Review: Audio Technica ATH-AD700

[Buffalobiian]

Find myself preferring my ad700 over the 900 lately. Ad900 having more bass is a myth for me, 700 seems to have a fuller sound and more bass for me, and not as sizzly trebble.

Never quite got to grips with the 900 comfort either, 700 is so much nicer to wear.

Can you go into a bit more detail about the comfort differences between the 700 and 900? I assumed they were exactly the same.

[Marcus]

Both the AD700 and AD900 fit me in pretty much the exact same way, I also find the AD700 treble to be less refined and bass response on the AD900 goes deeper....

[theeyealtering]

The only difference I can remember comfort wise b/w the AD900 and AD700 is that the AD900 has angled drivers and the AD700 does not. This might affect comfort if you haven't put them on properly.

[Benno1988]

The only difference I can remember comfort wise b/w the AD900 and AD700 is that the AD900 has angled drivers and the AD700 does not. This might affect comfort if you haven't put them on properly.

They aren't angled?

The pads (or is it the housing) have a very very slight angle though.

[grev]

I have both, both are slightly angled...

[Benno1988]

The actual housing angles them slightly, but the drivers themselves are flush yeah? Can't remember!

[theeyealtering]

huh... my memory must be faulty

[ledge]

Find myself preferring my ad700 over the 900 lately. Ad900 having more bass is a myth for me, 700 seems to have a fuller sound and more bass for me, and not as sizzly trebble.

Never quite got to grips with the 900 comfort either, 700 is so much nicer to wear.

ok, well im kinda the opposite. from memory the AD900s had more bass and both were of similar comfort .....

[jjcoolaus]

OK i've had these headphones since last Friday (thanks for posting them so quickly headphonic), so here is my impressions.

I put them around my neck and instantly found them to be very comfortable resting there - perfect!

I tried them on head and they didn't sit properly - something is wrong and how do you adjust these anyway? So I put on a beanie and like magic they fit perfectly and the sound comes through crystal clear - the addititon of a beanie on my head adds to the bass slightly as well.

My first trip out with these was to the football. I have poor eyesight so i rely on radio commentary for when the players are at the opposite side of the oval and i really like the crowd atmosphere. I had tried noise cancelling and closed headphones at the football before and felt very uncomfortable because it blocks out one of the best things about local football - the crowd atmosphere! (and the funny comments from people occasionally) I want to hear the crowd noise through my headphones.

I used the AD700's with my Degen DE15 pocket radio (review here: http://www.blogordie.com/2011/10/degen- ... ndig-m400/ or here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRrHovvut7k) and the AD700's were really terrific - the fairly weak bass profile meant that the sound quality on AM was improved greatly. Due to this radio having a bandwidth filter set to about 4khtz, it can sound quite muffled on some broadcasts, and hard to listen to particularly through headphones. On this particular night the game was broadcast on community FM radio so i spent most of my time on that band.

I quite happily wore the headphones on my head the entire time i was watching the game and had them around my neck when in the clubrooms. I never experienced any discomfort on my head (remembering this is with them over the top of a beanie) and they also felt great around my neck too allowing me to move my neck pretty freely - one of the most comfortable pairs around my neck ever! Listening fatigue wasn't an issue either.

I will be taking these to the football again, but next time the game is on AM radio i might try the Degen DE321 (review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0daDlKg7sUk) instead as this doesn't have such a muffled sound on AM (medium wave) broadcasts.

So that was a fantastic success!

Next I tried taking them out on an hour long walk for some excercise. Again the beanie was on my head to make them fit a bit better, and this time they were connected to my HTC One X with Beats Audio profile on, playing BBC's Radio 1 Xtra. The DJ (Nick Bright) was playing a mixture of house, R&B and drum and bass. I was really surprised to hear DJ Fresh's Hot Right Now through these headphones - surprised because some of the middle range bass came through reasonably well. Now of course you won't be hearing sub-bass frequencies with these headphones, but I have my DT-770P's for that with a headphone amp - i hear enough dnb & hard dance music walking into work each week to want to listen to something different on the weekends.

The R&B/House on the show came through really well, I could hear the lyrics perfectly now without the bass going thump thump and drowning out the singing. There is only one style of music where i really appreciate deep sub bass and that is drum and bass. I'm really starting to appreciate using headphones that tone that side down a bit on other styles of music.

One weekend soon i'm going to try these out with some Jazz or some Country for something different while i take a much longer 2 hour walk to my destination. (maybe not this weekend - if my Koss headphones come in the post by then i'll be trying them out instead)

It's just a shame I need other headgear to make these fit alright - not sure how they'll go in summer as i haven't tried them with a cap yet (i guess bucket hats are out of the question) but if there is a way to adjust these headphones better i'd love to know.

Overall, these are going to be my go to headphones for football and long walks in winter, but especially football commentary - it sounds great on these particularly if your commentary is in stereo!

[jjcoolaus]

As I listen to these more and more another thing i find, particularly with streaming media, is that i'm cranking up the bandwidth settings on streams.

If your listening to these using any source encoded below about 150kbps these headphones are really going to highlight the compression artifacts - it's particularly prominent with AAC+ which is often at 64kbps or less.

This morning I brought the AD700s into work with me as I didn't feel like any bass heavy tunes this morning, and I was listening to CROOZE (its a unique mix of smooth jazz, easy listening and pop music) at the 128kbps stream and in some tracks i could really notice those artifacts. Might try the Windows Media Player stream at 128kbps later today to see if the difference in codec makes a difference.

I'm still in two minds as to whether that's a good thing or a bad thing - it's not great for my mobile phone bill as I do use a lot of streaming media. I'll have to download a track in FLAC and see how it sounds.

[Marcus]

I find anything below around 192kbps is generally a little too low.

[BusinessEvolution]

I found my A900s could differentiate between anything encoded lower than 192mhz pretty easily.

[Illywhacker]

Finally got the clams lying around to get a pair of the AD700 based on this review only to find they're out of stock. The TAD500 seem very similar - can anyone outline the differences as a forumsearch/google doesn't throw up much.

They'll be replacing a loved but old and rattling pair of MS-1s.

Thanks!

[Marcus]

We have more stock arriving mid this week :)
The TAD500 are a little more comfy overall and have slightly stronger bass response, the AD700 have a little more treble emphasis overall which makes them sound a bit more 'sparkly' :)

[Jamesom]

Thats good to know, I was also wondering about that. I will try and get the tad500 for Christmas, sounds less fatiguing.