Audio-Technica ATH-AD700 Professional Headphones

Sound is great! Cushion size is little bigger than i expected. 6.3 mm is great wit threading, gold plated. I wish they hold better on the head, if you have no big ears buy model AD500 since it's has smaller driver. Anyway sound quality compensates everything.

OH man the sound quality of these headphone is beautiful. They are so good at sometimes u feel like your at a live concert. The headphones look very durable, i think i will have these headphones for a long time. The ear muffs fits well over my ears. Its just awesome i recommended this to anyone who is looking for a quality headphones

Pro: for under $100 these are one of the very, very few sets with near audiophile sound quality - very neutral, contrasted with the bright sound of the low cost Grado offerings

Con: physically large phones, but light weight and comfortable
require break in period, optimum sound after 200 to 300 hours of use

And then I read in an issue of Stereophile around a year ago, a glowing report by Sam Tellig on the Audio Technica ATH AD700’s, which were praised so much that Sam himself purchased a pair, and I was eventually convinced to buy a pair myself. While they list for over $200.00, Sam got his for just over $100.00, and I thought I could do just as good myself. After procrastinating for quite some time, I eventually went onto the Bay and ordered a pair for $79.00 delivered. I bettered Sam’s price and was quite proud of myself. They were shipped with dispatch, and arrived only 3 days after my order was made.

LISTENING

The ATH-AD700’s sounded simply amazing. It was if I went to a whole other level of audio headphone experience with these. Couldn’t wait to get them home and try them with my 1960’s vintage Fisher 400 tube receiver, whose headphone section is, as you would guess, tubular. I knew that the computer headphone output was not up to real hifi standards, but I was shocked . . . yes I said shocked at just how much better the Fisher headphone out was to it. Again, it was like another realm of listening experience.

THE “SOUND”
The soundstage was sooooo wide, sounds seemed to come from not only within my head (as it does with most cans) but from without as well, I close my eyes and to the left, there’s sound, to the right, there’s sound, above my eyes, there’s sound, in front of me, there’s sound . . . there’s sound everywhere . . . I am engulfed by sound. WOW!!

The mids were fluid, with Ella Fitzgerald’s voice singing to me with that captivating smoothness that only Ella can give. Highs were everpresent, never overwhelming, and always crisp, clean and nonfatiguing. Lows were driven home with authority, tight yet extended when necessary. The sound was, in a word, revealing.

I listened for a few hours, changing CD’s and sampling a variety of my music, Simon & Garfunkel, Boston, Pink Floyd, Joan Baez, Carly Simon, Led Zeppelin, Ottmar Liebert, Jim Reeves, Nat King Cole, Metallica . . . well you name it, if I had it I sampled it. Easily the best pair of headphones I had ever tried, including all the Sennheisers and Grado’s that I sampled at that NYC stereo store. The Audio Technica ATH-AD700’s were never embarrassed, in fact they did not even sweat a little.

COMFORT
What I did notice, was that I did not notice I was wearing headphones. Despite their size, they simply disappeared on my head, I forgot they were there, they were that comfortable. And that says a lot, because I just wanted to get lost in the music, and the Audio Technica ATH-AD700’s allowed me to do just that.

STEREOPHILE “A” RATED
After my purchase, I received my latest copy of Stereophile, which rates a number of audio components into different classes. I was happily surprised to see that my Audio Technica ATH-AD700 headphones got a class “A” rating, further reinforcing my conclusion that I made a wise audio decision. Stereophile has these headphones with a list price of $250.00. I got mine for under $100.00, anyone can do that too. Not a bad way to spend a little money to get a lot of audio reward.

Hope this helps anyone considering a headphone purchase.

Cheers

These headphones are a superb value. The sound quality is fabulous. The images are honestly rendered. The presentation is laid back, with an accent on the ambient. Soundstage is deep, wide and uncongested. Transparency is wonderful. Tangibility of the images is very good. Despite the laid back nature, the images do not appear small or in any danger of becoming lost in the large space. Bass extension is very good, and the highs are airy, extended, and natural. Mids are fluid. Rythm and pace are quick and lively. Compared to the much more expensive Sennheiser HD600s, the ambient is much more accentuated. The difference in approach is in stark contrast. Searching for understanding of the differences pleasantly fleshes out the classic dilemma, "If one of these is right, then the other must be wrong." Two greatly contrasting approaches can both be equally pleasantly rendered. The images are no less tangible than with the Sennheisers; investigation of the suspicion that either the images might get lost in the laid back approach or the images might be crowded in the more forward approach reveals that neither product has fallen victim to its own choices. The laid back approach presents solid images in their own space with no less detail than the forward approach. While there is something very seductive about the forward, palpable bodies of the Sennheiser images, there is a truth and honesty of presentation in the Audio Technica ATH-AD700.

Ergonomics are very good in the ATH-AD700s. While large and very prominent in appearance, they are very light and comfortable to wear. The very techno look with a somehow slightly retro softening dictates private use for most. There is a slight tendency at times for the headphones to emit definite soft creaking sounds when the wearer moves the head about. This appears to be generated by the action of the inner lining of the ear pads rubbing against the grill cloth veil covering the driver enclosures. This can be ignored, but it is a definite presence when encountered. I have not taken the time to contact the manufacturer for any work arounds on this. Compared to the dead silent Sennheisers, this is a definite flaw. While very comfortable and lighter in weight than some headphones of similar quality, there is the sensation that the headphones are large. The Sennheisers are noticeably heavier, yet they are perceived to have a definitely smaller size when worn.

All in all, the Audio Technica ATH-AD700 is a marvelous sounding headphone at a wonderful price when compared to other headphones in its performance range.