HiFi Bass: Thunderpants vs. Darth Beyers vs. PRO900 [UPDATE: Reviews!] - Page 3

I have heard both and it's quite obvious to me that the Thunderpants is the superior headphones.  The only that thing that I like about the pro900 is the slightly larger soundstage compared to the thunderpants. 

Are the TP forward or laid-back sounding? I haven't heard Pro 900 but the description of it seems to hint it's perhaps slightly on the laid-back side like most Ultrasones are except for HFI-580. If soundstage is smaller on TP I guess it's more forward sounding cuz soundstage size often go hand in hand with forward sound (smaller soundstage) or laid-back (bigger soundstage). 

The pro900 has this v-shape sound to them -- large soundstage, more focused on bass, aggressive treble and slightly recessed mids.  The thunderpants is a more balance pair of headphones.  It has excellent bass reproduction that has body, great impact and definition.  There's a good balance between the mids and highs.  The mids are sweet and slightly warm while the highs are clear but not harsh at all. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPGWiZaRD 

Are the TP forward or laid-back sounding? I haven't heard Pro 900 but the description of it seems to hint it's perhaps slightly on the laid-back side like most Ultrasones are except for HFI-580. If soundstage is smaller on TP I guess it's more forward sounding cuz soundstage size often go hand in hand with forward sound (smaller soundstage) or laid-back (bigger soundstage). 

Ultrasones laid back?  I've never heard or heard of a single ultrasone that was laid badk in any way even a little bit.  Ultrasones are really aggressive in your face phones and have highly manipulated frequency response to color the music in a fun way.  I suppose the higher end limited edition Ultrasones are more neutral, but I didn't like the ED9 much.  Haven't heard the 8 or 10.

The thunderpants is really a better headphone in every way unless you like that aggressive sound where the treble and bass are both in your face.  The TP's are more about balance, they are a fairly neutral headphone, though maybe on the warm side of things though they are tunable.  The TP's have a better, faster driver, so they have a technical advantage in terms of transparency, detail, speed, etc

But despite which one has better bass (I'm going to place all my money on the TP's), I think their wildly different sound signatures are going to be a bigger factor in which headphone you prefer. 

I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing or not here, forward or laid-back sound shouldn't have to do anything with the frequency response balance, it's either forward or laid-back sounding for the whole range and is something entirely different than being unbalanced or colored. BeyerDynamic DT770 Pro/80 for example has highly boosted both lowend and highend but is still laid-back sounding.

Forward sound is when it sounds like music is centered around you like you'd stand on the stage for the band playing on a concert while laid-back sound sounds like there's some distance to the music like you'd sit somewhere in the crowd.

I'm personally looking for forward sounding headphones.

2 months! Still no breakthroughs! Do we need to start a cookie fundraiser?

random update...  my m-stage showed up today. Been listening to the TP on it after a session with the ld1+ to get the feel for the new sound vs the ld1+. It has good power but not quite what the ld1+ has to push the bass punch. Vocals are a bit more forward and its an overall cleaner sound. I'm diggn it! havnt gone to class A yet but maybe later tonight.   

I cant imagine a headphone besides the TP that does Fast, vocal bliss, and balanced emotional bass like the TP does for me. The amount of detail and clean sound that doesnt get trumped by the emotion the bass pushes is unreal. I wish more people could hear these ;)

M

I'm thinking we should also throw in the Sony XB1000 and Denon D5000/D7000 into this thread. They should all put up a good fight!

So I just received my Thunderpants today and I actually still have my PRO 900 since no one has bought it yet. That means I could do some comparisons between them when I spend some time with them, but not at the moment as I have plenty of tests and papers hitting me next week. But, the initial impressions are......they just blew all my other headphones out of the water, including the PRO 900!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sysfail 

So I just received my Thunderpants today and I actually still have my PRO 900 since no one has bought it yet. That means I could do some comparisons between them when I spend some time with them, but not at the moment as I have plenty of tests and papers hitting me next week. But, the initial impressions are......they just blew all my other headphones out of the water, including the PRO 900!

 

I look forward to your comparisons, but please, no extreme statements like "they just blew all my other headphones out of the water" ....oh wait it's too late!

We don't want a repeat of the Katun Pro900 thread!

Quote:

Originally Posted by shamrock134 

I look forward to your comparisons, but please, no extreme statements like "they just blew all my other headphones out of the water" ....oh wait it's too late!

 

We don't want a repeat of the Kunlun Pro900 thread!

 

 

 

Haha well that's just my opinion. It's also just initial impressions, don't take it too seriously.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sysfail 

Haha well that's just my opinion. It's also just initial impressions, don't take it too seriously.

 

I have to take it seriously as my quest for the "best" basshead cans is never truly over even if my wallet wishes it was.

I should just be content with the Pro900 and D7000, but when theres still cans I've not heard like the JVC DX1000, Sony XB1000 and Thunderpants it's hard not to be curious.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shamrock134 

 

I have to take it seriously as my quest for the "best" basshead cans is never truly over even if my wallet wishes it was.

 

I should just be content with the Pro900 and D7000, but when theres still cans I've not heard like the JVC DX1000, Sony XB1000 and Thunderpants it's hard not to be curious.

 

...and the Darth Beyers. But what do you mean by the "best bass"? Do you want something with a lot of punch? Big bloated bass? Deep subwoofer-like sound? Bass with a lot of texture and detail? Something that will make your head vibrate? Etc?

Well I suppose what I mean is "Hi-Fi bass" like the thread title. Why does bass and audiophile quality sound have to be mutually exclusive? The XB700 has the type of bass I like, but at cost to the other frequencies. I think the D7000/Pro900 do an excellent job at blending it all, but as is the nature of head-fi, we always want to try something else to see if it sounds better.

Headphones will never be able to beat a sub-woofer for bass obviously, but it's not always practical to use my bookshelf speakers & sub so I want as near as possible with headphones, be it at home or on the go (hence my extensive basshead IEM collection also).

Quote:

Originally Posted by shamrock134 

Well I suppose what I mean is "Hi-Fi bass" like the thread title. Why does bass and audiophile quality sound have to be mutually exclusive? The XB700 has the type of bass I like, but at cost to the other frequencies. I think the D7000/Pro900 do an excellent job at blending it all, but as is the nature of head-fi, we always want to try something else to see if it sounds better.

 

Headphones will never be able to beat a sub-woofer for bass obviously, but it's not always practical to use my bookshelf speakers & sub so I want as near as possible with headphones, be it at home or on the go (hence my extensive basshead IEM collection also).

Oh ok. Well I can tell you that the PRO 900 definitely has a greater presence and has that really deep subwoofer-like quality in its bass, but to me, it does take out a little bit of the other frequencies and the bass almost seems "fake". On the other hand, the Thunderpants has that "Hi-Fi bass" IMO, very nice punch/kick but dissolves very quick which I love. It blends in very well with the other frequencies and has a very natural and detailed sound. Though it isn't as "big" as the PRO 900, the Thunderpants has the bass I prefer any day.