When I was looking for some closed back headphones use along side my Sennheiser HD 700, I stumble upon these Audio technica AVC 400. I knew about the other recently made audio technica headphones, but some how these blew past me since they are a couple years old as I only just found out about them recently. I only just found two other reviews on them which they didn't say much about, I didn't know what to expect, so I took a chance and bought them. The first thing I notice after I remove them from the box is that they are very light headphones, While I look them over and held them. They felt durable enough to me, but I won't let them drop on the floor to find out. The ear pads are thinner than what I thought they would be. But so far I found the ear pads to be comfortable for a while, But the good thing about these headphones is that you can easy find 3rd part y ear pads that will fit, if the stock ear pads is not good enough for you. While for me the stock ear pads only work for a while when my glasses are on before the edges of my ears start to hurt, so I will be swapping the ear pads. When my glasses are off then its fine. The results might be different for some one else. While they are on my head, I found them to fit really well while not being overly tight on my head. But enough where they won't fall off when* I'm looking down and they stay still when I turn my head. They isolate OK, but there not perfect, 3rd party ear pads can easy fix this, if one wants to improve the isolation. The AVC400 also does not use the 3D-wing headband design, instead it uses an auto adjusting headband which I found so far to work really well with getting it to fit on the top of my head. It was very soft and comfortable, didn't have any issues with it like I normally do with other headphones. The cable looks like it will last, it also a very long cable, so if your the type of person who wonders from their chair around there room, then you will be fine with the length of the cable, of course you can not wonder from your room while the headphone is on your head, as the cable is not that long. Also the cable can not be removed from the headphones as they are not detachable. A 3.5m to 6.3m adapter is included already connected to the end of the cable. I currently using a Sound blaster ZXR and the external control box with the AV400 and the card works very well with it. Even with the op-amps I have installed in the place of the stock one's. These work very well with the card, I do not have an external headphone amp, so I can't test to see if they will be any improvement when plugged into an external headphone amp. Setup Sound blaster ZXR with Two Linear LT 1498 and Two Burr Brown OPA627AU's operator Amp's installed, Which I found to give me close to neutral type of sound. I will be using Jr Media center with Wasapi as the output. Besides playing a couple of songs, I will also play a couple of games as well. Before I get down to the results, I did burn these in after I used them for the first time. Music Anders Lundqvist – Desolation The song starts off with a very good sounding ambient sound follows by a hit hat which goes into a bass note which all sound very clean which is also very clear. Nothing gets in the way of it as they do not bump into each other. The lows sound great too as they hit, its def not one note sounding. The piano is just as clean and clear as you can hear how hard or soft it is being touched. There’s very good separation and I would say the sound stage is a good size. DreamTime – Turrican To main First thing you notice besides the very clean voice is the bass, which hits hard and the other instruments which come after which sound full. There even a bit of details from the hit hats in this song. The drums are very accurate as well the bass. Separation is also good in this song as well as the sound stage. Skrillex – The Reason In this song you feel like you are sitting in the rows as the vocals are projected from the stage towards you as they spread out across the channels with very good sound imaging, While being clearly heard. Even at times like there passing by your sides, the best way I can explain it, I guess you could say spacious sounding. Besides the main voice’s you can also hear the background voices really well, as they projected from the sides of the other voices with good details. The sound stage sounds like it’s bigger in this song then it was in the other songs. The bass hit’s hard while not being muddy and like the other songs, it does not sound like a sub-woofer or one noted. The separation is crazy good on this song. Arkwright – Wasted Years I wanted to do a song with a lot of bass in it, and these headphones handled it very well, There no muddy sounds any were and it doesn’t sound one noted at all. Bass hits very hard and you hear all of the notes, Even the details of the hit hat comes thru very clean, the ambient instrument sound full and not tinny at all. 16 Bit – Classical(Flat Beat/Classical) At the start of the song you can hear the people talking as well glasses being touch and moved during the ambient start of the song in good detail. the orchestral instruments have very good weight behind them as they play including the bass as it hits very deep, as you hear both bass notes with the detail of the drums and snares. Like the other songs the separation is good in this one as well. Game setup With dying light I won’t be using any of the sound blaster ZXR’s SBX, it gonna be strictly stereo in headphone mode. To tell you how well the headphones worked for me in the the game. Dying Light I decided to try out dying light due to the ambient sounds it such as zombies busting out of locked places, which made me jump a couple of times. I was def able to hear my surroundings very well, to the point where I heard a zombie creeping up behind me when I was picking the lock of a police van. Turn around took it out before going back to picking the lock. When I was in one of the apt complex in the kitchen, I heard gun fire erupt which caught me off guard but I was able to trace it to it location real easy. I fought off the gun welding attackers and any zombies that stroll up from my surroundings. They could not sneak up on me because I clearly heard where they was creeping from. The game audio came thru very clear and the bass was also very good as well, even the gun fire had a kick behind it. The sound of the melee weapons was very clean as I was slicing off the head of who ever got in my way. I could hear the sounds separated from each other with ease. The below sounds was very good to me as so the above sounds. But using SBX surround would had made the positional sound even better, but by it self the headphones done a very good job, even if it wasn’t 100% perfect when it came to the above and below sounds. Conclusion When I first got the headphone’s I didn’t know what to expect, I didn't think it would do this well for the price I paid for it which was $36 as it normally is $49 dollars. I came into this headphone thinking it wouldn’t do that well. I was wrong it sound very good for the price. I have used other headphone’s such as the Mixcder Share Me 5 and the Edifier H850, but both of these doesn’t compare to these headphones as I liked the ATH-AVC 400 that much in comparison. Now the ATH-AVC 400 does have flaw’s mainly in the ear pads that comes with it, I wish they was a bit more thicker since I wear glasses, After a while they start to get uncomfortable due to them being too thin, taking my glasses solve the issues, but there are times where its fine so making sure you have them on your correctly ears may stop it from happening. But the pads can be removed which is a plus which can be very useful if the stock pads is not enough for you. EDIT: I found out that I place the headphone in an certain way, the issues I have with comfort while wearing glasses is improved. If you don't straighten it out on your head then you may have comfort issues like i did with glasses. Edit 2 : I had bought some cheap 2 dollar earpads for beyerdynamic headphones to see if they would fit on the AVC400 and they do.So i sure even thicker earpads will work. The earpad ring is in the shape of an oval, it didn't take much to get them on. So I didn't have to fight with the pads. I find them to work better with these pads then the stock, as the stock wasn't thick enough for me since i wear glasses. I tempted to try the original pads I had in mind which was a lot more thicker then the ones i bought.
Here are the photos with the thicker earpads I bought for the AVC400, only cost me 2.50 and are much more comfortable then the stock pads. I don't know why Audio Technica didn't use thicker pads, as those soft thin ones are not good enough. I did noticing the sound stage improving but due to my ears not being close to the drivers touching them, like it did with stock,There was other changes but that what stuck out more. Also there holding up really well, no cracks in the plastic any where and the headband been treating me very well.
When I was trying AT AD and A - 500/700/900 for the first time I was deeply impressed by their mechanics Two claws instead of band (Self-adjusting 3D Wing Support Housing how they call it) plus velvet ear pads gave me so tender impression - like hands of mother. But ofc the grip was zero so it was easy to loose them just by nodding.
Yea I had the same results with both AD700 and A900X, With the AVC400 that doesn't happen and they stay in place, since there tight on your head. Usually for me Velvet ear pads make my ears itch and even get hot, so if I can I try to remove the pads for an another kind.
