HD650 is warmer, smoother, and slightly darker, with more 'creamy' midrange. ATH-R70x sounds a little dryer, with better detail and clarity, also slightly better bass and midrange texture. Overall ATH-R70x sounds less coloured than HD650, to my ears ATH-R70x is more natural sounding. The large size may seem a little preposterous, but it does serve its purpose in giving enough headroom for nearly all head sizes. Despite the feeling that headphones will slip down our ears, they don’t in reality. However, we still would’ve liked the springiness of those flaps to be tauter for a more secure hold around our heads.

The earpads are made of a flexible raised fabric that provides exceptional comfort and durability and that is probably the best thing we loved about ATH AD500X. The single-sided OFC (oxygen-free copper) cable with an elastic TPE covering is included to prevent tangling, and it is a huge lifesaver. To estimate the frequency response, I did White Noise measurement using AudioTool application and Dayton Audio iMM-6 calibrated measurement microphone. It’s not an accurate measurement, only for estimation. White Noise file was generated by Audacity, played through Yulong DA8. Dayton iMM-6 microphone was positioned at my ear, as shown on the following picture: Being flat and neutral, ATH-R70x never sounds dull or boring. It does it in a nice musical way. We need to redeem the use of the word 'flat', which is often associated with dull and boring sound, the kind of lifeless (poor dynamic & frequency response) sound signature. What I mean by flat is balanced tonality, enough bass energy with good treble sparkle to bring music to come alive. But don't get me wrong, ATH-R70x is not V shape either. Not even mildly V shape. So ATH-R70x is not 'n' shape, and neither 'V' shape. To my ears, tonality is almost in perfect balance and ruler flat. Only the treble is tad soft for distant miking recording, but quite balance on closed miking recording. I'm a T1 and HD800 user for years, so I kind of get used to natural bright & transparent headphones. So the lesser treble of ATH-R70x sounds a tad soft to me. Could be also due to aging. At 42 this year, my hearing limit is only up to approximately 15 kHz. I ever tested my hearing with 15 kHz tone, using Beyerdynamic T1. Wearing T1, I heard only a very soft high pitch, and suddenly my teenage son about 2.5 meters away from me asking, 'what's that high pitch sound?'. Oh man, I hope I can have teenager ears

They use OFC single-sided cord that is attached to the left ear cup. This cord design prevents it from tangling up, which can be very annoying when listening to music or watching a video online. Cut the wire if you've not done it already. (And you will discover why this cable is so stiff. Look at all this sheat for these 3 small wires inside!) The following is weight comparisons without cables, with other headphones in this review. ATH-R70x is simply the lightest. Comfort wise, ATH-R70x feels lighter with slightly less headband pressure. Fidelio X1 is also a comfortable headphone with larger ear cups, but does feel heavier. ATH-R70x ear pads are replaceable, while X1 earpads are not. The dual-sided detachable cable of ATH-R70x is theoretically better to separate the ground wire between left and right drivers to reduce crosstalk. While on X1 ground wire is shared between left and right drivers. From my experience, mild to moderate crosstalk is expected from shared ground wire design. Sound quality is not only tonality. There are detail, dynamic, imaging, and maybe some other parameters. Those parameters are not easily measured. The better way to get 'approval' for 'Professional Reference' quality is probably to let well known professional sound engineers, trained ears, who have good experience with headphones, to use them, and get their opinions about the overall sound quality. In this case, I know I'm not qualified to give 'approval' of whether ATH-R70x deserves the label of 'Professional Reference Headphone', but I will do what I can to give honest opinion, based on some years of journey in Head-Fi world.

As you can see, the output voltage requirement of ATH-R70x is pretty close to HD 800. So far, playing a soft sounding recording at pretty loud volume (not recommended), 6.6 Vrms / 18.8 Vpp is the maximum output voltage required. iBasso DX90 has maximum output voltage of 2.69 Vrms / 7.6 Vpp, so far, generally quite adequate for ATH-R70x. This output voltage measurement is useful when looking for a headphone amplifier for ATH-R70x. Get an amplifier with at least 5 Vrms maximum output for ATH-R70x. Or if you have a lot of soft sounding recording collections, 7 Vrms would be a safer choice. All the headphones' features and specifications are covered in this section. Driver Unit/ TransducerPlay the complex 60 Feet Tall by The Dead Weather, and there’s ample space for the instruments and vocals to breathe in the big soundfield. Comparing T1 and ATH-R70x, both sounds relatively linear in tonality, with T1 emphasizes more on the treble region, and ATH-R70x emphasize more on the bass to low mid region. For listening to classical, I prefer T1. While for pop and jazz, I prefer the ATH-R70x tonality. Overall T1 excels on clarity, detail, and speed. And ATH-R70x sounds more pleasing for long sessions. Comparison with Sennheiser HD 650 As mentioned earlier, I don't have HD 650. I've listened to HD 650 a few times before, but for a more accurate comparison I went to a local headphone shop (Jaben Singapore), to compare both of them.

In the price, a stereo 1/8″ (3.5 mm) connector with a 1/4″ (6.3 mm) adaptor in gold plating is also included. After the Pink Noise measurement, then I play 100 Hz Sine (0 dBFS) to measure the output voltage of the amplifier. All loudness measurement is done using Yulong DA8. Yulong DA8 digital volume is easier for volume level reading and accuracy. Output voltage measured using Owon VDS3102 digital oscilloscope, unloaded. T1 and HD 800 pair well with smooth and warm amplifiers to compensate their brightness, while ATH-R70x pairs better with detailed and neutral sounding amplifiers. DIY Desktop PC: Gigabyte GA-H77-D3H-MVP motherboard, Intel i7-3770, 16 GB RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit SP1.

The Audio-Technica ATH-AD700X features a 53mm driver unit responsible for moving the air and creating sound. Double Air Damping System exclusively developed by Audio-Technica which improves reproduction of low frequencies. OFC CABLE To me, the colourless tonality of ATH-R70x is quite amazing. Just from the tonality alone, in my opinion, ATH-R70x deserves the title of 'Professional Reference Headphone'. It doesn't really excel in detail and dynamic as compared to other flagships, but it really does well in tonality. I will use ATH-R70x for observing tonality and equalizer adjustment, while I will still need my T1 for other things such as clean up, applying de-esser, compressor, and reverb. That's the reason in the beginning I said that ATH-R70x is complementing those mentioned flagships professional headphones. But that's my opinion, and I'm really curious to see the result of ATH-R70x frequency response measurement. I hope Audio-Technica will send @Tyll Hertsens a set of ATH-R70x to be measured and reviewed. Their incredibly open and airy sound is the biggest attraction point – few other headphones at this price can match that scale of space.

They do face some strong competition in this category: the already-mentioned Grado and Philips headphones are simply more musical, more talented and more exciting. These headphones are made from high-quality materials, including aluminum alloy and magnesium alloy components, to make sure the design is both lightweight and durable at the same time. However, Audio-Technica could have made this headphone more durable at this price range. The 3D Wing headband structure consists of small removable wings that are found across the range of our HiFi headphones. No adjustment is necessary, the headset adapts itself to any shaped head as soon as it is positioned over the head, and removes the feeling of pressure felt with "classic" headband headphones. Ultra lightweight Features: ATH AD500X has deep, forceful bass and exceptional vocal projection. With its newly developed 53 mm drivers with CCAW voice coils, you can get the best sound ever. Even more, the open-air headphones do not hurt the ears so you can have the best listening experience. The sense of distance and depth between the instruments is easily felt and heard, while the layers of clean detail keep you hooked into the song.The Award-winning Grados sound more musical and capable of delivering the tension and drama behind The Dead Weather’s songs, while the Audio Technicas don’t have that same level of refinement and rhythmic precision. Design Now here is where I began a serie of mistakes. So be aware of what I did. At first I wanted to keep the original wires, but removing this huge sheat was difficult. My wire stripper didn't even cut it for the job (lame word joke), so I open the sheat with an exacto and damage the wires at the same time unfortunately, making them shorter in usable length. Very balanced, almost ruler flat tonality, makes ATH-R70x very useful for tonality observation & equalizer adjustment.