Denon 1001's vs. Creative Aurvana live - Page 3

They're pretty much the same thing.

Picked up an Aurana Live! on ebay for $40 shipped.

The first thing that struck me when i started listening to them was the TREMENDOUS, BLOATED, OVERBEARING, ONE-NOTE BASS.

Stuffing the cups with fiberfill seems to have helped tremendously. Fiberglass would probably work even better - I've got some in a closet somehwere that i should be able to cut some good egg-shaped pucks out of.

And the microphonic cable. But, whatever.

I'll have to see what markl's recommendations for the D1001 are. Some mechanical damping on the inside surface of the cups to increase isolation and reduce resonance might be a good idea.

Oh, and Fostex is a Foster brand name that markets foster-built entry level recording studio gear.

I tried and sold on a set of CAL!s. I was pretty disappointed at first. Must be source sensitive because they sounded very good out of my Minidisc Walkman . Out of my hi-fi amp or a Fiio e5 I wasn't that impressed.

In a way, the Fiio e5 convinced me to get rid of them becuase it turned my Goldring NS1000 noise cancellers into a very respectable set of standard closed headphones in passive mode. Prior to the e5, passive mode had been a horrible mess of bloated bass and recessed everything else. I couldn't really justify keeping another set of closed headphones when my Goldrings had started doing a very good job.

I would say the CAL!s have a pleasant sounding 'musical' sound signature but they couldn't compete with the excellent, natural sounding mid range reproduction of the NS1000s. I'm a sucker for natural sounding headphones. There was 'more' bass than the Goldrings but it wasn't as deep or as well controlled.

The real killer was I'd bought the CAL!s, as I was looking for comfort. There was no head clamping but the earcups weren't quite big enough to to go around my ears and were definitely too big to sit on them. Still - I got them at a discount and got most of my money backby selling them on after an 'extended trial'. Can't complain and I did spend a pleasant few hours with them once they were paired with the Mini-Disc player.

without adding some stuffing to tighten up the low end, I would have already been trying to get rid of these.

Agreed that the pads are a bit small.

Does anyone actually own both of these, and can therefore do a side-by-side comparison? I'm looking at buying a pair of Denon's, but the CAL's are £25 cheaper here (about $40 less), so if they sound essentially the same, then I have an easy choice!

Also, are they similar comfort-wise? I've heard fantastic things about the Denon's!

look seriously, you guys,

dont even compare these two companies, ever

one is a very highly reputed hifi company that has been around for many, many years

one is a high output, low quality young company, designed on high profit margins


just GET the denon's, if anything, you'll feel better wearing higher classed headphones, even if the sound is the same, which i doubt hugely,

the point is, feeling good about a purchase is 50% of the retail experience.

look at denon's headphone line up too, there isnt one "bad" headphone on it, so your more likely to get a get a good quality headphone.

get the denon's, to who ever is asking, they are smaller, better build quality, and in some places, cheaper

also some people say the denon's, after some tweaking, sound better than HD 650's, and tahts just crazy for the price difference, and portability.

get the denon's, if your going to get any portable headphones.

They're oem'd by the same company (Fostex iirc)...

The CALs usually are cheaper, so there pretty is much no reason to get the Denons over the CALs other than the brand and the Denons look nicer imo.

Oh, and Creative isn't really THAT recent (28 years old) and the Zen series is pretty good fwir. I almost bought a ZVM.

Oh, feel free to correct me.

I have owned the HD650, currently own the Creative Aurvana Live!, and have owned several other headphones but not a Denon.

After using and opening up the CAL!, I find its construction to be high quality. FWIR, it improves much after re-cabling. I suspect it also improves with simple modding. I try to open and mod just about every pair of headphones I own.

As to a comparison of its sound to that of the HD650 (or any other headphones), that is a matter of preference, synergy, and utility.

Preference: some could prefer one over the other.
Synergy: they sound better or worse depending on the associated equipment and music used.
Utility: the Creative is built for portable use, but the HD650 is not.

As to a comparison of its sound in stock form to that of the Denon, I suspect most would prefer the Denon. However, I also suspect the CAL! could be preferred by as many after simple and cheap modding. And, the CAL! is often priced lower than the Denon.

yay for resurrecting 2 month old thread. Seems to be a trend going on today.

Better to resurrect than to start a new thread and repeat the same information.

Agreed, if the reason for the resurrection is to inquire about a headphone or clarify something. I don't see the point in resurrecting for just commenting on something asked 2 months ago to give someone an opinion why company A is better than company B while probably never listening to any products from either company.

has anyone actually listened and compared the denons to the creatives yet?

Good thread.  Am thinking of getting either a set of used D1001's....or a new CAL!....but am curious about two things that have only been mentioned occasionally in this thread.  First is COMFORT - one poster said he found the CAL!/Aurvana's exceedingly uncomfortable - but I've read other reviews who have literally raved about the ridiculously amazing comfort level of the CAL!'s....so which is it?  Comfortable or not?  And - how do the two compare comfortwise?

 

Second is PORTABILITY - am I right in supposing that the D1001's are definitely NOT remotely portable (on the medium/large size?) - whereas the CAL1's are on the smaller portable side of medium?  Could someone enlighten me here?

I picked up a pair of used CALs last week, sound wise they give my Audio Technica ATH-AD700s and Beyerdynamic DT 770 80-Ohm a run for the money, comfort wise there ok, the larger over ear of my AD700s and DT 770 is better, but the CALs are as good as you can get for the size of the cup, just barely touching the outer edge of my ear. So people with large ears would have more discomfort, do wish the cable was a little longer, I would have no problem recomending them to anyone.
 

 

 

I haven't tried the CAL's, but the D1001 are the most comfortable semi-full to full size cans I've ever tried, imho, in terms of fit and weight.  The pads might get a little humid after awhile, but I'm sure there is a mod you can swap them out, if they get to be a problem.  I would imagine the CAL's to be similar fitting.