No, I didn't get a pair of L3Ks or W5Ks. But I had been thinking about downsizing my office rig for a while. Having the dedicated DAC, Lunchbox and HD-600s seemed to be a little much. Lately I haven't been using them much at all, and figure it was time for a change when I came across a pair of ATH-EW9s for sale over on Head-Fi. Sure it's still overkill for clip-ons, but first impressions are pretty positive, with the mids especially sounding pretty sweet. They seem to fit my ears well and lock into a position that results in more bass than I was expecting. And needless to say, they look great... The color of the cherry is very deep, and depsite being used, the finish is in pretty good shape. Will they sound as good as the HD-600s? Of course not, but they should do just fine for when I'm at work.

Crazy bastard.

I actually owned the metal version of those a few years back. Think they're called the EM-9R?? They sounded ok but I thought they were hideously overpriced.

Ian you know you want to pit them against a woodied SR-60

The ATs look great.

Congrats! Beautiful wood too.

fitzwell, doesn't fitzwell... (is it better suited for small to medium size ears or what ?)

Well, considering what I paid for them, they seemed like they were worth taking a chance on. And they definitely fit great and are super-comfortable. I'd say I have pretty big ears, and they seem to find a nice spot where the pads just grab when I fold them in. It keeps them tight to my ears and it definitely seems like the sweet spot for how they sound.

Initially I was a little worried about the sound... When I unpacked them and put them on for the fist time they sounded kind of thin and hollow. But with some fiddling with placement and fit, I seemed to have found right where they need to go, and amazingly enough, they actually stay where I put them! They still don't have a lot of weight to the low end, but beyond that they're pretty well balanced, with nice full mids and a laid-back treble presentation that's good to have considering the long stretches I'm going to be using them at the office.

They do have a pretty nice sound but I could never get over how they fit.

And I got real sick of picking them up every time I moved my head a little to quickly.

wrong thread (sorry) \

Considering I do most of my listening (not necessarily critical listening, just most of it), I disagree with downgrading. I need a tonally balanced, non-fatiguing-over-long-term-listening, non-heartbreaking-if-it-gets-stolen-priced setup. I'm not necessarily following that last rule, as my most expensive amp, interconnects, and source are all here at work.

But yeah, they look great.

I hope you're bringing them to the Boston meet for rest of us to ogle them.

This is the Apple Mac effect - if it looks good, you tend to ignore everything else.

I remember owners said they were absolutely disappointed with the sound.

Hey, that sounds like the W1000.

But oh wait, they're both called "Sovereign".

I remember seeing these when I was in Taiwan a while back. This was well before I found Head-fi and all the headphone glory we share. I saw the price (in NTD) and almost choked, lol. I ended up walking away with a low end clip on by AT. They sounded dull and very hollow. KSC-75's trump them in everything but clarity. I've always wanted to try these as I found AT clips fit me very well. They're so low profile compared to the Koss clips. I especially like how it "clicks" into place.

I had am EM7, and it sounded very good except for the non-existent bass.

Yeah. The more I listened to the EM7, the more I was reminded of the Etymotic effect. Remove the bass of a mediocre-sounding phone and it automatically becomes more ethereal and precise sounding.

I remember listening to () by Sigur Ros a few years ago on the train with the EM7 and it made quite an impact. But in reality, EQing out the bass of a PX100 would probably have had the same - or better - effect.

This is the Apple Mac effect - if it looks good, you tend to ignore everything else.

While I'm more than willing to accept that as your take on what I think of these, I just want to follow up with the following...

• I went into these expecting no bass, so what I found wasn't as bad as expected. Does it have particularly good bass extension or impact? No. But it's adequate, and was a pleasant surprise. So it's more about expectations, I think.
  
• The treble presentation is unoffensive, which is very important to me for listening for long periods of time. I've heard the 35/75s and are they fun? Yes. Do they have better bass? Yes. But with that came more treble energy and a lack of refinement of the upper mids and highs that I couldn't live for anywhere from 4-8 hours every day. But there's a smoothness to the treble that more than makes up for a lack of extension to my ears.
  
• Mids are definitely their strength. Female vocals, cello, (most) piano, overdriven guitar and textures from EBM/Industrial all sound great. About 80% of what I listen to is female-fronted, and these have sounded great with everything I've thrown at them in that respect. Textue and tone are quite good.
  
• Comfort is amazing. I had heard how comfortable these were and wow. You forget they're there after a few minutes. They're also a lot smaller than I expected.
  
• Looks? Yeah, they look great. But there are plenty of headphones I think are beautiful that I wouldn't take if you gave 'em to me, or at least not if I had to listen to them. And there are some pretty ugly ones I'd be more than happy to have.
  
• Considering value, you can get these used for $80-100, and maybe less if you're patient. Are they 6x better than the Koss clips? No, probably not. But its strengths are in areas that are important to me, so it was definitely worth while for me.
  

So so far, I've been very happy. Full-size cans just aren't what I'm looking for right now for when I'm at work. So these seem like a very comfortable alternative for now.

This is the Apple Mac effect - if it looks good, you tend to ignore everything else.

Because macs work so much worse than anything else...oh wait...

And for the record, I just put the Denon DA-500 DAC back in the work rig... Onboard sounds sucks!!! This is sooooooooooooooo much better.

And for the record, I just put the Denon DA-500 DAC back in the work rig... Onboard sounds sucks!!! This is sooooooooooooooo much better.

Now we just gotta work out your amp issues.

You def need a 6AS7 to drive those. Nate I command you to get to work.

Now we just gotta work out your amp issues.

Uh-oh. When Nate starts throwing around the smiley, trouble can't be far behind!

Me?

Trouble?

No...

But in reality, EQing out the bass of a PX100 would probably have had the same - or better - effect.

I have to thank you for this post... The idea of EQ never occurred to me, but a 2-3 db bump in 55, 77, 110 and 156 Hz in Foobar's EQ has really rounded things out. It's not night and day, but there's a litte more heft to the low end, and with that small a bump, there doesn't appear to be any real loss in the quality of the bass.

Well, I've learned that the AT's finish is no match for the concrete floor in my office!

:shrug: The first big nick is always the worst. Now I really don't have to worry.

Well, I've learned that the AT's finish is no match for the concrete floor in my office!

:shrug: The first big nick is always the worst. Now I really don't have to worry.

Oh noes.

Yeah, first nicks makes it hurt deep inside.