ATH A2000Z review

This is my first review so if I did badly please tell me, I will take note of the advice and don't be afraid to scold me.

Price:$700 USD

Build quality: The titanium earcups look premium but are easily scratched if not taken of carefully.The hinges are solid and the metal headband is quite tough and durable.The cable is very long, suitable for home use.The cables are non-detachable but the supplied cable is very solid and I am not worried about the cable breaking off since it is well built.

Comfort: The wing system is easily one of the comfiest headband system if it fits your head, giving you no fatigue and to the extent of forgetting that you are wearing a headphone.The headphone is not heavy and the earpads are very very soft.Note:Headbangers need to be careful because the headphone might fly off your head if you headbang too hard.

Drivability:The headphone is easily driven through smartphones and the differences between sources don't matter as much since the headphone is mostly source agnostic. Switching from the motherboard headphone jack to the Chord Mojo yields some warmth and better treble response and imaging but it sounds very very good through the built in jack.

Sound:

Sound signature:This headphone sounds bright, with a balanced frequency response, with the treble giving it its brightness while other parts are mostly neutral to bordering on bright sounding , if not tilting to a bit of a cold sound of you are using a neutral dac amp combo. Imagine a closed back HD800,this headphone is not veiled at all.The treble on this combo is quite piercing to me, but I am very treble-sensitive but your mileage may vary.Using a warmer sounding dac amp combo, the vocals gain a teeny tiny bit of warmth to make them emotional and the treble response becomes less piercing and it is simply the best treble is a closed back headphone.Period.So, using a warm sounding tube amp is advised.Without a tube amp, these are quite thin-sounding, but I personally don't mind that.Rolling warm tubes is greatly advised to transform this headphone into an emotional and lush sounding headphone.



Soundstage:The soundstage on these is perfect, definitely the largest in closed backed headphones, with the vocals placed in front of you but the instruments much further back, this creates a cavernous soundstage compared to any closed back headphone.The positioning is very good and the sense of airiness is simply perfect for classical music.It is the airiest closed back headphone.I'm serious.

Bass:My early impressions were that the bass on these headphones were lacking,but after spending tons of hours on it, I realise that the bass is really well done, with great impact and no boominess.The bass can really hit when it is called for and does not muddy the sound at all.The bass response is much better than my initial impressions and even though they are not basshead headphones, and person who likes accurate yet impactful bass will be delighted.The impact is key here, since it gives punch for electronic music and other similar genres.The drums on here sound accurate with a bit of kick, so it does not lack bass at all, definitely.

Treble: Hot damn these headphones have very good treble, with excellent extension and little siblance.Acoustic instruments sound absolutely amazing where you can feel every single pluck of the guitar effortlessly.The imaging of these headphones are superb, perfect for classical music again.The highs on these headphones are the best in closed backs, for real.

Mids:Intimate sounding, absolutely neutral with great detail.The mids are not laid back at all and have a great sense of attack that will keep you on your feet, coupled with warmer amps, the mids sound emotional and a little more laid back, perfect for fatigue free listening.

Resolution:These headphones are basically monitoring reference headphones on steroids, it can unveil each and every detail in the mix, but at the same time you wouldn't feel like it is murdering your ears.Good recordings sound amazing while bad recording are still listenable.The upstream component resolution isn't that good however, which may a good or a bad thing.It responds well to tube changes however.

Rating:Worth a buy, since to me it can stand it's own against the Sony MDR Z1R, they offer different sound signatures, but this headphone offer a very high level of technical performance for it's price.It is the closed back flagship of Audio Technica after all.I repeat, it has the BEST SOUNDSTAGE in a closed back headphone, trust me on this one.

You can ask me more details below.Thanks for reading and I appreciate your feedback.
Originally posted on r/headphones, edited to suit SBAF descriptors.

 

A couple of questions. How do you know the headphone is "source-agnostic"? Does this mean it doesn't scale well? What number and types of sources have you tried to confirm this?

What is a 'balanced' frequency response? How can you tell it is 'balanced'? You say it tilts towards a cold sound with a neutral source, what is an example of a neutral source to you? You say it has the best treble in a closed-back headphone period, which closed-back headphones have you compared it to to determine this? (I assume all of them) You say it has the best treble in a closed-back headphone period, but simultaneously mention it is 'piercing' and needs a warm (I read this as deliberately coloured) tube amp to be ideal, which seems contradictory. Also, all of this is judged on what source? A Chord Mojo? You lost me there.

You say the soundstage is 'perfect'. Knowing that no headphone can accurately re-create the stereo field a recording was mixed on, what does that mean? Does it accurately portray and play back the fixed stage of the recording? If so, what recordings were used to determine this? What source gear? You say again it is the 'airiest' with the 'largest stage' of any closed-back headphone, so which ones have you compared it to? (I assume all of them)

You classify the imaging of these headphones as 'superb'. What does that mean? 'Superb' relative to what? How do you know the imaging and localization is in fact 'superb' and not just a presentation that is to your preference? How do you relate that to the reader? You go on to mention that these headphones can 'unveil each and every detail in the mix' yet are not very resolving of upstream component changes. This sounds like a contradiction again. A headphone can only 'unveil each and every detail' if it is also revealing of each and every upstream component(s) which are in turn revealing of the recording.

Please get back to me on these pressing matters ASAP.

 

I have tried 'countless' closed back headphones, such as the MDR Z1R, MDR Z7,MDR 1A, Sennheiser Momentums and the Urbanites, all audio Technica closed backs except the woodies, the final audio Pandora Hope , the beyerdynamic T5P, and too many to list.This is indeed the airiest sounding headphone of them all. It is not possible to hear every headphone in the world, that's 'common sense', but according to me and all other sources like from kakaku, 2ch, it was compared to open backs even, it is 100% confirmed the airiest sounding closed back headphone.

The 'neutral' source in question is a schiit stack, but that sounds boring and unmusical with this setup.The previous setups were the ibasso D14 bushmaster, which emphasised the treble ,the schiit stack, which sounded boring and now the chord mojo which is warmer and I am not a chord fanboy, but the chord mojo is really good for its price, I have compared a lot of dacs to it, it loses out to the Bifrost Multibit in the soundstage department but keeps up with other parts pretty well.Not sure how I lost you there.If I want an 'uncoloured'(read neutral sounding and not deliberately coloured) amp, I would get a solid state or a neutral sounding tube. Note that I am 'treble-sensitive' with the ibasso D14 which emphasised treble while the schiit stack made these sound neutral bordering on bright sounding. So my statement is not 'contradictory' .

When the HD 800 first came out, people were praising how neutral it was when it has a treble peak that pierced buttholes.This headphone sounds like the HD 800 with similar clarity in the treble but not as piercing. Sort of a mini HD 800S.


The 'revealing' part means that sound signature changes are apparent but it won't 100% change its excellent detail retrieval, airiness.

The 'agnostic' part means that it won't 100% be non trebly and it sounds good out of most sources, including a smartphone. It can reveal upstream components but not as well as the HD 800 sice they don't need much amplification.

It measures pretty well to the Harmon curve if you are looking for 'accuracy', similar to etymotics.

The 'presentation' is correct , not suited to my preference since I like more intimate soundstages, but this headphone really is accurate in its instrument placing.Don't assume that I am praising it because of my preference, most SBAF members know what good imaging sounds like if they hear it.

The soundstage is 'perfect' compared to all closed backs, much better than any of them.

Reply ASAP please.

 

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