Audio-Technica ATH-EW9 Lightweight Cherry Wood Clip-on Headphones Sale
Package Contents:ATH-EW9 Adjustable Wooden Clip-on Headphones, 1m extension cord & protective pouch The ATH-EW9 Adjustable Wooden Clip-on Headphones are show-stoppers. These dynamic headphones offer a secure, comfortable ear-fitting design and an innovative sliding axis for easy adjustment and a truly custom fit. The earphones swivel open and click into place, on a sleek vertical hinge. The impressive 28 mm neodymium magnets project powerful sound, while offering a truly custom fit. Wooden housing made of Japan’s finest Hokkaido cherry gives you superior build quality and finish. The comfortable clip-on design with soft rubber support loops and large ear hangers enables long hours of listening without fatigue. These earphones look distinctive and great. They also deliver superb comfort and outstanding sound. It’s time you moved up to Audio Technica ATH-EW9. Cable – 24 in. (0.6m), asymmetrical Sensitivity – 105 dB/mW at 1 kHz Maximum Input Power – 100 mW Impedance – 29 ohms Frequency Response – 14Hz-24 KHz Weight – 33g
Audio-Technica ATH-EW9 Lightweight Cherry Wood Clip-on Headphones Description
- Audio Technicas flagship headphones — the worlds first wooden clip-on
- Housing made of Japans finest Hokkaido cherry wood
- Sliding “ear-fitting mechanism” ensures a comfortable fit
- Soft rubber support and large ear hanger reduce ear fatigue
- 28mm neodymium driver
Audio-Technica ATH-EW9 Lightweight Cherry Wood Clip-on Headphones Review
Design/build quality: 5
Convenience/usability: 3
Sound quality: 4
I would have given these 3-stars. But for the gorgeous cherry wood, eloquent design, and perfect build quality, I gave it 1 more star. Average out to be 4.
***If you are only looking for soundquality, ease of use, and convenience, these are not for you!***
If you are a headphone enthusiast, and like to collect exquisite headphones, these are perfect for you!!!
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Design/Build:
As you can see from the photos I’ve uploaded, I own a lot of headphones, most are close to, or well above the 0 mark. Let me just stop right here and say that none of the headphones I own, or have had, can compare these in design and build quality. They are perfect. Period.
Convenience/Usability:
Unfortunately, a major part of value the EW9s offer come from looks and collectible value. As a set of clip-ons, which focuses on portability and ease of use, these do not excel.
These are some of the pickiest headphones I have come across, comparable to the A8s, in terms of “pickiness” in: where you use them, when you use them, how you use them, and what kind of music you use them for.
- To enjoy those, you pretty much have to use them at home with little external noise. You may not hear the humming from your computer’s fan, but you’ll definitely hear people talking, cars going by, and all that annoying stuff. This could be a good thing for you can be aware of your surroundings. However, you cannot at all hear the sound difference these wooden enclosures make when you get any external noise. So, what’s the point?
- You have to take good care of them. The wood requires a lot of care to stay good looking. Pretty much you have to use the nice carry bag all the time. Otherwise you’d get scuffs and stuff on the wood. Also, don’t get water on them because it is not good for their longevity. This reduces of usability because you can’t just toss them into your gym bag and go work out in them… If they don’t get scratched up in your bag, your sweaty will most certainly destroy them.
- They aren’t good for all genres of music. They are good for most. Classical, pop, etc. The sq on this thing is sa-weeeeet. Mid is smooth and sweet as your first love. Vocals are heavenly poisonous. Bass is bouncy and very real (because of the wooded enclosure). Highs are refined. However, I just cannot listen to Muse in these. It is hard to describe, but if you mainly listen to that kind of music (alternate rock?), don’t bother with these. Beatles/queen that sort of rock is fine when vocals and guitar/bass is most prominent. But if you get raging bass/drums, they tend to blend in with the strong and forward mids, and make it too much.
- Obviously, they leak sound, so when you are outside, you can’t hear all the intricate details these headphones reveal, and others might hear the shrill/unpleasant squeal as a result of sound leakage.
- Good source is important. These headphones are not the easiest to drive. They are picky with their sound sources!
Sound quality:
Pretty much covered SQ in the above section, but once again, these sounds aaaamazing, when at the right time, right setting, right source. When I first put these on, I could not stop myself from laughing out of sheer joy because the music was so sweet. I think there is enough bass without pushing them into your ears. But when you do that, you do get better isolation and better soundstage presentation.
I’ve been burning them in, but I heard that the SQ of these won’t be fully settled until after about 1 year of normal use. That’s a pretty long time, and I don’t know if it’s true. But burning-in definitely creates a huge difference in its SQ and sound signature.
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One last gripe about these is that I find them to be quite uncomfortable after about 15-20 minutes. I have to re-adjust them every once in a while to get a better fit. They really hurt my ears sometimes. So getting a good fit is important. I wish the loop was bigger because that’s what’s killing me.
These look much, MUCH smaller in reality than they seem on those pictures. They are like the size of two quarters, if you can imagine the area of two quarters as one circle… They are so tiny, but it is excellently built down to the very last detail, making it so precious that you wish you could just look at them all day and then eat them.
And to establish a little credibility, I’ve had a lot of semi-expensive headphones. SE310 and UE SF5 Pro are the most expensive ones I’ve had (both MSRP 0). Though they are IEM armatures, I use my SE310 as a reference. The EW9s has a much better firm, strong, deep sound. You feel like you are in a studio with instruments and performers all at various places. They are orgasmic for your ears.
However, these are quite inconvenient to use (take them out the bag to use, put them back in for storage, no noisy environment, appropriate source/songs). Which is why I think they are better suited for be just collectibles, sitting on your shelf. I’ve taken them out before, and they are a really good conversation piece, for girls come compliment on how gorgeous these headphones are, to which I’d start talking about the asada-zakura cherry wood and so on. If that is worth the extra for an upgrade from the EM7 (doesn’t sound as good, and still has outrageous sound leakage, but more usable and can be tossed around), that is your call.
I also bought the esw9a. They offer a bigger driver, much better sound isolation, so I think they’d sound better and you can wear them out without sacrificing sound quality, and still look fun but classy because you are using wooden enclosed headphones! When they arrive, I’ll do a comparison and decide if I should return these EW9s. (The cherry wood does have more sentimental values to me than the african-whatever wood they use on the ESW9, but sentiments for 130 dollars?)
I gotta stop talking! Okay, final verdict, so, if you are a collector, you like rare/eloquent stuff, or you sit at home and listen to different headphones from various amps all the time, get these now and be wow-ed by their design and sound quality, the latter of which sort of vanishes as soon as you go outside. (unless you live in like Montana or something, in which case bring them out for hiking or something would be a very enjoyable experience!!!)
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Update on March 3rd:
I forgot to mention a few more minor annoyances that further reduces the usability of these headphones:
- J-cord, not Y! The EW9s use the kind of cord design that the right piece is much much longer than the left one. It’s meant for the right one to go behind your neck. It puts all the weight on your left ear and I hate this unbalanced pull on my head!
- to make matters worse, the cord is extremely short, but has an extension cable. But the extension cable is SHORT too! So, the two cables combined make for about the length of the cable for my CK7 (which is also ATH, but with Y cord…)
- What that means? Well, the golden 3.5mm jack is of REALLY REALLY nice make and quality. Problem? It is heavy, add in the extra weight of the extension cable, you get a super weighty cable, which constantly pulls on your ear, making your ears painful and stressful. Which is another reason I only use them at my desktop, but not walking around!
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