Im having a lot of trouble deciding between these as there isn’t really that much info or charts out there, maybe someone here has heard them.
I’m looking at these because they are all supposedly mid-forward and audio technica, I really love the m40x, msr7b and wp900 but have never heard any open back AT and want one, so I figured I’d pick one of these three to compliment my sennheisers (hd560s and hd6xx) and my closed back ath-wp900 which has some recessions on the mids.
I’m leaning towards the 2000x because it was flagship, but the lower price of the other two also call my attention.
They’re pretty out of date these days. R70x is a neutered, grainier HD650. The AD2000x is a specialist headphone that’s only really good for female vocals.
If it has better female vocals than the 6xx then i’m down, thats kind of what I’m looking for but seems really hard to achieve without breaking the bank.
Only buy the AD2000x of you’re very into acoustic, classical, vocal and bass light pop music. They are bright headphones with thin midrange and low bass impact. The stage is also quite narrow.
It’s a hard sell imo. I’d invest in a nice OTL tube amp to pair with 6XX If I were you.
Thanks for the advice, I would get them preciselly for vocal tracks and ballads, 90% of which are female. I think I’ve got the other genres covered with my other cans. But you aren’t really selling it to me, for the price I could get a BHC+speedball but its taking forever for them to ship and I was waiting for bottlehead to discount them, as they usually do once or twice a year.
Its mainly for the female vocals, I like bright tunings, the m40x have my favorite vocals sub-$100, the msr7 has great overall sound for the price as well to my ears, compared to other closed backs, I tend to like AT tunings a lot.
The wp900 has the best treble I have heard, it doesn’t have the best extension but is exactly as shimmering as I like it, it wouldn’t hurt me if the 2000x had a treble as good.
Also the more elevated and forward the vocals the better for me.
R70x: neutral, serious, tightest bass, think of it as AT’s take on a Sennheiser sound with a bit of Beyer twist
AD1000x: very forward mid, to me the most specialist one, good for young, higher pitched female vocal but nothing else. Lower mid is thin, bass almost non existent, I would only recommend it for ACG music. Closest to M40x and MSR7b
AD2000x: more balanced than AD1000x, got some bass but not very tight, great sounding can for jazz and string, and more mature female vocals. For this portion it’s similar to R70x but a bit livelier.
But specially for female vocal on an open back ATH, I think nothing beats AD1000PRM (u can’t find it nowadays) and the next best is probably AD2000 (without x). But they are very niche if that’s what you like. AD2000x is more accommodating, has much better technicality in terms of soundstage and detail retrieval but loses the magic in vocal imo
None of these is like the WP900 which has more bass, pop tuning, v shaped.
I feel we have very similar preference here. I think there’s a chance that you like all three of them. AD1000x being the most extreme, most niche, most forward (almost like listening to MSRP) but also most amp picky as it easily sounds sibilant.
Between R70x and AD2000x, clearly more superior in terms of technicality but both below the level of DT1990. Former is more serious latter is livelier.
I find R70x more amp picky than AD2000x as the added bass in it makes it easily sound bloated. Despite many claiming the opposite, I for one do not like the R70x on tube or warm amps, but that’s just my preference.
Altho tbh, I think AT excels at closed cans, especially wood. Nothing beats AT woodies.
That being said I would leave out the r70x as I already got some reference sounding cans.
I don’t mind the lack of bass or treble extension, and also don’t mind the thin lower mids (6xx got me covered).
the older ad without the x are very hard to get , and I wanted to have an open AT for female vocals, I can get either the ad1000x or the ad2000x right now for good prices ($300 and $500), which one of the two would you pick? or do you think they are not worth it?
they both seem like what I’m looking for but your reviews were lukewarm. If it performed good on vocal jazz as well as the acoustics that would be great.
Between the two I’d say the 2000x is more worth it, simply using the price of HD600 as a reference. But both are a bit overpriced in terms of performance due to AT’s rarity. But I’d also say, given you have a specific goal in mind you might as well go for the more extreme sound rather than an all rounder. Just don’t expect the AD1000x has a 300USD performance in terms of technicality (and tbf, AT is not exactly known for its technicality or price performance ratio).
Feel free to PM me with a few songs and I can listen to it using the AD2000x. I don’t have AD1000x anymore so I can tell u from memory whether the 2000x is satisfying enough.
Another thing is that the 2000x series is warmer, bit bassier whereas the 1000x is colder sounding if memory serves me right. And I also recall that the 1000x does young female vocal very well but a bit off for everything else, whereas the 2000x is a bit more towards reference.
I believe you can still find an AD2000, saw the same guy selling his pair both on head if and on Reddit in the US. I bought sth from him before.
Haha don’t get me wrong! I think both are great just not as special as woodies for me personally. If the music u listen to is closer to Asian female vocals (something like IU for example) then AD1000x is better, but if something with more acoustic or jazz element I’d recommend AD2000x.
Thanks all of this has been very helpful and coherent with the few other reviews I could find.
I don’t live in the states which makes getting used headphones a lot harder, also I like to buy brand new products
I would send you some songs but at this point I don’t think its necessary, Im getting that ad2000x would perform better on say amy winehouse and sheena ringo who have a deeper voice and jazzy instrumentals, and the ad1000x would be better for higher pitched voices like most japanese singers.
A lot of the singers I will listen to use jazzier/orchestral backgrounds, so I think the ad2000x would give me the upper hand there, even though the ad1000x should have the more front vocals and perform better with ACG?
I will use a little dot mk2 as a preamp for a schiit magnius which warms up its coldness, I also have an ifi zen dac and a fiio btr5.
And yes, I think the AD2000x would suit your music and your setup better. The AD1000x will sound piercing on a Magnius. If you’re into AT headphones I’d really recommend investing a low impedance amp for it.
, and I wanted to have an open AT for female vocals, I can get either the ad1000x or the ad2000x right now for good prices ($300 and $500), which one of the two would you pick? or do you think they are not worth it?