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Modded D2000 or D5000 "Vanilla"?

post #1 of 13
10/21/09 at 10:43am
Thread Starter 
I'm going to be working with a 400 dollar budget for my next pair of headphones. I'm thinking of buying the D2000 and a pair of JMoney pads, then waiting a little while to get used to the sound before going ahead and doing the Markl mods as well.

But all this is going to cost me 400+, so why not just buy the D50000, right? Would I be better off buying and modding a D2000 or buying a D5000 plain?

I have to admit, those JMoney pads look sexy and comfortable. I think the available mods have tilted me towards the Denon more so than the Shure 840 and Ultrasone 780s which lack big mods like that.
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post #2 of 13
10/21/09 at 11:22am
D2000 and D5000 have the same driver. The only difference between them are the cups. Buying a D2000 is probably the most bang for your buck.
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post #3 of 13
10/21/09 at 11:26am
I recall the differences being the cups and the cable?
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post #4 of 13
10/21/09 at 12:11pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jageur272 View Post
D2000 and D5000 have the same driver. The only difference between them are the cups. Buying a D2000 is probably the most bang for your buck.
If that's the case, I can just buy a set of wooden cups in the future as well, but I'm not sure I'm in a rush to do so. How much of a benefit do you get from changing over to wooden cups? They do look a bit classier.
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post #5 of 13
10/21/09 at 12:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by thechungster View Post
I recall the differences being the cups and the cable?
Oops, forgot about the cable.

Quote:
Originally Posted by roker
If that's the case, I can just buy a set of wooden cups in the future as well, but I'm not sure I'm in a rush to do so. How much of a benefit do you get from changing over to wooden cups? They do look a bit classier.
You can always check out Lawton Audio for cups and information. Haven't heard a D2k pre and post wood cups though.
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post #6 of 13
10/21/09 at 12:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jageur272 View Post
You can always check out Lawton Audio for cups and information. Haven't heard a D2k pre and post wood cups though.
I saw that. But like I said, I'm not in much of a rush. I think the JMoney pads + Markl mods should be enough. This is my Christmas Project. I'll probably buy the headphones and pads next month and send them out to markl in January.
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post #7 of 13
10/21/09 at 3:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by roker View Post
If that's the case, I can just buy a set of wooden cups in the future as well, but I'm not sure I'm in a rush to do so. How much of a benefit do you get from changing over to wooden cups? They do look a bit classier.
Changing the D2000 plastic cups to wooden cups from Lawton Audio (Markl) makes a huge improvement in sound quality. The aftermarket wooden cups are also larger than the D5000 stock cups, which imparts a larger soundstage. If you're ever going to want wooden cups, you're probably better off buying the D2000 and upgrading the cups. You can upgrade the cable yourself at any time.

By the way, the JMoney pads are really nice too, but their impact on audio is much less than that of changing the cups.
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post #8 of 13
10/21/09 at 6:07pm
I have a hard time believing that new cups change the sound that much. Especially to think that the D2000 can sound better than the D5000 with other cups (not counting personal preference).
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post #9 of 13
10/21/09 at 6:08pm
How about vanilla D2000's?
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post #10 of 13
10/21/09 at 7:04pm
Based on a little experiment I performed when I had both the D2000 and the D5000 at the same time, putting the D2000's composite non-wooden cups on the D5000 did not appreciably alter the D5000's sound -- it didn't make the D5000 suddenly sound like the D2000. Make of that what you will.

And the current D2000 cable looks identical to the D5000's. Don't know about similarities inside the cables.
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post #11 of 13
10/21/09 at 7:16pm
I damped D5000's wooden cups with some tobacco, it made them sound smokey
I poured some water in the cups, it made them sound liquid.
I did a hail mary on them, it made them sound holy
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post #12 of 13
10/21/09 at 11:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mink View Post
I damped D5000's wooden cups with some tobacco, it made them sound smokey
I poured some water in the cups, it made them sound liquid.
I did a hail mary on them, it made them sound holy
Nice!

I keep reading posts stating that the the D2000 and D5000 use the same driver so the only difference between them is the cups (and for older D2000's the cable). If that was the case, I should have heard a difference when I put the D2000 cups on the D5000. But seeing as how the D5000 still sounded pretty much like a D5000 in that scenario (still noticeably different than the D2000), I would conclude that the difference in sound between the 2 headphones is attributed to more than just the cups.
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post #13 of 13
10/22/09 at 2:20pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bostonears View Post
Changing the D2000 plastic cups to wooden cups from Lawton Audio (Markl) makes a huge improvement in sound quality. The aftermarket wooden cups are also larger than the D5000 stock cups, which imparts a larger soundstage. If you're ever going to want wooden cups, you're probably better off buying the D2000 and upgrading the cups. You can upgrade the cable yourself at any time.

By the way, the JMoney pads are really nice too, but their impact on audio is much less than that of changing the cups.
The JMoney pads just look really really comfortable. I'm not sure what the stock pads are, but I bet the lambskin is nice as well.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Orcin View Post
How about vanilla D2000's?
That takes the fun out of it.
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