Review: Denon AH-D1100 vs Sony MDR-XB500 - Page 6

Awesome comprehensive review. Thank you.

Hi there 

I'm new to this site as a member but it's served me very well. 

So took the plunge and joined properly. 

First off can I say what a great review! 

I have the XB500's and the Creative Aurvana Lives and as much as I love them equally I find myself putting on those big, billowy, pillows of delight more and more. 

Yes the sound may not be quite as clear but the impact music has through them is incredible. 

My question is this. 

Based upon the majority of sound leakage coming from the holes on the back of the driver housing, that allow the pressure to escape, well what would happen if those holes were covered? Would this change the sound, bass or be damaging to the ear if covered? 

I tried it temporarily and the leakage was reduced considerably! 

Iused electrical tape but peeled it off after a minute or so due to worrying about harming my ears. 

Anyone have any ideas on this little mod? 

Thanks for the great review RPG!

I'd like to try out the 1100's. Anyone seen a used pair for sale?

Quote:

Originally Posted by HulaBoy 

My question is this. 

Based upon the majority of sound leakage coming from the holes on the back of the driver housing, that allow the pressure to escape, well what would happen if those holes were covered? Would this change the sound, bass or be damaging to the ear if covered? 

I tried it temporarily and the leakage was reduced considerably! 

Iused electrical tape but peeled it off after a minute or so due to worrying about harming my ears. 

Anyone have any ideas on this little mod? 

 

I have the XB700 which takes the best of both and gives you a great can... with more Sub Bass then you know what *cough cough* and for less money than the Denon's *cough cough* anyways as far as mods go leave the holes alone I remember reading some where that there is a purpose for them, although there is actually a simple mod you can do [to get moar bass out of em].

For the XB700 which has the same design and build as the 500 [except the 700 bigger so... easier to mod] basically though you can remove the Pads, unmount the drivers and you'll find a White Tape on the back of the driver... remove that and BAM Sub Bass gets deeper, Mid bass gets Tighter, nastier and a little fuller. [I did a review on Xb700 with the Mod Link in it]

So you should be able to mod your 500's for a similar effect

Hey,

first of all, great review !! now im actually leaning towards the xb500, since i see that EQing these huge cans has a good effect and can reach the sq i am after :)

just a few questions:

1) do your ears heat up/start to sweat quickly in the xb500 ?

2) is the sound leakage/isolation really bad ? (for out door use, in the buss etc)

3) CAN the pleather pads be replaced ...by anything if the originals scratch or tear etc ? (what about velour pads ? not saying i would, but you know, having the opportunity is always good) 

4) is recabling an option? had bad luck with cables in my history..

5) the joints where the headband meets the....erm... pillows, is it sturdy (enough) to stand up against (at least) some abuse?

6) any other mods available in general :) ? besides stuffing the pads (?) mentioned by rpgwizard and removing the paper beneath the drivers mentioned above (on the xb700 tho, not sure about these ?)

PS sorry for reviving this thread :D

PPS would these be comfortable with wearing glasses ? and id be really grateful if you could tell me the diameter of the inner hole on the pads (where the ear is supposed to go in), i just wanna make sure my ears fit these :)

Very cool review...

Quote:

Originally Posted by xilw3r 

first of all, great review !! now im actually leaning towards the xb500, since i see that EQing these huge cans has a good effect and can reach the sq i am after :)

You can't EQ headphones to improve clarity -__-

Quote:

Originally Posted by linuxid10t 

You can't EQ headphones to improve clarity -__-

oh really now ? well i suppose you have never used an equalizer then (properly, that is). Yes there are headphones that do not respond well to equalisation (or almost at all) but those that do can be made to sound pretty darn clear. You dont think that it is impossible to change the way a headphone sounds from the way it was originally tuned, now do you ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by xilw3r 

oh really now ? well i suppose you have never used an equalizer then (properly, that is). Yes there are headphones that do not respond well to equalisation (or almost at all) but those that do can be made to sound pretty darn clear. You dont think that it is impossible to change the way a headphone sounds from the way it was originally tuned, now do you ?

No, I have.  These headphones are on two totally different levels though.  Also, I hate using non-hardware EQs.  IMO they degrade the sound quality pretty badly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by linuxid10t 

No, I have.  These headphones are on two totally different levels though.  Also, I hate using non-hardware EQs.  IMO they degrade the sound quality pretty badly.

what do you mean they're on 2 different levels ? software EQ bands should be tuned only downwards for better quality, its easier to lower the freq's you already have than to "add" some more of them on top of the current sound (it basically adds more distortion if you slide the bands up instead of down). But lucky me that Voodoo sound will soon be using a parametric hardware EQ :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by xilw3r 

what do you mean they're on 2 different levels ? software EQ bands should be tuned only downwards for better quality, its easier to lower the freq's you already have than to "add" some more of them on top of the current sound (it basically adds more distortion if you slide the bands up instead of down). But lucky me that Voodoo sound will soon be using a parametric hardware EQ :)

The problem isn't really the EQ itself, it is the abilities of the driver.  Certain drivers are more capable than others, no matter how much you EQ them.  You get what you pay for, and the D1100 costs twice what the XB500 does.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPGWiZaRD 

 

Well I disagree, I was very disappointed by D1100, I actually liked XB500 more despite the not ideal clarity out of box. There's more to it than clarity, the D1100 had an "artificial" sound to it in my ears, grainy highs, very recessed weirdly placed mids, overall it was too "dry" sounding, no natural reverb present whatsoever so made it sound a bit like sitting in a vacuum chamber. What it did great at would be soundstage and instrument separation and bassresponse remained relatively tight and quite controlled despite the big punch. But yea I don't think it's worth $100+ and Tyll's measurement of this headphone also seems to show unusually bad measuring:

 

http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/DenonAHD1100.pdf - that 300Hz square wave is like among the very ugliest I've seen and quite a lot of THD noise.

 

I sold my D1100 after a week or so based on its artificial sound. Also the hinged creeked a little when putting on them or move around which was a bit annoying. 

You can't really measure wave forms with a headphone so air tight.  It is just overloading the microphone.  Unfortunately, that essentially ruins any test of it.  I never found it to sound artificial, but I totally agree about the recessed mids.