+1 lol. One of my worst enemies, for sureā¦
The rare treble smoothness you mentioned earlier has me sold(as well as the bass, it seems). I havenāt heard LCD-4, but LCD-3 and HE-6 are my #1ās Iāve heard so far. Maybe I will just get VO and a bunch of pads for now.
Iād describe the VOās bass as neutral, but punchy. It never feels like itās lacking, unless itās lacking in the source. Favorite pads were the verite lambskin perforated. Those just felt the most balanced to me.
You sold yours? What for? HE1000se? Sundara? =p
I ended up giving my Verite to my SO. The Verite is a non-offensive all-rounder that does nothing wrong, but also doesnāt excel in anything. So although I didnāt have the intention of parting with it, when I got the ADX5000 I found that it actually stepped on the Veriteās role for me as a neutral/natural headphone, but particularly excelled in vocals and strings, also was higher performing and scaled better with higher end equipment. The Verite is far less picky on source equipment, so Iād still rec the Verite for people who want to spend far less $ on the dac/amp side of things.
Ooo, interestingā¦ I had not even considered ADX5000. I own AD700X & 900X, and I know how uniquely wide open of a presentation those little guys have. What DAC & amp do you feel they need to sound good? I will have BF2+G111 in a few weeks.
SS-wise, I did use a bifrost 2 with an rnhp, and that sounds really sweet with the adx5k, so Iād consider that a good combination. I havenāt heard the g111, so I canāt really say for that, but the bf2 is indeed a really nice dac. Both headphones benefit from a tube amp, but I still prefer the adx5k even off a pendant. Scaling doesnāt become an issue until you get into like $$$$ source gear and thatās when I could tell that my other headphones were capable of way more than the verite.
Well for one the adx5000 has an even higher impedance of 420 ohms, so itās naturally going to require more power than the Verite and almost every other headphone ever made besides the Beyerdynamic T1. I used to own the adx5000 headphone, too. The problem with that headphone is that itās very forward in the upper mids. I found it very bright and harsh. Again, if someone knows that they like bright headphones, then all is good. But for those that are sensitive to that type of tuningā¦tread carefully.
Iāve never used it on a setup where it made it sound harsh at least with what Iāve used, but yeah, mids stand out on it. I have used it on setups that made it sound rather boring and way too flat, however. Both the amps in question would also power them fine.
You would think that, but itās actually rather similar power requirements. The adx5k has a sensitivity of 100db/mw, where the verite has 97db/mw, and in practice, from a volume perspective both can get rather loud off most things. That being said the 5k will spike to higher impedances yes which can stress the amp more depending on the design, but disregarding volume the 5k is much much more sensitive to how itās being driven
To me that sounds like a poor source match, as with the right synergy I personally donāt get that at all, but it depends on the amp and dac, I have heard it get bright and sharp on the wrong setup
I donāt know if Iād call it all that similar to a verite though, but I could see it taking the role of a verite
Both you and the above poster keep mentioning that it is picky with amps or needs a specific source to sound right. Thatās exactly how everyone talks about the hd800. That means itās bright and can sound harsh, unless you use tubes to mellow it out. My Verite sounds great from almost anything.
The adx5000 sounds awful with the THX 789. My Verite sounds great from it. I donāt think they sound anything alike.
Everyone knows that Audio Technica likes to tune their headphones with some mid-forwardness. Some people will love that and some will be sensitive to that due to ear shape/concha gain, etc. Look at the frequency response on them. To my ears they sound exactly how they measure. They have a lot of energy in the upper mids.
Yep, as the mass majority of high end headphones do
Yep, itās also the case there
Iāve liked the adx5k on many solid states even more neutral leaning ones. But yes it can get bright if itās on a bright source. On some setups it can get mainly just dull and boring but not bright, all depends on the setup at hand
I bet, thatās way to low preforming of an amp for the 5k to really sound all that great tbh, and also itās more analytical nature will absolutely tilt the 5k that way
Somewhat surprised there, I bet it wouldnāt sound harsh or anything but I would expect technical performance to be fairly weak on that setup
I would agree
In the past yes, although I wouldnāt consider the 5k mid forward, moreso just fairly neutral
Tuning isnāt the only thing being discussed either, I wouldnāt want to ignore other aspects of the headphones
Actually, I favor warm sounding headphones, and am not particularly a fan of bright headphones. I mention source because itās the most transparent headphone I have where the chain influences how it sounds greatly. The verite doesnāt really exhibit that trait. If your source made it sound bright and harsh like that, I wouldnāt be surprised to see you dislike it.
And speaking of tubes, the worst amp I tried with it was a tube amp. Specifically the tuba, and it was just so damn neutral and boring it could bring you to tears. It really just depends.
Very fair. As someone who has gone through the ringer of TOTL headphones over the last decade, I just want to point out what can be a dealbreaker for people, like me, who are sensitive to upper mids/treble brightness. Iāve blindly bought many headphones in the past just based on reviews, only to be very disappointed and shocked at how they sounded compared to how they were described. That is all. Let everyone choose with their own ears. YMMV. This is just my opinion.
Makes sense, if you know you have a strong sensitivity there, having a setup that is very inoffensive in that region is advantageous, the verite is good in that regard of being very inoffensive and almost never fatiguing or harsh
Just out of curiosity, what were you driving them off of? A fairly significant majority of the higher end headphones end up being fairly dependent on source gear and synergy, which could explain some of the bad experiences
See I donāt hear it that way. Headphones have a specific āsoundā and ātuningā. As long as they werenāt underpowered, I donāt ever hear any drastic changes with amps. To my ears, all Hifiman sound bright to me, regardless of source, with the exception of the Edition X V1/V2. Iāve owned the HEX V1 and V2, Ananda, HEK V1 and V2, Arya, HEKse, and Susvara. It didnāt matter if they were driven by THX amps, Jotunheim, Violectric 280/281, Phonitor X, Auris Audio tubes, etc.
And I felt the same way about the adx5000. It always bothered me regardless of source. Itās the same for the hd800, and to a lesser extent, the hd800s; no matter what that 6K spike was always there.
Theyāve all come and gone, but my Verite remain. I even sold my Auteur because it had some upper mid/treble glare that reared its head too often. I crave detail but donāt like abuse. Again YMMV.
Also HE-6/se? I was not happy with the treble of HE500, though I only heard it on a Magni2+Modi 2 at rhe time or so.
Thatās one of the few models Iāve never heard.
As a another viewpoint, just to confuse things with more anecdotal stuff.
I sold my Verite C and kept my Eikons, it was a close call, but the simple fact I was debating which to sell pretty much made the decision for me.
I find the Verite C to be an obviously better technical headphone than the Eikon, but I find the Eikon can be a more engaging headphone for some types of music. Coming back to the doesnāt really stand out thing that @Zaphain mentioned.
I own several other TOTL headphones, the VC/Eikon were competing for my secondary setup where I needed a closed back.
I like the Verite C, itās the best closed back Iāve heard, itās not competitive technically with my other TOTL open back headphones on my source chain, and they are way to expensive used to be a good value, but itās probably the only headphone Iāve owned and sold Iād consider owning again.
Absolutely. And not everyone is as sensitive to certain upper frequencies like I am. There are many who prefer a brighter signature. I just try to be as transparent as possible so those that are on the fence for a new purchase, actually have their outcome meet their expectations.
Iāve heard similar; that Eikon is more engaging/fun than VO/VC. Maybe it would be a good choice for a shootout with VO, instead of Arya, but I have no idea what Eikon sounds like VS what Iām after.