Tyson
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2003
- Posts
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I've finally got my new LA2000 with Jarrah wood cups fully burned in and figured it was a good time to do a review. I've also got the D5000s (stock) in house, which I'll be doing comparisons with. Here are some pics showing them side by side:
Rest of the system is in my sig. I've been doing a lot of listening lately, and I'll start with my conclusions:
Stock Denon D5000's
Big, warm, strong bass, which is the foundation of the sound for the entire headphone. Mids are a bit recessed and are quite warm due to the prominent bass. Low treble (sibilance) is a forward and a bit splashy. Overall it's a relaxed sounding can, with the exception of that low treble spike.
LA2000 Jurrah Wood
This can is SUPER high energy. Dynamics are insanely percussive and strong. Bass is quite a bit lighter and the energy had definitely tipped up into the treble and upper mids. Clarity and detail is astonishing. On the other hand, this headphone is as "in your face" sounding as I've ever listened to (including most Grados). The mods completely transform the basic sound of these headphones.
Tyson Mod to the LA2000's
While I appreciate the things the LA2000 brings to the table, I simply could not live with them, I wanted a sound somewhere between the stock D5000's and the LA2000's. So, I unscrewed the Jurrah cups to see what I could do. They did not have any dynamat or any other damping applied (which I knew already, having talked with Markl before placing my order). Since Jurrah is a high density wood, mark felt it would lose too much detail if it was damped at all. However, for my purposes, a bit of damping might be just the ticket to get the sound I wanted.
Now, for damping, there's a couple of options. I could stuff the cavity with high density foam or some other acoustically absorbent material, such as sheeps wool or fiberglass (frequently used in speakers). The problem is that taking this approach would cause the cavity to "appear" bigger to the driver. Since most drivers have an optimum enclosure volume based on it's Q property, stuffing the cup might wreak havoc on the bass tuning and seriously screw up bass response. So, I think that covering the hard, flat, highly reflective interior of the cups is the correct basic approach. This should allow the cup interior to stay relatively the same, while allowing absorption of that super-high treble energy.
I have a polishing cloth, thin and soft, that would probably be about right. Out comes the elmer's glue and I cut 2 circles out of the cloth to fit the interior of the cups. Glue it in and wait 30 minutes for it to set. Re-assemble and give it a listen.
Result? Just about perfect. Strong bass (due to the excellent energy retention from the Jurrah cups, way better than the stock cups), great soundstage thanks to Markl's angled earcup mod, very clean midrange due to markl's dynamat damping of the interior frames and structures, and the highs are finally in perfect balance with the rest of the spectrum as a result of the cloth lining mod.
In fact, "balanced" is now the best term I can think of for these headphones. Bass is strong and percussive, but not overbearing. Mids are natural and organic. Highs are fully present but are not "in your face". Detail is very good indeed, but it's a presentation that reveals details naturally, without screaming "LOOK AT ALL THESE DETAILS". There is still a little bit of excess treble in the mid-treble area (8-10khz), so that s sounds are a little forward, but it's clean and clear, and not has loud/harsh/splashy as before.
And the best part is there's absolutely no listener fatigue, I can wear these for hours and not feel like turning it down or take them off.
Conclusion
For my personal tastes, the standard LA2000's were not quite what I was looking for, but with a pretty small additional tweak I was able to get the sounding just about perfect for what I want in a headphone. I'm not sure if markl would consider making this extra tweak an option during initial build, but I think it would make a lot of people happy, particularly if you are looking for more of a "Sennheiser/Beyer" (without the veil and way stronger bass), as opposed to the more "Grado/Sony" style sound I initially had. It's not perfect, due to the mid-treble still being every slightly too energetic, but no headphone is perfect and I'm happy to live with this relatively minor caveat.
Next Steps
I am going to go for the LA5000's, to see if there is a further improvement to be had.
Rest of the system is in my sig. I've been doing a lot of listening lately, and I'll start with my conclusions:
Stock Denon D5000's
Big, warm, strong bass, which is the foundation of the sound for the entire headphone. Mids are a bit recessed and are quite warm due to the prominent bass. Low treble (sibilance) is a forward and a bit splashy. Overall it's a relaxed sounding can, with the exception of that low treble spike.
LA2000 Jurrah Wood
This can is SUPER high energy. Dynamics are insanely percussive and strong. Bass is quite a bit lighter and the energy had definitely tipped up into the treble and upper mids. Clarity and detail is astonishing. On the other hand, this headphone is as "in your face" sounding as I've ever listened to (including most Grados). The mods completely transform the basic sound of these headphones.
Tyson Mod to the LA2000's
While I appreciate the things the LA2000 brings to the table, I simply could not live with them, I wanted a sound somewhere between the stock D5000's and the LA2000's. So, I unscrewed the Jurrah cups to see what I could do. They did not have any dynamat or any other damping applied (which I knew already, having talked with Markl before placing my order). Since Jurrah is a high density wood, mark felt it would lose too much detail if it was damped at all. However, for my purposes, a bit of damping might be just the ticket to get the sound I wanted.
Now, for damping, there's a couple of options. I could stuff the cavity with high density foam or some other acoustically absorbent material, such as sheeps wool or fiberglass (frequently used in speakers). The problem is that taking this approach would cause the cavity to "appear" bigger to the driver. Since most drivers have an optimum enclosure volume based on it's Q property, stuffing the cup might wreak havoc on the bass tuning and seriously screw up bass response. So, I think that covering the hard, flat, highly reflective interior of the cups is the correct basic approach. This should allow the cup interior to stay relatively the same, while allowing absorption of that super-high treble energy.
I have a polishing cloth, thin and soft, that would probably be about right. Out comes the elmer's glue and I cut 2 circles out of the cloth to fit the interior of the cups. Glue it in and wait 30 minutes for it to set. Re-assemble and give it a listen.
Result? Just about perfect. Strong bass (due to the excellent energy retention from the Jurrah cups, way better than the stock cups), great soundstage thanks to Markl's angled earcup mod, very clean midrange due to markl's dynamat damping of the interior frames and structures, and the highs are finally in perfect balance with the rest of the spectrum as a result of the cloth lining mod.
In fact, "balanced" is now the best term I can think of for these headphones. Bass is strong and percussive, but not overbearing. Mids are natural and organic. Highs are fully present but are not "in your face". Detail is very good indeed, but it's a presentation that reveals details naturally, without screaming "LOOK AT ALL THESE DETAILS". There is still a little bit of excess treble in the mid-treble area (8-10khz), so that s sounds are a little forward, but it's clean and clear, and not has loud/harsh/splashy as before.
And the best part is there's absolutely no listener fatigue, I can wear these for hours and not feel like turning it down or take them off.
Conclusion
For my personal tastes, the standard LA2000's were not quite what I was looking for, but with a pretty small additional tweak I was able to get the sounding just about perfect for what I want in a headphone. I'm not sure if markl would consider making this extra tweak an option during initial build, but I think it would make a lot of people happy, particularly if you are looking for more of a "Sennheiser/Beyer" (without the veil and way stronger bass), as opposed to the more "Grado/Sony" style sound I initially had. It's not perfect, due to the mid-treble still being every slightly too energetic, but no headphone is perfect and I'm happy to live with this relatively minor caveat.
Next Steps
I am going to go for the LA5000's, to see if there is a further improvement to be had.