Audio Technica AT-R70X

I wonder if a TP mod could reduce those treable peaks? Distortion is also kind of meh.

 

Thanks for doing the measurements purrin. It measures pretty much exactly how I hear it.

 

Do these sound lo-fi, grainy to you?

 

I heard these pairs and find them to be have quite abit of distortion/graininess/wobbly in the treble. Also the soundstage...music seems to be coming from behind your head.

Suggest to try a pair of HD650 if you are considering the R70X.

 

hmm that's interesting, measurements don't look to bad though I've only heard the older AD 900X, and I had a chance to hear the AD 2000X, an imo the 2000X sounded exactly like that "music's coming from behind" still good to see an older and newer generation AD headphone measured. I'm curious to how long before we need a new Flagship form ATH

 

Hi i'm new here and registered because of this r70x discussion. Great website, i like the objectivity
I know the r70x has been compared to the HD650 here. I'm trying to decide between the two.
I've had ATs in the past and really enjoyed them, especially the ESW9. Head fi seems to dig the r70x (wary of hype of course, they also digged the DT1770 which I thought was terrible), but you guys seem to think it falls short of the 650.

My preference for a headphone is musical and enjoyable for long periods, and good for all genres. I absolutely hate treble sibilance/peaks.

Basically my quetion is should I forget about the r70x, and just get the hd650?

 

Haven't heard the r70x...but on the other hand what you've described fits the HD650 pefectly: "My preference for a headphone is musical and enjoyable for long periods, and good for all genres. I absolutely hate treble sibilance/peaks."

 

I hear sounds as coming from behind me on all headphones. I had always assumed it was normal until I was talking to one of my friends a while back about it. I'm thinking it's just the psychoacoustics of how we perceive soundstaging in cans and the way my brain is wired.

 

Depends. I owned the HD650 for a month and as much as I tried to like it, I never grew any appreciation for them. Hell, I almost mentally wrote off the HD600 because of the HD650. I know of a few people who don't like them - so don't blindly buy them unless you're getting a great deal and re-selling wouldn't hurt you too much.

I've never directly compared the HD650 to the R70x, but I personally prefer the R70x over my HD600 in terms of audio. The HD600 wins the comfort battle though. At the end of the day it's going to come down to preference and you should look to demo them before making a rather expensive headphone purchase.

 

Anyone try this with the Bottlehead Crack or a similar OTL tube amp?

 

I am with most posters here. The R70x is not stellar. Sound-wise, it competes with the HD598, Fidelio X2, DT 990 and so on, but not above. The bass is borderline muddy, the grain is definitely real and soundstage isn't great either.

For $350 I also expect better build quality. Plastic feels thin, pads look outright cheap. And the cable connector is the epitome of anti-consumer bullshit.
Audio-Technica decided to make the connector extra exotic and unique so that finding replacements is next to impossible. Granted, many asshole manufacturers do the same, but there is not even an OFFICIAL replacement for the R70x cable (at least I cannot find any). Plus, there is only one in the box while the cheaper M40x, M50x, M70x and MSR7 all come with 2 or 3 cables. The fact they market this headphone as studio equipment makes this whole shitshow even more ridiculous. Given the whole situation, they might as well have attached a fixed cable to the headphone.

 

I have compared the HD600, HD650, R70x and the X2 for very long sessions

the R70x fits in the middle of a HD600 and HD650, and it is Audio Techinca's take on a non AT house sound signature. A good effort imo. I do not hear the distortions / graininess some people are talking about

In Australia, it retails around ~$399 AUD at most audio retailers so it is actually priced pretty competitively.

Build quality is.... okay? compared to the AD series it is definately a lot thinner in construction and i got no clue why they made it a 3m propriety detachable cable with no included 1.2m cable to change to.

 

In between the HD650 and HD600 in terms of sound signature?

 

Is it just me or does Audio Technica not sell R70x earpads?

 

Nevermind, support replied that the factory does sell them after being forwarded to different email addresses. Anyway, @purrin can you still remember if this was a Japan made unit or the Taiwan made one?

 

Not to muddy the loaner thread of the special edition up: A friend raves about the R70X (albeit with copious amounts of EQ) so I'm genuinely curious to read everyone's impressions.

FWIW does anyone who'll be on the loaner tour own the original version to compare against? Seems like that'd be specifically useful.

@purr1n sorry for the tag but while I think distortion surface is generally more interesting and useful it might be fun to publish the old style graphs alongside dist surface to directly compare to the above, mainly the uncompensated FPC traces here and distortion in percentages?