FS: Audio-Technica ATH-ADX5000

Received these today. I believe I am the 2nd owner. They are in excellent condition. As far as I can tell the frequency graph is not included but everything else should be.

Asking the same price I bought it for.

$1350 shipped. Continental USA only. Includes insurance + PayPal fees. Thanks!

Note: normally I offer a friend/contributor discount, but in this case I am selling them for the same good price I paid.

 

Any impressions?

 

I find them clean and tight sounding. Very analytical and detailed. The ADX5000 have some of that sparkle I've always heard from previous A-T cans.

The treble is honestly a little too much for my personal tastes, but I also used them with a RME ADI-2 DAC (NOS filter, no EQ). I imagine a nice tube amp would result in a much better pairing and here. Sub bass seemed a little more subdued than my Auteur so I'm assuming there is a little bit of roll off there.

They are extremely light and quite comfortable. The ADX5000 reminds me of the AD2000 in some ways despite not having the wing system. There's basically no weight distributed on top of your head. The clamp is more than enough to keep these in place. The earpads are more comfortable than the AD2000. My ears seem to press against the baffles less with the ADX5000. Depending on the shape and size of your ears YMMV.

Since the ADX5000 seems to be a bit of a unicorn I might be willing to send it over to @purr1n, @cskippy, or anyone else that may be a good candidate for some measurements if I don’t get a buyer today.

 

I agree that the ATH-ADX5000 is a bit of a unicorn. While it may not appeal to everyone's taste, it certainly does some things quite well, I was rather surprised that an Audio-Technical headphone could sound this good when I first heard it. I never liked AT headphones in general because many of them were too colored or V/W-shaped sounding, they have this "wow" factor with female vocals but become fatiguing to listen to over time. The ADX5000, on the other hand, is very open and airy sounding and was probably the first AT headphone that made me raise my eyebrow. I suspect pairing it with a slightly warm sounding tube amp like ZDT Jr. or ZDS will be fantabulous. The fact that it is very comfortable on the head is a bonus.

GLWS!

 

These grew on me a lot today. That combined with lack of a buyer means I'm going to hold onto them. Going to have the thread closed for now.

While the ADX5000 can be very unforgiving I really love how how punchy and fast these are compared to my other headphones. They may have a place after all.

Will see about sending them over to cskippy for measurements in the near future. We discussed the possibility earlier today.