Tag Archives: sound engineer

Audio-Technica Intro New Open Ear Audiophile Headphones

STOW, OH, October, 2024 — Our friends at Audio-Technica are at it again and have just announced the introduction of their ATH-ADX3000 Open-Air Dynamic Headphones, designed to bring true high-end sound quality to the under-$1,000 usd headphones category. Celebrating 50 years of headphone design and production, the new ATH-ADX3000 features Audio-Technica’s most advanced driver technology to deliver natural, spacious audio.

A Few Takeaways (more below)

Light and comfortable, weighing less than 10 ounces and with velour earpads, the ATH-ADX3000 headphones are comfortable, to say the least. If you are a home recordist know that they’re ideal for long mix sessions, and not just due to comfort or their open-back design.

58-millimeter integrated driver units house tungsten-coated diaphragms (which produce excellent transient response), voice coils, baffles, and pure iron magnetic circuits. Coupled with Audio-Technica’s proprietary Core Mount Technology that optimally places the driver units, this results in full-range audio reproduction across an astonishing 5Hz–45kHz frequency response that needs to be heard to be believed.

These near-flagship headphones come with a specially designed aluminum carrying case.

Uses the A2DC proprietary coaxial connector which reduces connector rotation and glitchy connections.

The Nitty Gritty

The ATH-ADX3000’s open-back design allows unrestricted airflow of the diaphragm, for extremely pure audio quality with realistic soundstaging and imaging, with nearly no use of dampening material or acoustic aids. The ATH-ADX3000 features a full-range driver that is designed entirely by the engineers at Audio-Technica and manufactured and hand-assembled in Audio-Technica’s Machida, Japan factory. The driver utilizes the same technology as the company’s acclaimed flagship ATH-ADX5000 headphones.

Japanese Craftmanship

As a leading innovator in transducer technology for over 60 years, Audio-Technica places special emphasis on driver design to achieve the optimal sound from each pair of headphones. Did we mention that the ATH-ADX3000’s integrated driver units are handmade in our Machida, Tokyo, facility to ensure the highest quality? Sure did- but it is worth repeating.

Audio-Technica’s exclusive Core Mount Technology positions the driver’s voice coil in the middle of its housing, so that the acoustic space is balanced in both the front and the back of the driver. Audio-Technica lead engineer Hiromichi Ozawa noted, “Our engineers worked hard to achieve a frequency response that is not easy to obtain by using only natural air flow. Our expertise in driver technology influenced our approach to open-back headphones, and enabled us to ensure that the driver diaphragm moves with the purest motion possible.”

The ATH-ADX3000 employs a 58 mm tungsten-coated diaphragm, pure iron magnetic circuit, voice coil, and aluminum housing, which are all combined in a single integrated driver unit. The diaphragm is extremely lightweight and responsive, and the pure iron magnet enables exceptional dynamic range and high efficiency. Together, this approach creates an optimum structure that offers superb clarity and stereo imaging, with articulate bass, a smooth midrange, and detailed, extended high frequencies.

The ATH-ADX3000 is designed for long-wearing comfort, thanks to its light weight of only 280 grams. It’s supplied with a detachable 3.0m (9.8-foot) cable with A2DC connectors and comes with a robust aluminum storage case.

A2DC Connector

The Audio-Technica ATH-ADX3000 Open-Air Dynamic Headphones is available starting October 24, 2024, at a suggested retail price of $999 usd/ $1,387 cad.

Audio-Technica was founded in 1962 with the mission of producing high-quality audio for everyone. As we have grown to design critically acclaimed headphones, turntables and microphones, we have retained the belief that great audio should not be enjoyed only by the select few, but accessible to all. Building upon our analog heritage, we work to expand the limits of audio technology, pursuing an ever-changing purity of sound that creates connections and enriches lives. For the Silo, Frank Doris.

The Best Speakers Money Can Buy?

Genelec 8381A point source main monitor delivers unrivaled power and precision

NATICK, MA, May 16, 2023 — As part of its 45th anniversary year, Genelec has unveiled the 8381A Smart Active Monitoring system, a flagship floor-standing Adaptive Point Source™ design that fuses exceptional precision and envelopment with unrivalled LF control, huge headroom and high-resolution imaging. Designed for high-end music recording, mastering and audiophile listening, the 8381A creates a free-standing full-range monitoring solution that can intelligently adapt to any acoustic environment.

For audio professionals, the 8381A produces accurate full-band mixes that translate consistently to other rooms and playback systems, while audiophiles will experience every detail and nuance of a musical performance, just as the creators intended it to be heard.  

I first encountered Genelec powered monitors (more specifically monitor- more on this below) while on a scholarship at the Banff International Center for the Arts in Alberta, Canada. At that time (2010) I was unfamiliar with Genelec and had faith in the school’s choice of equipment: all the other available items were top notch.

Rosa Maria Robinson Bours

I settled on a single Genelec speaker as I was planning on a series of live mono recordings taking advantage of the talented classical guitar and voice cohorts such as Rosa Maria Robinson Bours. When the Genelec was delivered to my artist studio I was intrigued. It looked quite compact, it was black as soot and seemed to be as heavy as lead. After positioning and connecting the monitor I was blown away by the power, clarity and transparency for test playback and also while mixing and mastering tracks.

Let’s get back to the newest Genelec

As a member of “The Main Ones” range, the 8381A system is acoustically coaxial right down to bass frequencies, and draws on proven technology developed for Genelec’s patented and award-winning “The Ones” family of point source monitors and the W371A Adaptive Woofer System, which themselves can combine to create a free-standing full-range monitoring system. However, the 8381A raises the performance bar even higher by offering controlled directivity and uncolored response both on and off axis, with an ultra-wide frequency response spanning from 20 Hz to 35 kHz. Additionally, with almost 6 kW of amplifier power and a staggering maximum SPL of 126 dB – the highest figure ever achieved by a precision point source acoustic design – the 8381A offers the most sophisticated features and specification of any audio monitor currently available.   

At the heart of the 8381A is a proprietary high SPL Minimum Diffraction Coaxial (MDC™) midrange/tweeter driver, which – combined with a powerful Genelec DSP engine – delivers extraordinary clarity, imaging and adaptability. This MDC driver shares a common acoustical axis with the 8381A’s four complementary 5-inch dome drivers, which are arranged as a midrange transduction system, and this unique array combines with a forward-facing 15-inch woofer to provide outstandingly stable directivity, control and coherence.  

To further enhance and extend the 8381A’s low frequency reproduction, a pair of high-performance 15-inch woofers employ the LF adaptive technology originally developed in the W371A, offering high resolution and supreme levels of low-frequency control – despite the effects of room acoustics. This technology allows the 8381A to tailor performance carefully to the room, offering flatter, smoother in-room response at the listening location, with LF imaging coherent with the full audio range. This flat and neutral LF response minimizes acoustic notching, and reduces detrimental reflections and resonances by the walls, ceiling or floor of the room.    

As part of Genelec’s Smart Active Monitoring family, the 8381A integrates tightly with Genelec’s GLM software, which can configure, calibrate and control entire Genelec smart monitoring systems. Based on experience from thousands of studios around the world, GLM minimizes the listening room’s influence on the sound, enabling the user to produce mixes that translate perfectly to other systems, whether the format is stereo, surround or high channel count immersive.

GLM also includes the ground-breaking GRADE room report feature, which gives the user a complete analysis of their room and monitoring system performance, providing specific observations and advice on any acoustical issues, helping users and studio designers alike to fine tune the room’s acoustic treatment, adjust monitor and listener positions, and optimize bass management.

Designed and manufactured to the highest standards of sustainability and environmental responsibility at Genelec’s headquarters in Iisalmi, Finland, the 8381A comes with a comprehensive SonicAdvisor™ system calibration and service package to jointly celebrate Genelec’s 45th anniversary, and the company’s total commitment to its customers and to sustainable development.   

“The demand for high quality free-standing full-range monitoring systems has been clear from the exceptional response to The Ones and W371A combination,” comments Genelec Managing Director Siamäk Naghian. “It was also evident that there was a desire from customers for a free-standing system that could deliver even more headroom and increased low frequency extension. And while we continue to offer a wide range of soffit-mounting main monitors, we’re confident that the flexibility and mobility of a floor-standing adaptive system like the 8381A will provide the perfect solution for any discerning user seeking a truly next-generation sonic reference.”   For the Silo, Jarrod Barker.