This is a review and detailed measurements of the Audio Technica flagship headphone, the ATH-ADX5000. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $1,999.
After testing a lot of heavy headphones, the ATH-ADX5000 feels like it is light as feather:
The lightness is great as far as wear comfort but does not impart feeling of luxury. The unit only weighs 275 grams despite sporting large cups:
The inside cup dimensions are 60x60x20 mm (height x width x depth).
The owner supplied them with an aftermarket cable that was light and nice to use with it. The stock cable is super stiff from what I have seen online.
Note: The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. Headphone measurements by definition are approximate and variable so don't be surprised if other measurements even if performed with the same fixtures as mine differ in end results. Protocols vary such as headband pressure and averaging (which I don't do). As you will see, I have confirmed the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers mostly in bass and above a few kilohertz so keep that in mind as you read these tests. If you think you have an exact idea of a headphone performance, you are likely wrong!
Fitting the ATH-ADX5000 to the fixture was extremely easy. With the large cups and excellent seal, the first try worked and I ran with it.
Audio Technica ATH-ADX5000 Measurements
As usual we start with our frequency response:
As you see the fit to our target is quite poor. It seems to have exaggerated upper bass combined with the same in treble region. And some recess in the middle:
For a premier headphone I expect lots of attention to keep distortion low. Apparently Audio Technica does not believe in that:
Notice how the high distortion around 2.2 kHz is so bad that it is impacting the frequency response. There is clear design flaw in this driver that was not caught and fixed.
Group delay shows a nice smooth low frequency drop off but then gets messy like many headphones:
Sensitivity is lower than average:
The supplied cable was terminated in 4.4 mm balanced and despite having 100 different adapters, I did not have one to match it to my impedance measurement fixture. Company reports the impedance at 420 ohm. Combined with above sensitive number, this will be a difficult headphone to drive and likely out of question with native output of a portable device.
Audio Technica ATH-ADx5000 Listening Tests and Equalization
The exaggerated high frequencies are not so bad at first listen due to upper boost in bass. Still, the sound was uninterested and so the usual EQ tools came out. Creating a filter by eye is challenging due to the variations of the response so this is approximate:
I tried to compensate for the upper frequency bass by pulling that down but did not like the lack of bass. Even with my bass boost, the headphone doesn't reproduce a lot of bass with impact. Maybe the fit was worse on my head but I felt the pad and seemed to seal.
Spatial effects combined with above EQ created a good listening situation. I listened to it that way and then turned off the EQ. Now you could hear the exaggerated highs and collapsed openness due to depression in frequency response around 2 kHz.
Conclusions
The focus on the design of the ATH-ADX5000 seems to have been weight reduction. On that, they have succeeded. Despite large cups that bring good spatial qualities, the headphone is very light and so comfortable for long term use. Alas, the rest of the design is a failure with large deviation from target response -- almost going after "showroom sound" of accentuated bass and treble. We could partially forgive this if distortion was low but it is not. Out sub-bas boost likely increased distortion more. Overall, this is a failure to impress. The only reason it doesn't get the worst scores is because it has good spatial qualities and out of the box, it seems to sound OK.
I can NOT recommend the Audio Technica ATH-ADX5000. They need to do a lot better.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
After testing a lot of heavy headphones, the ATH-ADX5000 feels like it is light as feather:
The lightness is great as far as wear comfort but does not impart feeling of luxury. The unit only weighs 275 grams despite sporting large cups:
The inside cup dimensions are 60x60x20 mm (height x width x depth).
The owner supplied them with an aftermarket cable that was light and nice to use with it. The stock cable is super stiff from what I have seen online.
Note: The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. Headphone measurements by definition are approximate and variable so don't be surprised if other measurements even if performed with the same fixtures as mine differ in end results. Protocols vary such as headband pressure and averaging (which I don't do). As you will see, I have confirmed the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers mostly in bass and above a few kilohertz so keep that in mind as you read these tests. If you think you have an exact idea of a headphone performance, you are likely wrong!
Fitting the ATH-ADX5000 to the fixture was extremely easy. With the large cups and excellent seal, the first try worked and I ran with it.
Audio Technica ATH-ADX5000 Measurements
As usual we start with our frequency response:
As you see the fit to our target is quite poor. It seems to have exaggerated upper bass combined with the same in treble region. And some recess in the middle:
For a premier headphone I expect lots of attention to keep distortion low. Apparently Audio Technica does not believe in that:
Notice how the high distortion around 2.2 kHz is so bad that it is impacting the frequency response. There is clear design flaw in this driver that was not caught and fixed.
Group delay shows a nice smooth low frequency drop off but then gets messy like many headphones:
Sensitivity is lower than average:
The supplied cable was terminated in 4.4 mm balanced and despite having 100 different adapters, I did not have one to match it to my impedance measurement fixture. Company reports the impedance at 420 ohm. Combined with above sensitive number, this will be a difficult headphone to drive and likely out of question with native output of a portable device.
Audio Technica ATH-ADx5000 Listening Tests and Equalization
The exaggerated high frequencies are not so bad at first listen due to upper boost in bass. Still, the sound was uninterested and so the usual EQ tools came out. Creating a filter by eye is challenging due to the variations of the response so this is approximate:
I tried to compensate for the upper frequency bass by pulling that down but did not like the lack of bass. Even with my bass boost, the headphone doesn't reproduce a lot of bass with impact. Maybe the fit was worse on my head but I felt the pad and seemed to seal.
Spatial effects combined with above EQ created a good listening situation. I listened to it that way and then turned off the EQ. Now you could hear the exaggerated highs and collapsed openness due to depression in frequency response around 2 kHz.
Conclusions
The focus on the design of the ATH-ADX5000 seems to have been weight reduction. On that, they have succeeded. Despite large cups that bring good spatial qualities, the headphone is very light and so comfortable for long term use. Alas, the rest of the design is a failure with large deviation from target response -- almost going after "showroom sound" of accentuated bass and treble. We could partially forgive this if distortion was low but it is not. Out sub-bas boost likely increased distortion more. Overall, this is a failure to impress. The only reason it doesn't get the worst scores is because it has good spatial qualities and out of the box, it seems to sound OK.
I can NOT recommend the Audio Technica ATH-ADX5000. They need to do a lot better.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
