ATH-M50

Well, hot in the heels of my last headphone purchase, I just went out and out and got myself the fabled Audio Technica ATH-M50 studio monitors.

These cans are reputed to be the best in the world under $200US. And from the last hour I spent with them, I have absolutely no reason to disagree.

They just officially ROCK. Without prejudice. They just simply blow away every Bose, Sennheiser, Shure and AKG I have owned or heard. I own a bunch of headsets but they were all in the $100 or less category. Sennheiser HD212 Pro, Sennheiser HD465, Shure E2C, Bose Triport OE and IE, AKG K81 DJ and the VModa Vibes. These easily beat out all of those. At the same time. With one hand tied behind its back.

They are seriously that good. As my GF said when I snuck behind her and stuffed these on her ears, “I feel like I’m in another place!” They are good enough to suck you into another dimension.

I can’t recommend these cans enough. I will let them burn in for a bit… should sound even better then… then I’ll put up a full review then.

But oops… I still need to review the K81s… and I’m not even done burning those in yet.

AKG K81 DJ

I just picked up a set of AKG headphones… it’s a popular DJ model, the K81 DJ. AKG had always been an audiophile favorite so it’s a great to have a good pedigree behind your product.

This item sounds very good. The sound quality is quite comparable to my Bose Triport OEs. Some would say they are better, and while they do a better job than the Bose in some aspects, I still find the Bose better. More on that later. But these sound really good.

Their biggest weakness I suppose is the very flat sound stage; the Triports have a much wider stage, and I don’t even consider the Bose as having much of a soundstage.

But the miss and highs are very forward, and the bass is tight and punchy. I love it.

Oomph Oomph on the Highway

I just installed a new car audio system onto my car today. After two and a half years, my Vios finally gets a sonic upgrade!

The new toys are:
Ryan Audio i60.4 amp
Pioneer TS-WX301 sub
Kicker K6.2 seperates

It took about 4 hours to install. What a headache! But the results are… staggering to say the least.

Although both the sub and amp are only rated at 150W RMS, they deliver an amazing oomph. I wouldn’t call it punchy… The Pioneer dies sound a bit on the muddy side… but I suppose that’s to be expected from a budget sub. It also hasn’t been broken in.

But the Kickers deliver a real punch! They are strong, clear, and really create a sound stage I hadn’t heard in my car before. I guess having separate tweeters isn’t just for show.

It just feels so refreshing to have an actual sound stage in the car now. I love it!

I think I need to tweak the sub a bit, though. It’s just that powerful. I’m the kid that goes for clarity over SPL so this is one of my projects to tweak this system.

Well, I’m gonna go cruising a bit with this setup for a while. Oh yeah!!