review: Audio Technica ATH-ES700

The Audio Technica Earsuit line provides headphones which look at least as good as they sound. The biggest succes of the line was the ES7 which has been for sale since 2008, and had generally very good reviews. Now the successor of the ES7 has arrived, the ES700. Sticking to the same general design but totally new in every way. New 42 mm drivers, specially developed for this headphone, stainless steel cups and to top it off, the headphone is entirely made in Japan. The ES700 has a 1.2 meter cable which connects to both earcups, the headphone comes with a pleather carrying pouch and a cleaning cloth. The stainless steel cups are mirrored and have a hairline finish, they do however easily get fingerprints on them.

To start off, they sound very neutral, no overwhelming bass or aggressively forward treble, just nice and neutral. The bass is present but doesn't go very deep, don't expect a deep thumbing bass because it will fall below 45 Hz. However, the bass is plenty for most types of music but might lack a bit when listening to hip-hop, dubstep or any other electronic music. Then there is the best part of this headphone: the mid-range. Vocals sound lively as I have never heard before, guitars and pianos are a pleasure to listen to. The mid-range is slightly forward but because it is so good, this is only a bonus. Any acoustic songs sounds better than ever before, giving it an extra liveliness which just isn't there with other headphones. listening to 9 Crimes by Damien rice, the piano sounds as if you are there and Damien's voice sounds better than ever before. The treble in this headphone is just a slight bit recessed, it isn't what you could call sparkly. It does provide plenty of detail but it is just a slight bit overwhelmed by the excellent mid-range. Overall the sound is focused on the mid-range but remains neutral and pleasant to listen to. The soundstage is very good for a sealed headphone giving a decent spaciousness to music. The separation is decent, giving every instrument a different place yet close together. Watching movies with this headphone makes for easy listening to speech but they lack just a bit of depth with action scenes. There is a decent amount of space in movies which provides a nice experience. An added bonus is that these are extremely easy to drive and an amp is in no way necessary, when I listen to them in a quiet environment, the lowest volume on my phone is enough. If there is more ambient noise you need to push the volume a bit more since they do not provide much isolation. 

The only real downside is that these are not very comfortable headphones, the pads are made of pleather resulting in hot ears within half an hour. The clamping force is average but with the thin padding it becomes rather uncomfortable after twenty minutes and unwearable for more than an hour. The lambskin pads of the ESW9 headphones fit on these making them way more comfortable without changing the sound to much. 

The ES700 can be bought from amazon for 120 dollar, making them one of the best on ear headphones in this price range, providing a very nice and easy listening sound and engaging looks. I do advise you to buy the ESW9 pads with them, which makes them so much more comfortable.