Denon AH-D1001 review

I have been enjoying my Denon AH-D1001 headphones for several months now and I thought I would chime with some of my observations. At first I was unimpressed with them due to some cloudiness of the midrange and a somewhat loose bass that I noticed before they were broken in. But, now that I have been listening to them 500 hours or so, they have proved to be excellent headphones. First, they got me to sell my K701's (which I never was able to find a portable headphone amplifier under $400 to power the K701's well) and I really haven't missed the K701's, especially now that the midrange is crystal clear, and the bass, while very strong is very well controlled and even well textured. The nicest thing though about the D1001's is the stark contrast in the highs between my HD580's and the D1001's, being that the HD580 sounds muffled and somewhat indistinct (with an HD650 stock cable and the foam removed) in comparison to the crisp, clean treble that the D1001's possess. The D1001's simply shine with my Panorama cable and more neutral amplifiers like my Shek H1 (which reminds me quite a bit of the Porta Corda III that I really regret selling). I had been toying with the idea of upgrading headphones, but I think finding another porta corda III will get me more of an upgrade this time. Anyways, back on topic, the D1001 is a great headphone, even with the subwoofer-like bass that can be a bit overbearing at times. Amazingly even with that attribute, it never seems out of balance, and with leaner portable sources like my iPod Nano 2G, it actually gives a more lifelike feel to the music. And, the greatest thing is that I paid about 1/3 of what I did when I bought my K701's when I purchased the D1001's. It's probably the cheapest audio purchase, maybe the only one, that I haven't had second thoughts about buying. One caveat though, the extension cable that comes with the headphones sucks. It degrades the clarity and collapses the soundstaging of the D1001's. So, if you end up getting a pair and need a longer cord than the 4' or so that is directly attached to the headphones, budget for a decent extension cable as well. It will be worth the extra cost. Personally, I mostly use them portably and I only need the longer cable for editing mono spoken word audio tracks at work, so the degradation isn't as apparent as if I were editing music.

They're holding up fine. At first I was worried about the thin cord, but it's proved to be pretty durable. Not to mention, they can be used directly out of an ipod with no problem, and all of my portable headphone amps drive them.