Comparison: Denon AH-D2000, AH-D5000, and Headphile "Darth Denon"

OK, I spent the morning comparing the stock D2000, the stock D5000, and the Darth Denons (which are recabled and woodied D2000's). I am posting my initial findings, but I may update tomorrow after another 24 hours of break in on the Darth Denons. Right now they only have 20 hours of break in, although my experience with my D5000 was that not much changed after about 20 hours.

Testing setup: I used a Sound Devices HX3 Headphone Amp and an iMod iPod. Many of you may be asking "what the heck headphone amp is that"? It's a professional headphone amp made by a company called Sounde Devices, which makes very cool pro audio products. It's an excellent sounding headphone amp, and it was perfect for this review because it has 3 headphone outputs each with a separate volume control, so I was able to very quickly switch between headphones with no unplugging and re-plugging. I did also listen to each can on the Meier Opera.

Here are some pics:






Results:

Well, this is going to surprise no one, but the difference between these headphones are fairly subtle - much more subtle than you would find if comparing to any other make/model of headphone. I went back and forth a lot of times to determine the differences. Also not surprisingly, the Headphile Darth Denon was the most different, so let's discuss it last.

D2000 vs. D5000: These headphones sound INCREDIBLY similar. but there is a noticable difference that is reasonably easy to detect. My 8 year old son was able to detect is when I asked him to join the comparison, and he described it without my asking him about what he heard. He said the D5000 has "more Zap". And he's right. The D5000 has a slightly hotter, and slightly more extended treble. The D2000 sounds a little darker and more rolled off. The difference is subtle, but readily noticable. I guess this has to be attributed to the better cable the D5000 has, since I can't imagine how the woody of the D5000 would do this. But there it is.

Generally the rest of the spectrum is too similar to find much difference. The bass is well defined and powerful on both, and the mids are clear, clean and transparent on both. But the D2000 seems just a little dark by comparison.

Enter Darth Denon: so what does that mean for the Darth Denon, which starts life as a D2000, but where the stock cable is tossed out, and the housing changed?

First of all, if it isn't obviuos from the pics, the Darth Denon is the nicest looking of all of these by far. It is also the heaviest by far, which does slightly compromise the incredible comfort of these cans, but not enough to make them even remotely uncomfortable. As I said in my D5000 review, these are the most comfortable headphones I have ever worn.

The Darth Denons sound different from both the stock D2000 and D5000. They are more extended in the treble than the stock D2000, but they still have less treble than the D5000. They also, believe it or not, have slightly LESS bass than either of the stock Denons. However, the bass is slightly smoother, and slightly more extended. In general, the Darth Denons offer a slightly mellower, more relaxed sound, but very extended bass and treble.

In terms of soundstaging, the D5000, due to it's slightly more extended and energetic upper treble, has a very slightly wider soundstage than the D2000, but again it's subtle. The Darth Denon has a even slightly wider soundstage, but it has ever so slightly less image specificity. Still, I personally prefer that presenation.

So did I prefer them to either stock Denon? Ummm...yeah. I did. I like their somewhat smoother sound. But the difference is not nearly as pronounced as the difference between a stock DT770 and a Darth Beyer, where they don't really sound like the same headphone. In this case they are very obviously the same headphone.

I have no idea what a Darth Denon is going to cost, so I cannot comment on what the value is like for them. I will say though that given how much prettier they are than the D5000, I think if Larry offers Darth Denons on a regular basis (which is his plan I believe) then these will be the way to go versus buying a D5000, since they look nicer and sound better, IMO. For the thriftier head-fier, The stock D2000 is a terrific buy, and I think would benefit from a recable for those who like to mod their own cans.

So there you have it: Darth Denon > D5000 > D2000, but in each case the delta is not massive. These are terrific headphones all, and I think that for anyone who actually likes robust bass, they are darned near perfect. But here again, if you like your bass lean, then none of these are for you. For the rest of us, there is a LOT to like with all of these cans. Good news!