Headphone Suggestions - Take 3!

[gemini8026]

I was the one who recommended them to you in a previous thread

Seriously great cans. Wait til they break in a little, they certainly improve after a couple hours. Become smoother and just generally more pleasant. Great cans, and after owning the AH-d5000's, I can say these are just as good, if not better for more aggressive music!!!

Love mine, and havent gassed for more since I bought!

 

[Ermz]

When you say 'a couple hours', do you mean a few weeks? I ask because I've had them breaking in by cranking absolutely all my day-to-day stuff through them for 2 days now, and they're still pretty recessed and harsh. Aesthetically they're great though. Best looking and most comfortable cans I've ever used, I think.

 

[Plankis]

Let them play for a week or two. Burn in period seem to be from 10 to 300 hours.

 

[Skaldir]

Coool! Hmm.. Ill try STAX this time. Ohhh f...ggg im going blind)))
And seriously, i was sure they are faarrr over 1000 € . Am i wrong?

Could be more, I'm not sure.
Thats STAX for ya

 

[andygo]

Could be more, I'm not sure.
Thats STAX for ya

Holy moley! - Price: £1,995.00 Good deal though))
http://www.cheshireaudio.co.uk/acatalog/Stax_Headphones.html

I think i will try audeze LCD 2 to begin with)

 

[gemini8026]

Hmmm.. Well as you know, everyones ears are different. Ermz, I dont have an exact number, but I would venture to say after 30 hours or so the cans seemed to be at their best.... However, the fact that you already havent enjoyed the sound they produce makes me think that your ears must not agree with them. Theres no magic instance where the cans character changes significantly, so Im not sure what to tell you.

But you tried them, thats the critical thing. Hopefully you arent out too much if you decide to sell them!

 

[Wisheraser]

I was the one who recommended them to you in a previous thread

Seriously great cans. Wait til they break in a little, they certainly improve after a couple hours. Become smoother and just generally more pleasant. Great cans, and after owning the AH-d5000's, I can say these are just as good, if not better for more aggressive music!!!

Love mine, and havent gassed for more since I bought!

Can you share a little more about your opinions on the 5000's vs 2000's? I've been wanting to pick up a pair of 5000's for awhile now, but if they are just going to be scooped midrange Beyer 990's all over again then I'm not interested. Frequency response charts seem to say that the 5000's have a bit less of a high mid scoop compared to the 2000's. Did you find this to be the case?

 

[gemini8026]

Hey Wisheraser, before I answer that, where in Sk are you from? Im in Saskatoon!

 

[gemini8026]

Secondly.

The 2000's and 5000's are QUITE similar. I had them both in my "studio" / bedroom for a few weeks.

The 5000's may have sounded a little "smoother", but honestly, for the price difference and what my ears could discern, it was EASY to sell the 5000's and keep the 2000's, especially considering I listen to all types of music, but prefer rock/metal/harder music.

All this was tested through an Audiophile 192 card into a Creek headphone amp with quality cables. It was and is all preference. After owning the various Sennheiser and AKG headphones, I kept wanting "more" and found it in these Denon's.

Absolutely havent had any GAS and to this day remain a pleasure to listen to...

 

[Ermz]

Really wish I could feel the same way about them, gemini, but unless they magically drop around 4dB at 8kHz, and bump the mids up across the board I don't think that'll happen. They actually make the Opals sound mid-heavy, which to me is just plain wrong.

 

[Wisheraser]

Hey Wisheraser, before I answer that, where in Sk are you from? Im in Saskatoon!

Me too. I'm over in Meadowgreen.

Secondly.

The 2000's and 5000's are QUITE similar. I had them both in my "studio" / bedroom for a few weeks.

The 5000's may have sounded a little "smoother", but honestly, for the price difference and what my ears could discern, it was EASY to sell the 5000's and keep the 2000's, especially considering I listen to all types of music, but prefer rock/metal/harder music.

All this was tested through an Audiophile 192 card into a Creek headphone amp with quality cables. It was and is all preference. After owning the various Sennheiser and AKG headphones, I kept wanting "more" and found it in these Denon's.

Absolutely havent had any GAS and to this day remain a pleasure to listen to...

Hmm, I wouldn't mind doing an A/B between them and my AT M50's sometime if you're interested.

 

[Shinozoku]

The Ultrasones I heard were too boomy, with very distant midrange. I think headphones SHOULD sound distant though, just to compensate for the lack of room sound. The headphones that sound the "roomiest" usually are the ones i can mix better with. Did you have any luck with AKG Ermin? Thomann has the K701 on sale.

Which models? Or is that just across the board? I'm gonna find some Proline 550's or whatever model has replaced it recently when I get the dough. I've heard some pretty good things about them. Gotta get a headphone amp to fill out the mids though.

Was hoping those or some higher end models might be a bit more even. I know some people have suggested that they may have TOO MUCH bass, but how ears interpret the low end is so totally different. The guy I'm taking my recommendation from claims they sound like studio monitors to him.

 

[Ermz]

Just put them on for the first time today... they're SO BRIGHT. I mean, seriously, so so so bright. It actually hurts to listen to my mixes on them. I don't know whether I have an overly sensitive high register, or these are made for the partially deaf, but I can't understand who would ever find this pleasing to listen to! The high mid tone coming from these is just harsh, flat, abrasive and 2-dimensional as hell.

Ugh, this quest to learn to 'tolerate' them is not going well.

 

[Strachan of D]

try a set of senheisser hd 25 II

 

[Clark Kent]

Let them play for a week or two. Burn in period seem to be from 10 to 300 hours.

I thought burn in period was a hoax. Instead it takes 10 to 300 hours for your ears to get used to how certain headphones sound... I might be wrong though.

 

[Ermz]

The effects of burning in are probably overstated. I've had these running for almost 2 days straight now, and they still sound like someone is shoving needles right through my ear drum. The effect is even more pronounced now that I have my M50s back out, and doing a direct A/B comparison.

 

[Wisheraser]

So they are like the 990's all over again...*sigh*. Instead of this endless "flat response headphones" crusade, I think I'm just going to try making a "M50" preset in eQuality to see if that gives them a more accurate response.

 

[Empathy]

*cough* K701 *cough*

Look, I might be an amateur compared to most dudes on this forum, but I like to think I have a good ear for quality that only has more room to develop. The Q701s are just... awesome. I've had them for what, 6 months now, and I don't know why there are so few people using them. Only real fault is the bass response; frankly, it's pathetic. Everything else though; they're fucking amazing.

 

[abt]

Well that sucks. I had my eye on a pair of 2000s.

 

[Ermz]

Denons are sold.

Moving on. I'm thinking of checking out the AKG and Shure lines. I've been hearing some ok things about the SRH-840 and the Quincy Jones models. Thoughts?

Also, not sure about this yet, but I'm considering buying an Avocet to take care of my monitoring and headphone amp issues. Just to have that blanket of extra security.