Apos x Audio Technica ATH-R70x Refine Headphone Review

I owned the Elex and Clear in the past and loved them both while I had them.

In the case of Elex vs. R70X I would choose the Elex 9 out of 10 times for pure excitement. That headphone would rock you regardless of what you were listening too, while the R70X is more neutral and tame. The Elex build quality also feels a few levels better, heavier for sure, but do not feel like they are going to break easily. The R70X does dissapear on your head because they are that light, so if that is a consideration...

Cost of pads for the Elex is going to be higher, but the swapping mechanism is just better on the Focals. Cup connectors for the cable is a standard 3.5 for Elex and some strange proprietary one for the R70X, so cable rolling is easier.

 

Thanks for the detailed reply -- super helpful. I do like to swap pads and cables, and I already have a couple 3.5mm cables due to my Stockholm Syndrome-adjacent attachment to Hifiman headphones for the last decade. I think I'd prefer the Elex.

 

As always, thank you to those that make this loaner possible. I really enjoy SBAF's loaner program.


GEAR USED

Yggdrasil+ OG/A2 | iFi Zen One Signature --> Magni Piety | SW51+ --> Apos R70x
iFi micro iDSD Signature Finale --> Apos R70x
Apple Dongle --> Apos R70x


FIT AND FINISH

These are insanely light. I've never worn headphones that have felt this light on my head and I really enjoyed it. Honestly, I think these are the most comfortable headphones that I've ever used. I barely noticed that they were there. Looks are subjective, but I thought they looked relatively nice, and they seemed sturdy enough.

I didn't like that they have a unique wiring, so you can't use aftermarket cables, and you can't use them with balanced gear. I also didn't like the cable locking mechanism, it didn't feel intuitive to me.


SOUND

The first thing that struck me was that these sounded somewhat ethereal, a little like electrostatic headphones. The macrodynamics were relatively tame, especially for a dynamic driver headphone. At the same time, the transient response was nice and crisp, which made the headphones expressive, but gentle. The initial attack, while being crisp and articulate, wasn't sharp sounding. I really liked the balance that they struck here.

Perhaps this is just another manifestation of macrodynamics, but I thought that there wasn't a lot of weight to notes. It's almost the opposite style relative to something like the ZMF Atrium. Notes sounded delicate. I think this helped to highlight some of the finer details a bit, because I wasn't getting distracting by large dynamic shifts, so microdynamics were highlighted somewhat. Speaking of microdynamics, I think the R70x has good microdynamics and plankton, especially for the price. I don't like headphones if they lack microdynamics and plankton, and these were above my threshold for enjoyment.

The tuning was neutral-bright and I found that most instruments sounded mostly correct to my ears. There weren't any glaring peaks, but I did find that the balance of lower mids to lower treble wasn't quite to my preference. I like more lower mids than the Apos R70x and less lower treble, but this isn't to say that they sounded wonky, just that it wasn't to my preference. I think I noticed this most with electric guitars, where I wanted them to have more lower mids to sound fuller, but they sounded a little whiny instead. I also thought that the lower treble sounded slightly grainy and unrefined, which perhaps added to the perception of slightly excessive lower treble.

Overall, I loved the Apos R70x for certain genres of music, especially solo piano music, which I've been listening to a lot lately. However, the lack of macrodynamics was a bit of a problem with more intense rock and metal and even some indie/alternative music, depending on the intensity.


COMPARISON TO HD6XX/650

I have a JAR6XX currently, but I owned an HD650 for many years, and then I had my HD6XX for a while before I had it modded, so this is from memory to some degree.

The HD6XX/650 has more macrodynamics and slam
The HD6XX/650 has more microdynamics/plankton and scales better
The HD6XX/650 has more mid-bass, but less deep bass
The HD6XX/650 has more rounded transients
The HD6XX/650 has more decay and note weight
The Apos R70x has crisper transients, and a faster transient response
The Apos R70x has a larger and more well defined soundstage
The Apos R70x have a greater sense of clarity and separation
The Apos R70x is more comfortable and feels lighter on the head (in my experience)


CONCLUSION

Overall, these are good headphones, and great headphones for the price ($300). For my preferences, I would still choose the HD6XX/650 over these, but I could definitely see some people preferring the Apos R70x. It has a nice neutral-bright tuning and a wonderful transient response that is crisp and articulate without being the least bit sharp or fatiguing. It has good staging and clarity and separation, and it is insanely lightweight and comfortable (for my head anyway). It has a light touch with its sound presentation that works very well with certain music and it wasn't very picky with the sources that I tried it with. In conclusion, good work Apos and Audio-Technica!

Edit: In retrospect, I think what I was calling the upper mids was more likely the lower treble.

 

Thanks as always to everyone organizing this tour. As boilerplate as these acknowledgements can seem, I greatly appreciate the opportunity and I don't take it for granted.

My chain Is USB into my OG Bifrost2 into either a Jotunheim 2 or my OG Pendant, both of which sounded great.

If I strip away all of the attempts to describe the sound I can sum it up by saying I really enjoyed listening to the AT/Apos collab, more than I thought I would. My preference is usually for more bass yet the R70x Refine still satisfied me and drew me in.

Build quality seemed sturdy enough, but it still felt kinda cheap. It might be just because it is so damn light and there is a generous amount of plastic here, though the headband is metal. Then there's those wings. They are a novel solution, and very comfortable IME, but as @Vtory mentioned larger heads might have an issue. They'd also be my guess for the1st piece to break, but I imagine AT wouldn't be still using this design if it was that bad.

I'm also a not a fan of the proprietary locking mechanism on the cables which makes swapping more challenging. I didn't have any real issues with their cable per se, but it would be nice to have a choice. If I wanted a balanced cable I'd be S-O-L.

Sound wise I found these to be really interesting. I could be off in my description here, but they struck me as being both snappy and smooth. Transients are definitely faster than any biodynamic driver I've heard but maybe because there's no real slam to speak of, the light touch mentioned, it strikes me as smooth. I definitely didn't find them fatiguing.

Even if there's not a lot of weight to the bass, there is decent reach with plenty of texture and nuance. As I hinted this was the biggest surprise for me since I usually gravitate toward headphones with a bit of slam but I had few complaints here, even on some bass heavy tracks.

The mids were fine for my tastes. I never stood up and said 'wow', but I never felt that things were lacking either. Competent with nothing standing out or distracting. I could definitely see this being bothersome for those who crave forward mids, but it was no issue for me.

Treble not being my strong suit, I found the AT/Apos to be well extended and airy (as far as I could tell) with a delicate touch. The non-fatiguing theme continues here. I have a preference for a little more emphasis on cymbals and the like, but these were fine enough in that regard.

Quality detail retrieval and a fairly wide & deep headstage. I'd liken it to a small theater, definitely not constricted nor 3 blob to my ears but not overly expansive either. There wasn't a lot of wow factor at all for me, but I found myself engaged nonetheless.

The Apos/Audio Technica ATH-R70x were a pleasant surprise. Despite my preferences I found myself really enjoying the
A/AT R70x. I doubt I could live with these as my only headphone, but I could definitely see myself having a set for a different sonic flavor. At the current $300 (USD) asking price these bring a lot to the table and are worth checking out IMO.

 

FYI @darmok mentioned in his earlier post in this thread that there are these adapters available to make cable swaps easier. Though, I’m sure they weren’t included with the loaner

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNBFPGHN

 

Just a heads up everyone, I just checked the apos website and the R70x Refine is sold out