA100 => Guerrilla Pure Copper ICs => RSA Raptor (2005)
Why a $2000 rig to drive a clip-on you ask? Well, I'd like to go with an assumption that the resulting setup is fairly neutral, so I can just talk about the headphone. (If its not, we can talk about that elsewhere).
Previous headphones used/significant experience with:
hd595, hd600, stax srs-005a, im716, v-moda vibe, um2, w5000, k340, k240m
Phew, now thats technical stuff is out of the way...
Well, I own this headphone after the International Meet, as something reminiscent of the W5000 while temporarily downgrading. From the mixed info and reviews about it, I did not expect much...well I was in luck. Frankly on the train of trying different headphones, this headphone still remains in my collection. I say it now - I like it, its not perfect, but it has a number of excellent qualities.
Which ones?
Well, lets get the simple things out of the way. Audio-Technica never slouches on build quality, and this headphone is not an exception. Everything is perfectly matched together, it looks great in pictures and in person, and frankly even after the 3 months I have it now, with multiple large trips, staying randomly in my pockets (which are cluttered with player, amp, cellphone, keys, coins...all that junk), I still can't find a single scratch, or any bend on the metal parts. That is incredible to me - the headphone has very fine metal mechanics for the clip on, and yet it is so durable.
Next thing that I love about it is that it is comfortable. These are lighter than the KSC-75, the clip-on mechanism uses a rubber band to reduce the pressure on the ears, while maintaining a sturdy fit. I barely feel their presence, but I can shake my hand, run, jump around, I went rock climbing with these, biking - they stay on, and they do mean it.
What I would like to note though - the fit is where this headphone gets difficult for many. Some people get a great fit with them right off the bat - and love it, others can't get anything out of it, it just sounds bad without the right fit. Another head-fier when trying mine tried without putting them on putting up against his ears in the best position he could get - and he commented that the driver sounded good, but getting a fit for him looked as good as impossible. From here on - assume, I for some reason am one of those lucky people who can get perfect fit. For those looking into these - I believe trying first is a must, or at least some ability to return these.
Lastly - they are easy to drive, 29 ohms. Any player can get plenty of volume out of them, and with some EQ to the tastes of the listener, they can sound fairly balanced.
Fairly balanced? What does that mean?
Nothing useful I guess...what I mean by that is that the frequencies are all sounding like they are a part of a whole, nothing is disjointed from the rest of the spectrum. What I do not want you to think is that this headphone is neutral. It is always clear - this headphone is colored, and the coloration is there clearly for a reason...why? It is colored in the same way as the ATH-W5000 (for those of you who got the seal with that headphone...silly AT making headphones bit too personal).
And what if we don't know what that is?
Well, that is why I am writing this. I am going to first talk about the spectrum on a discrete basis, and then see how it fits together as a whole. I'll try to have some comparisons, but generally I would like to speak of this headphone as a stand-alone.
Lets start from the ground and up _-^
Ground being the Bass...
Well this headphone has bass, and it is fairly accurate where it is present. It is not its strength though. It rolls off, it will not get that deep rumble in trance or trip-hop, nor does it get the bass-drums in their full majesty. What it does do - it gets all the notes of the piano or a bass guitar, it makes the drums audible, it will get the trance percussion down cleanly, all with great texture. I don't like listening to Massive Attack with this headphone, but with less bass-oriented styles it does the job.
Take a step up - get to the midrange (o)(o)(o)>>
This is where things get interesting
The midrange is fully present, fairly smooth, incredibly rewarding with those smooth tones of jazz piano or vocals. I am loving the electric guitar too - Liquid Tension Experiment, it retains the rough texture while getting the smoothness of the rich Mesa Boogie overdrive Pettrucci is renowned for.
But - it is not flat, I am hearing an upper midrange coloration, same as the earlier mentioned W5000. The slight boost in midrange brings out the vocalists, especially female, above the mix, and does the same to electric guitars, as the majority of the distortion overtones lie in upper midrange. I do not think this coloration is a negative, and I will explain as to how I think it integrates after I cover the spectrum. For now lets leave it at - Audio Technica does it in multiple headphones, for a reason.
And into the clouds o00o, where the treble strikes!
Treble this headphone has, and plenty of. When I was pitting it up against my friend's SR60, I got the impression that EW9 actually won. SR60 is more even, but EW9 has more of an extension I believe.
Well, in more musical words, EW9 sounds organic, but with somewhat strong, and uneven treble, more aggressive tracks can get harsh. Radiohead, Opeth, some stuff by Porcupine Tree come to mind - those are a bit difficult to listen to with EW9 because of the sheer volume of treble resulting in such a combination.
This headphone is not going to try to touch the k340 treble - which is probably the best I have heard in anything short of an HE90, but for what it got, its pretty good. Its vastly better than the roll-off of similarly priced IEMs or closed headphones.
He made the earth, the water, and the skies...
Well he did put them together, did he not? It just took us a while to get off the solid ground onto the liquid stuff, and then take it off into the clouds.
On the other hand, ew9 gives it all to you together, and decides that the water or the air is more important than the ground. You gotta drink, you gotta breathe, can live less ground to walk on, can't you?
What I mean by that is that the bass is recessed to a certain extent, so it is audible, and a bit punchy, the type of bass you would want for jazz. It tries to get out of the way of the rest of the spectrum, and frankly when all the stuff in the mids and treble finally comes all together in the song, you don't worry about the bass much. (Poor bassists, everyone ignores them).
The midrange and the treble work together very tightly. The upper midrange coloration makes a distinct connection to the treble, which also is tad strong in the low range. Together this makes alot of instruments come up front, while background synth or percussion work stays put in the back. This creates a certain sense of a live stage, which I find very appreciable. I do believe this is what Audio Technica is trying to accomplish, since this effect is also present on the w5000, putting vocalists, guitarists, and horns often in the front. Middle ground between Sennheiser and Grado presentations.
There is no earth without the creatures that inhabit it.
AKA the detail, how much detail can this headphone deliver? Well, on Patricia Barber's Live: A Fortnight in France, track 7, Witchcraft, at 2:11 there is a sound that resembles a baby crying. Is that detailed enough?
It won't deliver like an e-stat, but I don't think it falls behind any of the trends lines here below the $500 line. All the reverbations are very distinct, creating for plentiful soundstage cues, and there is alot of distinction between different instruments. Percussion keeps on coming up as cymbals and ethnic drums are very distinctly vibrating in their own sense of air, without smudging together. I think there is more than plenty here, the only headphone I would think that could beat it is Etymotic ER4S in this price-range. (excluding k340).
Some interesting notes about well-being of the creatures:
What I always notice is that a headphone does not need to be bassy to be punchy, and more so, all it takes for it to be punchy is a well recorded track. Entirety of Delerium - Karma, Shpongle, Infected Mushroom is played back with a punch typical of a trance record, without the mid-bass bloat that I personally come to fear these days, since to my ears a number of very popular headphones here have it.
I also think this headphone has music styles it is incredible with, and others that it can be troublesome with. I do not use this to listen to metal, things get a bit bright, but then I can't use a Grado for metal either for the same reasons. I love the musicality and distinction that Jazz and Classical come out of this headphone with, but it can sound great with J-Rock and J-Pop, it sounds pleasant with trance albums even without delivery of deep-bass, I listen to entire Rush albums in single sittings...
Yet again, I repeat myself - I love the musicality of this headphone, most and foremost, and while the unevenness of the treble, not very deep or strong bass, and upper midrange coloration do not describe something that's a high fidelity headphone, the musicality and pleasant presentation assure that this headphone stays with me unlike any other that I owned. Maybe a W5000 should come back to live with its little brother =].
Verdict
This is the second most musical headphone I ever owned, the first being k340. Unlike k340, this one is far more comfortable, does not require high volumes to show itself, is easier to drive, portable, cheaper, and a pleasure to look at. It is disappointing that only a few people who try them here seem to be able to get the fit right, although friends of mine always enjoy these, describing them as very 'lush' sounding. I am certain that for the price they can be enjoyed plenty, are a great statement of style, and definitely a worthy investment for those who enjoy the AT house sound.
I stole these pictures from other sites cause I can't take good ones of my own. Besides, who cares what mine looks like
.Lets get some quick preliminary information down:
Headphone: Audio-Technica ATH-EW9
Price: ~$150 (varying depending on the retailer)
Type: Dynamic, Supra-Aural, Clip-On
Housing: Wood/Plastic/Metal
Equipment Train used to review the headphones (not the standard way I use these):
Stello DA100 => Guerrilla Pure Copper ICs => RSA Raptor (2005)
Why a $2000 rig to drive a clip-on you ask? Well, I'd like to go with an assumption that the resulting setup is fairly neutral, so I can just talk about the headphone. (If its not, we can talk about that elsewhere).
Previous headphones used/significant experience with:
hd595, hd600, stax srs-005a, im716, v-moda vibe, um2, w5000, k340, k240m
Phew, now thats technical stuff is out of the way...
Well, I own this headphone after the International Meet, as something reminiscent of the W5000 while temporarily downgrading. From the mixed info and reviews about it, I did not expect much...well I was in luck. Frankly on the train of trying different headphones, this headphone still remains in my collection. I say it now - I like it, its not perfect, but it has a number of excellent qualities.
Which ones?
Well, lets get the simple things out of the way. Audio-Technica never slouches on build quality, and this headphone is not an exception. Everything is perfectly matched together, it looks great in pictures and in person, and frankly even after the 3 months I have it now, with multiple large trips, staying randomly in my pockets (which are cluttered with player, amp, cellphone, keys, coins...all that junk), I still can't find a single scratch, or any bend on the metal parts. That is incredible to me - the headphone has very fine metal mechanics for the clip on, and yet it is so durable.
Next thing that I love about it is that it is comfortable. These are lighter than the KSC-75, the clip-on mechanism uses a rubber band to reduce the pressure on the ears, while maintaining a sturdy fit. I barely feel their presence, but I can shake my hand, run, jump around, I went rock climbing with these, biking - they stay on, and they do mean it.
What I would like to note though - the fit is where this headphone gets difficult for many. Some people get a great fit with them right off the bat - and love it, others can't get anything out of it, it just sounds bad without the right fit. Another head-fier when trying mine tried without putting them on putting up against his ears in the best position he could get - and he commented that the driver sounded good, but getting a fit for him looked as good as impossible. From here on - assume, I for some reason am one of those lucky people who can get perfect fit. For those looking into these - I believe trying first is a must, or at least some ability to return these.
Lastly - they are easy to drive, 29 ohms. Any player can get plenty of volume out of them, and with some EQ to the tastes of the listener, they can sound fairly balanced.
Fairly balanced? What does that mean?
Nothing useful I guess...what I mean by that is that the frequencies are all sounding like they are a part of a whole, nothing is disjointed from the rest of the spectrum. What I do not want you to think is that this headphone is neutral. It is always clear - this headphone is colored, and the coloration is there clearly for a reason...why? It is colored in the same way as the ATH-W5000 (for those of you who got the seal with that headphone...silly AT making headphones bit too personal).
And what if we don't know what that is?
Well, that is why I am writing this. I am going to first talk about the spectrum on a discrete basis, and then see how it fits together as a whole. I'll try to have some comparisons, but generally I would like to speak of this headphone as a stand-alone.
Lets start from the ground and up _-^
Ground being the Bass...
Well this headphone has bass, and it is fairly accurate where it is present. It is not its strength though. It rolls off, it will not get that deep rumble in trance or trip-hop, nor does it get the bass-drums in their full majesty. What it does do - it gets all the notes of the piano or a bass guitar, it makes the drums audible, it will get the trance percussion down cleanly, all with great texture. I don't like listening to Massive Attack with this headphone, but with less bass-oriented styles it does the job.
Take a step up - get to the midrange (o)(o)(o)>>
This is where things get interesting
The midrange is fully present, fairly smooth, incredibly rewarding with those smooth tones of jazz piano or vocals. I am loving the electric guitar too - Liquid Tension Experiment, it retains the rough texture while getting the smoothness of the rich Mesa Boogie overdrive Pettrucci is renowned for.
But - it is not flat, I am hearing an upper midrange coloration, same as the earlier mentioned W5000. The slight boost in midrange brings out the vocalists, especially female, above the mix, and does the same to electric guitars, as the majority of the distortion overtones lie in upper midrange. I do not think this coloration is a negative, and I will explain as to how I think it integrates after I cover the spectrum. For now lets leave it at - Audio Technica does it in multiple headphones, for a reason.
And into the clouds o00o, where the treble strikes!
Treble this headphone has, and plenty of. When I was pitting it up against my friend's SR60, I got the impression that EW9 actually won. SR60 is more even, but EW9 has more of an extension I believe.
Well, in more musical words, EW9 sounds organic, but with somewhat strong, and uneven treble, more aggressive tracks can get harsh. Radiohead, Opeth, some stuff by Porcupine Tree come to mind - those are a bit difficult to listen to with EW9 because of the sheer volume of treble resulting in such a combination.
This headphone is not going to try to touch the k340 treble - which is probably the best I have heard in anything short of an HE90, but for what it got, its pretty good. Its vastly better than the roll-off of similarly priced IEMs or closed headphones.
He made the earth, the water, and the skies...
Well he did put them together, did he not? It just took us a while to get off the solid ground onto the liquid stuff, and then take it off into the clouds.
On the other hand, ew9 gives it all to you together, and decides that the water or the air is more important than the ground. You gotta drink, you gotta breathe, can live less ground to walk on, can't you?
What I mean by that is that the bass is recessed to a certain extent, so it is audible, and a bit punchy, the type of bass you would want for jazz. It tries to get out of the way of the rest of the spectrum, and frankly when all the stuff in the mids and treble finally comes all together in the song, you don't worry about the bass much. (Poor bassists, everyone ignores them).
The midrange and the treble work together very tightly. The upper midrange coloration makes a distinct connection to the treble, which also is tad strong in the low range. Together this makes alot of instruments come up front, while background synth or percussion work stays put in the back. This creates a certain sense of a live stage, which I find very appreciable. I do believe this is what Audio Technica is trying to accomplish, since this effect is also present on the w5000, putting vocalists, guitarists, and horns often in the front. Middle ground between Sennheiser and Grado presentations.
There is no earth without the creatures that inhabit it.
AKA the detail, how much detail can this headphone deliver? Well, on Patricia Barber's Live: A Fortnight in France, track 7, Witchcraft, at 2:11 there is a sound that resembles a baby crying. Is that detailed enough?
It won't deliver like an e-stat, but I don't think it falls behind any of the trends lines here below the $500 line. All the reverbations are very distinct, creating for plentiful soundstage cues, and there is alot of distinction between different instruments. Percussion keeps on coming up as cymbals and ethnic drums are very distinctly vibrating in their own sense of air, without smudging together. I think there is more than plenty here, the only headphone I would think that could beat it is Etymotic ER4S in this price-range. (excluding k340).
Some interesting notes about well-being of the creatures:
What I always notice is that a headphone does not need to be bassy to be punchy, and more so, all it takes for it to be punchy is a well recorded track. Entirety of Delerium - Karma, Shpongle, Infected Mushroom is played back with a punch typical of a trance record, without the mid-bass bloat that I personally come to fear these days, since to my ears a number of very popular headphones here have it.
I also think this headphone has music styles it is incredible with, and others that it can be troublesome with. I do not use this to listen to metal, things get a bit bright, but then I can't use a Grado for metal either for the same reasons. I love the musicality and distinction that Jazz and Classical come out of this headphone with, but it can sound great with J-Rock and J-Pop, it sounds pleasant with trance albums even without delivery of deep-bass, I listen to entire Rush albums in single sittings...
Yet again, I repeat myself - I love the musicality of this headphone, most and foremost, and while the unevenness of the treble, not very deep or strong bass, and upper midrange coloration do not describe something that's a high fidelity headphone, the musicality and pleasant presentation assure that this headphone stays with me unlike any other that I owned. Maybe a W5000 should come back to live with its little brother =].
Verdict
This is the second most musical headphone I ever owned, the first being k340. Unlike k340, this one is far more comfortable, does not require high volumes to show itself, is easier to drive, portable, cheaper, and a pleasure to look at. It is disappointing that only a few people who try them here seem to be able to get the fit right, although friends of mine always enjoy these, describing them as very 'lush' sounding. I am certain that for the price they can be enjoyed plenty, are a great statement of style, and definitely a worthy investment for those who enjoy the AT house sound.
